Swazi king sold 18% of herd
2005-03-07 21:59
Johannesburg - Swaziland's King Mswati III could have sold more than 1 750 cattle - 18% of his herd - to buy his luxury cars, calculated against the price of cattle in South Africa.
Media reports estimate the monarch's herd numbered over 10,000 head of cattle last year.
Mswati has ruled Swaziland by decree since he ascended to the throne in 1986 at the age of 18.
In addition to his latest purchase - a new Mercedes limousine - Mswati III bought himself a US500 000 (about R3m) luxury Maybach 62 sedan last November.
The combined cost of both purchases was estimated at above R6m.
"He has used no money from (the) treasury. He has his own businesses like a dairy farm, sugar-cane farms and many cattle," a top civil servant in the king's office, Roy Fanourakis, told AFP at the weekend.
"We sold cattle to the tune of around four million emalangeni (R4m) and we used those funds to purchase the cars," he said.
In Swaziland, a man's wealth and social status are related to the size of the herd at his kraal. The average herd is six cows.
The Central Bank of Swaziland has said the number of cattle has been declining in recent years due to contraction in the country's rangelands, resulting from the allocation of more land for human settlements.
Further, the high cattle densities in the country have meant that there has been persistent overgrazing and soil erosion, especially on state land.
In South Africa, cattle sell at between R1 500 and R3 500 a head, on average, depending on the condition of the animal, according to agriculturist Neil Whitehead at the Cedara Agricultural College near Pietermaritzburg.
- SAPA