Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
EU taxpayers keep Swazi king sweet
EU TAXPAYERS’ money is being used to finance the lavish lifestyle of Swaziland’s royal family, an investigation by the Danish NGO Afrika Kontakt has revealed.
Its report, “The European Union in Swaziland: In support of an Authoritarian King?” says EU money “benefits the Royal Family greatly” and undermines democratic forces in Swaziland.
The EU spent € 120 million (R1.8 billion) to improve the competitiveness of Swaziland’s sugar industry in the 10 years up to 2017. Sugar accounts for almost 60% of the agricultural output and 16% of employment in the kingdom.
The industry is dominated by Tibiyo TakaNgwane, a royal investment company that the king holds “in trust for the Swazi nation”. Tibiyo owns 50% of the Royal Swaziland Sugar Corporation (RSSC) and 40% of Ubombo Sugar (a subsidiary of South African-based Illovo company), the industry’s major players.
Tibiyo also has stakes in sugar estates and haulage companies and has a 30% share in Fincorp, which provides loans to small-scale sugar farmers with interest rates above 20%.
Afrika Kontakt said the industry mirrored Swazi society by being largely owned by the royal family through various companies and investment funds, and by the royal chiefs playing an important role. It added the purpose of EU funding was to increase the competitiveness of the industry.
“However, a large percentage of the funds have benefitted the two major sugar millers RSSC and Ubombo, and their major shareholder the royal investment company Tibiyo TakaNgwane.”
According to the report, EU funding had helped subsistence farmers, but had also enriched chiefs through the payment of royalties and royalty-affiliated haulage companies.
Afrika Kontakt said Tibiyo’s ownership in RSSC secured it a dividend payment of € 98m in 2015-16. Ownership of Illovo paid out € 15m as dividend in 2012-13. Illovo is not listed so impossible to find information about recent payments.
Afrika Kontakt said: “The sugar industry in Swaziland is structured so that external assistance from the EU to the industry ends up benefitting the last absolute monarch in Africa.” – African News Agency (ANA)