COKE AND THE SCHEME TO DEPOSE THE KING by William Reed Columnist

COKE AND THE SCHEME TO DEPOSE THE KING

How far should corporate social responsibility go?  Can groups seeking to depose Swaziland’s king use Coca-Cola to help do it?  Citing charges of “human rights abuses” and “looting of the national wealth” groups opposed to King Mswati  are seeking the world’s support in their demand that the beverage behemoth “withdraw its support” from him.

Mswati III (born Makhosetive Dlamini on April 19, 1968) is the King of Swaziland and head of the Swazi Royal Family. He succeeded his father Sobhuza II as ruler of the kingdom in 1986 at age 18. Mswati III is one of the last absolute monarchs in the world. He has the authority to appoint the prime minister, members of the cabinet, and the judiciary. The king is the means by which state policy is enforced, as well as the mechanism for determining the policy of the state.

The Swaziland Democracy Campaign says: "Coca-Cola must know they’re doing business with the wrong people … Their profits don’t help the average Swazi while the king is getting richer by the day."  The king’s opposition is steeped in efforts to get him to accept “democratic reform.”  Labor unions and pro-democracy campaigns have joined forces to stage noisy public protests calling for political change. The king’s critics also blame him for “poor economic management” and “widespread corruption.

It seems that Swaziland activists ascribe too much power to Coca-Cola.  A country the size of Connecticut, Swaziland has an annual GDP of $3.65 billion, mostly from agriculture, forestry and mining. Swaziland has excellent farming and ranching land, and 80 percent of the population is engaged in subsistence agriculture. The Coca-Cola Company is a $15 billion a year transnational and the concentrate that is the most important ingredient in the company’s African product comes from a huge industrial plant in Mapatsa, Swaziland that it has operated since 1987. Coke is not in Swaziland to arbiter its politics, it is there because of favorable taxes and an abundance of cheap labor and raw sugar.

The consensus is that “Mswati isn’t likely to be deposed.” Swaziland has a population of 1.4 million homogeneous people who share language, culture and loyalty to their king and country.  There are no tribal conflicts; the country is stable, orderly and at peace with her neighbors. The Socialist People’s United Democratic Movement is Swaziland’s largest opposition party.

Coca-Cola has 160 plants and 7,000 employees in Africa, but it’s “not the boss” of the King of Swaziland. The kingdom is a land-locked country in Southern Africa, bordered on the north, south and west by South Africa and to the east by Mozambique.  Reports show that 63 percent of the population lives on less than US$2 per day, and 30 percent live in extreme poverty. The nation, as well as its people, is named after the 19th century King Mswati II. The capital city, Mbabane has a population of 50,000.

Mswati III is not about to abdicate his throne.  According to the former CEO of the Office of the King, Mswati III earns a salary as head of state, has investments within and outside the country and owns an unspecified amount of shares in different companies within Swaziland.   King Mswati is reportedly worth $200 million. This does not include about $10 billion that King Sobhuza II put in trust for the Swazi nation during his reign, in which Mswati III is the trustee.

King Mswati has more than 200 brothers and sisters and the task of taking care of them all.  So beyond Coke, Mswati’s fate is in profits from the royal-owned company, Tibiyo TisukaNgwane, established by his father, King Sobhuza II to provide for his offspring. Nearly 60 percent of Swazi territory is publicly held by the crown in trust of the Swazi nation. All seems in accord with the law of the land as Mswati enjoys wealth through the Tibiyo Tisuka parastatal investment companies and extensive shares in numerous businesses, industries, property developments and tourism facilities.

(William Reed is publisher of Who’s Who in Black Corporate America and available for speaking/seminar projects via the BaileyGroup.org)

See related:

William Reed Columnist