Swaziland King in another press freedom row after website accuses him of business wrongdoing

The Swaziland (eSwatini) Government has said it will pursue a newspaper editor using ‘legal channels’ after he wrote and published articles critical of absolute monarch King Mswati III.

Zweli Martin Dlamini, founder and editor of the Swaziland News, an online newspaper had published several articles stating that the King had entered into a multi-billion cannabis deal with a foreign company for his own benefit.

In an official statement Government Spokesperson Sabelo Dlamini called the reports  ‘libellous, unfounded and factually incorrect’.

Sabelo Dlamini added, ‘Government continues to pursue legal channels to hold Zweli Dlamini accountable for spreading misinformation.’

In the past in Swaziland journalists who criticised the king have been charged with sedition.

Swaziland News is hosted online in neighbouring South Africa because laws in Swaziland restrict which publications may be printed in the kingdom.

This is not the first time Zweli Martin Dlamini has been in trouble with the absolute monarch. In April 2020 he wrote and published reports that King Mswati had tested positive for the coronavirus (COVID-19) and had been taken to hospital with breathing problems.

He had reportedly fled to neighbouring South Africa in March 2020 for the second time. He said he had been arrested and tortured by Swazi police who accused him of sedition.

Also, on 7 February 2020, The Swaziland News reported Dlamini was being harassed and receiving death threats from King Mswati’s first born daughter Princess Sikhanyiso, who is the Minister of Information Communication and Technology.

Dlamini had previously fled to South Africa in fear of his life in 2017. He had received death threats from a local businessman before his newspaper Swaziland Shopping was shut down by the Swazi government when the newspaper’s registration under the Books and Newspapers Act 1963 was declined by the Swazi Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology.

Separately, on 23 April 2020 Eugene Dube, the editor of another online publication, Swati Newsweek, was arrested and beaten by police. Police accused him of writing and publishing critical articles about King Mswati. He later fled to South Africa to escape arrest.

Reporters Without Borders (RWB) named Dube one of 30 coronavirus ‘information heroes’ who it described as ‘whistleblowers and media outlets whose courage, perseverance or capacity to innovate has helped to circulate reliable and vital information during the Covid-19 pandemic.’

Swazi police also charged Ncamiso Ngcamphalala, President of the Swaziland Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), with sedition for comments he made in an a article published by Swati Newsweek.

In the report Ngcamphalala was quoted saying, ‘We want government to change people’s lives, the Swazi Monarchy must know its place. We respect the King, but respect is earned and when pushed into a corner; we will be forced to retaliate. We unapologetically stand for multi-party democracy.’

See also

‘No media freedom’ in Swaziland, Reporters Without Borders annual report states

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/04/no-media-freedom-in-swaziland-reporters.html 

Swaziland journalist critical of King flees, hides in forest five days

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/05/swaziland-journalist-critical-of-king.html

 

Swaziland democracy leader charged with sedition for criticising absolute monarch on news website

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/05/swaziland-democracy-leader-charged-with.html

KING’S AIRPORT FAILS TO ATTRACT AIRLINES

Swaziland’s King Mswati III airport dubbed a vanity project for the King and a white elephant has failed to attract any new airlines in the four years since it opened, the kingdom’s civil aviation authority has admitted.
 

This was despite continued claims that airlines from across the world wanted to use the airport at Sikhuphe built at an estimated cost of US$250 million in the wilderness in southeastern Swaziland about 70 km from a major city.

Sabelo Dlamini, Swaziland Civil Aviation Authority (SWACAA) Marketing and Communications Director, told the Observer on Saturday newspaper (14 July 2018) a number of presentations had been made to airline services, but so far none had agreed to fly into the airport.

The Swazi Government also failed to launch its own airline called Swazi Airways. It was claimed it would fly to 10 countries once it had become fully operational.  The destinations were the United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Ethiopia, Zambia, Rwanda, South Africa, Namibia, Tanzania, Uganda and Botswana. The airline closed for business in April 2017 when it became clear the tiny kingdom could not afford a single aircraft. Even so, E20 million (US$2 million) had been spent on leasing a 29-year-old Boeing 737-300 that never once flew commercially. In addition, an estimated E750,000 a month was paid to 23 airline staff who had no work to do.

There has been constant misinformation about the prospect of airlines choosing to use the airport. In October 2009, King Mswati claimed Etihad Airways from the Gulf State of Abu Dhabi was showing ‘deep interest’ in using the airport. 

In May 2011, the Swazi Observer reported Sabelo Dlamini saying, ‘We have established possible routes which we want to market to the operators. Some of the proposed routes from Sikhuphe are Durban, Cape Town, Lanseria Airport in Sandton, Harare and Mozambique.’ 

In June 2012 he told Swazi media that at least three airlines from different countries had ‘shown interest’ in using the airport, but he declined to name them. He remained optimistic about the prospects for the future and said SWACAA was talking to airlines in other countries as well. 

Then in February 2013 SWACAA Director General Solomon Dube told media in Swaziland, ‘We are talking to some including Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airline and various Gulf airlines.’ 

In March 2013 SWACAA claimed five airlines had signed deals to use the airport when it eventually opened, but an investigation by Swazi Media Commentary revealed that two of the airlines named did not exist. It also said Botswana Airways would use the airport, but it did not.

In October 2013 SWACAA claimed it had targeted small and medium business travellers to use the airport. It said low-cost airlines were interested in using it for business travellers who might want to fly to nearby countries ‘on a daily basis’.

In March 2016 Minister of Public Works and Transport Lindiwe Dlamini said Air Mauritius would fly from the airport.

In January 2016 the Swazi Observer reported Swazi Air was ready to fly to Dubai, Cape Town, India and Durban.

KMIII Airport was built on the whim of King Mswati, who rules Swaziland as one of the world’s last absolute monarchs. No research was undertaken to determine the need for the airport.

Critics argued for years that there was no potential for the airport. Major airports already existed less than an hour’s flying time away in South Africa with connecting routes to Swaziland and there was no reason to suspect passengers would want to use KMIII airport as an alternative.

During the 11 years it took to build the airport was called Sikhuphe, but the name was changed in honour of the King when it officially opened in March 2014.

The airport cost an estimated E2.5 billion (US$250 million) to build.

In October 2013 a report from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said the airport was widely perceived as a ‘vanity project’ because of its scale and opulence compared with the size and nature of the market it sought to serve.

Since it opened only one commercial passenger airline, Swaziland Airlink, which is part-owned by the Swazi Government, has used the airport. The airline was forced to move from the Matsapha Airport, even though an independent business analysis predicted the airline would go out of business as a result. 

See also

AIRPORT MOVE WILL ‘BANKRUPT AIRLINK’

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/03/airport-move-will-bankrupt-airlink.html  

PROOF: KING’S AIRPORT POINTLESS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/02/proof-kings-airport-pointless.html

U-TURN ON SUCCESS OF KING’S AIRPORT

After claiming last month (April 2015) that Swaziland’s white elephant King Mswati III (KMIII) Airport was a huge success and had confounded its critics, an aviation boss in the kingdom now says it is not doing well because Swazi people are too poor to fly.

The Swazi Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by the King, reported twice in April 2015 that the Swaziland Tourist Authority (STA) said there were 10,138 passengers departing the airport in January 2015 and 6,592 passengers arriving, making a total of 16,730 passengers. If these figures were repeated each month of the year, 200,760 passengers would travel through the airport in a year.

But, Swazi Media Commentary exposed these statistics as entirely bogus. There are only three flights per day departing the airport and another three arriving. The airport serves only one route – to OR Tambo Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa. Swaziland Airlink is the only passenger airline that uses the airport. Airlink uses the Embraer J135 aircraft which has a maximum seating capacity of 50.

If every flight was full a maximum of 150 people per day could depart the airport, which would make a maximum of 4,500 per month. The 4,500 is only 44 per cent of the numbers of passengers claimed by STA. The total possible number of passengers either departing or arriving at the airport could not be more than 9,000 in a month: 53 per cent of the figure claimed.

Despite the obviously fraudulent figures the Swaziland Civil Aviation Authority (SWACAA) Marketing and Corporate Affairs Director Sabelo Dlamini said in April 2015, ‘We are noting that the figures are rising and for us, it points to a brighter future in aviation. It is also an affirmation of the massive work the government of Swaziland has done over the past five years to do right in the civil aviation industry, in particular the construction of an airport facility travellers are happy with.’

The newspaper reported, ‘Dlamini further noted that the drop in numbers that had been projected by critics had not happened at all.’

The Observer, which was described as a ‘pure propaganda machine for the royal family’ by the Media Institute of Southern Africa in a report on media freedom in the kingdom, has not admitted to its readers it published fake figures on the airport’s popularity.

On Tuesday (12 May 2015), the Observer reported SWACAA Director General Solomon Dube saying ‘only 70,000’ people per year used the airport. He did not give any evidence to support the figures. The 70,000 passengers represent 35 percent of the 200,760 claimed last month.

SWACAA had previously said the King Mswati Airport, formerly known as Sikhuphe, which opened in March 2014 would need at least 300,000 passengers a year to break-even.

Dube told the Observer that Swazi people did not fly because they could not afford to. This should come as no surprise to him since seven in ten of the 1.3 million people in the kingdom have incomes of less than US$2 per day. He said if more people used the airport air tickets to South Africa could be reduced to E500 (US$50), without stating this would represent about a month’s income for most Swazi people.

The Times of Swaziland reported on Tuesday (12 May 2015) Dube also announced that Egyptair had offered Swaziland a 268-seater aircraft. The newspaper reported him saying, ‘the main objective of this initiative is to increase airplane passengers by up to 200,000’. 

The Times reported, ‘Dube said courtesy of well-managed diplomatic relations between the two States, Swaziland had been offered to utilise services of one of Egyptair’s flights to transport passengers between Swaziland and South Africa for 10 hours a day. He said using the flight for at least 10 hours a day could translate to about five or seven flights to the neighbouring republic, on a daily basis.’

This claim from Dube is one of a long line of empty promises made about the attractiveness of the airport.

In November 2013, SWACAA said that the Swazi Government was ready to recreate the defunct Royal Swazi National Airways Corporation (RSNAC0) and would set about purchasing a 100-seater jet, at a cost estimated by the Times of Swaziland of E700 million (US$70 million). This compared to the E125 million budgeted for free primary school education in Swaziland that year. It was never explained where the money to buy the aircraft would come from.

SWACAA said RSNAC would fly to 10 destinations in Africa and Asia. Observers estimated RSNAC would probably need a minimum of 10 aircraft to service the routes. For that to happen, Swaziland would have to spend about E7 billion on aircraft. Such a sum of money would bankrupt the kingdom. To put the cost in context the Central Bank of Swaziland has estimated the kingdom’s gross official reserves were E8.24 billion at the month ended November 2013.

There has also been constant misinformation about the prospect of airlines choosing to use the airport. In October 2009, King Mswati claimed Etihad Airways from the Gulf State of Abu Dhabi was showing ‘deep interest’ in using the airport. Nothing has been heard since.

In May 2011, the Swazi Observer reported Sabelo Dlamini saying, ‘We have established possible routes which we want to market to the operators. Some of the proposed routes from Sikhuphe are Durban, Cape Town, Lanseria Airport in Sandton, Harare and Mozambique.’

In June 2012, he told Swazi media that at least three airlines from different countries had ‘shown interest’ in using the airport, but he declined to name them. He remained optimistic about the prospects for the future and said SWACAA was talking to airlines in other countries as well. 

Then in February 2013 SWACAA Director General Solomon Dube told media in Swaziland, ‘We are talking to some including Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airline and various Gulf airlines.’

In March 2013 SWACAA claimed five airlines had signed deals to use the airport when it eventually opened, but an investigation by Swazi Media Commentary revealed that two of the airlines named did not exist. It also said Botswana Airways would use the airport, but it has not.

In October 2013 SWACAA claimed it had targeted small and medium business travellers to use the airport. It said low-cost airlines were interested in using it for business travellers who might want to fly to nearby countries ‘on a daily basis’.

KMIII Airport was built in a wilderness in Swaziland on the whim of King Mswati, who rules as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. No research was undertaken to determine the need for the airport.

Critics of the airport argued for years that there was no potential for the airport. Major airports already existed less than an hour’s flying time away in South Africa with connecting routes to Swaziland and there was no reason to suspect passengers would want to use KMIII airport as an alternative.

During the 11 years it took to build, the airport was called Sikhuphe, but the name was changed in honour of the King when it officially opened in March 2014.

The airport cost an estimated E2.5 billion (US$250 million) to build.

In October 2013 a report from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said the airport was widely perceived as a ‘vanity project’ because of its scale and opulence compared with the size and nature of the market it seeks to serve.

Since it opened only one commercial passenger airline, Swaziland Airlink, which is part-owned by the Swazi Government, has used the Airport. The airline was forced to move from the Matsapha Airport, even though an independent business analysis predicted the airline would go out of business as a result. 

No other airline has publically said it wanted to use the airport.

See also

AIRPORT MOVE WILL ‘BANKRUPT AIRLINK’

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/03/airport-move-will-bankrupt-airlink.html  

PROOF: KING’S AIRPORT POINTLESS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/02/proof-kings-airport-pointless.html

FAKE STATS BOOST KING’S FAILED AIRPORT

The Swaziland Tourist Authority (STA) falsified statistics on the number of passengers using the new King Msawati III Airport (KMIII) to make it look a success when it was not.

And, the deception is part of an ongoing mission of misinformation about the success of the airport that has spanned several year.

Figures for January 2015 were used by Swaziland Civil Aviation Authority (SWACAA), aided by the Swazi Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati, to state that the airport had defied its critics and was a success.

The STA reported that there were 10,138 passengers departing the airport in January 2015 and 6,592 passengers arriving, making a total of 16,730 passengers.

But these figures were entirely bogus. There are only three flights per day departing the airport and another three arriving. The airport serves only one route – to OR Tambo Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa. Swaziland Airlink is the only passenger airline that uses the airport. Airlink uses the Embraer J135 aircraft which has a maximum seating capacity of 50.

If every flight was full a maximum of 150 people per day could depart the airport, which would make a maximum of 4,500 per month. The 4,500 is only 44 per cent of the numbers of passengers claimed by STA. The total possible number of passengers either departing or arriving at the airport could not be more than 9,000 in a month: 53 per cent of the figure claimed.

No true figure for the actual number of people travelling by plane is available publically but anecdotal evidence suggests that the planes are rarely much more than two-thirds full, and often a lot less.

King Mswati III Airport was built in a wilderness in Swaziland on the whim of King Mswati, who rules as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. No research was undertaken to determine the need for the airport.

Critics of the airport argued for years that there was no potential for the airport. Major airports already existed less than an hour’s flying time away in South Africa with connecting routes to Swaziland and there was no reason to suspect passengers would want to use KMIII airport as an alternative.

During the 11 years it took to build, the airport was called Sikhuphe, but the name was changed in honour of the King when it officially opened in March 2014.

The airport cost an estimated E2.5 billion (US$250 million) to build.

The Observer on Saturday reported at the time of the opening, ‘The King stated unflinchingly that the airport was not a joke as some pessimists had already hinted that the country does not need such extravagance. He said the completion and commissioning of the airport had proved all doubting Thomases wrong.’ 

The newspaper added, ‘One thing was clear throughout the King’s address that he was extremely passionate about the project and that it was very close to his heart.’

When it was opened the international media derided the airport as a ‘white elephant’, meaning it was of little use.

In October 2013 a report from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said the airport was widely perceived as a ‘vanity project’ because of its scale and opulence compared with the size and nature of the market it seeks to serve.

Since it opened only one commercial passenger airline, Swaziland Airlink, which is part-owned by the Swazi Government, has used the Airport. The airline was forced to move from the Matsapha Airport, even though an independent business analysis predicted the airline would go out of business as a result.

No other airline has publically said it wanted to use the airport.

Matsapha airport which handled about 70,000 passengers a year is close to Manzini and Mbabane, the two main cities in Swaziland. The new airport was built in a wilderness about 70km from Mbabane. Once it opened to traffic in September 2014, Matsapha was closed for commercial business. It is now mainly used by King Mswati when he travels in his private luxury jet.

SWACAA had said the KMIII airport would attract 300,000 passengers per year (820 per day on average), raising E7 million (US$700,000) per year in service charges. In the present situation where only a maximum 300 people could travel per day, the total it could ever hope to achieve would be 109,500; only 36 percent of the numbers needed for the airport to reach its target.

The Swazi Observer, which was described as a ‘pure propaganda machine for the royal family’ by the Media Institute of Southern Africa in a report on media freedom in the kingdom, used the bogus figure to talk up the airport’s supposed success.

The newspaper first reported the figure in its Sunday edition on 12 April 2015 and again in its daily edition on 21 April 2015. 

The newspaper was determined to mislead its readers about the success of the airport. The Sunday Observer, for example, in a report headlined ‘KMIII Airport surpasses expectations’ said, ‘When it started operating, sceptics were of the view that people would opt to travel by road because of, among other reasons, the distant location of the airport, which is situated about 70 kilometres from Mbabane.

‘However, passengers going through KMIII International Airport have surpassed the numbers that were recorded at the Matsapha Airport.’

The newspaper quoted SWACAA Marketing and Corporate Affairs Director Sabelo Dlamini saying, ‘We are noting that the figures are rising and for us, it points to a brighter future in aviation. It is also an affirmation of the massive work the government of Swaziland has done over the past five years to do right in the civil aviation industry, in particular the construction of an airport facility travellers are happy with.’

The newspaper reported, ‘Dlamini further noted that the drop in numbers that had been projected by critics had not happened at all.’

There has been a long history of misinformation about the potential for success of the airport. It was controversial from the moment the construction was announced in 2003. The International Monetary Fund said the airport should not be built because it would divert funds away from much needed projects to fight poverty in Swaziland. 

Today, about seven in ten of King Mswati’s 1.3 million subjects live in abject poverty, with incomes less than US$2 per day, three in ten are so hungry they are medically diagnosed as malnourished and the kingdom has the highest rate of HIV infection in the world. 

The false promises made about the airport are legion. In November 2013, SWACAA said that the Swazi Government was ready to recreate the defunct Royal Swazi National Airways Corporation (RSNAC0) and would set about purchasing a 100-seater jet, at a cost estimated by the Times of Swaziland of E700 million (US$70 million). This compared to the E125 million budgeted for free primary school education in Swaziland that year. It was never explained where the money to buy the aircraft would come from.

SWACAA said RSNAC would fly to 10 destinations in Africa and Asia. Observers estimated RSNAC would probably need a minimum of 10 aircraft to service the routes. For that to happen, Swaziland would have to spend about E7 billion on aircraft. Such a sum of money would bankrupt the kingdom. To put the cost in context the Central Bank of Swaziland has estimated the kingdom’s gross official reserves were E8.24 billion at the month ended November 2013.

The people were regularly misled about the opening date of the airport. At one time the King confidently announced it would be open in March 2010. Then his Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini said it would be ready for the FIFA World Cup in neighbouring South Africa in June 2010, but this deadline came and went. SWACAA continued to issue fresh completion dates but these were never met.

Bertram Stewart, Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development also misled about the readiness of the airport to open. 

In October 2010, Stewart said the airport would be open by the end of that year, but it was not. He misled again in February 2011 when he confidently told media the airport would be completed by June 2011. It was not. He also said a number of top world airlines (that he declined to name) were negotiating to use the airport, but nothing happened.

He returned to the theme two months later in April 2011 when this time he said the airport would be open by December 2011.

There has also been constant misinformation about the prospect of airlines choosing to use the airport.

In October 2009, King Mswati claimed Etihad Airways from the Gulf State of Abu Dhabi was showing ‘deep interest’ in using the airport. Nothing has been heard since.

In May 2011, the Swazi Observer reported Sabelo Dlamini saying, ‘We have established possible routes which we want to market to the operators. Some of the proposed routes from Sikhuphe are Durban, Cape Town, Lanseria Airport in Sandton, Harare and Mozambique.’

In June 2012, he told Swazi media that at least three airlines from different countries had ‘shown interest’ in using the airport, but he declined to name them. He remained optimistic about the prospects for the future and said SWACAA was talking to airlines in other countries as well. 

Then in February 2013 SWACAA Director Solomon Dube told media in Swaziland, ‘We are talking to some including Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airline and various Gulf airlines.’

In March 2013 SWACAA claimed five airlines had signed deals to use the airport when it eventually opened, but an investigation by Swazi media Commentary revealed that two of the airlines named did not exist. It also said Botswana Airways would use the airport, but it has not.

In October 2013 SWACAA claimed it had targeted small and medium business travellers to use the airport. It said low-cost airlines were interested in using Sikhuphe for business travellers who might want to fly to nearby countries ‘on a daily basis’.

Now, in April 2015, there are still no prospects of airlines other than Swazi Airlink using the airport.

See also

AIRPORT MOVE WILL ‘BANKRUPT AIRLINK’

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/03/airport-move-will-bankrupt-airlink.html  

PROOF: KING’S AIRPORT POINTLESS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/02/proof-kings-airport-pointless.html

BIZARRE CLAIMS FOR KING’S AIRPORT

Apologists for the newly-opened, but as yet unused, King Mswati III Airport in Swaziland are going to extraordinary lengths to talk up the value of the project, dubbed by critics the King’s ‘vanity project’.
 

Leading the charge is the Swazi Observer group of newspapers that is in effect owned by the King.

The Sunday Observer (25 May 2014) claimed the airport was a ‘heat’ (presumably it meant a ‘hit’) in Botswana. It then manufactured a story claiming that government ministers from all over Africa, who were in Botswana for the ANOCA games, ‘praised the standards of the airport’.

In fact, it only quoted one of them, Sudan’s Minister of Sports, who admitted he had never been to the airport and had never even visited Swaziland.

The Observer is one of the cheerleaders for the airport, formerly known as Sikhuphe, which was officially opened in March 2014. No commercial airline has flown in or out of the airport, and none have said they plan to do so in the future.

Even King Mswati himself does not use the airport, built at a cost of at least E3 billion (US$300 million) in a wilderness in southeast Swaziland. He prefers to fly his private jet from the Matsapha Airport, which is close to both the kingdom’s capital, Mbabane, and the main commercial city, Manzini.

This is not the only time recently that the Swazi Observer has misled its readers about the potential of the airport.

On13 May 2014 it quoted Swaziland Civil Aviation Authority (SWACAA) Corporate Affairs Director Sabelo Dlamini saying was being discussed to fly passengers from Swaziland to Durban, South Africa, for onward flights to Germany and the United Kingdom. The newspaper ignored the fact that Swazi people wishing to fly to those European destinations can already do so via Johannesburg.

Dlamini has made extravagant claims about the potential of the airport in the past. In May 2011, the Weekend Observer reported him saying, ‘We have established possible routes which we want to market to the operators. Some of the proposed routes from Sikhuphe are Durban, Cape Town, Lanseria Airport in Sandton, Harare and Mozambique.’ But nothing has happened since.

Dlamini also claimed at the time that he met with ‘at least five big airline operators’. The newspaper only named three of them; Knysla Tour Operators, Timeless Ethiopia and Satoa Tours. None of them were ‘big airline operators’ and since 2011 nothing has been heard again about them.

In January 2014, SWACAA placed an advertisement in newspapers in Swaziland claiming, ‘Two airlines have confirmed operations at Sikhuphe.’ It did not name them, but did say there would be flights to Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town in South Africa and to Maputo in Mozambique. Nothing has been heard since.

As recently as October 2013, a report from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said Sikhuphe International Airport was widely perceived as a ‘vanity project’ because of its scale and opulence compared with the size and nature of the market it seeks to serve.

In June 2013, an engineer’s report was published by to the Mail and Guardian newspaper in South Africa saying the structure of the airport was defected and large jet airlines would not be able to land,

No independent study on the need for Sikhuphe Airport was ever undertaken and the main impetus behind its construction has been King Mswati. He believes the airport will lend credibility to his dream to make Swaziland a ‘First World’ nation by 2022. 

In 2003, the International Monetary Fund said Sikhuphe should not be built because it would divert funds away from much needed projects to fight poverty in Swaziland. About seven in ten of King Mswati’s 1.3 million subjects live in abject poverty, with incomes of less than US$2 per day. Swaziland has the highest rate of HIV infection in the world. The King has 13 palaces and a personal fortune once estimated by Forbes Magazine to be US$200 million. Meanwhile, seven in ten of his subjects live in abject poverty with an income of less than US$2 a day.

Swaziland already has an airport at Matsapha, which carries an estimated 70,000 passengers a year.

SIKHUPHE DEALS WITH BOGUS AIRLINES

The Swaziland Civil Aviation Authority (SWACAA) has claimed that five airlines have signed deals to use Sikhuphe International Airport when it eventually opens – but two of the airlines named do not exist.

SWACCA, aided by the Times of Swaziland newspaper, have been talking-up the potential for success of the airport, dubbed King Mswati III’s ‘vanity project’.

The airport, which has been steeped in controversy since construction was first mooted 10 years ago, remains uncompleted. King Mswati confidently announced it would open in 2010 and various other completion dates have been given since.

No non-Swazi airline has announced that it will use Sikhuphe when it does eventually open.

Now, the Times reports that five airlines have signed Bilateral Air Service Agreements with SWACAA. But, two of those it names - Abu Dhabi Airways and Turkey Airways - do not exist.

The Times reported that Botswana Airways was the latest airline to join ‘the bandwagon’ and say it will use Sikhuphe.

Sabelo Dlamini, SWACAA’s Marketing and Corporate Affairs Director, is quoted saying four airlines had confirmed that they would connect through the airport which is expected to be operational before the end of the year.

The Times also quoted ‘an official from SWACAA’ saying the airport might be completed next month (April 2013). There would then be three months’ of testing before the airport received a licence to operate from the International Civil Aviation Authority.

The building of Sikhuphe has been controversial because there is no obvious need for it. Swaziland already has an underused airport at Matsapha and no needs-analysis was ever completed to demonstrate why another airport should be built.

Most of the impetus for the building of the airport has come from King Mswati, who is sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, and is keen to show that his kingdom is on its way to becoming a ‘first world’ nation.

Estimates for the total cost of Sikhuphe – including the airport itself, roads that need to be built to reach it, and other expenditure associated with it, have reached US$1 billion. 

In the national budget last month, Finance Minister Majozi Sithole announced an extra E220 million (US$73 million) is to be spent in the coming year on Sikhuphe .

Meanwhile, only E125 million is to be spent on free primary education in Swaziland.

See also

AIRLINK FORCED TO USE KING’S AIRPORT

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/03/airlink-forced-to-use-kings-airport.html