SWAZI KING DEALS WITH $18bn BANKRUPT

King Mswati III of Swaziland is trying to do a business deal with an American conglomerate that has been in bankruptcy protection for two years after owing US$18 billion.

He wants Caesars Palace, famous for its casinos, to run the proposed International Convention Centre (ICC) and hotel in Ezulwini.

The Swazi Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by the King who is sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, reported on Thursday (28 September 2017) that he and government ministers had discussed with Caesars Palace management at the hotel in Las Vegas a plan for the potential of the proposed ICC.

The Observer reported, ‘The meeting took place after an hour’s tour of the hotel yesterday where His Majesty the King was given a full display of what it has to offer by President of Caesars Palace Gary Selesner. The main attraction is the gaming at the Casinos. The hotel also has state of the art entertainment facilities and meeting halls.’

The newspaper devoted part of its front page to the visit and also published a story with four photographs of the meeting inside written by‘The King’s Office Correspondent.’ It said the Caesars Palace management had promised to submit a proposal on what it would cost to manage the ICC and hotel.

The report said Caesars had grown through development of new resorts, expansions and acquisitions, and now operates casinos on three continents.

What it did not report (but the information is freely available) was that Caesars Entertainment Operating Corp (Caesars Palace’s main operating unit) filed in the United States for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January 2015 to protect itself from creditors who were owed US$18 billion. In January 2017 Reuters news agency reported that a deal had been made with courts to shed US$10 billion of the debt. The company will be reorganised as part of the deal.

In a report on media freedom in Swaziland in 2013, the Media Institute of Southern Africa described the Swazi Observer as a  ‘pure propaganda machine for the royal family’.

Members of the Swazi Royal Family are no strangers to Las Vegas. In 2012 it was reported that three of the King’s wives (who at the time numbered 13) travelled to Las Vegas with an entourage of about 65 people on a multimillion-dollar spending spree and vacation.  They reportedly stayed in 10 separate villas – each costing E20,000 (US$2,400) per night.

The Queens on the trip were named by the Mail and Guardian newspaper in South Africa as LaNgangaza née Carol Dlamini, LaMagongo née Nontsetselo Magongo and LaNkambule née Phindile Nkambule. 

Reports said the trip would cost the Swazi taxpayers at least E36 million (US$4.6 million). Seven in ten of the King’s subjects live in abject poverty, with incomes of less than US$2 a day. Political parties are banned in the kingdom and all forms of prodemocracy protest are quashed by state forces.

The Mail and Guardian reported at the time that funding for the trip was supplemented by money from the national fund Tibiyo which is supposed to be held in trust for the nation. A ‘large sum of cash’ was understood to have been withdrawn, it said.

The plan for the E1 billion ICC that includes a five-star hotel is being led by the Government of Swaziland through the Millennium Projects Management Unit within the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development. Government has said it will fund the project.

It is proposed the centre will be able to accommodate 4,500 guests at any one time and include a secure chamber room to take 53 heads of state. Other features include a 3,500-seat banqueting hall and a 1,500-seat theatre. It is proposed the centre will be completed ahead of the African Union summit due to be held in Swaziland in 2020.

See also

SWAZI QUEENS OFF ON SHOPPING SPREE

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/07/swazi-queens-off-on-shopping-spree.html

 

SWAZI QUEENS’ HISTORY OF EXCESS

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/swazi-queens-history-of-excess.html

QUEENS ON US$10 MILLION VACATION

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/queens-on-us10-million-vacation.html

SWAZI KING’S TORRID LIFE WITH WIVES

Confirmation that King Mswati III, aged 49, is to take a teenager as his latest wife shines the spotlight firmly on the King’s marital history.

His latest choice is Siphelele Mashwama, aged 19, who is the daughter of a Swaziland Cabinet minister, Jabulile Mashwama. In 2013 the King chose an 18-year-old ‘former beauty pageant contestant’ Sindiswa Dlamini as his wife. Both the teenagers are younger than some of the King’s own children.

There is some confusion as to whether King Mswati’s latest bride will be his 14^th or 15^th. The confusion is excusable since the number of wives the King has is considered a state secret in Swaziland and it is ‘un-Swazi’ to talk openly about the King’s polygamy.

The new bride is reported to be a graduate of Swaziland’s Waterford Kamhlaba World University College. She went with the King this week to the United Nations General Assembly meeting in the United States.

She was introduced at the annual Reed Dance where tens of thousands of women described as ‘virgins’ danced bare-breasted for the King.

King Mswati has been ridiculed outside of Swaziland for his likening of teenage women. Media in South Africa nicknamed Sindiswa Dlamini ‘naughty Sindie’.

The Sunday Sun newspaper in South Africa in 2014 reported she had affairs with two of King Mswati’s sons, Prince Majaha and Prince Bandzile, who were both in their early twenties. One unnamed source told the newspaper, ‘Sindi has dated both these boys. She’s a party girl used to having fun.’

Another informant told the Sunday Sun, ‘Sindi is no virgin. She drinks and smokes a lot and has tattoos on parts of her body I cannot mention.’

One source told the newspaper, ‘She is only doing it [marrying the King] because she comes from a poor background.’

The media in Swaziland never report about the King without his permission. This means people across the world are better informed than the King’s subjects, the Swazi people. Most media in the kingdom are under direct state control, opposition political parties are banned as ‘terrorist’ organisations and any political dissent is quickly crushed by police and the army.

In 2011, the Independent group of newspapers in South Africa reported that three of the King’s 13 queens had abandoned him since he took the throne in 1986. And more of his wives were trying to break out of the palace.

The Independent reported, ‘A royal source says some of the queens are frustrated as the King has allowed many months to pass without “visiting” them. They accuse him of seeking his pleasures outside the palace instead.’

The Independent added, ‘This comes after revelations about the recent unceremonious departure from the palace of LaDube, the King’s estranged 12th wife, after she had been accused of having a relationship with former minister of justice and constitutional affairs Ndumiso Mamba. To make matters worse, Mamba was the king’s business confidant and friend.

‘After the affair came to the King’s attention, he denied LaDube conjugal rights, according to insiders. They say he was trying to make palace life intolerable for her so that she would leave.

‘She is officially no longer part of the royal family and has been dumped at her maternal grandmother’s home in Hhohho.’

The newspaper reported, ‘LaDube was the third of Mswati’s wives to leave the palace. She followed LaMagwaza and LaHwala, who both now live in South Africa.

‘LaMagwaza was accused of having a steamy sexual relationship with a South African toy boy. Sources claimed that she was sex starved, as the King would not visit her.’

It added, ‘LaHwala was also neglected by the king who would deny her conjugal rights for six months at a time.’

See also

KING’S WIFE THROWN OUT OF PALACE

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/11/kings-wife-thrown-out-of-palace.html

NO FOOD OR BEDDING FOR KING’S WIFE

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/11/no-food-or-bedding-for-kings-wife.html

 

SWAZI KING’S WIFE ‘BEGS FOR RESCUE’

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/07/swazi-kings-wife-begs-for-rescue.html

SEX SCANDAL QUEEN SEEN IN PUBLIC

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/07/sex-scandal-queen-seen-in-public.html

 

SWAZI QUEEN’S SORRY TALE OF ABUSE

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/swazi-queens-sorry-tale-of-abuse.html

SWAZI QUEENS’ HISTORY OF EXCESS

The luxury trip to Florida costing about US$1 million by at least three of the wives of King Mswati III of Swaziland and an entourage of about 100 people continues a tradition of lavish spending by sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch and his family.

The Queens are on a week-long trip to the US state. Their trips are always shrouded in secrecy and the media in Swaziland never report them. Not so, the international media and social media.

Here are details of some of the Swazi Royal Family’s most extravagant trips in recent years. King Mswati rules over a population of 1.2 million; seven in ten live in abject poverty with incomes of less than US$2 a day.

In 2013, several of the King’s wives – he is estimated to have 14, but the exact number remains a secret – travelled to Japan and Australia on a trip estimated to have cost US$10 million.

In 2012, they went on vacation to the gambling capital of the world, Las Vegas in the United States. On that occasion three of the wives were accompanied by an entourage of 55 people. Prodemocracy activists reported they stayed in 10 villas at the cost of US$2,400 per villa per night.

In 2010, a group of the king’s wives went on what was described at the time as ‘another multi-million-dollar international shopping spree’ to Brussels in Belgium and London, UK. About 80 other people went on the trip to tend to the needs of the queens.

In August 2009, five of King Mswati’s wives went on a shopping trip through Europe and the Middle East that cost an estimated US$6 million.

At the time media in Swaziland were warned not to report on the trip because it would harm the king’s reputation. Media houses were told they would face sanctions, including possible closure, if word got out. But newspapers and websites across the world followed the story.

The Times of London, for example, reported how the queens went on a shopping spree while the subjects of King Mswati went hungry. The Australian newspaper said the king ignored the Swazi poor and the newspaper reminded readers that Swaziland relied on international aid from the European Union and the United States.

The previous year in August 2008 when a group of the king’s wives went on a similar shopping spree ordinary Swazi women were so outraged that they took to the streets of Swaziland in protest.

King Mswati does not accompany his wives on these trips. However, he is known to spend lavishly on himself and his wives when he does make trips. A typical example was in April 2011 when he went to London to attend the wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton. The cost of the plane alone to take him to the UK cost the Swazi people US$700,000.

The following year he was back in London to attend a lunch to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. He took with him his first wife Inkhosikati LaMbikiza. She wore to the lunch shoes trimmed with jewels that cost £995 (US$1,559). It would take seven-out-of-ten Swazis at least three years to earn the price of the shoes.

The cost of the King’s five-day trip to the UK for the Diamond Jubilee was estimated to be at least US$794,500.

The extravagant spending came just as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) criticised Swaziland for diverting money that should have been used on education and health to other spending.

As a result of this spending the IMF withdrew its team that was advising the government on economic recovery from Swaziland.

The King is regularly criticised in media across the globe for his extravagant lifestyle, but media in Swaziland dare not criticise him. At the time of the visit to the Diamond Jubilee the Times of Swaziland, the only independent daily newspaper in the kingdom, featured a report about LaMbikiza’s shoes, gushing that she had received ‘rave reviews’ from a UK newspaper for her dress sense.

It did not, however, say that the same newspaper 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.’

While more than half of the Swazi population rely on some form of food aid to keep them from hunger, King Mswati has 13 palaces in Swaziland; fleets of BMW and Mercedes cars and at least one Rolls Royce.

Earlier in July 2016 it was revealed the King was about to receive a 375-seater private jet at an estimated cost of US$14 million, paid for by the Swazi Government, which the King handpicked.

See also

KING’S SPENDING: U.S. ‘MIGHT HALT AID’

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2016/07/kings-spending-us-might-halt-aid.html

 

SWAZI CENSORSHIP ON KING’S UK TRIP

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/05/swazi-censorship-on-kings-uk-trip.html

SWAZI QUEENS OFF ON SHOPPING SPREE

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/07/swazi-queens-off-on-shopping-spree.html

KING’S SPENDING: U.S. ‘MIGHT HALT AID’

Lisa Peterson, the US ambassador to Swaziland, has said the kingdom might not receive further food aid from her country because of the Swazi King’s ‘lavish spending’ on holidays.

She was responding to media after it was revealed that at least three of King Mswati III’s wives were on holiday in Orlando, Florida last week – with an entourage of more than 100.

The cost of this holiday was equivalent to the drought relief that the US was currently providing to the drought-stricken country –  E14 million (US$1 million).

News24 in South Africa reported Peterson saying the US had limited funds for drought relief. She said, ‘When we hear of the lavish spending by the Swazi royal family – especially while a third of their citizens need food aid – it becomes difficult to encourage our government to make more emergency aid available. You can’t expect international donors to give more money to the citizens of Swaziland than their own leaders give them.’

South African media have been reporting that the queens, their bodyguards, protocol officials, family and other ‘support staff’ were on the trip that was expected to last eight days.

The City Press newspaper in Johannesburg reported the vacation had irritated diplomats who were motivating for more drought relief aid for the kingdom, which is in the grips of the worst drought in 18 years.

It reported, ‘According to diplomatic sources, meetings were held with the King, where objections to the holiday were raised. 

‘Mswati’s defence was that the vacation had been planned and paid for in advance, and that a cancellation would result in an unnecessary loss of money.’

As of the end of May 2016, UNICEF – the United Nations Children’s Fund – estimated 300,320 people in total in Swaziland were affected by drought of which 189,000 were children. It estimated that 165,000 children affected were by drought in the two most affected regions of Lubombo and Shiselweni.

A total of 200,897 people were food insecure, of which 90,404 were children. Of these, 8,460 children aged 6 to 59 months were affected by ‘severe and moderate acute malnutrition’.

Meanwhile, the Swazi Government has released only E22 million (US$1.5 million) of the E305 million earmarked for drought relief in this year’s national budget. The Swazi Observer newspaper reported on Monday (11 July 2016) that the Deputy Prime Minister Paul Dlamini announced this to the House of Assembly.

The newspaper reported he ‘failed to explain the reasons behind government’s failure to purchase and distribute food to the affected communities’. 

Swaziland is in the grip of a drought crisis and in February 2016 the Swazi Government declared a national emergency and said the kingdom would need E248 million (US$16 million) before the end of April 2016 for relief. 

Earlier in July 2016, it was revealed that King Mswati was about to receive a 375-seater private jet worth about US$14 million paid for by his Government.

See also

NO FUNDS TO PROTECT DROUGHT KIDS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2016/07/no-funds-to-protect-drought-kids.html

  

KING BUYS JET AS UN BAILS KINGDOM OUT

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2016/07/king-buys-jet-as-un-bails-kingdom-out.html

DROUGHT: ‘PEOPLE DIED OF HUNGER’

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2016/07/drought-people-died-of-hunger.html

 

KING BUYS JET AS UN BAILS KINGDOM OUT

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2016/07/king-buys-jet-as-un-bails-kingdom-out.html

QUEENS BACK FROM LUXURY HOLIDAY

A group of King Mswati’s 13 wives are heading back to Swaziland after a vacation that was said to cost millions of dollars. 

The wives and an entourage of about 100 people have been on a tour of Japan, Australia, the Pacific and the Indian Ocean for the past two weeks. They are due back at Matsapha this weekend (4 August 2013).

Swazi Media Commentary tracked the progress of King Mswati’s private jet as it made its way across half the globe.

In the past week it has been in Papua New Guinea, Australia (Canberra and Sydney), the paradise holiday isle of Bali, the Maldives and Zanzibar before heading back to Swaziland.

The holiday trip was made in great secrecy and media in Swaziland, where the king rules as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, have been silent about it.

King Mswati’s wives take expensive holidays each year and in the past have travelled to the United States, Europe and the Middle East.

King Mswati is said to have a personal fortune, estimated by Forbes to be about US$200 million. He has 13 palaces in Swaziland, fleets of Mercedes and BMW cars and at least one Rolls Royce. Meanwhile, seven in ten of his subjects live in abject poverty earning less than US$2 a day.

Last month a report on hunger in Swaziland revealed that 40 percent of children in Swaziland were so malnourished it stunted their growth.

See also

QUEENS ON MILLION DOLLARS VACATION

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/07/queens-on-us10-million-vacation.html

QUEENS ON US$10 MILLION VACATION

Several of the wives of King Mswati III who rules the impoverished kingdom of Swaziland are presently on a vacation trip to Japan and Australia that will cost an estimated US$10 million, a prodemocracy group has reported.

In total, about 100 people will be on the trip, the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN) said. 

 

The group will be travelling variously on commercial aircraft and the wives will travel on royal state aircraft.

In a statement SSN, quoting ‘sources within the royal family’, said, ‘The sole purpose of this trip is vacation. It is rumoured that the trip will cost R20 million (about US$10 million) in accommodation, travel allowances, air tickets, visas and other necessities.’

The trip which is said to have begun on 20 July is shrouded in secrecy. No official confirmation of the trip has been made by King Mswati, who rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, or his hand-picked government.

It is not clear how many of King Mswati’s are on the trip. He is widely believed to have 13 wives in total, but this cannot be confirmed as the information is considered to be a state secret.

A group of King Mswati’s wives take expensive vacations each year. Last year (2012) they went on vacation to the gambling capital of the world, Las Vegas in the United States. On that occasion three of the wives were accompanied by an entourage of 55 people. Prodemocracy activists reported they stayed in 10 villas at the cost of US$2,400 per villa per night.

In 2010, a group of the king’s wives went on what was described at the time as ‘another multi-million dollar international shopping spree’ to Brussels in Belgium and London, UK.

About 80 other people went on the trip to tend to the needs of the queens.

In August 2009, five of King Mswati’s wives went on a shopping trip through Europe and the Middle East that cost an estimated US$6 million.

At the time media in Swaziland were warned not to report on the trip because it would harm the king’s reputation. Media houses were told they would face sanctions, including possible closure, if word got out. But newspapers and websites across the world followed the story.

The Times of London, for example, reported how the queens went on a shopping spree while the subjects of King Mswati went hungry. Seven in ten of King Mswati’s 1.3 million subjects live in abject poverty, earning less than US$2 a day.

The Australian newspaper said the king ignored the Swazi poor and the newspaper reminded readers that Swaziland relied on international aid from the European Union and the United States.

The previous year in August 2008 when a group of the king’s wives went on a similar shopping spree ordinary Swazi women were so outraged that they took to the streets of Swaziland in protest.

King Mswati does not accompany his wives on these trips. However, he is known to spend lavishly on himself and his wives when he does make trips. A typical example was in April 2011 when he went to London to attend the wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton. The cost of the plane alone to take him to the UK cost the Swazi people US$700,000.

The following year he was back in London to attend a lunch to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. He took with him his first wife Inkhosikati LaMbikiza. She wore to the lunch shoes trimmed with jewels that cost £995 (US$1,559). It would take seven-out-of-ten Swazis at least three years to earn the price of the shoes.

The cost of the King’s five-day trip to the UK for the Diamond Jubilee was estimated to be at least US$794,500.

The extravagant spending came just as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) criticised Swaziland for diverting money that should have been used on education and health to other spending.

As a result of this spending the IMF withdrew its team that was advising the government on economic recovery from Swaziland.

The King is regularly criticised in media across the globe for his extravagant lifestyle, but media in Swaziland dare not criticise him. At the time of the visit to the Diamond Jubilee the Times of Swaziland, the only independent daily newspaper in the kingdom, featured a report about LaMbikiza’s shoes, gushing that she had received ‘rave reviews’ from a UK newspaper for her dress sense.

It did not, however, say that the same newspaper 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.’

While more than half of the Swazi population rely on some form of food aid to keep them from hunger, King Mswati has 13 palaces in Swaziland, one for each of his wives; fleets of BMW and Mercedes cars and at least one Rolls Royce.

Last year, for his 44th birthday he received a private jet worth US$17 million as a gift. He refused to reveal who bought it for him, leading to speculation that it was paid for out of public funds.

See also

SWAZI CENSORSHIP ON KING’S UK TRIP

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/05/swazi-censorship-on-kings-uk-trip.html

 

KING’S TRIP TO LONDON ‘COST US$794,500’

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/05/kings-trip-to-london-cost-us794500.html

GOVT DENIES QUEENS’ SHOPPING SPREE

The Swaziland Government has denied that some of King Mswati’s 13 wives are to go on a multi-million rand shopping trip and holiday to Las Vegas.

News has circulated the world saying that three of his wives will be in a party of 66 people to make the trip. They reportedly will stay in 10 separate villas – each costing R20 000 (US$2,400) per night.

The Queens on the trip have been named by the Mail and Guardian newspaper in South Africa as LaNgangaza née Carol Dlamini, LaMagongo née Nontsetselo Magongo and LaNkambule née Phindile Nkambule. They will be accompanied by some of their children and domestic staff.

Percy Simelane, the Swazi Government’s official spokesperson, denied to the Daily Sun newspaper in South Africa that the trip was to take place. He is reported saying, ‘The king has no such trip.’

Simelane, who speaks for a government handpicked by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, might be playing with words, since the King is not thought to be accompanying his wives on the trip. He is presently on an official trip to Namibia and it has been reported in the international media that he will visit the Olympic Games in London, which start tomorrow (27 July 2012).

The Daily Sun reported the total cost of accommodation alone on the Las Vegas trip would be in the region of R1,2 million. It added that the party were to travel by private jet which might cost R36 million. 

It said that Swazi queens traditionally buy clothing and gadgets for themselves, children and aides on these overseas sprees. They are said to happen about twice a year with the king’s wives taking turns to go. 

The Mail and Guardian reported that funding for the multimillion-rand trip was being supplemented by money from the national fund Tibiyo. A ‘large sum of cash’ is understood to have been withdrawn recently.

Lucky Lukhele of the Swaziland Solidarity Network operating out of Mzansi told the Daily Sun the planned trip was an insult, given that his people were living on donor food.

‘People living with HIV have to eat cow dung so that they can take their medication,’ he said.

See also

SWAZI QUEENS OFF ON SHOPPING SPREE

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/07/swazi-queens-off-on-shopping-spree.html

SWAZI QUEENS OFF ON SHOPPING SPREE

Democracy advocates in Swaziland are reporting that several of King Mswati III’s 13 wives are going on a multi-million rand shopping trip and vacation to the gambling capital of the world, Las Vegas in the United States.

The Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN) says three of the wives will be accompanied by an entourage of 55 people. They are expected to stay in 10 villas at the cost of R20,000 (US$2,400) per villa per night.

SSN reports that a private jet will be used to transport the Royals. They are expected to arrive in Las Vegas on 4 August 2012.

Previously, SSN reported that the queens would also be visiting Spain and the United Arab Emirates.

SSN said in a statement, ‘The total cost of this trip is unknown. However, similar trips in the past have cost the [Swazi] taxpayer at least R200 million as they will be travelling by a privately hired jet.’

The trip is not unusual. Every year a party of the king’s wives go on a luxury shopping spree.

In 2010, a group of the king’s wives went on what was described at the time as ‘another multi-million dollar international shopping spree’ to Brussels in Belgium and London, UK.

About 80 other people went on the trip to tend to the needs of the queens.

In August 2009, five of King Mswati’s wives went on a shopping trip through Europe and the Middle East that cost an estimated US$6 million.

At the time media in Swaziland were warned not to report on the trip because it would harm the king’s reputation. Media houses were told they would face sanctions, including possible closure, if word got out. But newspapers and websites across the world followed the story.

The Times of London, for example, reported how the queens went on a shopping spree while the subjects of King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarchy, went hungry.

The Australian newspaper said the king ignored the Swazi poor and the newspaper reminded readers that Swaziland relied on international aid from the European Union and the United States.

The previous year in August 2008 when a group of the king’s wives went on a similar shopping spree ordinary Swazi women were so outraged that they took to the streets of Swaziland in protest.

King Mswati, rules as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. Seven in ten people in Swaziland live in abject poverty earning less than two US dollars a day.

KING BYPASSES COURT, JAILS MINISTER

A Swazi cabinet minister has been jailed on the orders of King Mswati III.

His ‘crime’: sleeping with one of the king’s many wives while the king was on a trip to Taiwan.

King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, has ordered that his instruction, which is completely against the Swaziland Constitution, be kept a secret.

Some hope. Ironically, the man now behind bars is the Swaziland Justice Minister Ndumiso Mamba.

It is alleged that he was caught having sex with Nothando Dube, the 12th of Mswati’s 14 wives, at the luxury hotel, the Royal Villas, at Ezulwini outside the kingdoms capital, Mbabane.

The minister was detained by police and then moved to Big Bend prison, according to reports circulating outside Swaziland.

One report said the jailing was ‘on the orders of the king, who also instructed that the matter be kept secret and that the minister be kept in jail until the king returned from a 10-day state visit to Taiwan’.

There were fears that if they were freed the two could flee the country.

In a sinister development, Swazi media houses fear their telephones may be bugged after Swazi authorities warned them not to talk with newspapers and media in South Africa about the arrest.

Meanwhile, Nothando Dube is being held under 24-hour surveillance at the queen mother’s royal palace at Ludzidzini in Mbabane while waiting for the king to return.

The City Press in South Africa reported on the case yesterday (1 August 2010) and says it has four separate sources for the information. It also gives detailed background of the possible consequences to the Swazi Royal Family of the scandal. To read more click here.

The Swaziland Solidarity Network has also issued information about the scandal. Nothando Dube was 16 years old when she married King Mswati and is a year younger than King Mswati’s eldest child. Nothando Dube attempted to commit suicide when she felt the king had betrayed her by taking another wife. To read more click here.