In Namibia, it was reported in February this year that a number of presidential mansions would be built across the country for President Hifikepunye Pohamba, ostensibly because local hotels were deemed too dangerous. The project, estimated to cost about N$1.2bn (R1.2bn), constitutes 72% of the total Namibian budget allocation for state housing for the 2012-13 financial year.
While the houses will be owned by the state, they will be exclusively for presidential use, although it is unclear if anyone other than a sitting president will be able to use them. These are apart from the president’s official residence, State House, built by a North Korean firm over 66 months from September 2002 to March 2008 at a cost of N$400m-N$600m.
The old State House — abandoned because, among other things, there wasn’t enough parking — was somewhat ironically located on Robert Mugabe Avenue, Windhoek. The new State House was opened in March 2008, with Kim Yong-nam, chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly of North Korea, in attendance.
The Telegraph reported in June that the new string of proposed "mini-presidential houses" would cost nearly the equivalent of Namibia’s entire annual aid from the European Union. About half of Namibia’s 2.1-million population live below the poverty line.
When Namibia isn’t focusing on its own president, it seems to have large amounts of money to spend on accommodation for those from other countries. Among other projects, it is overseeing renovations, estimated to run into the millions, to a mansion for former Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda, donated to the man as a "gift" for his contribution to the country’s struggle for independence. It has been estimated to cost N$4.2m and the renovations in the area of N$2m.
Across the Zimbabwean border, President Robert Mugabe is known for his expensive taste. His mansion in Helensvale, near Borrowdale, Harare, is estimated to have cost $5m to complete and the 25-bedroom estate has been declared a "shoot to kill" zone. All the interior finishings were imported from China or Europe. Among those who reportedly donated to the project was former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad. Said to be a "close friend" of the president, in 2004 he donated timber worth $33,000 for wooden panelling.
But Mugabe, no doubt planning for a retirement that will not be well received in Zimbabwe itself, has made other plans too. And Malaysia would seem as good a place as any to start. It is reported he has a house in Malaysia, which cost about $2.5m.
A diplomat at Zimbabwe’s Malaysian mission said: "Mugabe’s luxurious mansion is located in Bukit Tunku in Kaula Lumpur, that is what we all know but none of us has been invited there." The official added: "The mansion we have established was bought for 12-million Malaysian Ringgit. Bukit Tunku is one of the most expensive elite residential areas here. Most of the home owners are senior ministers, businessmen and royalties."
Swaziland’s King Mswati III, obviously, has a palace; actually, he has several. Despite the country itself being effectively bankrupt, King Mswati is worth an estimated $200m and, in January 2004, the country spent some $15m on renovations to the palaces, although that figure was later revised to about $4m. Information on Swaziland is sketchy at best but, in his book Tyrants: The World’s 20 Worst Living Dictators, David Wallechinsky writes that two-thirds of the population in Swaziland lives below the poverty line "while the king is said to possess a Rolls-Royce, 13 palaces and 14 wives".
In Botswana, it was reported in October this year that President Ian Khama intended to move out of the official state residence and to his ancestral home of Mosu when he retired. To this end, an airstrip has reportedly been built. The Botswana Guardian reported in October that, "two years before President Ian Khama’s inauguration, a team of officials including Botswana Defence Force (BDF) officers was dispatched to Mosu to begin construction of Khama’s private holiday compound complete with an airfield at taxpayers’ expense".
The story continues: "Led by the BDF and some officials from buildings department, the team put together a multimillion Pula palace in Khama’s private land and an airstrip estimated at around P60-million ($7.2m)." The project is reportedly wrapped in secrecy.
The Mail & Guardian has written that "the tentacles of Mozambican President Armando Emilio Guebuza’s huge family business empire make Zuma Incorporated look like a spaza-shop operation".
Guebuza’s personal particulars are difficult to determine as, again, information is sketchy, but he is more than able to fend for himself, as opposed to draining the public purse.
He has a luxury holiday home at La Perla, a holiday resort at Lake Bilene near Xai-Xai, where, in 2011, a number of residents (including 13 South Africans) were evicted, reportedly because the area was being considered as a potential home for Mugabe — although the Mozambican government said it was because those houses already built were illegal.
So Zuma is in good company indeed. Much like his contemporaries across southern Africa, where kings and dictators live side by side, he believes the state must provide generously when it comes to his accommodation. And apart from the exorbitant costs, secrecy, not transparency, seems to be the one common factor here.
But then "the people" are never really a good measure for these things. Whether democratically elected, undemocratically entrenched or ordained to rule by God himself, southern Africa’s rulers live an opulent lifestyle indeed. And while "the people" might fund most of it, it is a world apart from the widespread poverty and destitution that define their daily lives.
- BDLive
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