Lunga Masuku and Justin Arenstein, Mbabane | Wednesday
INTERNATIONAL pop icon and self-proclaimed Africa enthusiast Michael Jackson has been approached to design and underwrite a multi-million dollar theme park in central Swaziland, former Mpumalanga premier Mathews Phosa has confirmed.
Phosa said Jackson had been requested to throw his weight behind the proposed ‘African’ theme park near the industrial city of Manzini as part of Swaziland’s US$1bn Millennium Project investment initiative.
Phosa, who pioneered the US$3,5bn Maputo Development Corridor while premier of South Africa’s Mpumalanga province, was last month appointed special advisor to the Swaziland government.
Phosa said his new company, Vuka Investment & Management (Pty) Ltd, would work alongside international auditing firm KPMG to advise the government on the US$1bn project and would also design investment strategies for the small southern African kingdom.
The Millennium Project will see the construction of a new international airport, an international convention centre, at least one five-star hotel, large new shopping complexes and improvements in the country’s main game reserves. The projects are scheduled to begin by the end of the year.
“It would be great if Michael Jackson agrees to design or underwrite the proposed Millennium Park theme resort. My company is currently engaged in talks with the leading people on this issue,” said Phosa.
“We have already started working on the projects and it is our mandate to advise the Swaziland government and make sure that big businesses come to invest in Swaziland.”
Swaziland’s monarch, King Mswati III, confirmed that he personally met with Jackson at Disneyland in the United States recently to discuss the project.
Phosa said the project would enhance Swaziland’s position as a leading tourist destination in the sub-region. The kingdom’s unique ‘living’ traditional African culture and monarchist government system would, he said, help it lure tourists and investors. – African Eye News Service