Swazi king celebrates 40th birthday in style
Posted on Sunday, September 7, 2008
MBABANE, Swaziland — The Swazi king, bare-chested and wearing a traditional leopardskin loincloth, celebrated his 40 th birthday and his nation’s 40 th independence day in lavish style Saturday: hosting an extravaganza that contrasted sharply with the poverty of his subjects.
King Mswati III toured the national stadium in an opentopped BMW to cheers and fluttering flags. Tens of thousands of Swazi maidens who had performed for the king last weekend at the annual Reed Dance were at the festivities, which included traditional dancing and Zulu drumming, as well as a full military parade.
Visiting heads of state were whisked into the stadium in a long convoy of luxury cars bought specially for the occasion. The loudest cheer rang out for Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, who climbed out of a car with a “Zimbabwe” license plate to a standing ovation. The 84-year-old autocrat is popular in the region because he is seen as standing up to the West.
Mswati is Africa’s last absolute monarch. He is widely revered, but the luxurious lifestyle practiced by him and his 13 wives has aroused some anger.
The so-called 40-40 party was preceded by demonstrations against its excessive cost — officially put at $ 2. 5 million but widely believed to cost at least five times more — in a country where 70 percent live below the poverty line.
Only one in four Swazis can expect to reach 40, according to the latest U. N. estimates, because the AIDS virus has infected nearly 40 percent of adults, the highest rate in the world, and left a generation of orphans.
Hundreds of HIV-positive women took to the streets last month in fury at a Dubai shopping spree by eight of the king’s 13 wives to buy birthday outfits and the fleet of luxury cars bought to carry VIPs around.
Mswati made no reference to the unhappiness among his subjects in his 45-minute address. Instead, he urged the southern African nation’s 1 million people to redouble efforts to boost the nation’s growth and tackle the scourge of AIDS.
He also told foreign investors that Swaziland was a calm, peaceful and safe place for their money, and he invited more tourists to visit the small nation, surrounded by South Africa and Mozambique.
One in five Swazis now depends on international food aid, partly because AIDS has devastated rural areas and led to an explosion in child-headed households who can’t tend the fields.
Life expectancy has nearly halved since 1998 because of AIDS and is now less than 31 years, according to U. N. figures.
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