US diplomatic cable calls African-born head of state "not intellectually well-developed"

Shame on you if you thought the headline refers to the US head of state! The quote is from an American diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks, and refers to King Mswati III of Swaziland.

His Royal Higness has been mentioned here before, in "Where next? Swaziland next?", which for some reason leads all other posts in the number of hits. Ed. regrets that he has not yet been able to find a picture of Africa's last absolute monarch, so we'll have to make do with this old photo of some of the king's subjects dancing for his entertainment.

King Mswati was mentioned in this week's Economist. Their analysis says that Swaziland, which was in a mess at this time last year, is in less of a mess now. This has nothing to do with the policies or efforts of the king, who continues to lead a life of ease, even though two-thirds of his 1,200,000 subjects subsist on less than $2 a day.

Perhaps it's not really a "life of ease". Mswati has a dozen wives, more or less, and that can't be easy. Still, he is ranked by Forbes as the 15th-richest reigning monarch in the world. The Economist calls him "profligate but widely revered".

Those closer to the king are less flattering in their descriptions. According to the leaked cable, a former royal advisor described Mswati as "unbalanced", and "not intellectually well-developed". In addition, he is said to be "influenced by witchcraft". [Ed., please check to be sure they're not talking about Comrade Bob Mugabe. Zimbabwe isn't far from Swaziland, is it?]

Another half-brother quotes one of Mswati's several half-brothers as saying he was surrounded by "dishonest, uneducated people" who are "giving him bad advice". [Ed., no need to check this reference. The same could be said of any African leader of any African country.]

But, the Economist advises, we should not cry for Swaziland. ...nothing truly horrific is going on. There may be the odd suspicious death in custody, but no mass killings or other grave atrocities. Little Swaziland has no big deposits of gold, diamonds or oil to covet. No civil war is threatening the region. So it [may safely be] left to its own devices, while the world looks the other way.