Oh To Be King
August 22, 2008, Matthew Good Imagine living in one of the world’s poorest countries which also happens to be one of the last ruled by an absolute monarch. Now imagine nine of that monarch’s thirteen wives chartering a private jet to take them on a shopping spree throughout Europe and the Middle East.
I am, of course, talking about Swaziland, which has been under a government imposed state of emergency since 1973, where 40% of the population is infected with HIV (the highest rate in the world), a quarter of the nation survives on food aid, and the average life expectancy is 40 years.
If there was ever ample justification for a popularist uprising, the people of Swaziland certainly have grounds. While the United States assists in various HIV/AIDS initiatives and supports other non-military sectors of development, it also provides military training and assistance to a monarchical regime that is renowned for ignoring the suffering of its people.
King Mswati III is known for his lavish lifestyle, despite the nation’s economic plight. In 2005 he purchased 10 BMW 5 Series cars for his wives that cost $820,000 dollars. His 36th birthday party cost some $600,000 dollars in a nation rampant with unemployment. He has used public money to purchase a private jet, construct palaces, and purchase numerous other luxury automobiles. All of this by a man who rules a nation that has been utterly devastated by HIV and poverty.
Swaziland’s economy is wholly kleptocratic, with 70% of Swazi’s living on less than 1 US dollar a day. Mining constitutes 1.8% of the country’s gross national product with each mining enterprise having to gift the Swazi King 10% of its shares.
Oh to be king.
This little symbol lets you @ another comment
It’s hard not to be overwhelmed by the corruption that exists in our world.
This guy isn’t even forty yet he’s controlling a country,if that’s what you want to call it. Idiocy knows no bounds.
Didn’t HBO do a series on this? The Sopran-somethings?
Swaziland also has the world’s 50th highest birthrate. (US is 139th, Canada is 169th) So, more and more people will be born to live on $1.00 per day for 40 years, while this ass clown lives the high life. This is a very common situation in many nations of the African continent is it not? For someone on the west to live their “American Dream”, we just need to get an MBA and sign on with a multi-national corporation that owns energy-based companies. In Africa, to live your “American Dream”, you have to form an army and with a miliary coup wrestle the Presidency away from the last guy that abused it.
Our minimum requirement is a car, two bedrooms and an X-box.
The minimum requirement in Swaziland is one meal a day and a mosquito net over your bed.
This is truly, a fucked up world.
Oh to operate without a conscience.
Dear Mr. Good,
I suspect you and the readers of this page would enjoy:
The Fate of Africa: From the Hopes of Freedom to the Heart of Despair by Martin Meredith (Published by Public Affairs, 2005). It offers a concise, measured review of the history of the entire continent from 1950 to the present.
At least they have yummy chocolate.
(That’ll teach me to skim-read)
Disgusting. Him and his 16 wives should be shot.
That’s shameful…my thirteen wives are stuck driving Jettas.
Apparently there is a film on the topic:
http://firstrunfeatures.com/withoutthekingdvd.html
I’m at a loss for words on this one…that rarely happens.
Did you know that once a year he conducts his annual “reed dance” where hundreds of women dance topless for him, after which he selects one of them to be his new wife?
I remember reading all about this lovely lad in “20 Worst Living Dictators” (a very good book which I highly recommend.) Unfortunately, he’s not the only one living an incredibly lavish lifestyle while the rest of his people suffer. Paul Biya of Cameroon, Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea, and of course Gadaffi of Libya are a few other examples that come to mind. I believe the president of Equatorial Guinea has a few lavish mansions in the U.S. although he’s known to lead a terrible and brutal regime in his home country. Even in Bolivia a few years ago (the poorest country in south America) the president ran off with something like 400 million dollars of the people’s money.
I have to stop myself now before I go overboard with anger!
OMG… I knew of some of the things you had mentioned, but certainly not all…
I don’t understand how the rest of the world can stand by and allow this guy to remain in power, living the life of luxury that he does…It’s brutally disgusting.
[quote comment="62728"]OMG… I knew of some of the things you had mentioned, but certainly not all…
I don’t understand how the rest of the world can stand by and allow this guy to remain in power, living the life of luxury that he does…It’s brutally disgusting.[/quote]
Totally off topic, but I think I’ve met you before once in Calgary. You’re friends with Willa and Vinciane, yeah? Pretty sweet to know you’re also a MG fan!
[quote comment="62733"][quote comment="62728"]OMG… I knew of some of the things you had mentioned, but certainly not all…
I don’t understand how the rest of the world can stand by and allow this guy to remain in power, living the life of luxury that he does…It’s brutally disgusting.[/quote]
Totally off topic, but I think I’ve met you before once in Calgary. You’re friends with Willa and Vinciane, yeah? Pretty sweet to know you’re also a MG fan![/quote]
Hey! Um..wow..this is bizarre, and a very small world.. , I am not sure if I have met you or not. Where/when did I meet you (in Calgary..where?). I have since moved from Calgary and now live in Vancouver.
Email me @ angelfire_star69@hotmail.com:)
If there was a monetary or political aspect to gain the US would have already invaded.
What exactly is he going to do when he has no more people left to rule because they’ve all died of starvation or AIDS? All he’ll have is his wives and his cars and a country full of ghosts. And ghost aren’t exactly know for paying their taxes to keep him in palaces and women.
Wow. I had no idea. This makes my heart heavy….
[quote comment="62711"]That’s shameful…my thirteen wives are stuck driving Jettas.[/quote]
Hahaha. BMW.. Jetta. At least they are both German.
That’s bloody discusting.
I dont want to sound like a psychopath but maybe his next wife will have Aids/Hiv and he’ll get infected and die…
Hello,
I am so glad that you wrote this. I was born in Swaziland but was fortunate enough to be adopted when I was 2. My biological family however lives in Swaziland still. I have over the years kept in touch with them and have since my childhood watched in dismay much of the beauty of Swaziland die.
Many family and friends became sick and died for unknown reasons…what I later equated with AIDS.
The King has made it almost impossible for opposing political groups to organize. Furthermore his ‘dictatorship’, yes I feel that absolute monarch is not a strong enough term for his brutal rule, has frightened people into submission for fear of being killed.
I am a Swazi, and I am deeply saddened by the current state of the country in which I was born.
I am ready to fight for the removal of his head…of state.
Kudos to all of you who have responded to this thread. What Swaziland needs is for the international community to reject all aspects of the seudo ‘Kings’ rule.
fact. Swaziland’s monarchy was fabricated by the British Monarchy as a means of maintaining the British reign in Southern Africa during the mid 20th Century.
Sra