Swaziland's King Mswati III has increased his annual
household budget for 2014 by more than 10 percent to US$61m, this is on top of
the 13 percent
increase he had in 2013.
The spending increases came after the king, who rules
Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, promised his subjects he
would freeze his personal budget during the kingdom’s present financial crisis.
The AFP
news agency reported on Wednesday (15 May 2014) this year’s figure also
includes provisions for construction work on palaces that will cost the tax
payer about $12.6m.
In October 2012, the then Swaziland Finance
Minister Majozi Sithole told international media the king
had asked him to freeze the Royal budget.
In October
2012, the Times of Swaziland reported
that Sithole told CNN that the king wanted to do his bit to help his kingdom
that is facing economic meltdown.
Sithole was
reported by CNN
saying, ‘I brief him [the king], he has concerns and he will, as he did
this year, say whatever you work don’t even increase my budget because I
understand the fiscal situation.’
But, the
truth about of the King’s spending has been consistently hidden from the Swazi people,
his budget is never debated in parliament, and audits of the budget are
only presented to the King himself and the Royal Board of Trustees chaired by
the minister of finance.
Media in Swaziland had access to the full budget estimates which contained information about the increase in the king’s budget but refused to publish it. State media in the kingdom are heavily censored and the private media censors itself when reporting about the king.
Media in Swaziland had access to the full budget estimates which contained information about the increase in the king’s budget but refused to publish it. State media in the kingdom are heavily censored and the private media censors itself when reporting about the king.
King Mswati is
estimated to have 14 wives and a royal family that is so large nobody is quite
sure of its exact size.
He has taken
huge increases in his slice of the Swaziland budget in recent years.
In the Swazi
national budget introduced in February 2012 King Mswati and his royal family
received E210 million (US$21 million) a year from the Swazi taxpayer for their
own use. This was the same amount they got in the financial year 2011/12, but
was an increase of 23 percent over 2010/11 and a 63 percent compared with what
the king took from his subjects in 2009/10.
Observers
note that the king has had many chances in the past to cut back on his spending
and reduce the amount of money he takes from his subjects, but so far has in
fact increased his budget, rather than reduced it. In 2011, as Swaziland
hurtled towards financial meltdown Sithole in his budget demanded 10 percent
budget cuts (later increased further) from government departments, but in the
same budget the amount of money given to the king increased by 23 percent.
All this is
happening while seven in ten of Swaziland’s tiny 1.3 million population live in
abject poverty with incomes less than US$2 a day; three in ten are so hungry
they are medically diagnosed as malnourished and the kingdom has the highest
rate of HIV infection in the world.
Despite the
poverty of the kingdom, King Mswati continues to live a lavish lifestyle. He
has 13 palaces, fleets of top-of-the-range Mercedes and BMW cars and at least
one Rolls Royce.
In 2012 he
acquired a private jet, estimated to cost US$17 million. He refused to say who
had paid for it, leading to speculation that the money came from public funds.
The king
continues to travel abroad in style. In May 2012 he
went to London to visit Queen Elizabeth II for lunch on a trip estimated to
cost US$794,500.
The previous
year he was in London with a party of 50 people for the wedding of Prince
William and Kate Middlelton, staying at a US$1,000 per night hotel on a trip
that was also estimated
to cost US$700 000 for the hire of a private jet to take the king and his
party from Swaziland to the UK.
In 2012
Queen LaMotsa, the second of the king’s wives, stayed at a Johannesburg hotel
on a personal trip at a cost
of US$60,000 a month.
In July
2012, some of the king’s 13 wives went on a shopping trip to Las Vegas, where
66 people reportedly
stayed in 10 separate villas – each costing US$2,400 per night. The party
were reported by South African newspapers to have travelled by private jet
which might have cost US$4.1 million.
In August
2009, five of King Mswati’s wives went on a shopping
trip through Europe and the Middle East that cost an estimated US$6
million.
In 2009,
Forbes magazine estimated that King Mswati himself had a personal fortune worth
US$200 million. Forbes also said King Mswati is the beneficiary of two funds
created by his father Sobhuza
II in trust for the Swazi nation. During his reign, he has absolute
discretion over use of the income. The trust has been estimated to be
worth US$10 billion.
King Mswati
also holds ‘in trust for the Swazi nation’ the profits of Tibiyo
Taka Ngwane, an investment fund with extensive shares in a number of
businesses, industries, property developments and tourism facilities in Swaziland.
This money is supposed to be used for the benefit of the people but the vast
majority is actually used for the king’s own personal use.
See also
NO SACRIFICE
FROM KING MSWATI
IMF CALLS
FOR SACRIFICE FROM KING
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