A Swazi newspaper has told
its readers that King Mswati III’s net personal wealth is estimated at
US$200 million (E2 billion), breaking protocol that the personal life of the
monarch is never discussed.
The estimate first came from the Forbes magazine in 2007, repeated in
2009
and has been widely reported all over the world and used extensively by critics
of the king who say he squanders money on himself while seven in ten of his 1.3
million subjects live in abject poverty on less than US$2 per day.
Now, the Times Sunday,an independent
newspaper in the Swaziland where King Mswati rules as sub-Saharan Africa’s last
absolute monarch, has reported an interview
the king gave with the international news agency, Reuters.
The interview was published on 13 September 2013, but it
is only now that the Times has
reported on it.
In its report the Times
Sunday says, ‘In 2009, Forbes magazine estimated his personal wealth at
US$200 million (about E2 billion).
‘In response to this estimation, the king told Reuters
that he had no idea where the figures came from.
‘“I was very surprised and wondered where I got all this amount of money,” said His Majesty the King.
‘“You just live according to what you can afford and according to your taste within the budget that has been allocated. It’s not in anyone’s interest to overspend.”’
The report from Reuters, published in the run-up to the
national election in Swaziland in September, was largely critical of the king.
Reuters reported, but the Times Sunday did not repeat, ‘The king denied accusations of
autocracy and was unapologetic about the lavish lifestyle enjoyed by him and
his dozen or so wives, each of whom has a palace paid for by an administration
that he himself appoints.’
It added, ‘On the streets of the capital, Swazis offer
criticism of the king only in whispered tones, leaving the most strident voices
to come from the relative safety of South Africa.
‘“This is a monarchy that says there is a constitution
for the government and then says that we rule above it," Wandile Dludlu of
the Swaziland United Democratic Front, a coalition of pro-democracy activists,
told a seminar in Pretoria this week.
‘“We should not allow Mswati to play God over our
lives.”’
Reuters also reported, ‘Despite his [the king’s]
self-assurance, outside the concrete walls of Lozitha, guarded by soldiers and
conveniently sitting next door to the Ministry of Defence, all is not well in
the tiny sugar-producing kingdom of rocky hills and rolling plains.
‘Swaziland has the world's highest HIV/AIDS rate, with
more than one in four adults infected, and the $4 billion economy is
flat-lining, starved of investment and struggling to recover from a 2011 budget
crunch that almost bankrupted the state.’
Reuters also quoted a report
from the UK-based think tank Chatham House which said,‘Swaziland is on a non-sustainable trajectory, which the king
and the government will ignore at their peril.’
Reuters reported, ‘The chief resident of Lozitha [the
king] does not share the concerns.’
The publication by the Times Sunday of the Reuters’ report will bring back memories of
2007, when King Mswati threatened to close down the newspaper and its companion
titles the Times of Swaziland and Swazi News after it reported a news
agency report critical of the king.
Then, the Times
Sunday reported Afrol News,
from Norway, which said, ‘Swaziland is increasingly paralysed by poor
governance, corruption and the private spending of authoritarian King Mswati
III and his large royal family. The growing social crisis in the country and
the lessening interest of donors to support King Mswati’s regime has also
created escalating needs for social services beyond the scale of national
budgets.’
King Mswati called the Times publisher to Lozitha Palace and
threatened to close down the newspapers unless the people responsible for
the publication of the article were sacked and an abject apology was published.
The Times did as it was told.
On the Thursday (22 March 2007) following publication an ‘unreserved
apology’ to the king was published on the front page of the Times of Swaziland (repeated in the
following week’s Times Sunday).
The apology signed by both the publisher and managing
editor of the Times Group said the
article, ‘was disparaging to the person of His Majesty in its content, greatly
embarrassed him and should not have passed editorial scrutiny.’
It went on, ‘Our newspapers take great care with matters
regarding the monarch, being conscious always of the unbreakable link of the
King with the Nation. What occurred is reprehensible and we will renew our
vigilance in editorial matters with the utmost vigour.’
To make absolutely certain that there was no doubt of the
newspaper group’s subservience to the king, it finished the apology, ‘Once
again your Majesty, our sincere and humble apologies.’
See also
CLOSURE THREAT AT ‘TIMES’
KING ADMITS NO
CHANGE ON DEMOCRACY
SWAZILAND KING KEEPS COINING IT IN
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