Swazi King boards a plane before a visit to South Africa Picture: Screengrab from video
The Swaziland People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) said it was shocked that eSwatini’s King Mswati III decided to use a luxury plane to come for a working visit to South Africa.
According to SPLM president Vusi Shongwe, King Mswati III used what they described as a “palace in the air” to visit his neighbouring country.
King Mswati III, who landed in the country on Sunday, met President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday to discuss matters related to the diaspora, including concerns about the former president of Botswana Ian Khama.
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Civic groups in eSwatini have been raising concerns about the plight of the people of eSwatini under one of Africa’s last remaining absolute monarchies. There had also been reports of human rights abuses under the current government.
King Mswati’s mode of transport to South Africa, the Airbus 340-300 aircraft, was bought in 2018 from Taiwan by the king as a 50th birthday gift to himself. It cost of R2.6 billion.
“It was customised from a commercial aircraft into an ultra luxurious flying palace,” Shongwe said.
According to Shongwe, the plane features a living area, meeting/dining area, a private bedroom and bathroom amenities for the king, among other features.
“Concerns have been raised on the cost effectiveness of using this large aircraft with huge flying cost implications for a less than an hour-long trip to the Republic for his meeting with President Ramaphosa,” Shongwe said.
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He said technical analysis of the flight and the fuel needed calculated that flying the plane for an hour would be more than R350 000.
Apart from his plane, Shongwe said the king lives a life of opulence with assets worth millions. This includes cars, property, jewellery and artwork.
He said the king receives at least at least R1bn annually from national treasury.
“This man does not pay tax and he is not liable for any taxation from the government. Out of a national budget he gets R1bn from the government to him,” he said.
Shongwe said the king had several palaces across eSwatini, the most opulent one being the Lozitha palace which house houses the kings banquet hall – which has gold decorations and expensive chandeliers.
He also had at least 20 Mercedes Maybach SUVs delivered to him. The king also boasts a watch collection with some of the most expensive watches in the world. This includes a Jacob & Co Billionaire Ashoka watch with 302 emerald-cut baguette diamonds set in 18k white gold. The king also has a range of Rolexes.
“The cars were for his wives and family members, there were other cars that he bought like Merc Klassen -VIP sprinters and V classes. These were custom made,” he said.
In 2019, King Mswati III made headlines when a video showed the arrival of the Rolls-Royce cars as gifts for his 13 wives.
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