There has been a lot of talk in Swaziland recently about the need for the government to set up a public relations (i.e. propaganda) unit to counter the ‘bad press’ the kingdom is getting in the international media.
By ‘bad press’ supporters of King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, mean information about the lack of democracy and human rights in the kingdom.
In fact there is no ‘bad press’ worth talking about in the mainstream / commercial media.
As research I did previously showed, the news media outside of Swaziland are not much interested in what is going on in, what to them, is an irrelevant little country somewhere in Africa. (Click here and hereto see the research).
That research was conducted in 2007 and nothing much has changed since. Swaziland does make the news when something the media sees as ‘exotic’ happens – the Reed Dance, where tens of thousands of ‘maidens’ dance bare-chested in front of the king, is an example.
The people who supply information to the world on these sites are spreading the message and not the mainstream media.
The Swazi Government can set up as many ‘public relations’ units as it likes, but it will make no difference. We know the truth and we shall go on telling it.
It is with great sadness that I read that Mfomfo Nkhambule, the political dissent in Swaziland, has thrown in the towel.
He has announced that he will stop writing about King Mswati III and will apologise to him for what Nkhambule calls his ‘grossly disrespectful writing and comments about him and the country’.
Today, the world reads in the Swazi Observer,the newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, that a ‘repentant ‘ Nkhambule, ‘has apologised to the authorities at Gundvwini Umphakatsi (the Chief’s Kraal) where he presented a fattened ox to Prince Logcogco. He insists that he is not selling out, or looking for favours from BakaNgwane, but is driven by a strong desire to be at peace with himself.’
A report written by Observer editor-in-chief Musa Ndlangamandla, who earlier this week (1 March 2010) told his readers, ‘our collective stand as a newspaper is that the integrity of Swaziland as a democratic State and His Majesty King Mswati III as the legitimate leader of the Swazi nation, must never be compromised in any way.’ quotes Nkhambule saying, ‘I have realised the folly of my ways and the fact that what I was writing about His Majesty was hurting and showed lack of respect for my King.’
Nkhambule told the Observer that he will continue to write his online blog, although personally I can’t see the point as it clearly won’t be worth reading.
With the call from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for Swaziland to cut back on public expenditure to stop the kingdom from going broke ringing in our ears, now is a good time to look at the cost of the Swazi Royal Family to the taxpayer.
It is notoriously difficult to get at the truth of the cost of King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, and his huge and increasing extended family, but if we put together facts that we do know, it becomes clear that the Royal Family is a huge drain on the Swazi national budget.
Recently some Swaziland politicians called for an inquiry into the amount of money the Royal Family has spent this year on trips abroad this year.
The family of King Mswati want the amount of taxpayers’ money spent on the Swazi Royal Family on trips abroad cut back.
Already the family of King Mswati III, has spent E41 million (4.6 million US dollars) in four months. The Swazi Government headed by Barnabas Dlamini, who was illegally appointed as Prime Minister by King Mswati, has budgeted E95 million for royal family trips abroad for the present financial year. Now, the Royals have asked for more cash.
Members of the Swaziland Finance Committee demanded to know if the government is monitoring the number of Royals going abroad at the taxpayers’ expense and they want the amount spent on them reduced.
This is only a drop in the ocean of spending undertaken outside the borders of Swaziland by the Royal Family.
In August 2009 the world (but not people in Swaziland) learned that five of King Mswati’s wives (he is said to have 13 but nobody knows for sure since this is information that his Swazi subjects are not allowed to have) went on a worldwide shopping spree costing at least 6 million US dollars.
As I reported at the time, the media in Swaziland were warned not to report on the trip because it would harm the king’s reputation. Media houses were told they would face sanctions, including possible closure, if word got out.
It is not known where the money for these trips came from, but according to Forbes in the United States, King Mswati himself has a personal fortune estimated at 200 million US dollars.
Just where the king gets his money from is a carefully guarded secret, but according to Afrik.com he owns (among other things) 10 per cent of every mining company in Swaziland.
Forbes says King Mswati is the beneficiary of two funds created by his father Sobhuza II in trust for the Swazi nation. During his reign, he has absolute discretion over use of the income, which has allowed him to build palaces for each of his wives and stay at five-star hotels when abroad.
We also know that the people of Swaziland have to pay for the king’s extravagances. Last year (2008) they were forced to spend about 10 million dollars on a party to ‘celebrate’ the king’s 40th birthday and the 40th anniversary of the kingdom’s independence.
As well as his personal wealth, King Mswati receives money from the Swazi taxpayer. In this year’s Swaziland national budget he gets E130 million for his family’s upkeep.
In March 2009, I reported the national budget for Swaziland put aside E130 million for King Mswati and his family. This figure, which is almost certainly only a fraction of the money the king draws from the Swazi people, is more than the money Swaziland will spend on capital expenditure for education (E113 million) or capital expenditure on social security and welfare (E73 million).
The E130 million for the king listed in the budget as ‘royal emoluments and civil list’ is an increase on the E85.2 million he was given by Swazi taxpayers for the financial year 2007/2008.
The figures are part of the annual budget for Swaziland that was approved by the House of Assembly. To put that E130 million into some context: in Swaziland 70 percent of the families of one million Swazi people live on less than E10 a day, while the Royal Family gets by on a third of a million a day.
In the present financial year, the total amount of income tax collected from individuals working in Swaziland is estimated to be E1,080 million, or put another way it means that each person who pays tax in the kingdom is giving more than E8 in every 100 to the king’s family.
In April 2008, the Nation magazine, an independent monthly magazine of news and comment in Swaziland, reported that the king was receiving funds illegally from the state as the finance minister did not act in accordance with theRoyal Emoluments and Civil List Act as amended in 1998.
An analysis by the Nation said the king was receiving illegally what it described as an ‘obscene’ E220m for 2008-2009 from public funds. This is a 159 percent increase on the previous year and roughly five percent of Swaziland’s national budget. The Royal Family combined get a total of E500m, the Nation calculated.
Even though we can’t find accurate figures on the income of King Mswati and the Royal Family it is clear he is not short of a dollar.
In April 2009, the king bought 20 top-of-the-range armour-plated Mercedes Benz S600 Pullman Guards cars for his wives at an estimated cost of E2.5 million (about 250,000 US dollars) each.
When the Times Sunday, an independent newspaper in Swaziland, tried to find out where the money for cars came from it met a stone wall.The king’s Private Secretary Sam Mkhombe referred all questions to the King’s Office Chief Officer, Bheki Dlamini.
However, Dlamini said the cars were not purchased through the King’s Office. He could not, however, explain to the newspaper why they were delivered at the royal residence.
The newspaper said at first he did not want to comment on the issue, but eventually said that the King’s Office was not responsible for the cars. However, his subsequent comments fell short of confirming that the vehicles could have been purchased by the king.
‘The king has various accounts that are not run through this office (King’s Office),’ he said.
Unfortunately, he did not elaborate on what kind of ‘accounts’ the king had.
The king is world renowned for his lavish lifestyle; his taste for expensive cars and the opulence of his palaces. and has a long history of extravagant personal spending for himself and his family.
While he has fabulous wealth, seven in ten Swazis live in abject poverty, earning less than one US dollar a day and the kingdom has the highest HIV infection rate in the world (40 percent).
A new website calling itself The Real Swazi News (TRSN) has launched.
TRSN says it is here ‘to report on the stories the media in Swaziland are not allowed to report in the (un)free press.
‘We do not have a budget to pay staff etc and are purely voluntary to allow people a free voice on the real issues which matter most in our country as well as allowing the world at large to know what is really happening in Communities, The Palace and Government and also business and media.
‘Free Press, Free Swaziland, Free People.’
TRSN pledges to give ‘truthful information and developments in the Kingdom of Swaziland. We are being motivated by the desire to pass information to you, our dearest reader, about life in Swaziland as experienced by those in power and those that are led willingly and unwillingly.
‘We shall be talking about the things and the actions of those that are in power as well as those that are messengers. We shall also get the views of those that are affected by the decisions of those that are in power. We are not to embarrass anyone.’
TRSN, which is supported by Swazi dissident Mfomfo Nkhambule, says in its mission statement, ‘We will look at issues critically and then try to make an informed analysis. We do not want to ridicule anybody.’
In a clear statement of its position, TRSN goes on, ‘We are aware of the fact that Swaziland is an absolute monarch but we are convinced that its continuous survival is dependent on the Swazis helping it to adapt to the challenges brought about by social difficulties like hunger, unemployment, poor health facilities, lack of quality education, poor resources utilization and lack of good governance, just to mention a few.
‘We are also hopeful that greed for money will not motivate us to start aligning ourselves with certain individuals whose agenda will be to keep Swazis ignorant of what is happening in Swaziland. We are not going to allow ourselves to be a vehicle for spreading hatred and vengeance amongst Swazi society members and their friends. In our next issue we will bring you pictures of real life situations in the Kingdom.’
TRSN is seeking people to write for it and anyone interested can contact them through the website.
First it was the journalists and now it’s the pastors.
Nobody in Swaziland is allowed to say a word against the king and if they do they get hauled before the traditional authorities to ‘explain themselves’.
The latest to feel the wrath of authority are pastors at the Swaziland Conference of Churches (SCC)who have been called before the ‘traditional authorities’ at Ludzidzini Royal Residence by acting Ludzidzini Governor (traditional prime minister) Timothy Velabo (TV) Mtsetfwa.
Members of the SCC executive had to explain why one of their pastors, Justice Dlamini dared to tell a congregation of 300 Christians that the Incwala ceremony was evil and witchcraft was practiced there.
The Incwala ceremony,which takes place each December is one of those national rituals (the UmhlangaReed Dance is another) which traditional authorities claims unites the Swazi nation as they seek blessings from ancestors. It is also a time to renew the kingship of the nation which in practice means young men pay homage to King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.
The SCC executive members were told to explain what the purpose of Dlamini’s comments was and why they allowed him to talk about the Incwala during the prayer service. When they were released they were warned they could be called back for a further grilling.
Mtsetfwa has previously said that he took Dlamini’s comments seriously and his ‘loose tongue’ was a serious cause for concern.
I don’t know what Dlamini’s game was, he is, I think many readers would agree, more than a little eccentric at the best of times, but that doesn’t stop him having the right to speak as he pleases.
The SEC members are not the only ones to be hauled in to be given a grilling by the state and traditional authorities. Mfomfo Nkhambule, an outspoken critic of the ruling regime was also taken to task for articles he wrote in the Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper.
