News 24
Swazi king won't get $55m jet
Johannesburg - Poverty-stricken Swaziland said on Monday it was scrapping plans to buy a $55 million luxury private jet for its king after they sparked an uproar.
Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini triggered outrage at home and abroad last month when he said a down payment of $2m for the plane was taken from development funds.
About 250 000 people in the tiny, landlocked kingdom are in need of urgent aid after food shortages that aid agencies blame on drought and government mismanagement.
The European Union expressed concern about the plan to buy the jet, worth a quarter of Swaziland's national budget.
"Sibusiso Dlamini has confirmed that the European Union has been given the assurance that it is not the intention of the Government of Swaziland to purchase an aircraft for use by ... the King," the prime minister's office said in a statement.
King Mswati III is sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarch. He and the Queen Mother - known as the She Elephant - have the final say on all affairs of state in the hilly kingdom of about one million people.
The money was initially paid to secure the luxury Global Express jet for lease, with an option to buy.
Dlamini's office said the government would now consider leasing an aircraft, which it said would be cost efficient and improve security.
"Such an arrangement will in no way affect the current food and poverty relief programme of the Government of Swaziland and foreign donors," it said.
Last month, Dlamini said the September 11 hijacked airliner attacks in the United States had made it imperative that the king find a more secure way of travel than commercial aircraft.