There is no stopping the media in Swaziland as they continue
to bang on about how close the kingdom is to achieving King Mswati III’s
aspiration to be the ruler of a ‘First World’ nation by 2022.
One cannot entirely blame them since the King rules
Swaziland as an absolute monarch and in effect owns the Swazi Observer
newspaper group, one of only two newspaper groups in the kingdom.
The King can and will close down media houses if it suits
him and there are plenty of reasons for journalists and owners to be afraid of
him.
But that should not stop independent observers from
discussing the King’s claim that his kingdom is on track to be a ‘First World’
nation.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in
Swaziland issued a report in February 2014 that received no publicity in
the kingdom, that said if Swaziland were to achieve ‘First World’ status it
would have to be ‘among high human development countries like Norway,
Australia, United States, Netherlands and Germany to name a few’.
UNDP went on to give these statistics comparing
present-day Swaziland with Norway, the United States and Germany.
Life
expectancy: Swaziland (48.9 years); Norway (81.3); United
States (78.7); Germany (80.6).
Mean average
years of schooling: Swaziland (7.1); Norway (12.6); United States
(13.3); Germany (12.2).
Percentage
of population with at least secondary school education: Swaziland
(48); Norway (95.2); United States (94.5); Germany (96.6).
The UNDP in Swaziland did not comment on the
likelihood of Swaziland reaching ‘First World’ status by 2022; it did not have
to. Any independent observer can see from these statistics that Swaziland is
not even close to reaching the King’s target.
The UNDP is not alone in this. In 2012 a report published by
24/7 Wall St in the United States, and based on data from the World Bank, identified
Swaziland as the fifth poorest country in the entire world.
It said 69 percent of King Mswati’s 1.3 million
subjects lived in poverty.
Its report stated, ‘[T]he country’s workforce is
largely concentrated in subsistence agriculture, even though the country faces
serious concerns about overgrazing and soil depletion. While these factors harm
the nation’s economy, health concerns are likely one of the major factors
preventing Swaziland’s population from escaping poverty.’
Despite these obvious facts the media in Swaziland
will continue to claim that the kingdom is on-track to 2022 and any alternative
view will be suppressed. This is because it was King Mswati himself who decreed
that the kingdom should achieve ‘First World’ status and the media are
terrified of contradicting him.
Here’s an example
of how far the media will go in its sycophancy to the King. In October
2013, the Observer on Saturday, part
of a newspaper group described by the Media Institute of Southern
Africa in a report
on press freedom in the kingdom, as ‘a
pure propaganda machine for the royal family’ reported that King Mswati
told an admiring audience in Swaziland that Americans ‘have travelled to the
moon and stayed there for about six to eight months’ and he hoped Swazi people
would one day do the same.
-
Richard Rooney
See also
SWAZILAND FIRST WORLD MYTH
KING, THE
FIRST WORLD AND DEMOCRACY
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