European Union taxpayers’ money is being used to
finance the lavish lifestyle of Swaziland’s Royal Family, an investigation has
revealed.
This happens while seven in ten of the 1.1 million
population live in abject poverty.
Money given to develop Swaziland’s sugar industry ends
up in the pocket of King Mswati III who rules as sub-Saharan Africa’s last
absolute monarch. In April 2018 at a party to mark both his 50th
birthday and the anniversary of Swaziland’s Independence from Great Britain,
King Mswati 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.
The report from Danish NGO Afrika Kontakt (Africa
Contact) called The European Union in Swaziland: In
support of an Authoritarian King?
says
EU money ‘benefits the Royal Family greatly’ and undermines democratic forces
in Swaziland.
The EU spent 120 million Euros (US$144 million; E1.76
billion) to improve the competitiveness of Swaziland’s sugar industry in the
ten years up to 2017. Sugar accounts for almost 60 percent of the agricultural
output and 16 percent of employment in the kingdom.
The sugar industry in Swaziland is dominated by Tibiyo
TakaNgwane, a royal investment company that the King holds ‘in trust for the
Swazi nation’. Tibiyo owns 50 percent of the Royal Swaziland Sugar Corporation
(RSSC) and 40 percent of Ubombo Sugar Ltd (a subsidiary of the South
African-based Illovo company), the industry’s major players. Tibiyo also has
stakes in sugar estates and haulage companies and has a 30 percent share in
FINCORP, which provides loans to small-scale sugar farmers with interest rates
above 20 percent.
Afrika Kontakt said the Swaziland sugar industry
mirrored Swazi society by being largely owned by the Royal Family through
various companies and investment funds, and by the royal chiefs playing an
important role.
It added the purpose of EU funding was to increase the
competitiveness of the sugar industry. ‘However, a large percentage of the
funds have benefitted the two major sugar millers RSSC and Ubombo Sugar Ltd,
and their major shareholder the royal investment company Tibiyo TakaNgwane.’
It said that EU funding had helped subsistence
farmers, but had also enriched chiefs through the payment of royalties and Royalty-affiliated
haulage companies.
Afrika Kontakt said Tibiyo’s ownership in RSSC secured
it a dividend payment of E98 million (US$8 million) in 2015-16. Ownership of Illovo
paid out E15 million as dividend in 2012-13. Illovo is no longer listed so it
is impossible to find information about more recent payments.
Afrika Kontakt reported Tibiyo is controlled by King
Mswati III and Freedom
House has reported it is an open secret in Swaziland that
the Royal Family uses the fund to pay for personal expenses. The Managing
Director of Tibiyo A T Dlamini is a former Prime Minister and the board
consists of several members of the Royal Family.
Tibiyo’s annual accounts are sketchy. For example in
2015, E49 million – almost half the total expenses – were budgeted under
‘sundry expenses’ without further clarification. Afrika Kontakt reported this
was ‘a sign that funds which are supposed to aid the public are being used by
fund managers and/ or the Royal Family in an underhand manner’.
Afrika Kontakt said, ‘The sugar industry in Swaziland
is structured so that external assistance [from the EU] to the industry ends up
benefitting the last absolute monarch in Africa.’
It added this support for the Royal Family undermined
the democratic forces in the kingdom. Swaziland
is not a democracy. Political parties are banned from
contesting elections and groups advocating for democracy are banned as
‘terrorists’ under the Suppression of Terrorism Act. Media are severely
censored and freedom of assembly is curtailed. Elections are held every five years in Swaziland but people only get to
select 55 of 65 members of the House of Assembly. The King chooses the other
10. No members of the Swazi Senate are elected by the people; the King chooses
20 and the other 10 are elected by members of the House of Assembly.
After the last election in
2013, King Mswati appointed nine princes and princesses to the House
of Assembly and the Senate.
The Afrika Kontakt report stated, ‘By continuing to
support these sectors, without raising demands from the Swazi Government to
prioritize its citizens’ well-being over the lavish lifestyle of its monarch,
it is essentially EU taxpayers’ money that finances the lavish spending of the
monarchy.’
After the most recent national election in 2013, the
African Union (AU) mission called for fundamental changes in the kingdom to
ensure people had freedom of speech and of assembly. The AU said the Swaziland
Constitution guaranteed ‘fundamental rights and freedoms including the rights
to freedom of association’, but in practice ‘rights with regard to political assembly
and association are not fully enjoyed’. The AU said this was because political
parties were not allowed to contest elections.
The AU urged Swaziland to review the constitution,
especially in the areas of ‘freedoms of conscience, expression, peaceful assembly,
association and movement as well as international principles for free and fair
elections and participation in electoral process’.
In its report
on the 2013 elections, the Commonwealth observers recommended
that measures be put in place to ensure separation of powers between the
government, parliament and the courts so that Swaziland was in line with its
international commitments.
They also called on the Swaziland Constitution to be
‘revisited’.
The report stated, ‘This should ideally be carried out
through a fully inclusive, consultative process with all Swazi political
organisations and civil society (needed, with the help of constitutional
experts), to harmonise those provisions which are in conflict. The aim is to
ensure that Swaziland’s commitment to political pluralism is unequivocal.’
It also recommended that a law be passed to allow for
political parties to take part in elections, ‘so as to give full effect to the
letter and spirit of Section 25 of the Constitution, and in accordance with
Swaziland’s commitment to its regional and international commitments’.
In 2015, following a visit to Swaziland, a Commonwealth
mission renewed its call for the constitution to be reviewed
so the kingdom could move toward democracy.
There is concern in Europe that not enough is being
done to press for democracy in Swaziland. In May 2015, the European Parliament voted
for the release of all political prisoners in Swaziland and called for the
kingdom to be monitored for its human rights record.
A statement
issued by the European Parliament said, ‘Parliament
considers the imprisonment of political activists and the banning of trade
unions to be in clear contravention of commitments made by Swaziland under the
Cotonou Agreement to respect democracy, the rule of law and human rights, and
also under the sustainable development chapter of the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) Economic Partnership Agreement, for which
Parliament’s support will depend on respect for the commitments made.’
The resolution was passed by 579 votes to six, with 58
abstentions.
See also
SPOTLIGHT
ON SWAZI INTERNATIONAL AID
EU
UNDERMINES FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY
HUMAN
SUFFERING AND SWAZI SUGAR
KING
EXPLOITS SUGAR WORKERS
FREE
POLITICAL PRISONERS: EURO MPs
EURO
MPs: SCRAP TRADE DEALS
http://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/euro-mps-scrap-swazi-trade-deals.htm
