Earl Irvine, who is leaving his post as US Ambassador to
Swaziland, reported many home truths about King Mswati, while he was in office
– but only in private.
Irvine, ever the diplomat made no adverse comments about
the king in public, but in private he sent messages to his bosses in Washington
painting a poor picture of him. They
eventually became public when a series of cables he wrote were published by
Wikileaks.
Irvine reported views that King Mswati, sub-Saharan
Africa’s last absolute monarch, was ‘not intellectually well developed’ and ‘is
not a reader’. He also said the king was called ‘imbalanced’.
He wrote a confidential cable
to Washington in February 2010 in which he quoted an informant saying, the king is ‘not a reader, and will not review
documents left for him. [The informant] called the king “not intellectually
well-developed,” and contrasted the current sovereign's scant educational
background with Sobhuza II, who was educated at Lovedale College in South
Africa alongside future leaders of South Africa's African National Congress
(ANC).
Irvine quoted his informant calling King Mswati
‘imbalanced’. He gave an anecdote to illustrate this. ‘The king, [the
informant] said, invited about forty officials and advisors to a basement in
one of his palaces, where they all sat on the floor to attend to him. King
Mswati III turned up the heater, which warmed the floor first, until the
temperature in the room reached about 40 degrees Celsius, and told
inconsequential stories to those gathered while they sweated, merely to show
them he was in power.’
In a separate cable to Washington Irvine wrote about what he called ‘Witchcraft and More: A Portrait of Influences on King Mswati III’.
In the cable marked ‘confidential’, Irvine said
‘traditional leaders, superstition, and members of the royal family’ are the
major influences on the king. His ministers, however, ‘remain his servants’.
Irvine wrote, ‘The king's wives’ opinions matter to the
king, especially his third wife, LaMbikisa, who has an advanced degree and is
the only wife to whom the king proposed.’
Irvine goes on, ‘King Mswati III believes in muti
(traditional medicine used to cast spells or curses), and attempts to use muti
to attack the king are taken seriously’.
He wrote that ‘muti people’ hold great sway within the
royal family, and that the king must eat and drink whatever they give him
during traditional ceremonies, particularly when in seclusion. ‘If they are
unhappy with the direction the king is taking the country, then the king has
cause to worry.’
He added, ‘According to [informant], Prime Minister Barnabas
Sibusiso Dlamini is the king's “loyal hangman,” a relationship that dates to
the prime minister's alleged attempted suicide in 1990 or 1991.’
Irvine also wrote about King Mswati’s dubious business
deals. In October
2009 he wrote, ‘Royal politics and King Mswati's business
interests appear to have caused the ouster of Mobile Telephone Network (MTN)
CEO Tebogo Mogapi and halted parastatal Swaziland Post and Telecommunications
Corporation (SPTC) from selling the MTN shares it owns to raise money for a
Next Generation Networks (NGN)cell phone project.
‘Industry and press observers privately indicated that the king, who
already owns many MTN shares, had wanted to purchase the MTN shares himself at
a cheaper price than the buyer, MTN, was offering SPTC.’
See also
US SAYS SWAZI KING ‘IMBALANCED’
US FRANK ASSESSMENT OF SWAZI KING
US DECRIES KING ON MTN DEAL
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