King
Mswati III, the autocratic ruler of Swaziland / eSwatini, has lost the chance
to be chair of the African Union in 2020 because his kingdom is broke.
The honour
will now go to the head of state of South Africa, who is presently Cyril Ramaphosa.
King
Mswati had been expected to take the chair of the AU Commission which changes
each year, but at its heads of state summit in Addis Ababa earlier in February 2019 the
decision was made to make the change.
Media in
South Africa reported Swaziland missed out on the chair because it did not have
the resources to fulfil the role.
The AU is an organisation that promotes unity and solidarity
among African states.
City
Press in South Africa reported officials ‘made a desperate plea to South Africa’ to take over the
chair.
It added,
‘They cited “capacity constraints”
as the reason eSwatini could not fulfil this duty, according to government
officials with knowledge of the meeting.’
The
Daily Maverick reported, ‘There was talk initially that it was eSwatini’s turn to lead. Officials,
however, said the monarchy – which is heavily in debt – complained about
“capacity constraints”. The officials didn’t clarify the meaning of this, but
it seems to be about money.’
Swaziland is still expected to host the AU mid-year summit. However,
following reforms mid-year summits have been downgraded to ‘gatherings’.
Even if Swaziland does host the mid-year meeting, South Africa is
reportedly expected to meet most of the expenses, the Daily Maverick reported an official saying.
This was, ‘because it would have to provide security and logistics,’ the
official said.
Swaziland does not have the
military, the cars or drivers to transport all the important people who would
be attending, it was reported.
It is no secret that Swaziland is
broke. Hospitals have run out of vital drugs and schools have been forced to
close because the government has not paid its suppliers. In his budget
speech in March 2018 Finance Minister Martin Dlamini said government
owed E3.1bn (US$230 million) in total to its suppliers for goods and services.
Even with these debts, the government, which is not elected but
handpicked by King Mswati, allocated E1.5
billion for a conference centre
and five-star hotel to house the AU summit. This was more than the sum
allocated to the Ministry of Agriculture (E1.4bn) or the Ministry of Defence
(E1.15bn). It was the biggest single capital project in Swaziland’s budget that
year. Total capital spending was set at E5.6bn.
In 2016,
when King Mswati was Chair of the Southern African Development Community (SADC)
he took
about E40m, mostly from public funds, to host a lavish Heads of
State summit at a time when his government was so poor it could release only
E22 million of the E305 million earmarked for drought relief in that year’s
national budget.
When he
formally opened the Swaziland Parliament on 8 February 2019, King
Mswati demanded severe public spending cuts for the coming year. He said the kingdom’s spending had ‘surpassed
sustainable levels’ and government debts were increasing. The kingdom’s
financial reserves were falling and there was little economic growth. He warned
that taxes collected in Swaziland would not be enough to pay the bills.
See also
Kingdom fails SADC delegates
Millions ‘wasted’ on
luxury vehicles at SADC summit
Absolute king takes chair of SADC
‘Dictator king not fit to chair SADC’
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