'SWAZI QUEENS ON SHOPPING SPREE'

Unconfirmed reports are swirling around Swaziland that a group of the king’s wives are on another multi-million dollar international shopping spree.

It is said that the queens (King Mswati III has at least 13, but it is unclear how many are on the trip) are travelling to Brussels in Belgium and then to London, UK.

About 80 other people are said to be on the trip to tend to the needs of the queens.

If anyone can confirm these reports or has other information I’d be happy to hear from you (swazimedia@yahoo.com)

The latest reports have the ring of truth about them as the queens have form when it comes to extravagant shopping trips.

In August 2009, five of King Mswati’s wives went on a shopping trip through Europe and the Middle East that cost an estimated 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.

But newspapers and websites across the world followed the story. The Times of London, for example, reported how the queens went on a shopping spree while the subjects of King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarchy, went hungry.

The Australian newspaper said the king ignored the Swazi poor and the newspaper reminded readers that Swaziland relied on international aid from the European Union and the United States.

The previous year in August 2008 when a group of the king’s wives went on a similar shopping spree ordinary Swazi women were so outraged that they took to the streets of Swaziland in protest.

The latest news of the king’s reckless spending comes in the month that the Swazi Observer, the newspaper in effect owned by the king himself, reported that unemployment in Swaziland averaged 40 percent and in the Shiselweni region it was more than half.

In addition, seven in ten people in Swaziland live in abject poverty earning less than one US dollar a day.

HOW WORLD SEES SWAZILAND QUEENS

If King Mswati III of Swaziland and his illegally-appointed prime minister Barnabas Dlamini thought they could hide from the world the E50 million (6 million US dollars) shopping trip made by the king’s wives they must think again.

As I reported on Wednesday (19 August 2009) 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.

But after my report appeared the cat is now out of the bag and the news has gone global and King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, is once again branded for the lavish lifestyle he and his family lead while seven in ten of his subjects barely exist in absolute poverty.

Newspapers, radio and websites across the world have followed up on the story. Lucky Lukhele, spokesperson for the Swaziland Solidarity Network, says he has personally been contacted by 15 international media houses and he believes at least five are on their way to Swaziland to follow up the report themselves.

The Saturday Star from Johannesburg, South Africa, today (22 August 2009) covers the story and highlights the belief that South African taxpayers are footing the bill for the king’s extravagances.

The Star is freely available to buy in Swaziland, so this undermines the Swazi ruling elite’s attempt to keep information about the king’s wives’ shopping trip away from ordinary Swazis. Short of rounding up every copy of the newspaper from the vendors in Swaziland there is little that can be done to suppress the news.

The official voice of Swaziland is mute in the face of growing criticism across the world. In all the reports I have read no one from the Swazi Government or the office of King Mswati has been ‘available’ for comment.

If you want to see the reports yourself here are some of them.

Saturday Star

Times, London , UK

The Australian

Herald, Ireland

SW Africa Radio

All Headline News

Bizcast

Capto Varitas News From Everywhere

Socialist Banner

Royalty in the News

Way Odd

Froxter

Monsters and Critics

SWAZI QUEENS’ TRIP CONDEMNED

My report yesterday (19 August 2009) that some of the wives of Swaziland’s King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, have undertaken a round the world shopping spree spending as much as six million US dollars is attracting international attention.

Below is a report from the Times of London, dated 21 August 2009.

Swaziland’s king sends wives on shopping spree while subjects go hungry

King Mswati III of Swaziland, Africa’s last absolute monarch and ruler of some of the poorest people in the world, has sent his favourite wives on a multimillion-pound shopping jaunt through Europe, the Middle East and Asia, provoking fierce criticism of his profligacy.

Britain has been drawn into the row because of the millions of pounds in aid reportedly given to the kingdom, with campaigners accusing Whitehall of double standards. “They shout about Zimbabwe, but keep quiet about what is happening in Swaziland, even though they are one of its biggest aid donors. They are wasting British taxpayers’ money on this tyrant,” Lucky Lukhele, of the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN), told The Times.

The landlocked kingdom of Swaziland is home to about 1.2 million people, more than two thirds of whom live in abject poverty on less than 50 pence a day. More than a quarter of the adult population has HIV — the highest ratio in the world.

The king enjoys a personal fortune of about £145 million, as the beneficiary of two funds created by his father, Sobhuza II, in trust for the nation. He also receives money from the national budget for his family’s upkeep. Last year this totalled £12 million — more than was set aside for education.

Reports from the kingdom said that the king had dispatched at least five of his 13 wives and dozens of retainers to France, Italy, Dubai and Taiwan on a secret tour last week, using £4 million from the state budget. In Swaziland it is a criminal offence to criticise the king’s private life. The Government declined to comment.

Swaziland is heavily dependent on handouts from the international community. According to SSN, Britain pays the lion’s share of an estimated £65 million in annual European Union aid, the second-highest amount after the US, which donates about $200 million (£142 million) a year.

Two years ago, Foreign and Commonwealth Office cuts led to the closure of the UK’s Embassy in Mbabane, the capital, and the country is now monitored from neighbouring South Africa. A British diplomatic source said that the Government had made clear its concern over “governance issues” in Swaziland and no longer gave bilateral support.

King Mswati, who was educated at the English public school at Sherborne, Dorset, is no stranger to controversy. In May he bought 20 armoured Mercedes Benz cars at a cost of £150,000 each; last year he held a sumptuous “40/40” party to celebrate the twin events of his 40th birthday and the 40th anniversary of his country’s independence.

He owns several private palaces where he houses his many wives, some of whom have run away and sought refuge in South Africa.

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