King Mswati Causes Outcry At Car Purchases
17 April 2005
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Swaziland's King Mswati III has caused a public outcry after it emerged that he has bought yet more luxury cars.The African king, the world's last absolute monarch, has reportedly splashed out spent £500,000 on a fleet of Mercedes Benz s-350s - despite the fact his people live in abject poverty.The king is believed to have bought the eight luxury vehicles, complete with gold number plates, as a birthday present for himself.The South African car dealer, who arranged the purchase, also revealed that the 36-year-old monarch further added to the lavish expenditure by having the fleet flown from Germany to coincide time for his birthday celebrations. He said: He was so taken with the car when he saw it in a brochure that he ordered eight on the turn as a birthday present for himself.He could not wait for them to be shipped in the normal way so they were air-freighted directly from the factory in Germany.But the King's latest spending spree has drawn widespread criticism from human rights groups and charity organisations.
Musa Hlope, the co-ordinator for Swaziland's largest civil rights group, described the purchase as very unfortunate in the face of widespread famine and an AIDS epidemic. He added: The king is using public money that comes from the purses of the poor. Next week the king will celebrate his 37th birthday with a party reported to be costing more than ten million dollars.The cars are the latest in a series of lavish purchases that have attracted condemnation from both national groups and the international community.
Mswati's other excessive purchases have included and $860 million fleet BMWs - one for each of his ten wivesand the construction of a string of royal palaces totalling more than $15 million.
While recent plans to spend $45 million on a royal jet were only abandoned when international donors threatened to withdraw aid payments.
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