How do you explain to the world that people are dying of hunger and AIDS in Swaziland, while at the same time the Swazi King, Mswati III is living large, spending millions of dollars, building palaces, buying jets and driving ultra-luxury cars?
This is, of course, a rhetorical question. You can’t.
Huseyin Akturk, who is from Turkey, spent two years in Swaziland trying to make sense of the kingdom. He discovered that many Swazis found democracy hard to comprehend, not because they don’t have the capacity to understand it but because they see it as ‘evil’ and they fear supporting it.
In Swaziland King Mswati’s word is literally the law. Challenging his authority is not only illegal; it is seen as committing the sin of being un-Swazi.
He has just published an article in the Journal of Turkish Weekly Opinion. I reproduce it below. It’s well worth a read.
The Playboy King of Swaziland Challenged by Pro-Democracy Movements
Wednesday , 19 November 2008
Every year, people in Turkey as well as all others in the world, get introduced to the tiny kingdom of Swaziland with the annual traditional ceremony called the Reed Dance (the Umhlanga in Siswati) where twenty to thirty thousand half naked, virgin women in the country get together to pay their tribute to the Queen Mother. The King, however, occasionally uses this opportunity to choose new wives for himself. And sadly enough, this is pretty much the only highlighted event in the country that satisfies the threshold to appear in the most prominent newspapers in the world.
Although the Reed Dance is symbolizing unity, joy, and happiness, the rest of the days for Swazis mean nothing more than poverty, fear, unemployment, hunger, and AIDS. Approximately 40% of the population lives with HIV AIDS, second highest after Botswana. 50.000 children have lost one or both of their parents and the life expectancy dropped from 51 years in mid 1990s to 39 years as a direct result of AIDS [1].
About 800,000 Swazis out of 1,2 million (approximately 70%) of the population survive on about less than 70 US cents a day, only enough to buy a load of bread [2].
Swaziland is one of the poorest countries in the world… Or is this really true?
While I was waiting for my plane at Matsapha airport, to fly from Swaziland to Johannesburg, through the windows of the airport I noticed a crowd, around 100 uniformed school children, walking in a line towards a parked plane. There was an older person leading the group and making sure that the line was straight. As they approached the plane the doors opened and a flight attendant welcomed everyone into the plane. As they all walked in, I started wondering where they were flying to but after a few seconds, I saw all of them walking out from the back door of the plane. I asked an airport worker at the airport what all these people were doing outside. He responded:
The king ordered the school principles to take the children to see his new toy: a $45 million US private jet.
After spending 2 years in this country, witnessing the tragedy, poverty of this nation, I was shocked to hear that King Mswati, not only purchased a $45 million US private jet, but also he was showing it off to the 9-10 year old children.
This is unfortunately not the only example representing the King’s lavish lifestyle. In 2004, King Mswati purchased a $690.000 Maybach 62, an ultraluxury Mercedes-Sedan equipped with a television, refrigerator, heated steering wheel and sterling silver champagne flutes[3]. Mswati, who likes to marry as much as his father did, buys an ultra-luxury BMW and builds a $15 million palace for each of his wives. He currently has 13 wives, long way to beat his father King Sobhuza, who had 70 wives and 210 children during the 82 years he lived.
And we wonder why this small nation is suffering from AIDS and poverty…
During the 40-40 Celebration, so named to honor the king’s 40th birthday and nation’s 40th year of independence, a 15.000 seat stadium was built only for the occasion. The king ordered a fleet of BMWs to entertain the visitors. Some arrived for the celebrations fresh from a shopping trip to Dubai[4].
The extra lavish 40-40 celebrations raised the tensions, triggering the pro-democracy, anti-monarchy movements in the country where political parties have been banned since 1973. The pro-democracy activists recently launched a number of protests inside and outside Swaziland most of which was blocked by the Swazi policemen.
In September, two people were killed while planting a bomb near one of king’s palaces. Following this attack a new “anti-terrorism law” was introduced.
Recently one of the most important Swazi democracy campaigners, Mario Masuko, the leader of the People’s United Democratic Movement (Pudemo) was charged under the aforementioned “new” anti-terror law.
Apparently, he was held for alleged possession of weapons-making materials according to his son. If convicted he could face 25 years in prison[5]. For many people, this law is nothing more than a tool to silence the opposition in the country.
Democracy is hard to comprehend for many Swazis, not because they don’t have the capacity to understand it but because they see it as “evil” and they fear supporting it. In Swaziland King Mswati’s word is literally the law. Challenging his authority is not only illegal; it is seen as committing the sin of being un-Swazi. Traditionalism and religion is the weapon that scares the masses and strengthens the ruling elite. It is believed that the king is destined by God to unite and rule the Swazis.
As I witnessed in one of the king’s brother’s speeches, one may hear the word “God” among the many meaningless sentences he is (in)capable of making. It is hard to understand what he is saying but easy to understand that his royal family is blessed by God which is just enough to magnetize the uneducated poor masses around him.
This is a common chronic illness in many third world countries where people’s pure traditions and beliefs are used as a tool to satisfy the personal material fulfillment and exercise power over the masses. Swaziland is no exception to many other African nations where the ruling dictators inflict fear directly or indirectly to secure their power.
Democracy may or may not be the solution to the problems of Africa but what we know and see is that dictators do not have the will and the capacity to address any of the issues the continent is facing. After all, it is not easy to explain the world that people are dying of hunger and AIDS in a country where their leader is living large, spending millions of dollars, building palaces, buying jets and driving ultra-luxury cars.
Huseyin Akturk
ISRO – Center for African Studies
E-mail: hakturk@usak.org.tr
[1] USAID, 2006. “Swaziland. Available at: http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/global_health/ aids/Countries/africa/swaziland.html. [Date Accessed: 19 November 2008]
[2] IRIN, 2006. “Swaziland: Powerty on the increase, says government” Available at: http://newsite.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=58229 [Date Accessed: 19 November 2008]
[3] Wines, Michael. December 14, 2004. “Africa: Swaziland: For His Subjects 5227 Year’s Wages”. The New York Times. Available at: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE5DB1630F937A25751C1A9629C8B63&fta=y. [Date Accessed: 19 November 2008]
[4] BBC News, 2008. “Swaziland King Celebrates in Style”. Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7602427.stm [Date Accessed: 19 November 2008]
[5] BBC News, 2008. “Swazi critic faces terror charge”. Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7732967.stm [Date Accessed: 19 November 2008]
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