The following is a media release issued today (26 January 2011) from the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN). It criticises the Swazi Royal Family for using jobs in the kingdom’s civil service as a way of rewarding supporters. As the International Monetary Fund seeks 7,000 job losses among civil servants, SSN shanes those who are on the government payroll, courtesy of King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, but who do no work.
The IMF’s Recommends A Less Effective Civil Service as Mswati's Cronies Take Enemas at Tax Payers' Expense.
SSN PRESS RELEASE –
26th January, 2011
According to the latest Public Information Notice (PIN) released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the 24th of January 2010,the kingdom of Swaziland has the second largest wage bill in sub-Saharan Africa after Lesotho. The country’s finance minister once reported that with this wage bill makes up 54% of the country’s overall budget.
Despite the fact that the IMF has recommended the reduction of this wage bill by taking drastic measures such as not hiring any new civil servants, implementing early retirement exit schemes and things continuing its privatization policy among other things, the government has stalled on implementing this recommendation out of fear that it will spark social upheaval.
What it has since done, however, is to claim to have cut overtime wages, freeze the hiring of civil servants and reduce ghost workers, the latter being a serious problem in the country’s civil service. The wage bill is artificially inflated by the fact that some unscrupulous civil servants draw salaries of nonexistent workers. This is one of the many fruits of the royal blanket covering corruption.
Due to the Royal family’s extended patronage systems many other registered civil servants draw salaries that they never work for. This is most prevalent in the armed forces, particularly in the defence force, which has gone to the extent of hiring the king’s two sons despite the fact that they are rarely ever in the country and do no soldier work.
The king’s brother in law, Sibusiso Mngomezulu is another well connected individual who draws a high salary in the country’s defence force despite the fact he has a job as a financial director at Chancellor House, the ANC’s private investment firm that recently bought a coal mine in Swaziland. All this rot is happening while both countries are struggling to create quality jobs for its citizens.
A large number of civil servants in less senior positions are also guilty of this grossly unprofessional behaviour. Many of them during this time of the year are found relaxing at the country’s natural hot spring in Lobamba bathing and taking enemas during working hours having told their superiors that they are on official royal duty.
As the financial crisis deepens in the kingdom these are the issues which should be dealt with immediately before any hard working and vastly experienced civil servants are pressured into taking early retirement schemes, a move that will render the civil service less effective than it currently is and in the end add to the country’s economic woes.
Issued by the Swaziland Solidarity Network [SSN] South Africa Chapter.
Why does Swaziland have so many embassies and consulates in foreign countries? The kingdom is the smallest on the African continent and is virtually invisible on the international stage. It doesn’t do much trade globally and on close inspection it is obvious that it doesn’t need to go to the vast expense of keeping embassies overseas.
The answer is King Mswati III,sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, and the way he and his Royal Family bleed dry the Swazi people.
A reader of this blog with close connections to the Swazi Royal Family has written to me to tell me about their misuse of Swaziland’s embassy in Taiwan.
But it’s not only Taiwan: there is also misuse of three Swazi embassies in the Middle East.
The reader writes, ‘The Swazi embassy in Taiwan is run by none other than Njabuliso Gwebu, sister-in-law of the king (sister of langangaza).
‘She was promoted from hairdresser to diplomat. She once attempted teaching but was forced to retire in the public interest for a scandal she committed.
‘She has turned the office in Taiwan into a family business. Her sister Thandiwe Dlamini is her secretary and Thandiwe’s husband Fakudze has joined them at government expense. The ministry of foreign affairs paid for his ticket to go there.
‘He is said to be studying for a masters degree yet while in Swaziland he was a driver at the Ministry for Housing. How does somebody graduate from driver to Masters?
‘This is at the expense of deserving Swazi students who could get scholarships and study there.
‘Thandiwe’s son caused a scandal a few years ago when he impregnated the daughter of the ambassador of Malawi in Taiwan, yet Thandiwe was never recalled from the foreign service of Swaziland.
‘Njabuliso is also said to be arranging for her husband Dumisani Gwebu to be employed as an investment officer at the same embassy.’
The reader also points out to me that three embassies in the Middle East were opened simply to accommodate the needs of King Mswati’s children.
Qatar - was opened especially for Princess Tiyandza to go to university in that country.
Emirates - was opened for Prince Bandzile to study there. He is tipped to be appointed ambassador there in 2011 after he learns the ropes.
Kuwait - was opened for Princess Temaswati to study in that country.
Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) has devoted the latest edition (Winter 2010) of its quarterly magazine ACTSA News to a ‘Focus on Swaziland’.
Here is one of the articles, SWAZILAND: A NATION IN CRISIS, that summarises the extent of the economic meltdown brought on by the chronic mismanagement of the Swazi Government; the crisis in public services, the inequalities in the kingdom headed by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, and the fight for human rights.
Until recently the Swazi regime has successfully managed not only to hide the country’s gross inequality and lack of rights, but has also hidden and failed to act on a growing financial crisis which threatens to bankrupt the nation.
For many years the economy has been reliant on external sources. During the apartheid years Swaziland benefited from investment from companies unwilling or unable to operate in South Africa or war torn Mozambique. More recently, the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) has provided two thirds of government revenue.
The global recession, recent reform of SACU and most of all financial mismanagement have produced a massive but predictable black hole in the Swazi economy which, until recently, has virtually been ignored. Following major criticisms from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), members of the Royal Family and Government have attempted to address the problem by approaching other countries in the hope of obtaining a loan - so far with no success.
In their desperation to obtain approval for a loan, at the end of an IMF delegation to the country Swaziland’s Finance Minister Majozi Sithole announced new tax rules, the privatisation of some public services and plans to cut 7,000 public sector jobs. The IMF’s encouragement for cuts to jobs and services in a country where 40 per cent are already unemployed will inevitably increase the number living in hardship, and trade unions have criticised the measures.
The majority of the Swazi population live under the harshest of conditions. Almost 70 percent live on less than a dollar a day and over a quarter are reliant on food aid. Swaziland has an HIV rate of 26.1 percent (the highest in the world), the consequences of which are horrendous: life expectancy has plummeted to 47 years, and 30 per cent of children are either orphaned or are living with a critically ill parent.
Much of the nation’s wealth lies in the hands of a tiny minority. The Royal Family and its entourage continue to benefit from a massive slice of the national budget, generous contributions from business and industry and the vast Tibyo fund; an undisclosed amount held ‘in trust’ by the King for the people of Swaziland, but only ever used to support a very select minority. $6 million in government funds is lost every month through corruption and, while the country’s semi-feudal agricultural system helps to prop up wealthy landowners, those who farm the land remain in poverty.
One area unlikely to see substantial cuts is the country’s security forces.
The vast military might of this tiny nation and its huge police force lead many to ask what threat the nation faces when it hasn’t seen a war in over a century. This vast force is more focused on keeping order within the country rather than defending it from any external threat.
The Government has promised not to make cuts to education and health, but both areas start from an already low funding base, and cuts to higher education were made in January this year [2010]. In March 2009 Swaziland’s High Court ordered the Government to adhere to its constitutional commitment and provide free education to primary school children, but the legal order did not demand any actual action. A further court case resulted in the judge ruling that the provision of free education was dependent on resources, not a commitment in the constitution.
Despite its problems little is invested in the nation’s health. Leaking roofs, unreliable water supplies, a lack of beds and ‘burnout’ among nurses are commonplace in hospitals and clinics.
According to Sophia Mukasa Monico, Country Coordinator for UNAIDS in Swaziland, these appalling conditions are keeping patients away: “Women are refusing to come to some clinics and hospitals because of the poor environment and the attitude of the health workers.”
Swaziland may call itself a democracy but in reality bears little resemblance to one. The country’s power lies firmly in the hands of the King and those he appoints: the Government and local chiefs, who have extensive powers over their communities, including controls over land and the right to education. This contributes towards a climate in which people feel highly restricted and unable to speak out.
Freedom and rights in Swaziland have become so bad that the country now ranks lower than Zimbabwe and DRC [Democratic Republic of Congo] on the respected Mo Ibrahim Index for participation and human rights. The repressive Suppression of Terrorism Act is used liberally to brandish anyone who speaks out as a terrorist and is regularly used to harass, arrest and torture dissenting voices. In a country where political parties are banned and the main opposition has been declared terrorist, trade unions often fill the resultant void by providing a space where political dialogue can take place. The Government is attempting to limit even this by pushing ahead with a Public Services Bill which would prevent state employees from discussing anything deemed ‘political’.
Despite this, and against all odds, voices of dissent in Swaziland are increasing. Many in Swaziland find it difficult to fathom why the international community is so reluctant to take up their plight.
One factor is a Government which uses every opportunity to portray a completely inaccurate picture of the country.
Tourists see a nation which projects itself as successfully marrying modern affluence with cultural traditions. Those who arrive from South Africa will be surprised at the impressive highway, lined with luxurious houses.
Announcements at Matsapha International Airport proudly inform passengers of the US $150 million project to build a new [Sikhuphe] airport. As they visit the cultural village or experience the infamous Reed Dance, in which young virgin women dance for the King so he can choose his next wife, tourists will remain oblivious to the poverty and inequality that lies behind this facade of affluence and culture.
Much of the media is strictly controlled by the Government. Radio and television are largely under the control of the state, the Observer Group of newspapers is controlled by the Royal Family and the Times of Swaziland Group, although independent, practices extremely strict self censorship.
Issues which many would consider to be in the national interest are often blocked in the interest of national security or to protect the country’s image. In October the Prime Minister, Barnabas Dlamini, announced the creation of a law which would require newspaper columnists to seek permission before writing critically about the Government.
Attempts have even been made to restrict foreign coverage of sensitive issues in Swaziland.
After decades of silence there is a growing global movement working to highlight the dire situation in Swaziland.
The Swaziland Democracy Campaign, with chapters in both Swaziland and South Africa, is building momentum for a regional and international campaign for democracy and rights.
Voices within the United Nations and in particular the International Labour Organisation are slowly growing stronger but are consistently met with procrastination from a government desperate to hold on to the status quo, which hides behind the country’s rich and unique culture.
The world is waking up to the political and economic crisis is Swaziland, but it is doing so far too slowly. With few natural resources, a small population and because it is often overshadowed by its regional neighbours, the situation can far too easily be overlooked by international governments. As well as pressure from within, if Swaziland is to see any fundamental and positive change in the near future, it will take many voices from across the globe to speak out about the plight of the Swazi people and ensure that international governments stop ignoring the growing political and economic crisis.
As Swaziland’s economy goes into meltdown and the government can’t pay its bills, King Mswati III is busy spending millions of emalengeni sprucing up his palaces.
He has 13 at the moment – one for each of his wives – and since he recently married wife number 14, we must expect palace number 14 to go up some time soon. One in four of the king’s subjects live in stick and mud homes.
You won’t be surprised to hear that I am never invited to visit any of the palaces so I can’t write from firsthand experience, but people closer to the scene tell me that among the new furnishings are chandeliers that cost US$30,000 each.
There is simmering anger over the extravagance of the renovations in Swaziland, where King Mswati rules as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. But you won’t hear about the anger in the Swazi media which is scared to be critical of the king.
I’m told one palace had been completely decked out in the finest of Egyptian cotton and silks by the best Egyptian interior designers. The queen involved walked in and simply said - I don't like it - and the whole lot was pulled down.
The fineries are bought in the Middle Eastern countries of Dubai, Qatar and Kuwait.
A special trusted aide is sent on these trips to carry out Royal purchasing instructions. He is said to stay at the Burj Al-Arab hotel when in Dubai, with the bill picked up by the Swaziland Government. I hope this isn’t true: when I tried to book a room at the hotel today I was told the cheapest was E14,000 a night. (about US$2,050) Or I could have something a bit better at E28,000. I declined.
The king is not short of a dollar: 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 his palaces and stay at seven-star hotels when abroad.
The Swazi Royal Family is bleeding the kingdom dry. In April 2001, the Swaziland Democracy Campaign reported that a breakdown of expenditures shows that despite the king’s personal wealth, a significant portion of mainstream government spending goes towards the up keep of the royal family. In the past few years the following are annual expenditures associated with the royal family:
E170 million for Royal Emoluments and Civil List.
E 125 million for rehabilitation, maintenance and construction of state houses.
E158 million recurrent budget for the Swazi National Treasury under the King’s office.
E50 million for state houses and E50 million for link roads to royal residence.
E95 million for official royal trips by the king.
Swaziland is trying to negotiate a loan of E500 million to get it out of the crisis caused by the government’s mismanagement of the economy. As the king wallows in his wealth, seven in ten of his subjects are mired in deepest poverty, earning less than US$1 a day.
To pay for the economic crisis at least 7,000 civil servants will lose their jobs, the poorest workers will be forced to pay income tax for the first time and public services are being slashed.
People in the international community will wonder why they should come to Swaziland’s aid. Surely they would want Swaziland to put its own house in order before it received help from overseas. They would expect King Mswati to spend less on himself and help his own people first, before outsiders do. And who can blame them, because they are right.
