Swaziland
No luxury jet for Swazi King

afrol News, 18 October - The Parliament of Swaziland turned down a request to finance a luxury jet plane worth US$ 45 million for the personal use of Mswati III, Africa's last absolute king. MPs were outraged by the planned purchase, coinciding with a drought and food crisis affecting wide parts of the Swazi population. 

US$ 45 million equals two annual health budgets of the poverty ridden country, where one third of the population is HIV infected and hunger is spreading. An estimated 140,000 out of Swaziland's total population of 1.1 million is facing a risk of starvation due to the current drought.

The 'Times of Swaziland' today thoroughly reports on the Parliament's opposition to the King's jet purchase. 25 votes turned down the government request to finance the King's purchase, against 16 votes in favour. The heated debate lasted four hours, but strong government pressure could not turn around the dissident majority.

MP Marwick Khumalo, who is a cousin of the King but nonetheless was the mover of the motion that called upon government to bring a report on the cost effectiveness of buying or hiring a private plane for the King, said the jet would have been "bought with stolen money," according to the newspaper. 

MP Samuel Tsabedze had been "almost in tears following government's insistence on buying the jet while people in his area have no water and are on the brink of death because of hunger."

King Mswati III is increasingly travelling to represent his country, and a fashionable and comfortable jet from Canadian producer Bombardier Inc is needed to arrive representatively when on official visits abroad, the Royal Palace confirmed in July. 

In December 2000, the King also launched the so-called Millennium Project, including a multi-million dollar international airport outside the tiny capital, Mbabane. The current Matsapha International Airport is seen as "inadequate" because it cannot handle trans-Atlantic or inter-continental flights. Maputo (Mozambique), with its international airport, is less than 200 kilometres away.

Change of scenery. The World Food Programme (WFP) is struggling to feed the poors of Swaziland, which have been hit hard by the Southern African drought. Last month, the UN agency delivered 1,418 tons of maize and 96 tons of oil for distribution among the Swazi hunger victims; this month will see higher numbers. 

The Swazi government is preparing a special budget to cover 40 percent of the food gap faced by the country, according to the WFP. The rest will have to be paid by international donors. 

But hunger is not even the biggest enemy of the Swazi people. The AIDS epidemic is having a heavy death toll and no government funds are available to check the disease. Following Botswana, Swaziland is the country with the highest prevalence of HIV and AIDS in the world. Other than Botswana, however, no serious policy exists to meet the pandemic. Mswati III's measure against the spread of HIV is a five-year's sex ban for young Swazi women. 

Opposition to the King's dispositions is however mostly unheard of. The Swazi are proud of their traditions and societal structure and generally do not favour modernisation - even at the cost of basic democratic rights. 

The existence of a Parliament and government therefore is more an administrative feature than a sign of democracy. The King has close control of the composition of both institutions and formal opposition therefore has not existed - until now. The planned purchase of a private jet while there is a food crisis has outraged the masses, which in turn have ordered their MPs to vote against it. Even the Swazi press - which has to observe self-censorship to survive - yells its outrage between the lines.

After the vote, Swazi MPs celebrated their victory by hooting their car horns all the way from the parking lot to the parliament gate, according to the 'Times of Swaziland'. Mbabane streets saw "a situation reminiscent of a wedding ceremony," the newspaper described the event. 

The King is currently representing the country in Malaysia. When he comes back home, the mice will stop playing, as Mswati III in any case has the final say on the matter, whether to buy the jet or not.

Sources: Based on Swazi press and afrol archives

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