The Swaziland Tourist Authority (STA) falsified
statistics on the number of passengers using the new King Msawati III Airport (KMIII)
to make it look a success when it was not.
And, the deception is part of an ongoing mission of
misinformation about the success of the airport that has spanned several year.
Figures for January 2015 were used by Swaziland
Civil Aviation Authority (SWACAA), aided by the Swazi Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati, to
state that the airport had defied its critics and was a success.
The STA reported that there were 10,138 passengers
departing the airport in January 2015 and 6,592 passengers arriving, making a
total of 16,730 passengers.
But these figures were entirely bogus. There are
only three flights per day departing the airport and another three arriving.
The airport serves only one route – to OR Tambo Airport in Johannesburg, South
Africa. Swaziland Airlink is the only passenger airline that uses the airport.
Airlink uses the Embraer J135 aircraft which has a maximum seating capacity of
50.
If every flight was full a maximum of 150 people per
day could depart the airport, which would make a maximum of 4,500 per month.
The 4,500 is only 44 per cent of the numbers of passengers claimed by STA. The
total possible number of passengers either departing or arriving at the airport
could not be more than 9,000 in a month: 53 per cent of the figure claimed.
No true figure for the actual number of people
travelling by plane is available publically but anecdotal evidence suggests
that the planes are rarely much more than two-thirds full, and often a lot
less.
King Mswati III Airport was built in a wilderness in
Swaziland on the whim of King Mswati, who rules as sub-Saharan Africa’s last
absolute monarch. No research was undertaken to determine the need for the
airport.
Critics of the airport argued for years that there
was no
potential for the airport. Major airports already existed less than an
hour’s flying time away in South Africa with connecting routes to Swaziland and
there was no reason to suspect passengers would want to use KMIII airport as an
alternative.
During the 11 years it took to build, the airport
was called Sikhuphe, but the name was changed in honour of the King when it
officially opened in March 2014.
The airport cost an estimated E2.5 billion (US$250
million) to build.
The Observer
on Saturday reported
at the time of the opening, ‘The King stated unflinchingly that the airport
was not a joke as some pessimists had already hinted that the country does not
need such extravagance. He said the completion and commissioning of the airport
had proved all doubting Thomases wrong.’
The newspaper added, ‘One thing was clear throughout
the King’s address that he was extremely passionate about the project and that
it was very close to his heart.’
When it was opened the international
media derided the airport as a ‘white elephant’, meaning it was of little
use.
In October 2013 a report from the International
Air Transport Association (IATA) said the airport was widely perceived as a
‘vanity
project’ because of its scale and opulence compared with the size and
nature of the market it seeks to serve.
Since it opened only one commercial passenger airline,
Swaziland Airlink, which is part-owned by the Swazi Government, has used the
Airport. The airline was forced
to move from the Matsapha Airport, even though an independent
business analysis predicted the airline would go out of business as a
result.
No other airline has publically said it wanted to use the airport.
No other airline has publically said it wanted to use the airport.
Matsapha airport which handled about 70,000
passengers a year is close to Manzini and Mbabane, the two main cities in
Swaziland. The new airport was built in a wilderness about 70km from Mbabane.
Once it opened to traffic in September 2014, Matsapha was closed for commercial
business. It is now mainly used by King Mswati when he travels in his private
luxury jet.
SWACAA
had said the KMIII airport would attract 300,000 passengers per year (820
per day on average), raising E7 million (US$700,000) per year in service
charges. In the present situation where only a maximum 300 people could travel
per day, the total it could ever hope to achieve would be 109,500; only 36
percent of the numbers needed for the airport to reach its target.
The Swazi Observer,
which was described as a
‘pure propaganda machine for the royal family’ by the Media Institute of
Southern Africa in a report on media freedom in the kingdom, used the bogus
figure to talk up the airport’s supposed success.
The newspaper first reported the figure in its
Sunday edition on 12
April 2015 and again in its daily edition on 21
April 2015.
The newspaper was determined to mislead its readers
about the success of the airport. The Sunday Observer, for example, in a
report headlined ‘KMIII Airport surpasses expectations’ said, ‘When it started
operating, sceptics were of the view that people would opt to travel by road
because of, among other reasons, the distant location of the airport, which is
situated about 70 kilometres from Mbabane.
‘However, passengers going through KMIII International Airport have surpassed the numbers that were recorded at the Matsapha Airport.’
‘However, passengers going through KMIII International Airport have surpassed the numbers that were recorded at the Matsapha Airport.’
The newspaper quoted SWACAA Marketing and Corporate
Affairs Director Sabelo Dlamini saying, ‘We are noting that the figures are
rising and for us, it points to a brighter future in aviation. It is also an
affirmation of the massive work the government of Swaziland has done over the
past five years to do right in the civil aviation industry, in particular the
construction of an airport facility travellers are happy with.’
The newspaper reported, ‘Dlamini further noted that
the drop in numbers that had been projected by critics had not happened at
all.’
There has been a long history of misinformation
about the potential for success of the airport. It was controversial from the
moment the construction was announced in 2003. The International Monetary
Fund said the airport should not be built because it would divert funds
away from much needed projects to fight poverty in Swaziland.
Today, about seven in ten of King Mswati’s 1.3
million subjects live in abject poverty, with incomes less than US$2 per 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.
The false promises made about the airport are
legion. In November
2013, SWACAA said that the Swazi Government was ready to recreate the
defunct Royal Swazi National Airways Corporation (RSNAC0) and would set about
purchasing a 100-seater jet, at a cost estimated by the Times of Swaziland of
E700 million (US$70 million). This compared to the E125 million budgeted
for free primary school education in Swaziland that year. It was never
explained where the money to buy the aircraft would come from.
SWACAA said RSNAC would fly to 10 destinations in
Africa and Asia. Observers estimated RSNAC would probably need a minimum of 10
aircraft to service the routes. For that to happen, Swaziland would have to
spend about E7 billion on aircraft. Such a sum of money would bankrupt the
kingdom. To put the cost in context the Central Bank of Swaziland has estimated
the kingdom’s gross
official reserves were E8.24 billion at the month ended November 2013.
The people were regularly misled about the opening
date of the airport. At one time the King confidently
announced it would be open in March 2010. Then his Prime Minister Barnabas
Dlamini said it would be ready for the FIFA World Cup in neighbouring South
Africa in June 2010, but this deadline came and went. SWACAA continued to issue
fresh completion dates but these were never met.
Bertram Stewart, Principal Secretary in the Ministry
of Economic Planning and Development also misled about the readiness of the
airport to open.
In October 2010, Stewart
said the airport would be open by the end of that year, but it was not. He
misled again in
February 2011 when he confidently told media the airport would be completed
by June 2011. It was not. He also said a number of top world airlines (that he
declined to name) were negotiating to use the airport, but nothing happened.
He returned
to the theme two months later in April 2011 when this time he said the
airport would be open by December 2011.
There has also been constant misinformation about
the prospect of airlines choosing to use the airport.
In October 2009, King Mswati claimed Etihad Airways
from the Gulf
State of Abu Dhabi was showing ‘deep interest’ in using the airport.
Nothing has been heard since.
In May 2011, the Swazi Observer reported Sabelo Dlamini
saying, ‘We have established possible routes which we want to market to the
operators. Some of the proposed routes from Sikhuphe are Durban, Cape Town,
Lanseria Airport in Sandton, Harare and Mozambique.’
In June 2012, he told
Swazi media that at least three airlines from different countries had
‘shown interest’ in using the airport, but he declined to name them. He remained
optimistic about the prospects for the future and said SWACAA was talking
to airlines in other countries as well.
Then in February 2013 SWACAA Director Solomon Dube told
media in Swaziland, ‘We are talking to some including Kenya Airways,
Ethiopian Airline and various Gulf airlines.’
In March 2013 SWACAA
claimed five airlines had signed deals to use the airport when it
eventually opened, but an investigation by Swazi media Commentary revealed that
two of the airlines named did not exist. It also said Botswana Airways would
use the airport, but it has not.
In October 2013 SWACAA claimed it had targeted
small and medium business travellers to use the airport. It said low-cost
airlines were interested in using Sikhuphe for business travellers who might
want to fly to nearby countries ‘on a daily basis’.
Now, in April 2015, there are still no prospects of
airlines other than Swazi Airlink using the airport.
See also
AIRPORT MOVE WILL ‘BANKRUPT AIRLINK’
PROOF: KING’S AIRPORT POINTLESS
1 comment:
So whats your suggestion. Swaziland must not think progress, but feed its citizens who are not even contributing a cent to the economy. Where will jobs come from. Who will bother to find work if government is feeding the citizens. So citizens must have sex, bear children and my tax contribution feed them and their children. It is a known fact that most Swazis are lazy. I personally appreciate these developments cause my grand chilldren will not be ashamed of this country. There's two sides to every situation, pity though cause you guys always look one side. At least your ag
enda is known. As it is now government has made available E88 million through The Tinkhundla, constitueties for businesses, but alas you turn a blind eye to that. Lets hear you talk about it and encourage the citizens to start self sustaining projects and stop expecting government to feed them. Many Swazis are in business with the government making money and paying tax. You want that tax to go feed some sun basking rascals who most of them are high school drop outs. please.
Same was said when Sun City was built. Rome was not built in a day. It is not the Kings airport, but Swaziland International Airport. That it is named after him is our way of life, just like the way streets are named. Shaka International Airport is so far away from Durban, same travellers from other parts of Jozi travels many kilometres to OR, someone from Pretoria for instance. Whoever told you that Mswati is the last monarch could be God Almighty otherwise I reckon you better wake up since the majority of Swazis can smash your face for such a statement.
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