King Mswati III, the absolute monarch of Swaziland / Eswatini,
is reportedly hiding US$30 million of money from Libya for his friend Jacob
Zuma, the former president of South Africa.
The Sunday Times newspaper in South Africa
reported (7 April 2019) that the money was secretly moved to Eswatini
earlier this year from Zuma’s Nkandla residence where it had been hidden. The money had reportedly been given to Zuma
by late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
A high-ranking intelligence source told the Sunday
Times that its investigations had revealed that the money had been moved in
five tranches from Nkandla and transported to Eswatini.
King Mswati III reportedly
confirmed the existence of the money to South Africa’s current President Cyril
Ramaphosa during a meeting at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg.
The AFP
news agency reported, ‘According to the Sunday
Times’ sources, Zuma travelled to Libya in 2011 with then intelligence
minister Siyabonga Cwele, where the delegation offered the Libyan leader safe
passage to SA as rebel forces closed in.
‘According to an insider, Gaddafi gave Zuma the cash,
saying that if he was captured Zuma must find him a good lawyer to represent
him at the International Criminal Court.
The Sunday Times reported, ‘The money was
said to have been transported out of King Shaka airport in Durban bound for
Eswatini, where it was to be stored by the Central Bank of Eswatini.
‘But highly placed
sources in the country said the bank’s governor Majozi Sithole refused to
deposit the cash pile. Sorting out the cash pile was left to deputy governor
Mhlabuhlangene Dlamini, who is related to the king.
‘“The deputy
governor is involved. He is the one who went with JZ [Zuma] to go and count the
money. He took some people at the bank, they apparently flew to King Shaka
airport, counted out the money and brought it back. Majozi is refusing to put
the cash into the system,” said an insider with links to both the royal
household and the bank.’
The Sunday Times
reported that according to government sources Zuma allegedly held the stash of
high-denomination US dollar bills for several years in an underground vault at
his luxurious home in rural Kwazulu Natal. Zuma handed it over to King Mswati
of Eswatini after fearing he would face charges in South Africa over corruption
allegations.
The newspaper said
the Libyans had asked President Ramaphosa to help get the
money back. It reported Gaddafi’s son Saif al
Islam wanted to contest elections later this year.
King Mswati and Jacob Zuma have a close personal
relationship. In October 2017 Princess Ziyanda, a member of the Swazi
Royal Family, married Zuma’s son Mxolisi. The princess was the
second member of the royal family to marry into the Zuma family,
the Swazi Observer,
a newspaper in effect owned by the King, reported at the time.
The Observer
reported, ‘The Zuma family alone presented her [Princess Ziyanda] with
close to E600,000 in hard cash.’ In Swaziland seven in ten of the population
live on incomes less than E55 a day. The Zuma family also paid the King 121
cattle as lobola [bride price] for the princess.
King Mswati was a close ally of Gaddafi and made trips
to Libya for talks about securing business and financial aid for Swaziland.
In 2002, King
Mswati, made Gaddafi a Grand Counsellor of the Order of Sobhuza II, the royal
palace’s highest honour and named after Mswati’s father.
One of the king’s sons, Prince Sicalo, underwent
intensive military training in Libya.
King Mswati was both a political ally and a friend of
Gaddafi. In 2001, when King Mswati was struck down with a mystery illness
(widely believed at the time to be caused by deliberate poisoning) Gaddafi flew
a team of doctors to Swaziland to treat
the king.
Both the Swazi and South African governments denied
the existence of the money. It was reported by Africa News
24-7 that Zuma intended to sue the Sunday Times for defamation.
King
Mswati, makes Gaddafi a Grand Counsellor of the Order of Sobhuza II. Picture:
Without The King documentary
See also
Wikileaks: Swazi Gaddafi gaffe
No comments:
Post a Comment