King Mswati III

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
1

His royal arse needs to be kicked out of power. There are a million and one ways he could spend that £8m - if nothing else, invest it in Aids education programmes in your neighbouring countries. But no - palaces galore for his eleven wives. Maybe he’s trying to outdo Arab sheikhs in opulence and wasteful spending?

i put this in WA rather than General coz i think it fits in with some of the other threads we have had in the past, particularly those relating to the Aids crises affecting several African countries. With bozos like him in power, how can we possibly have sufficient resources to invest in Aids education programmes?

King asks poor Swazis to pay for 11 palaces for wives, Rory Carroll
The Guardian, 13 January 2004

He did not get a private jet, but King Mswati III has found another way to drain Swaziland’s treasury: a palace for each of his 11 wives.

Sub-saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch has reportedly asked his government for £8m to redecorate three royal palaces and build 11 new ones - a big sum for a tiny country reeling from drought, food shortages and HIV/Aids.

Most of the wives share a single palace and occupy guest houses, but before he marries again the king has decided to give each spouse her own home.

The Times of Swaziland said the 35-year-old monarch had asked the cabinet and parliament to approve funding. News agencies quoted an unnamed palace source as confirming the story.

If the projects go ahead it will be a comeback of sorts for a king who was unexpectedly forced by protests last year to abandon plans to buy a £24m executive jet.

He recently bought a fleet of BMWs costing £800,000 for his relatives.

A former British protectorate of 1.1 million people, wedged between South Africa and Mozambique, Swaziland is peaceful and has a relatively good infrastructure. But the HIV rate of 39% is the world’s second highest after Botswana. With many peasants too sick to farm, the food shortage and grinding poverty have been compounded by one of the worst droughts in memory. The UN’s World Food Programme, which feeds a quarter of the population, said harvests would decline for a fifth successive year.

The king has resisted pressure for greater political plurality and triggered one controversy after another, including the alleged abduction of an 18-year-old schoolgirl, Zena Mahlangu, to be his ninth bride.

Yet the influence of opposition groups is limited: the cabinet and parliament are packed with the king’s relatives and judges have been sacked en masse for allegedly challenging his authority.

He remains popular with many Swazis, however, who see him as a virile father-figure. His late father, King Sobhuza II, amassed 99 wives and sired more than 200 children.

2

[quote]
*-> Most of the wives share a single palace and occupy guest houses, but before he marries again the king has decided to give each spouse her own home

-> including the alleged abduction of an 18-year-old schoolgirl, Zena Mahlangu, to be his ninth bride.

->His late father, King Sobhuza II, amassed 99 wives and sired more than 200 children.*
[/quote]

I can safely say, that this is one monarchy which thinks from their ____ and not from their brains.

3

He is the king after all, maybe he thinks he has to meet his father's achievement of 99 wives and over 200 children.

I wish I had the new BMW 6 series!

4

What's surprising (i think) is that the people of Swaziland don't seem to mind too much his lavish spending. Actually this dude, the current King, is pretty good looking. Maybe that's why... Plus the whole concept of having a monarchy - maybe they see it as an integral part of the society's continuation.

Khair, it doesn't justify his horrendous expenditures on such worthless projects at a time in the world when there is so much poverty virtually everywhere.

5

“Actually this dude, the current King, is pretty good looking.”

Oh Nadia!

No wonder you don’t dig Donald Rumsfeld…

:eek:

6

There was a picture of him couple years ago, maybe at his official coronation. He looked pretty good. :o

If only Rummy had the rugged good looks, then he might have stood a chance. But as it is - sadly, no.

7

Rummy will be crushed.....

8

As they say, beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder

[thumb=E]mswati12080_9831893.JPG[/thumb]

Anyway, I found a 2001 article on this gem. Its quite insightful. Read on..

Tuesday, 4 December, 2001

Mswati admitted then that it could be difficult to cope with the pressure of work.

“I find very little time with my family most of the time. I normally work until 11pm… and this makes me feel stressed because I’m being over-worked, but I have to do everything possible to satisfy my people,” he told me in an interview at the Ludzidzini royal residence.

**King Mswati has been described as arrogant like his 19th century forefathers, King Mswati I and King Mswati II.

Swazi history tells us that these two kings ruled Swaziland for less than 10 years each because of their “aggressive” attitude towards family conflicts in the royal household.

He also has to battle with complex family affairs, involving the seven official wives he married through Swazi custom and tradition.

The king now has two more fiancées to look after, in addition to his wives and 15 children.

“It has been our advice to the king that he must concentrate on one thing at a time.”

“He must stop mixing family affairs with national issues because that’s the thing that caused the stress he suffered early this year,” said a senior Prince who is very close to the king.

King Mswati has over 200 brothers and sisters and he has the task of taking care of them all, financially and otherwise. **

What is most interesting is that the young monarch is aware that the people around him, especially the Swazi National Council, that advises him on various political, economic and traditional issues sometimes mislead him. :rolleyes:

Decree No 2 of 2001, announced the banning of newspapers, stopped the courts hearing matters that are already with the king and contained many other controversial issues.

“I must admit that when I signed this decree (Decree No 2 of 2001), I did not read it at all. I just signed it,” he told journalists soon after his arrival.

9

:eek:

Nadia:
Is it the propeller on his head that revs your engine? Or is it the way his dress sensually, but tastefully, exposes his bare shoulders and accentuates the necklace with attached plastic pendants of little doggies facing each other?

10

Faisal Bhaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii :eek: Mujhe yeh umeed nahin thi aap sai :grumpy: Come on yaar… you deliberately found the worst possible picture of him. You are making fun of me :bummer: There was another one i was thinking of. i actually printed it off, i have it somewhere, i’ll scan it then post it here. hamf

But phir bhi, that pic’s really not THAT bad - i mean that’s their official coronation attire, i am assuming *. So he had to wear that. Are we making fun of another ethnic group’s local attire? chee chee. i know you are way more mature, Alhamdulillah, than to indulge in something like that. :nono:

MyVoice, hoonh Don’t call it “propellers”. People could make fun of a lot of North American attire too you know. And that necklace could have pendants that are symbolic of their culture, i have no freaking clue, but come on man - that’s their culture. Let’s not make fun of the way other individuals dress.

Speaking of which, i just came back from uni two hours ago. i’ve seen guys at my uni who are ten times worse, though they dress in what would be considered ‘cool’. “Propellers” or no “propellers” - every culture has its own unique attire; no one culture is superior than any other when it comes to clothes. i think it looks dashing on him. :p*

11

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Nadia_H: *
....
And that necklace could have pendants that are symbolic of their culture, i have no freaking clue, but come on man - that's their culture. Let's not make fun of the way other individuals dress.
...
[/QUOTE]

May be it'll make you feel better, the pics on pendant are of Lions, and not two lil puppies.

12

sigh That was actually a better picture of his, atleast as per moi. The picture which was on the BBC article (which I copied) made him look like a drug smuggler who is just been arrested. Here you go :stuck_out_tongue:

[thumb=E]mswati212080_2592779.JPG[/thumb]

13

I saw a show about him once.. it showed him as a reluctant ruler that enjoyed hanging out with the people more than doing business. So apparently he keeps the people happy.. even if they are dying off in massive numbers due to his negligence.