Mpilwenhle Matsebula begs King Mswati Swaziland’s
absolute monarch (far left) for a university scholarship. (Picture: Swazi
Observer)
A female university student
got down on her hands and knees in front of Swaziland’s absolute monarch King
Mswati III and begged him for a scholarship so she could go to university.
He granted her plea.
It happened in full public
view when the King visited the International Trade Fair at Manzini in Swaziland,
the kingdom the King
renamed Eswatini on his 50th birthday in April 2018.
The Swazi Observer a newspaper in effect owned by the King splashed the story on
its front page on Monday (10 September 2018).
It said Mpilwenhle
Matsebula, aged 26, a first year student at the Southern Africa Nazarene
University (SANU) ‘literally begged for a scholarship’.
The Observer described Matsebula as ‘indigent’ and said, ‘It seems His
Majesty King Mswati III was very touched by the student’s predicament and has given
an instruction that she should be granted her wish.’
This was not the first time
King Mswati’s subjects had ‘literally begged’ him for help. The Observer recalled the case of Hlob’sile
Ndlovu who ‘a couple of years back jumped at an opportunity and pleaded for
employment from the King. The King is still looking into her request.’
In July 2016 it
was reported that desperately
poor people camped outside the King’s office at Nkhanini over many months to ‘beg’ the King for work.
They said they would rather die than return to poverty, the Times of Swaziland reported
at the time.
The Times
reported, ‘However, on numerous occasions, the undeterred group would be told
that there were currently no vacancies but would continue to sit and hope for a
different answer.’
The newspaper reported the jobseekers said they ‘would
rather die outside the gates of Nkhanini than to return to poverty’.
The Times
reported, ‘They said they were sending a plea to Their Majesties to find it
befitting to issue a Royal Command for them to be given jobs as they were
currently ravaged by poverty.’
It added, ‘They said they were determined to go to
Their Majesties to beg for the jobs.’
They had heard rumours that there were vacancies for
jobs such as cleaning staff, groundsmen and other general duties, which did not
require special skills in order to carry out.
Seven in ten of the estimated 1.1 population in
Swaziland live in abject poverty with incomes less than the equivalent of US$2
per day.
The global charity Oxfam named Swaziland as the most
unequal country in the world in a report
that detailed the differences in countries between the top most earners and
those at the bottom.
At his 50th birthday in April the Queen Mother gave the King Mswati a
dining room suite made of gold.
It went alongside a lounge
suite trimmed with gold that he was given by
senior members of his government.
He also received cheques totalling at least E15
million (US$1.2 million) to help pay for his birthday celebration that took
place on 19 April 2018.
On that day he wore a watch
worth US$1.6 million and a suit weighing
6 kg studded with diamonds. Days earlier he had taken delivery of
his second private jet. This one, an Airbus A340, cost US$13.2 to purchase but
with VIP upgrades
was estimated to have cost US$30 million.
The King has 13 palaces. He also owns fleets of
top-of-the range Mercedes and BMW cars. His family regularly travel the world
on shopping
trips spending millions of dollars each time.
The Swazi Observer
reported that more than E15 million
had been given to pay for the so-called 50-50 Celebration that marked the
King’s 50th birthday and the 50th anniversary of
Swaziland’s Independence from Great Britain.
At least E1.6 million came
from public funds. The Royal Swaziland Police Service and the Royal
Correctional Service gave E300,000 each and the Public Service Pension Fund
gave E1 million.
The Observer
reported at the time King Mswati was in ‘a jovial mood as he received the
gifts’.
See also
King
Eats Off Gold, Children Starving
Swazi
Cabinet’s Gift Of Gold
Kingdom
Bottom In World Health Ranking
Swazi
Govt ‘Killing Its Own People’
Swazis
Among Hungriest In The World
King
Parties, His Subjects Go Hungry
No comments:
Post a Comment