HLANE: King Mswati celebrated his 53th birthday at Hlane Royal residence, surprisingly, only Army Commander Jeffery Shabalala and a few military personnel were allowed close to the King to mitigate chances of leaking pictures of the extravagant event.
The event that took place around 2pm on Monday(19 April 2021) was attended by very close family members that included among others the King’s children and their spouses.
But despite the tight security, this Swaziland News managed to obtain close range pictures of the King and his birthday cake, the local media was restricted from covering the event and nothing has been reported about it.
Government Spokesperson Sabelo Dlamini did not respond when asked why the media was restricted from covering the ‘secret’ King’s birthday celebration.
An insider within royalty told this publication that unlike before, police officers from the regions were not deployed to provide security before the commencement of the private event.
“I don’t know why police officers from the regions were not deployed to provide security, maybe they were mitigating the risks of having pictures of the event leaked”, said the insider.
Reached for comments, Wandile Dludlu, the Secretary General of the People’s United Democratic Movement(PUDEMO) said the King has started to be careful unlike before where he would show-off his lavish lifestyle because the world was beginning to isolate him.
“The King is now starting to be careful because as the last absolute Monarch with a lavish lifestyle, the world has started to isolate him. But his main worry is not the people of Swaziland but the world that is slowly isolating him due to his lavish lifestyle. As a political organization, we are happy to see the King struggling to show-off his lavish lifestyle unlike before because that means our struggle is now producing results” ,said the PUDEMO President.
Princess Lindiwe, the Minister of Home Affairs informed the Nation in a press conference on Friday that the King’s birthday would not be celebrated due to the COVID-19 pandemic,without mentioning that there would be a private celebration for close royal family members.
Eswatini, a tiny Kingdom situated in Southern Africa and rules by King Mswati as an absolute Monarch has about 70% of the population living below the poverty line, political parties are banned from participating in elections and the media is restricted from reporting critically about royalty.
King Mswati during his 53th Birthday celebration