King Mswati III, the absolute monarch of Swaziland /
eSwatini, is preparing for another lavish birthday celebration despite the
poverty that ravages his kingdom.
In past years the equivalent of many millions of US
dollars has been spent on his celebrations, much of it from public funds.
It was reported locally that officers of His Majesty’s Correctional Services (HMCS) which deals with prisons objected to being made to donate from their salaries towards the cost of the King’s birthday celebration this year. King Mswati is Commissioner General-In-Chief of HMCS.
It was reported locally that officers of His Majesty’s Correctional Services (HMCS) which deals with prisons objected to being made to donate from their salaries towards the cost of the King’s birthday celebration this year. King Mswati is Commissioner General-In-Chief of HMCS.
The King’s birthday falls on 19 April but this year
that coincides with Good Friday so he has put back his own celebrations to 26
April 2019. A public holiday for that day has already been declared.
The venue for the celebration will be the Buhleni Royal Residence in the Hhohho
region. The King has at least 13 palaces across Swaziland, a kingdom about the
size of the US state of New Jersey.
Full details of the celebration have not yet been
announced.
Last year for his 50th birthday the Queen Mother gave
King Mswati III a
dining room suite made of gold. The Government, whose members are
personally appointed by King Mswati, gave him a lounge
suite trimmed with gold.
He also received cheques totalling at least E15
million (US$1.2 million) to help pay for his birthday celebration that took
place on 19 April 2018.
On that day he wore a watch
worth US$1.6 million and a suit weighing
6 kg studded with diamonds. Days earlier he had taken delivery of his
second private jet. This one, an Airbus A340, cost US$13.2 to purchase but with
VIP upgrades
was estimated to have cost US$30 million.
This happened at a time when seven in ten of the
estimated 1.1 million population lived in abject poverty with incomes less than
the equivalent of US$2 per day. The global charity Oxfam named Swaziland as the
most unequal country in the world in a report
that detailed the differences in countries between the top most earners and
those at the bottom.
The Swazi Observer, a
newspaper in effect owned by the King, reported at the time that many of the
King’s subjects visited him at Lozitha Palace to hand over gifts. It reported
that this took six hours to complete.
In 2017, just as the World
Food Program (WFP) revealed that one-in-three people in Swaziland were ‘in
need of emergency food assistance’, media in the kingdom reported that King
Mswati III’s birthday cake took three months to prepare.
The Times
of Swaziland reported, ‘All eyes were on the cake that was beautifully
displayed in the front during the garden party at His Majesty’s birthday
celebration. Most people were asking themselves how much time it took the
bakers to prepare the cake. The company has always made it a point that it
prepares a beautiful cake every year for His Majesty’s birthday celebrations.’
The Swazi
Observer said, ‘The purple and cream white cake was set on a gold stand
that connected the 49 pieces to make it one and the artistic look was finished
off with a gold lion shaped piece.’
The
WFP reported, ‘Chronic malnutrition is a main concern in Swaziland:
stunting affects 26 percent of children under five years. Swaziland is
vulnerable to drought in the south east. 77 percent of Swazis rely on
subsistence farming for their livelihoods.’
In 2015, King Mswati hosted
a birthday party for himself that cost at least E1.2 million (US$120,000).
According to a report in the Sunday
Observer, 35 cattle and 1,000 blankets were also presented to the King. The
King’s subjects, through their chiefs, also contributed 69 cattle, two goats
and E5,400 cash.
The newspaper said the dinner held at Ebuhleni Royal
Residence was mainly sponsored by the Indonesian Consular and businessman
Kareem Ashraf.
In a speech, the King told his admirers that God
blessed his party.
In 2013, his birthday
party cost US$3.6 million, but Percy Simelane, spokesperson for the Swazi
Government, said this money did not come out of the kingdom’s budget for
celebrations and national events. He told Voice
of America radio, ‘The King’s birthday was privately sponsored this year,
as [was] the case last year.’
He did not say who sponsored the event.
Also in 2013, the People’s United Democratic Movement
(PUDEMO), a banned political party in Swaziland, reported
32 BMW cars had been delivered to King ahead of his 45th birthday
celebrations.
In 2012, the King was embroiled in a row when he took
delivery of a private
jet plane, worth an estimated US$46 million. He claimed that the McDonnell
Douglas DC-9 twin-engine jet was a gift from an admirer, but declined to say
who it was. This led to speculation that the jet had been purchased out of
public funds.
The King choses a different area of his kingdom to
visit for his birthday celebrations. In 2012 the venue was Shiselweni,
Swaziland’s poorest region. Locals were forced to give up their cattle for the
King. At the time, the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN), a banned
organisation in Swaziland, called for the party to be cancelled.
It said in a statement,
‘Shiselweni is the country’s poorest region, the same area where the country’s
poorest citizens live. Areas like Lavumisa are so poverty stricken that its
residents have at times been reported to be living on poisonous shrubs. Despite
this abject poverty in the region, the King has insensitively decided to throw
a lavish birthday party and rub his stolen riches in the people’s poverty
stricken faces.’
In 2014, the King’s birthday party received global
attention when world-famous hip-hop and soul singer Erykah Badu sang for the
monarch.
King Mswati’s grip on power in his kingdom is so great
that at the time magazine editor Bheki Makhubu and human rights lawyer Thulani
Maseko were serving two years in jail for contempt of court after calling the
independence of the Swazi judicial system into question in articles in a small
circulation magazine, the Nation.
Also, seven people were in jail awaiting trial for
wearing T-shirts supporting the pro-democracy group PUDEMO.
It was against this background that Badu, who in the
past had been a vocal supporter of human rights, sang the King’s praises and
gave him a US$100 note as a gift.
See also
No
let up on poverty in Swaziland as absolute King makes public display of his
vast wealth
Swazi
Cabinet’s gift of gold
Swazi
King and queens of bling
 | ||||
How the Swazi
Observer reported the King’s 50th birthday gift from the
Queen Mother
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