PRAISE FOR THE SWAZI KING

A lot of people in Swaziland, including many who work for the media, believe that the kingdom gets a bad press overseas.

This isn’t the case. The truth is that hardly anything about Swaziland gets reported outside the borders of the kingdom. This is, I think, because Swaziland has little or no strategic importance in the world. There are no important seaports or airstrips here, and there is no mineral wealth to speak of to interest international companies. The outside world is just not interested.

What gets people in Swaziland excited about the overseas’ media is the way they report on King Mswati III.

There is a belief that the media are always writing about the king’s lavish lifestyle (wives, cars, private jet) and comparing it to the 70 percent of the Swazi population who live in abject poverty.

Although it is true that sometimes there are reports like that about the King, most reports (and I repeat here there aren’t many in total) are very favourable to the King. They are usually about the King travelling to some country or other to try to drum up business for Swaziland.

I was reminded that King Mswati III mostly gets a ‘good press’ abroad by an article in the Philippine Daily Inquirer at the weekend (15 June 2008) about the King’s recent holiday to Cebu.

The newspaper reports that the ‘handsome king’ arrived in ‘his private jet to spend a holiday at Shangri-La’s Mactan Island Resort and Spa […] With him was his 13th wife Queen Lankhambule, their two little princesses, other royal relations and high dignitaries of their court.’

The Inquirer continued, ‘Cebu Governor Gwedolyn Garcia hosted a luncheon in their honor at Shangri-La’s Ocean Pavilion.’ (A raisin company sponsored the luncheon.)

To give its readers some background to the King, the Inquirer advised, ‘It helps to have read Veronica MacLean’s book “Crowned Heads” to understand the history and culture of Swaziland. She met the handsome King Mswati III when he was 21 and already had four wives. He is 40 now. The king’s fertility is of national concern in Swaziland as it reflects or helps attain the country’s prosperity.’

The Cebu Governor presented the King with many gifts ‘including shawls and pearl jewelry for his queen, made by Carmen Campbell’.

The Inquirer reporter continued, ‘Sam Costanilla hosted a program of songs and dances choreographed by Junjet Primor. The year-old princess at our table began to protest until her bejeweled nanny got the message, and turned her chair around to give her a view of the show. There was shopping time for the Swaziland royals at SM City Cebu, where they headed for the Nokia and Levi’s shops.’

Acqua’s chef de Cusine Marc Martinez prepared a fabulous menu consisting of seared slab of salmon with raisins and ‘agro-dolce’ sauce drizzled with powdered toasted almonds.


To read the full report click here.

See also
HOW FOREIGN MEDIA SEE SWAZILAND
AFRICA’S VIEW OF SWAZILAND