King Mswati III of
Swaziland has collected about E40 million (US$3 million) to host a lavish SADC Heads
of State summit at a time when his government could release only E22 million of
the E305 million earmarked for drought relief in this year’s national budget.
The King, who is
sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, is to assume the chair of the
Southern African Development Community on 17 August 2016.
About 300,000 of the Swazi 1.3
million population face severe hunger as drought hits the southern African
region. Despite this, the King called for donations from parastatal
organisations, businesses and overseas’ companies to allow him to host what the
Swazi Observer,
a newspaper in effect owned by the King, called ‘an epic event’.
The newspaper reported on
Saturday (30 July 2016) that, ‘the King expressed pleasure that the donations
proved quite enough to assist the country host an epic event’. He reportedly praised
foreign investors for coming forward with ‘notable donations’.
The Observer also
reported that among donations offered to the King were avocadoes,
fruit and vegetables that would be used for meals during the summit.
While King Mswati prepares
to party his subjects are ravaged by drought. In April 2016, UNICEF
– the United Nations Children’s Fund – reported
it needed US$151,200 for its Child Protection work relating to the drought that
has hit Swaziland. In
June 2016 it reported that no money at all was forthcoming. It estimated
that 189,000 children under the age of 18 were affected by the drought.
In July 2016, James
Simelane, Member of Parliament for Sandleni Constituency in the Shiselweni
region, was reported in the Swazi Observer newspaper saying people had started dying of hunger
in his constituency because the Swazi Government had failed to deliver food to
drought-stricken areas.
As of the end of May 2016, UNICEF 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’.
Also 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.
Meanwhile,
the Swazi Government has released only E22 million of the E305 million
earmarked for drought relief in this year’s national budget. The Swazi
Observer newspaper reported on 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’.
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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