COURT CONFIRMS KING ABOVE LAW

Swaziland’s Supreme Court has overturned a ruling that King Mswati III should pay rates for properties in his name.

In 2014 the Swazi High Court had ruled that the King, who rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, should pay E571,174.90 (about US$50,000) to the Municipal Council of Manzini.

Now, the Supreme Court has ruled that the Swazi Constitution states that laws of the land do not apply to the King and the Queen Mother.

The Sunday Observer, a newspaper in Swaziland in effect owned by the King, reported the case started in 2012 when the Municipal Council of Manzini took Tisuka TakaNgwane – a royal institution that is a subsidiary of Tibiyo TakaNgwane (also a royal institution) – to court demanding payment in rates arrears for a property situated in a portion of Farm 189 situated in the Manzini District.

The High Court had ruled that property owned by the King was not exempt from payment of rates if it was held for his private financial profit.

The Supreme Court ruled that in accordance with the kingdom’s Constitution, the King was immune from paying rates on all property owned by him in any private capacity.

Section 10 of the Constitution states ‘The King and Ingwenyama [Queen Mother] shall be immune from taxation in respect of his Civil List, all income accruing to him and all property owned by him in any private capacity.’

Section 11 of the Constitution also says the King and Ingwenyama shall be immune from ‘(a) a suit or legal process in any cause in respect of all things done or omitted to be done by him, and (b) being summoned to appear as a witness in any civil or criminal proceedings.’  

In June 2015, the Nation, an independent monthly magazine in Swaziland, reported that the Swazi people were paying more than ever for the upkeep of the King, his 14 wives and vast Royal Family.  

It reported that in 2015, ‘The overall [annual] budget for King Mswati and the royal household took a significant increase of about 25 percent from E630 million [US$63 million] to E792 million. This reflects a staggering E162 million increase and accounts for just about five percent of the overall national budget. This has been the trend for some years.’

King Mswati lives a lavish lifestyle with 13 palaces, a private jet aircraft and fleets of Mercedes and BMW cars. Meanwhile seven in ten of his 1.3 million subjects live in abject poverty with incomes of less than US$2 a day.

See also

SWAZI KING’S BUDGET RISES BY 25pc

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/07/swazi-kings-budget-rises-by-25pc.html

CALL TO CUT ALL FUNDING OF THE KING

King Mswati III of Swaziland and his family have been likened to an ‘organised crime syndicate’ for the way they take money from the Swazi people.

The Communist Party of Swaziland (CPS) has launched a campaign to cut all financing of the king.

Announcing its Red October Campaign, the CPS said the money spent by King Mswati, who rules as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, should be diverted for reconstruction and development of Swaziland.

Kenneth Kunene, CPS General Secretary, called for ‘an end to decades of systemic abuse and neglect of the Swazi people’.

Launching a campaign called ‘Not another cent for Mswati’ Kunene said, ‘Mswati must not receive another cent from the state or from the funds he is supposed to be “holding in trust for the Swazi nation” – the euphemistic term that is a smokescreen to hide Mswati’s corrupt seizure of national wealth.

Mswati’s predecessor, Sobhuza II, created the funds in the 1970s to sustain the absolute monarchy into the future.

‘There is no accountability concerning these funds, no parliamentary oversight of them, and none of them figure in the national budget or in any official information on state resources.

‘The largest such fund, Tibiyo Taka Ngwane is an investment fund with shares in companies, industry, real estate, and tourism. It has 50 percent ownership of Ubombo Sugar Limited, the Swazi branch of the Illovo Sugar Group. It also has shares in Nedbank Swaziland, Swazispa Holdings Ltd., the Swaziland Development and Finance Group, the Royal Swaziland Sugar Corp., and Bhunu Mall.

Kunene estimated the value of Tibiyo at US$2 billion.

He added, ‘The second source of Mswati’s illicit income is Tisuka Taka Ngwane, which is a residential and commercial property developer.

  

‘Both funds account for some 50 percent of the Swazi economy.’

Kunene said, ‘That poverty and disease are such blights on the lives of the Swazi people is directly and incontrovertibly linked to Mswati’s sources of income.

‘We think it is high time that everything held in trust for the Swazi nation is now handed over to the people. Mswati has done a bad job at holding it in trust for us. The country needs its wealth back, and the CPS is calling on people to demand what is theirs.’

The Red October Campaign also demands that the R400 million (US$40 million) given to the royal family each year from the state budget be immediately cancelled.

‘Mswati and his family are no different than an organized crime syndicate,’ said Kunene. ‘And the way you deal with organized crime is to cut off its access to ready cash. That way it will shrivel up and die. And that’s what we want to see happen with the Mswati regime.’

The CPS said the campaign would focus on ‘making people in Swaziland aware of the vast drain on the country’s finances in order to sustain the Mswati autocracy’.

It will lobby businesses in South Africa and other countries that have operations in Swaziland to refuse to pay any revenue or ‘bribes’ to Mswati.

Kunene said, ‘The CPS will also expose the links between Mswati’s wealth and the degradation and impoverishment of the people of Swaziland. It will point out what the money Mswati gets each month could do if directed to social, health and education needs – all vastly underfunded – and how a strategy to provide free ARVs and TB treatment for all could be funded from Mswati’s ill-gotten millions.’

See also

‘TIMES’ BLOWS COVER ON KING’S WEALTH

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/10/times-blows-cover-on-kings-wealth.html

KINGDOM’S WEALTH STAYS WITH KING

Wealth held in trust for the Swazi nation by King Mswati III will not be used to help bail out the ailing Swaziland economy.

Profits made by two royal entities Tibiyo TakaNgwane and Tisuka TakaNgwane are controlled by the monarchy and in theory at least are meant to be used to support the nation.

However, in reality, King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, uses the money for his own personal use. He is known to lead an extravagant lifestyle and has at least 13 palaces in the tiny kingdom where 70 percent of the 1.1 million people live on less than US$1 per day.

The Swaziland Government has confirmed that money from the royal entities will not be used to support the economy.

In a letter to labour unions, Majozi Sithole, Swazi Finance Minister, confirmed the money belonged to Royalty and not to the people. In his letter he said, ‘these entities were formed in terms of a Royal Charter which does not provide for their income to be part of government income’.

Tibiyo and Tisuka are investment funds with extensive shares in a number of businesses, industries, property developments and tourism facilities in Swaziland. They do not pay tax in the way that ordinary businesses in the kingdom do.

Sithole was responding to a petition delivered by trade unions calling for change.

See also

CALLS TO PROBE SWAZI KING’S WEALTH

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/07/calls-to-probe-swazi-kings-wealth.html