SA agrees to bail out Swaziland

spurred unprecedented protests against Africa’s last absolute monarchy, officials said yesterday.
Confirming a report in the Times of Swaziland newspaper, South Africa Reserve Bank spokesman Hlengani Mathebula described the deal as a “grant”, but did not divulge details. His Swazi counterpart, Sibusiso Mngadi, was more cautious, saying the two sides were still thrashing out the details of a deal that could cause problems for President Jacob Zuma for propping up Mswati, who has faced international condemnation for his economic mismanagement and violent crackdown on protests.
“As far as the government is concerned nothing has been signed on the dotted line,” Mngadi told Reuters in Johannesburg.
With his appointed administration facing a Greece-scale budget deficit and moribund economy, the UK-educated Mswati had turned to Pretoria for help, having tried and failed to get any cash from the International Monetary Fund or other lenders.
However, his many opponents at home and in Swaziland’s larger neighbour campaigned against any aid that did not come with stiff conditions to force Mswati into political reform and stop running the landlocked nation of 1,4 million as a personal fiefdom. Mswati, who has at least a dozen wives and a personal fortune estimated at US$200 million, praised South Africa for coming to Swaziland’s aid and said the loan would ease a budget crisis that is threatening civil servants with huge pay cuts. – Reuters.