Swaziland Govt. Minister wants to monitor all foreign ambassadors and score their usefulness

The Swaziland (eSwatini) Government will monitor the United States Ambassador to the kingdom and other senior foreign diplomats to see how well they ‘market’ the kingdom, if Senator Thuli Dladla, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, gets her way.

Dladla wants a ‘scorecard’ to be kept for each ambassador based on how many investors they bring into the kingdom.

The Minister made her remarks in the House of Assembly after several members criticised a speech made by Lisa Peterson, the US Ambassador to Swaziland.

Peterson had criticised the absolute monarch King Mswati III for his lavish spending on luxury Rolls-Royce and BMW cars. He had bought at least 15 Rolls-Royce cars for his wives and the government, which he personally appointed, bought a total of 126 BMW cars and motorbikes, for escort duties.

It had earlier been reported by the online newspaper the Swaziland News that Ambassador Peterson and other ambassadors were now under police surveillance.

Dladla told the House all ambassadors accredited to the kingdom would be called in for a meeting, the Times of eSwatini reported.

The Times added, ‘The minister said there would be score cards for ambassadors based on how many investors they managed to bring into the country, including how well they marketed the kingdom from the various stations.’

Later a US Embassy spokesperson said, Ambassador Peterson’s remarks were guided by principles of the eSwatini Constitution that allowed for freedom of expression. 

See also

Threat to censor U.S. Ambassador to Swaziland after criticism of King’s lavish spending

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/11/threat-to-censor-us-ambassador-to.html

King of impoverished Swaziland takes delivery of 79 luxury BMW cars worth US$6 million

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/11/king-of-impoverished-swaziland-takes.html
 

U.S. Ambassador calls for repeal of decree that makes Swaziland an absolute monarchy

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/11/us-ambassador-calls-for-repeal-of.html

Swaziland King chooses new PM with no political experience, but together they have close business ties

King Mswati III, the absolute monarch of Swaziland / Eswatini has chosen a businessman with no political experience as his new Prime Minister.

 

Ambrose Dlamini is best known as the chief executive officer (CEO) of MTN Swaziland, the mobile phone service provider. The King receives millions of dollars a year in dividends from MTN.  He was given 10 percent of MTN Swaziland when he granted it the licence to operate as the only mobile phone service provider in his kingdom.

Swaziland is not a democracy; the King chooses the Prime Minister and government members. The King appointed six members of his own family to the House of Assembly and eight to the Senate earlier in October 2018. Political parties are banned from taking part in elections. No members of the Swazi Senate are elected by the people.

The King announced his choice of PM on Saturday (27 October 2018). He had previously said he had been told whom to appoint by an angel that had appeared to him in a prayer.

King Mswati at one time was estimated by Forbes to have  a personal net worth (assets minus liabilities) of US$200 million. Seven in ten of the people in Swaziland live on incomes less than the equivalent of US$2 per day.

In 2014, The Sunday Times newspaper in South Africa reported that MTN ‘brokered [a] cosy relationships with the monarchy’.

It reported that the King held 10 percent of the shares in MTN in Swaziland and was referred to by the company as an ‘esteemed shareholder’. It said MTN had paid R114 million (US$11.4 million) to the King over the five years up to 2014. The payments have continued since then but the total amount the King has received is not publicly known.

The Sunday Times reported in 2014 that MTN had a monopoly in Swaziland and was used by 57 percent of the population. It said MTN was able to keep prices high, citing the cost of 300 megabytes of data in Swaziland as E149, while in South Africa the same amount of data cost E79.

In 2009, Earl Irvine, then US Ambassador to Swaziland, wrote a confidential cable (later published by Wikileaks) in which he said the King operated in his own financial interest. Part of the cable said, ‘Royal politics and King Mswati’s business interests appear to have caused the ouster of Mobile Telephone Network (MTN) CEO Tebogo Mogapi and halted parastatal Swaziland Post and Telecommunications Corporation (SPTC) from selling the MTN shares it owns to raise money for a Next Generation Networks (NGN) cell phone project. 

‘Industry and press observers privately indicated that the King, who already owns many MTN shares, had wanted to purchase the MTN shares himself at a cheaper price than the buyer, MTN, was offering SPTC. 

He went on, ‘Government officials later prevented the sale, and recently did not renew the work permit for CEO Mogapi, a South African citizen, apparently in retaliation for his role in the transaction, as well as the CEO’s reported decision to oppose government efforts to use the MTN network for electronic surveillance on political dissidents.’

Ambrose Dlamani later became CEO of MTN.

The US Ambassador’s cable went on, ‘Government officials would likely prefer a more malleable Swazi CEO at MTN who would cooperate more fully with royal and government wishes.’

See also

Swaziland King says angels told him whom to appoint as new Prime Minister, but he won’t yet reveal the name

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/10/swaziland-king-says-angels-told-him-who.html

 

Swazi election – sponsored by MTN

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/06/swazi-election-sponsored-by-mtn.html    

Does PM have a fortune from MTN?

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/09/does-pm-have-fortune-from-mtn.html

 

US decries Swazi King on MTN deal

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/08/us-decries-swazi-king-on-mtn-deal.html

Phones cut as Swaziland protests

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/09/phones-cut-as-swaziland-protests.html

SPOTLIGHT ON SWAZI INTERNATIONAL AID

More information than ever before about the lavish spending of King Mswati III, the absolute monarch of impoverished Swaziland, has been made public (outside the kingdom) in recent weeks, raising questions about where the money comes from.

Now, Swazi Media Commentary turns a spotlight on the amount of international development aid the kingdom receives and how this helps divert funds away from much needed work to help the poor and disadvantaged and towards the Swazi Royal Family.

In April 2018 at a party to mark both his 50^th 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.

Meanwhile, seven in ten of the population estimated at 1.1 million people live in abject poverty on incomes less than the equivalent of US$2 per day.

In 2017, the global charity Oxfam named Swaziland as the most unequal country in the world in a report called Starting With People, a human economy approach to inclusive growth in Africa detailing the differences in countries between the top most earners and those at the bottom. The Oxfam report stated the government, which is handpicked by King Mswati, ‘failed to put measures in place to tackle inequality, with poor scores for social spending and progressive taxation, and a poor record on labour rights’.

In a report in May 2017, the World Food Program estimated 350,000 people of Swaziland’s population were in need of food assistance. WFP helped 65,473 of them. It said it was regularly feeding 52,000 orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) aged under eight years at neighbourhood care points. About 45 percent of all children in Swaziland are thought to be OVCs. It reported chronic malnutrition affected 26 percent of all children in Swaziland aged under five.

While his subjects go hungry King Mswati and his family live lavish lifestyles. He has 13 palaces and fleets of expensive cars. He and his 13 wives and children wear watches worth tens of thousands of dollars each. His wives regularly take international shopping trips costing millions of dollars. Meanwhile, Swaziland takes money from overseas to fund its development projects, many of them directed at the poorest people in the kingdom.

Between 2011 and 2015 Swaziland took US$507 million (E6.24 billion) in external assistance from other countries. Of this, US$140 million came from the United States (28 percent of the total) and US$123 million from the European Union (24 percent of the total). Other main donors were Taiwan (US$74 million) and the United Nations (US$59 million).

Combined, the total external assistance accounted for 17.6 percent of Swaziland’s domestic revenue. The EU’s assistance covers a range of areas, including education, health, water and sanitation among others. The US only assists in areas of health. The health sector receives the largest amount of aid, followed by agriculture and infrastructure.

A report written by Klaus Stig Kristensen and published by Afrika Kontakt (Africa Contact) in 2017 stated, ‘The EU and US finance these sectors, freeing up funds for the government of Swaziland to spend on an unnecessary defence/security sector that consumes an increasing amount of the national budget.

‘They thereby alleviate funds for the government of Swaziland to be spent on vanity capital projects [such as the King Mswati III International Airport] and unnecessary defence that consumes an increasing amount of the national budget.

‘If sustainable socio-economic development is to take place in Swaziland, it is essential that the government of Swaziland takes the lion’s share of the responsibility and prioritizes its budget accordingly.’

The report stated that in Swaziland almost 6 percent of the national budget is spent on the Royal Family and 12.4 percent on the security sector, while only 3.3 percent is spent on agriculture, ‘the engine that is supposed to pull the rural population out of poverty’. It added, ‘This is a strange budget prioritization considering that the majority of Swazis live below the poverty line. 

In the March 2018, the budget for the Royal Family spending (the civil list) was increased by E1 million to E394 million. At the same time value added tax (VAT) was increased by 1 percent. Local media did not comment on the King’s increase but did report the budget as an attack on the poor.

King Mswati’s personal spending also diverts money away from much-needed development.

The sources of the King’s income are kept secret from the Swazi people. In 2009, Forbes magazine estimated that the King himself had a personal net fortune worth US$200 million. Forbes also said King Mswati was the beneficiary of two funds created by his father Sobhuza II in trust for the Swazi nation. During his reign, he has absolute discretion over use of the income. The trust has been estimated to be worth US$10 billion.  

The King also holds 25 percent of all mining royalties in Swaziland ‘in trust’ for the Swazi nation.

In August 2014 the Sunday Times newspaper in South Africa reported King Mswati personally received millions of dollars from international companies such as phone giant MTN; sugar conglomerates Illovo and Remgro; Sun International hotels and beverages firm SAB Millerto.

It reported that MTN, which had a monopoly of the cell phone business in Swaziland at the time, paid dividends directly to the King. He holds 10 percent of the shares in MTN in Swaziland and is referred to by the company as an ‘esteemed shareholder’. It said MTN had paid E114 million (US$11.4 million at the then exchange rate) to the King over the previous five years.

The newspaper also reported that the King was receiving income from Tibiyo Taka Ngwane, a conglomerate he controls ‘in trust for the Swazi nation’, which paid dividends in 2013 of E218.1 million. The newspaper reported ‘several sources’ who said it was ‘an open secret’ that although money generated by Tibiyo was meant to be used for the benefit of the nation, Tibiyo in fact channelled money directly to the Royal Family.

In 2016, Tibiyo paid dividends of E188.5 million and had assets valued at E1.8 billion. Tibiyo TakaNgwane investments include Dalcrue Agricultural Holdings, Inyoni Yami Swaziland Insurance, Royal Swaziland Sugar Corporation, Ubombo Sugar Limited, Bhunu Mall, Nedbank Swaziland, Simunye Plaza, The Swazi Observer, Tibiyo Properties, Maloma Colliery, Parmalat Swaziland, Swaziland Beverages and Swazi Spa Holdings. 

Earlier in May 2018, Lucky Ndlovu, the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office Director of Children Services, revealed that Neighbourhood Care Points (NCP) that feed the hungry across Swaziland were short of food because donations were drying up.

The Sunday Observer reported Ndlovu saying, ‘There is a lack of support from those who used to supply the food. Most of the support was from international donors who are now focussing on other countries which are not classified as middle income countries.’

He added, donors believed Swaziland had enough money but it was not being directed towards the poor.

‘Government must come up with programmes that are pro-poor because the international community is now not willing to support us,’ he said.

See also

KING TAKES US$10m FROM IRON MINE

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/king-takes-us10m-from-iron-mine.html

SWAZI KING AND QUEENS OF BLING

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/swazi-King-and-queens-of-bling.html

 

KING WEARS WATCH WORTH US$1.6-million

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/King-wears-watch-worth-us16-million.html

 

KING WEARS SUIT BEADED WITH DIAMONDS

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/swazi-King-wears-suit-of-diamonds.html 

SWAZI ROYALS SPEND, SPEND, SPEND

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/swazi-royals-spend-spend-spend.html

MORE MEDIA SELF-CENSORSHIP OVER KING

Once again Swaziland’s Times Sunday has censored itself and misled its readers about international criticism of King Mswati III.

It misreported a CNN report about US President Barack Obama’s criticism of Swaziland and its king, who rules the kingdom as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. Obama was speaking at the tribute to the life of Nelson Mandela.

The Times was reporting a commentary written by Frida Ghitis and published online by CNN, the international cable news channel.

The Times, which is part of the only newspaper group in Swaziland that is not controlled by the King, reported that Ghitis said Freedom House, an international human rights organisation, described Swaziland as a ‘failed state’.

But, that is not what Ghitis actually wrote. She said Freedom House called Swaziland a ‘failed feudal state’, which is something quite different. By deliberately changing the sense of the statement, the Times deflected the criticism away from the King.

The newspaper also did not report that Ghitis also referred in her article to ‘dictators and their right-hand men’ who were present at the tribute to Mandela.

Ghitis wrote, but the Times did not report,  ‘It included the likes of Swaziland Prime Minister [Barnabas] Sibusiso Dlamini, representing the small kingdom described by Freedom House as “a failed feudal state,” where the king uses photos of beautiful girls to attract tourists, “distracting outsiders from Swaziland's shocking realities of oppression, abject poverty, hunger and disease.”

‘Freedom House says that in the past 40 years, “two despots have used Swaziland for their personal purposes while ignoring the needs of the Swazi people and their legitimate rights to have a say over how they are governed and how the country's resources are used” -- the very antithesis of Mandela’s struggle.’

This is not the first time the Times Sunday has deliberately distorted the news to mislead its readers about criticism of King Mswati.

In 2012, it distorted a story about UK Prime Minister David Cameron and freedom and democracy in the kingdom, to deflect criticism away from the King.

The newspaper carried a report saying that Cameron had responded to a petition from the Swazi Vigil, a prodemocracy group in the UK. 

According to the Times Sunday, the petition read in part, ‘Exiled Swazis and supporters urge you to put pressure on (the Swazi Government) to allow political freedom, freedom of the press, rule of law, respect for women and affordable AIDS drugs in Swaziland.’

The newspaper inserted the words ‘the Swazi Government’ into the petition to make it seem that it was Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini and his cabinet that was being criticised.

In fact, the petition sent to Cameron in May 2012 actually read, ‘Petition to the British Government: Exiled Swazis and supporters urge you to put pressure on absolute monarch King Mswati III to allow political freedom, freedom of the press, rule of law, respect for women and affordable AIDs drugs in Swaziland.’ 

The Swazi Vigil made it very clear that it was criticising ‘absolute monarch King Mswati III’.

The Times Sunday and other media in Swaziland constantly mislead their readers and audiences about how King Mswati is viewed outside his kingdom. In May 2012 there was widespread criticism against King Mswati’s invitation to join a lunch in London to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign.

There were street demonstrations in London against the King and prodemocracy campaigners drew attention to the lack of freedoms in Swaziland and the lavish lifestyle the king enjoys, while seven in ten of his subjects languish in absolute poverty, earning less than US$2 a day.

Inkhosikati LaMbikiza, one of the King’s 13 wives who accompanied him to the lunch, wore shoes costing £995 (US$1,559), the equivalent of more than three years’ income for 70 percent of Swazi people. The total cost of the King’s trip was estimated to be at least US$794,500. 

The Times, the companion paper to the Times Sunday, reported at the time that Inkhosikati LaMbikiza had ‘rave reviews’ from the Daily Mail newspaper in London for her dress sense, but omitted to say the same newspaper also reported, ‘Guests from controversial regimes include Swaziland’s King Mswati III, who has been accused of living an obscenely lavish lifestyle while many of his people starve.’ 

There was similar criticism a year earlier in April 2011 when King Mswati went to the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. The Times newspaper in South Africa reported at the time, ‘The controversial absolute monarch, whose country is ranked among the poorest in the world, spent much of this week playing hide-and-seek with prodemocracy demonstrators tailing him across London.’ The King was forced to change his hotel to avoid pickets.

The Swazi media failed to report any of this, but did say that King Mswati had been welcomed by business people in the UK.

See also

PAPER DISTORTS STORY TO PROTECT KING

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/10/paper-distorts-story-to-protect-king.html