First there was a media fanfare to announce a plan to build a 5 billion US dollar (E50 billion) power plant backed by donor money and supported by King Mwsati III who confidently guaranteed the money to pay for it was in place and it was all systems go.
And now news dribbles out that it’s not going to happen.
The plan was to produce 1 000 MW of electricity (even though Swaziland at present only produces 70 MW through hydro electricity) to fulfil all the kingdom’s energy needs and to export some to neighbouring South Africa.
To save face (whose? The king’s?) we are told that the plan will not go ahead as planned but will be scaled down. But we are told, there will be a new electricity plant. Honest. No, really.
When the plan for Franken Mining to build the plant was first announced in April 2009 myself and others in Swaziland questioned whether the Swazi people were about to be victims of a gigantic fraud.
The office of King Mswati deliberately kept the plans from Parliament, with Swazi National Council (Liqoqo) chairman Prince Mangaliso playing a prominent part.
Suspicions were aroused because no one could trace a company called Franken Mining
At the time, the Times of Swaziland quoted Prince Mangaliso saying that to avoid delays in seeing the project actually taking off, government had not been involved. He said government would only be brought on board once all important aspects had been covered.
Prince Mangaliso said, ‘Land and minerals are under the control of the king.’
The secrecy behind the power station deal raised concerns among civil society. The Swaziland Coalition of Concerned Civic Organisations (SCCCO) raised 20 specific questions about the deal and said, ‘In any normal society, the people would not be presented with decisions without some, if not a lot, of consultations.’ It remains a mystery why Franken Mining was chosen for the project and what tendering process was followed before contracts were issued.
According to a report yesterday (13 October 2009) from Reuters news agency, the original plan has been scaled down. Swaziland Electricity Company (SEC) still wants to build a coal-fired plant, but on a much smaller scale.
A feasibility study will be conducted first, SEC said.
According to Reuters no reason for the scaling down of the project was given, nor has a source of funding been found for the project.
There are many questions to be asked about this project but let’s start with this one: How is it that King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, had the money to build the plant in April, but by October the money is no longer there?
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