King Mswati III, the absolute
monarch of Swaziland (eSwatini), was snubbed by 20 heads of state who failed to
accept his invitation to attend a trade launch.
The Swazi Government, which
is not elected but picked by the King, was so confident they would attend it
hired 18 top-of-the range cars to transport them while they were in Swaziland.
Media in the undemocratic
kingdom revealed that many of the heads of state (sitting presidents and prime
ministers) had at first accepted the invitation to the opening of an eTrade
regional office but did not show.
The Sunday edition of the Times
of eSwatini reported those who at first accepted included Zambia’s
President Lungu and Guinea President Alpha Condé. It said, ‘Government went all
out to ensure that these very important people would receive dignified
treatment once they arrived in the kingdom.’
No heads of state attended
and the only ‘VIPs’ who actually attended were former Ethiopian Prime Minister
Hailemariam Desalegn and Chief Executive Officer of the Africa eTrade Group,
Mulualem Syoum, it reported.
The Times reported Minister
of Commerce, Industry and Trade Manqoba Khumalo, ‘confirmed that 20 heads of
state had been invited but those that either eventually arrived or sent
representatives were five.’ He said they were not heads of states, but
ministers.
Khumalo said 18 cars had
been hired for the dignitaries. They included Lexus SUVs and BMW 5 series
vehicles.
The King received another
snub in February 2019 when it was announced Swaziland
had missed out to South Africa on the chance to host the 2020 African Union
summit. Media in South Africa said this was because Swaziland did not have the
resources to fulfil the role.
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.
Public servants have been striking for a 7.8 percent cost-of-living
pay rise but the government says it does not have the money and has offered
zero percent. Police
brutally attacked workers during legal protests.
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 E22m of
the E305m earmarked for drought relief in that year’s national budget.
The Times
of Swaziland reported in 2017 that
the Swaziland Government spent E29 million (US$2.4 million) on 14 BMW cars and
80 motorbikes for the SADC summit. The vehicles were left idle after the summit
ended.
See also
Swaziland’s
absolute king misses out on AU Chair because his kingdom is broke
Millions ‘wasted’ on luxury vehicles at SADC summit
https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/03/millions-wasted-on-luxury-vehicles.html
No comments:
Post a Comment