Swazi king buys himself 500,000-dollar luxury sedan while his people die from aids

[Riesstiu IV]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20041212/ts_afp/swazilandroyals_041212170044

MBABANE (AFP) - Swaziland's King Mswati III has bought himself a 500,000-dollar (390,000 euros) luxury sedan while his debt-ridden country continues battling AIDS and crippling poverty, a newspaper reported.

Southern Africa's last absolute monarch now joins an elite circle of four "super rich" people in the region who own the Daimler Chrysler flagship Maybach 62, according to the Mbabane-based Times Sunday.

"Our customers are exclusive people that is the super rich, the kings and queens, oil rich countries, North Africans and massive lottery winners," Daimler Chrysler South Africa's spokesman Fanyana Shiburi told the newspaper.

The other three customers in the region are South African business tycoons Cyril Ramaphosa, Tokyo Sexwale and Patrice Motsepe, Shiburi said.

The car features a television receiver, dvd player, 21-speaker surround sound system, refrigerator, cordless telephone, heated steering wheel, interior pollen and dust filter, golf bag and sterling silver champagne flutes.

"We feel great that the king of Swaziland has chosen our product, this shows that our product has arrived. This kind of car is the super high end of the luxury segment," Shiburi added.

Swaziland is a small country wedged between South African and Mozambique with a population of one million.

It has the highest AIDS rate in the world at 38.8 percent, unemployment stands at 40 percent, almost 70 percent of the nation live on an average income of 11 dollars per month and about a third rely on food aid for survival.

The 36-year-old King Mswati is no stranger to controversy and frequently hits the headlines with stories of his and his 11 wives' lavish lifestyles.

On his birthday in April this year, he bought 10 BMW seven series vehicles for himself and some of his wives.

He is also building 10 new palaces for his wives at a cost of 100 million emalangeni (17 million dollars / 13 million euros).

Swaziland's government owes its suppliers more than 150 million emalangeni which dates back to 2002 and the country's budget deficit stands at 800 million emalangeni.

 

[Erik Mesoy]

Yuck. I've lived in the neighbouring country for five years, so I feel I'm slightly more entitled to say certain things than those who view Africa in general as "that continent down south".
What an ignorant egomaniac.
(Would prolly get me moderated if I said that about another CFC member.)

 

[Perfection]

Well, he must under a lot of stress from battling all that AIDS and debt stuff and thus needs such a nice calming device.

 

[Shadylookin]

hey when 40% of your countrymen have for the most part been given a death sentence who wouldn't take any possible stress relief.

 

[samildanach]

I wonder if he has built some roads on which to drive his dream machine . I would doubt it as the peasants would perhaps derive some incidental benefit and we can't have that.

When I first read it. I thought the article was about a sedan chair. I pictured a corpulent 400lb African potentate being carted around Africa on the backs of swooning AIDS victims. That mental image seems quite appropriate on reflection.

 

[TrailblazingScot]

The white man is solely to blame for black poverty, not that all their leaders are selfish bastards.

 

[stormbind]

I don't see why the above story should be noticed.

President Bush commutes in an expensive Air Force One and fancy cars at the taxpayers expense, yet Americans soldiers need to pluck pieces of scrap metal to up-armour their vehicles to defend the lives of homeless American civilians sheltering in most city centres. Does that seem right to you?

 

[newfangle]

President Bush commutes in an expensive Air Force One and fancy cars at the taxpayers expense, yet Americans soldiers need to pluck pieces of scrap metal to up-armour their vehicles to defend the lives of homeless American civilians sheltering in most city centres. Does that seem right to you?

Last time I checked President Bush was not the only person in history to use Air Force One.

 

[AVN]

Good example of the end result of laissez faire capitalism.

 

[stormbind]

Last time I checked President Bush was not the only person in history to use Air Force One.

And he won't be the last. Point being?

 

[Shadylookin]

Good example of the end result of laissez faire capitalism.

such a thing only exist in peoples minds, no country has ever achieved it to my knowledge.

 

[Yom]

such a thing only exist in peoples minds, no country has ever achieved it to my knowledge.

What about Chile under Pinochet and the Chicago Boys?

 

[newfangle]

Good example of the end result of laissez faire capitalism.

Of course you meant to say Monarchy, correct? We want to try to minize embarrassment here.

 

[cgannon64]

Good example of the end result of laissez faire capitalism.

Even the craziest communist cannot call the history of Africa anything but the rape of warlords. To call it laissez faire capitalism is completely absurd. If anything, I've seen Africa's situation blamed on protectionism.

 

[amadeus]

President Bush commutes in an expensive Air Force One and fancy cars at the taxpayers expense,

America: wealthy.
Swaziland: dirt poor.

yet Americans soldiers need to pluck pieces of scrap metal to up-armour their vehicles

"You go to war with the army you have, and not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time. You can have all the armour in the world on a tank and it can still be blown up."

The rest of your post was just wasting time, so I'm not responding to that.

 

[emzie]

"We feel great that the king of Swaziland has chosen our product, this shows that our product has arrived. This kind of car is the super high end of the luxury segment," Shiburi added.

At Daimler Chrysler, we are once again proud to provide such luxury to despots at the expense of their people

Why would they be proud of selling him anything? I don't get it. How many French bakers proudly claim they were Marie Antoinette's personal baker? (And yes, I know the story isn't true, but Mswati stance is very much let-them-eat-cake)

 

[amadeus]

Good example of the end result of laissez faire capitalism.

False. Swaziland's economy can hardly be described as "laissez faire." As of the 2004 Index of Economic Freedom, Swaziland ranks below Albania, Lebanon, Moldova, and Saudi Arabia, just to name a few.

 

[amadeus]

At Daimler Chrysler, we are once again proud to provide such luxury to despots at the expense of their people

Welcome to the new southern Africa. Anything goes and if you leave your door unlocked at night, everything goes.

 

[AVN]

Good example of the end result of laissez faire capitalism.

Sorry, I thought they had very low to almost no taxes.
Just found that's not the case, so I withdraw above statement.

 

[Shaihulud]

Tokyo Sexwale What kind of a name is that. Though I agree that its abit too much, the monarchies and dictators in Africa. There seems to be so many of them !