King Mswati has expressed concern that Swaziland’s international image was being tarnished by “cowardly” citizens who expose the country’s problems.
Mswati made the remark at the weekend while delivering his annual speech on the state of the kingdom at Engabezweni royal village, 25 km east of the capital, Mbabane.
Swazis who aired the nation’s problems “might seem like heroes in their own eyes, but they are mocking themselves,” said the king.
The reference was apparently to the media, which had recently carried reports on the government’s inability to curb Aids and poverty while spending lavishly on new palaces.
In his address, he called such “messengers” cowards, who would live shortened lives because they had incurred the wrath of God and the ancestral spirits. The king was the spiritual head of the nation, and national prosperity, including good weather, was channeled through him by God and the country’s ancestral spirits.
Mswati was speaking at the conclusion of the month-long Incwala ceremony, a royal pageant where Swazis petition ancestral spirits to empower the king, which would then bring good rains and harvests. “As evidenced that the ceremonies were properly conducted by the Swazi people, good rains are now falling,” said Mswati.
However, the weekend storms came too late to salvage crops across at least a quarter of the country, withered by one of the worst droughts in decades.
One out of four Swazis currently receives emergency food assistance from international donor organisations, yet the government has not declared a state of emergency.
“The king did not mention any of the many crises facing the nation, but he was angry at the messengers,” said a member of the banned political party Pudemo (People’s United Democratic Movement).
Schools opened on Tuesday, a week late, because about 200 boys were still weeding the royal field at Engabezweni. Palace functionaries said the decision to open the schools late was taken by the education ministry, but opposition groups dismissed that claim. “Government agencies work at the behest of the palace. If King Mswati knew about the disruption of the school year and, if he were at all concerned, he could have ordered the schools open,” said the Pudemo member.
Opposition groups noted that Mswati’s children attend private schools, which were not affected by the delay in the reopening of public schools. – Irin