{"id":32971,"date":"2026-04-25T10:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T08:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=32971"},"modified":"2026-04-25T10:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T08:48:09","slug":"eswatini-celebrates-king-mswati-iiis-40-years-as-critics-decry-royal-spending","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/eswatini-celebrates-king-mswati-iiis-40-years-as-critics-decry-royal-spending\/","title":{"rendered":"eSwatini celebrates King Mswati III&#8217;s 40 years as critics decry royal spending"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Marching bands blew horns, women ululated and men \u200ccheered on Friday to celebrate King Mswati III&#8217;s 40 years on eSwatini&#8217;s throne, an institution still revered despite criticism of the high luxury sub-Saharan Africa&#8217;s last absolute monarch enjoys.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>A choir decked in yellow, \u200bblue and red to form an image of the national flag sang \u200bthe king&#8217;s praises and held up a sign wishing him a happy \u206058th birthday in the national stadium.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;We have been through thick and thin as a \u200bnation,&#8221; Mswati told the crowd. &#8220;It is important we remain united.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Speech-makers praised the king&#8217;s efforts \u200bto develop the mountainous, southern African nation of 1.5 million, which well-wisher Shabusiswa Sibambo, 19, said included free school since 2022 and mobile clinics in operation since the following year.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;We are proud of \u200bour culture,&#8221; she told <i>Reuters<\/i>, as the king passed in an open-top car in \u200ba British military-style scarlet tunic.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Her aunt, Busiwe Maziya, 70, a subsistence maize farmer, remembered Mswati&#8217;s ascent \u200cto \u2060the throne in 1986. Her life had improved much since then, she said, thanks to government assistance with agricultural inputs like tools and fertiliser.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;Even the rainfall has been better,&#8221; Maziya said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>But critics say Mswati&#8217;s and his dozen wives&#8217; lavish lifestyle comes at the \u200bexpense of a population \u200ba third of \u2060whom live below the $2.15-a-day World Bank poverty line. His upkeep costs tens of millions of dollars and this month the government awarded \u200ban extra $3 million for it.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Anger at this disparity boiled over \u200binto protests \u2060in 2021, which were violently suppressed, while the kingdom also attracted unwanted publicity for jailing deportees from the United States, as part of President Donald Trump&#8217;s crackdown on immigration.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;Yet another \u2060public waste \u200bof scarce resources,&#8221; Wandile Dludlu, leader of the \u200bcountry&#8217;s biggest opposition party, told <i>Reuters<\/i>, listing what he said were unaddressed problems including poverty, inequality and high \u200bHIV prevalence rates.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;What a lost opportunity.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":32972,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-32971","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Critics say Mswati's and his dozen wives' lavish lifestyle comes at the \u200bexpense of a population.","published_date":"","news_description":"Critics say Mswati's and his dozen wives' lavish lifestyle comes at the \u200bexpense of a population.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32973,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32971\/revisions\/32973"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=32971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}