KING’S AIRPORT MISSES TARGET BY A MILE

Only 194 passengers a day on average have used Swaziland’s new US$250 million King Mswati III Airport since commercial flights started in October 2014, official figures have revealed. 

If the average continues over a full year the airport is likely to reach only 23 percent of the 300,000 passengers needed for it to be able to breakeven financially.

That shortfall amounts to 230,000 passengers per year.

In the first four months of its operation since October 2014, the airport, formerly known as Sikhuphe, saw 11,388 passengers arrive and 11,952 depart. If these figures remain consistent across a full year a total of 70,020 passengers would have used the airport. This total is in line with the 60,000 to 70,000 passengers per year that used the Matsapha Airport, which King Mswati III Airport replaced.

According to official Swazi Government figures, King Mswati III Airport needs at least 300,000 passengers per year to breakeven financially.

The airport opened in March 2014 but only received its first commercial flights the following October. The only airline to use the airport has been the part-government-controlled Swaziland Airlink. No other airline has said it will use KMIII which was built in a wilderness about 70km from the main towns of Mbabane and Manzini.

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. The airport was built on the instruction of King Mswati who rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. No needs analysis was completed before building began.

The Airport took more than 10 years to build and opened at least four years behind schedule. 

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. The full cost of the airport is not known, but estimates have put it at E2.5 billion (US$250 million). 

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. 

In an analysis of the airport’s future, published in March 2014, the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) said there were still many serious questions about the sustainability of the airport including, ‘how will it lure additional airlines to use its services, how will it compete with the airports in Johannesburg and Maputo, and will it ever get close to its full capacity of 360,000 passengers each year - which is more than five times as many as currently used by the existing airport at Matsapha’.

The passenger figures were released by the Swaziland Tourism Authority and published in the Observer Sunday, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati. 

According to the newspaper, ‘On average, arrivals at KMIII International Airport have been averaging over 1,000 [per month] since it started operating; 1,698 in October, 1,693 in November and 1,405 in December while outbound passengers recorded were 587 in October, 826 in November and 401 in December.’

It added, ‘According to data compiled by the Swaziland Tourism Authority (STA) in collaboration with the Department of Immigration, in January [2015] an unprecedented 10,138 passengers left Swaziland through KMIII while 6,592 arrivals were recorded.’ 

The newspaper, which was called a ‘pure propaganda machine for the royal family’ by the Media Institute of Southern Africa in a report on media freedom in the kingdom, gave no explanation for the apparent nine-fold increase in passenger numbers in a single month between December 2014 and January 2015.

See also

PROOF: KING’S AIRPORT POINTLESS

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

 

AIRPORT MOVE WILL ‘BANKRUPT AIRLINK’

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

TRUTH FOR TOURISTS TO SWAZILAND

The truth about life in Swaziland is often distorted in order to fleece money from tourists to the kingdom.

Potential visitors are told about the wonderful mountains and the beautiful valleys. Opportunities to sample the uniqueness of Swazi Culture are highlighted.

But the picture is badly distorted, especially by the Swazi Government appointed by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

Tourists don’t realise they are being targeted by the government, through its Swaziland Tourism Authority (STA), for their money, which helps to prop up the undemocratic regime. Tourism has been targeted by the government as a potential money-spinner during the present meltdown in the economy.

Now, a new website called Visit Swaziland has been set up to try to counter the distortions of STA.

The publishers of the website are a group of people living outside Swaziland. They say, ‘We have decided to publish this website because the official website, is so full of factual mistakes and glossy images that it is unsuited for tourist consumption.

‘We believe that any tourist visiting Swaziland should know the dangers of visiting Swaziland, a brutal absolute monarchy, as well as of the daily human rights violations that the Swazi population face.’

There are many interesting pages on the website covering, Facts, Family Life, The Flag, History, King Mswati III, Reed Dance, and Travel Tips.

To give you a flavour of the site, here are its ‘Travel tips’

· You will need to apply for a permit from the police to be able to speak to local Swazi’s in the rural areas. Failure to do so could lead to you being detained for questioning or your arrest

· How to get through a roadblock: Have nothing to hide, show all your belongings and passport, make sure that nobody in the vehicle is a member of a banned entity (this might be difficult to abide by, as many Swazi’s are members of either PUDEMO or SWAYOCO) as this will result in being charged under Swaziland’s terrorism laws

· If you speak to any members of political parties (all political parties are illegal in Swaziland), you are liable to be arrested and charged under the country’s anti-terror laws

· Do not expect to get access to a lawyer if you are arrested

· Swaziland has the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the world. If you do not wish to yet another person to have contracted AIDS in Swaziland, please be careful

· Swaziland has recently overtaken Thailand in the area of “pleasure tourism”. Swaziland proudly welcomes scores of middle-aged European men with “special” sexual needs, including both small girls and boys. The best place to pick up a “companion” is near the textile industry area in Matsapha as there is always a large selection of women here who need to top up their meagre salaries in the textile factories

Click here to visit the site. http://visitswaziland.wordpress.com/

SWAZILAND: DEATH BY 1,000 CUTS

Swaziland is dying and it’s a death by a thousand cuts.

Last week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported that the Swaziland Government was unable to meet its bills and the only thing it could still pay was the wages of public servants. The Government whistled in the dark and said it would get some cash by selling bonds on the financial markets.

It tried, but the Central Bank of Swaziland only sold one-fifth of the bonds it needed to. This means that there must be serious doubts that the government can meet it wages bill for much longer.

That is a catastrophe, but for many people it is a crisis that they don’t really understand (and don’t expect the Swazi media to explain it to them).

But the ordinary people in the kingdom, ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, are suffering the effects of the cuts as one-by-one they hit their ordinary lives.

Even before the latest catastrophe on the money markets, some government ministries were forced to slash their budgets for 2011/2012 by at least 24 percent. Tourism and Environmental Affairs, is reported to have cut its budget by at least E14 million (about US$2 million) from E78 million in the previous financial year.

The economic meltdown has meant that government departments have had to add an extra 10 percent to the cuts demanded in 2010. But, not all ministries are hit; Health and Education are considered essential and the intention is not to cut their budgets.

There is a growing list of consequences of the cuts that are now hitting the poorest in the land, where seven in ten of King Mswati’s one million subjects earn less than one US dollar a day.

News about the cuts is being made public one drip at a time. Here is a ‘round-up’ of those that I know of (so far).

Even though the Swazi Government pledged not to make cuts in the education and health services in the kingdom, cuts to other government services, such as maintenance to roads and vehicles, is impacting on people’s lives. Many sick people cannot make it to hospital for treatment because there is no longer transport available.

Swazi companies have had to retrench workers because the government can no longer afford to buy goods and services. Some will probably have to close down altogether. Johannes Manikela, Federation of the Swaziland Business Community (FSBC) Mbabane branch Chairman, said there were no salaries to pay their employees. ‘Since October last year [2010], the companies have not been receiving anything in terms of cash because government, whom we do business with, stopped tenders. While government is in a move to retrench her staff, the situation has automatically retrenched our staff,’ he said.

The government has no money to buy blades for graders, which may result in some damaged roads not being attended to for quite some time. Ntuthuko Dlamini, Minister of Public Works and Transport, said because of the financial crisis the ministry could not buy the parts.

The Swaziland Electricity Company (SEC) has halted all rural electrification projects, until the Ministry of Tinkhundla Administration and Development pays its outstanding bill of about E30 million. It is also reported that the Ministry of Tinkhundla Administration and Development owes a total of E59 million for its use of electricity. Prince Gcokoma, the Minister, confirmed this to the Weekend Observer.The bill covers the use of electricity over the whole of Swaziland.

The Central Transport Administration (the government’s central garage) owes E79 million to suppliers. The government also owes E40 million to companies that hire it cars and other vehicles. All contracts have now been cancelled.

The Swaziland Government website was closed down because it hadn’t paid a bill of E100,000. The site is up again, but it is not clear if the bill has been paid.

The Ministry of Public Service couldn’t pay the rent for flats it has to house civil servants.

Government fuel depots ran dry because of unpaid bills and subsistence farmers are unable to plough because they rely on government tractors which are now standing idle for ploughing.

Swaziland’s Tourism Authority is to scale down its activities because of the current economic crisis, Eric Maseko, its Chief Executive Officer said.

SWAZI TOURISM AUTHORITY WEBSITE

I got this email following the publication of my post yesterday (4 November 2010) ‘Truth Breaks out in Swaziland’. I shan’t delete the original post as Resting requests because, whether he likes it or not, the website exists and it is of legitimate public interest.

Tourism Authority Website

Thursday, November 4, 2010 3:38 PM

From:

"Ali Resting"

To: swazimedia@yahoo.com

Cc: "'Philile Resting'"

Dear Publisher,

Please note your article http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/ references a non-legit website. www.welcometoswaziland.info is not the official website of the Tourism Authority.

The official website is www.welcometoswaziland.com

I would ask that you remove this article. The owner of this website is phishing. This is its own legal implications especially in [I’ve deleted the location - ed] where the site is hosted. As a seasoned journalist referencing such material can only compromise your integrity as a factual reporter.

Regards,

Ali Resting

Managing Director

Real Image Internet

"Swaziland's Leading Internet Service Provider"

TRUTH BREAKS OUT IN SWAZILAND

Has someone had a rush of blood to the head at the Swaziland Tourism Authority?

Suddenly truth has broken out at the body tasked with encouraging people to visit the kingdom.

The STA website is telling it like it is in the land, ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

Go to the ‘About Swaziland’ page and you will learn, ‘During Mswati III’s rule, the Swazi regime has become increasingly intolerant of, and violent towards, the ever-expanding democratic movement. The leadership and members of the main political party (all political parties are banned and illegal) advocating democracy and a respect for human rights, the People’s Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), have been singled out for harassment and mistreatment, but anyone voicing an opinion that is in opposition to the present, undemocratic regime is targeted by police.’

Visitors will also learn

• 69% of the Swaziland’s population survive on less than US 1$ dollar a day
• Over 40% of the population require food aid
• Swaziland in one of the financially most unequal countries in the world, even more so than Zimbabwe
• Swaziland’s military expenditure is the 19^th highest per capita in the world
• Political prisoners and detainees are more or less routinely tortured by police and security forces, and unfair trials and long delays in the justice system are commonplace
• Freedom of expression in Swaziland is seriously compromised, not least by the 2008 Suppression of Terrorism Act, and by the government labelling of all political oppositional forces as “terrorists”

And there is much more besides. I particularly liked the page on gifts for King Mswati.

It’s good to see the truth being told by an organisation sponsored by the Swazi Government.

Reality check: someone (not me, honest guv’nor) has hacked into the website. If it’s so easy to do, let’s go to the government website next.