The local and international community should take action against Swaziland’s King Mswati III’s ”insensitive expenditure”, the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN) said on Tuesday.
This comes after the monarch spent R5-million on 10 BMWs for his wives and R6-million on a Chrysler Maybach for himself.
”With this act, it is time now that South Africans and the world at large intensify their solidarity with the poor people of Swaziland and support for the struggle for the democratisation of their country,” SSN spokesperson Lucky Lukhele said.
He said Mswati’s recent purchases come as 70% of the country lives below the poverty line and the elderly and disabled have no social policy to count on.
An SSN list of expenditure by ”a king who has huge appetite for material desires and women abuse in the holy name of Swazi culture” includes more than R3-million on an entourage of 35 to Japan last year, more than R2-million on the king and queen’s birthday celebrations, and more than R8-million to buy vehicles and houses for the wives of his late father.
The king also committed the country to a R28-million deposit for the purchase of a jet and has constructed a clinic for royalty and their guests.
”These expenditures are not debated openly, but are dictated from the top. There is no chance of resistance. The poor taxpayer is forced to pay,” Lukhele’s statement continued.
He said HIV/Aids prevalence is ”knocking on the 40% mark” and one can ”hardly get a pain-killer tablet at government hospitals”.
The country is sustained by the European donor community, which has ”quietly [diplomatically] aired their views on the failure by government to deliver on the people’s socio-economic expectations”.
The monarchy is undemocratic and a drain on the taxpayer, Lukhele said.
”We call on the South African government, SADC [Southern African Development Community], AU [African Union], EU [European Union], UN [United Nations] and all peace-loving people of the world to take bold steps and act against this despotic manifestation … [and] strongly condemn this action.” — Sapa