Only weeks after it
was announced Swaziland would seek E143 million (US$9 million) from the
international community because it could not pay for drought relief, the Swazi
Finance Minister announced the Government would buy the kingdom’s autocratic
monarch King Mswati III a jet plane costing at least E96 million.
The Observer on Saturday, a
newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati, reported the money was set aside as
part of the annual budget announced by the Swazi Finance Minister Martin
Dlamini on Friday (4 March 2016).
About 300,000 of the kingdom’s 1.4 million
population are
reportedly facing a food crisis caused by the drought presently crippling
Swaziland. Rural
people are in danger of severe malnutrition and it has been reported that there
is only enough water to supply the Swazi capital Mbabane for between one and
three weeks.
On 18 February 2016, Swazi Prime Minister Barnabas
Dlamini declared a state of emergency and said Swaziland would need E248 million over the coming two months for drought relief.
EU
Ambassador to Swaziland Nicola Bellomo said the kingdom
immediately would seek E143 million from the ‘donor community’ to help
Swaziland meet its needs.
The Observer reported the
E96 million was set aside for a jet for the King after members of the
parliament, many of them appointed by the King, urged the Swazi Government to consider
buying the King a plane to replace the DC-9 jet (also known as an MD-87) which he already
has. It has been the subject
of legal disputes in both Canada and the British Virgin Islands.
Earlier this month (March 2016), it was reported that King
Mswati’s share of the just-reopened Lufafa
Gold Mine at Hhelehhele in the Hhohho region of Swaziland could
be worth up to US$149 million.
See
also
SWAZILAND
DROUGHT – TRUTH REVEALED
WILL
SWAZI KING CUT HIS SPENDING?
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2016/02/will-swazi-king-cut-his-spending.html
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