Lisa
Peterson, the US ambassador to Swaziland, has said the kingdom might not receive
further food aid from her country because of the Swazi King’s ‘lavish spending’
on holidays.
She was
responding to media after it was revealed that at least three of King Mswati
III’s wives were on holiday in Orlando, Florida last week – with an entourage
of more than 100.
The cost
of this holiday was equivalent to the drought relief that the US was currently
providing to the drought-stricken country – E14 million (US$1 million).
News24
in South Africa reported Peterson saying the US had limited funds for
drought relief. She said, ‘When we hear of the lavish spending by the Swazi
royal family – especially while a third of their citizens need food aid – it
becomes difficult to encourage our government to make more emergency aid
available. You can’t expect international donors to give more money to the
citizens of Swaziland than their own leaders give them.’
South African
media have been reporting that the queens, their bodyguards, protocol
officials, family and other ‘support staff’ were on the trip that was expected
to last eight days.
The City
Press newspaper in Johannesburg reported the vacation had irritated
diplomats who were motivating for more drought relief aid for the kingdom,
which is in the grips of the worst drought in 18 years.
It reported,
‘According to diplomatic sources, meetings were held with the King, where
objections to the holiday were raised.
‘Mswati’s
defence was that the vacation had been planned and paid for in advance, and
that a cancellation would result in an unnecessary loss of money.’
As of the end of May 2016, UNICEF – the United Nations
Children’s Fund – estimated 300,320 people in total in Swaziland were affected
by drought of which 189,000 were children. It estimated that 165,000 children
affected were by drought in the two most affected regions of Lubombo and
Shiselweni.
A total of 200,897 people were food insecure, of which
90,404 were children. Of these, 8,460 children aged 6 to 59 months were
affected by ‘severe and moderate acute malnutrition’.
Meanwhile, the Swazi Government has released
only E22 million (US$1.5 million) of the E305 million earmarked for drought
relief in this year’s national budget. The Swazi Observer newspaper reported
on Monday (11 July 2016) that the Deputy Prime
Minister Paul Dlamini announced this to the House of Assembly.
The newspaper reported he ‘failed
to explain the reasons behind government’s failure to purchase and distribute
food to the affected communities’.
Swaziland is in the grip of a drought crisis and in
February 2016 the Swazi Government declared
a national emergency and said the kingdom would need
E248 million (US$16 million) before the end of April 2016 for relief.
Earlier in July 2016, it was revealed that King Mswati was about to
receive a 375-seater private jet worth about US$14 million paid for by his
Government.
See also
NO FUNDS
TO PROTECT DROUGHT KIDS
KING BUYS
JET AS UN BAILS KINGDOM OUT
DROUGHT: ‘PEOPLE
DIED OF HUNGER’
KING BUYS
JET AS UN BAILS KINGDOM OUT
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