Once upon a time, in a far far away kingdom, there was a young king who had 13 wives, young and beautiful, more than 25 children, 20 new BMW, a personal Maybach with television, DVD player, a 21-speaker surround-sound system, fridge, cordless telephone and sterling silver champagne flutes, several palaces, and an HIV prevalence of 40%.

Welcome to Swaziland.

A few days ago King Mswati III of Swaziland held lavish celebrations to mark his 40th birthday and 40 years of independence from Britain, reports the BBC’s Orla Guerin.

Whilst USD $2.5 millions were spent on celebrating, including or not a shopping trip to Dubia for some of his wives, the nation celebrated 40 years of poverty. But King Mswati is not doing anything about HIV. In 2001 he decreed a 5-year ban on sex for girl under the age of 18, and having fail himself to respect his own ban when marrying his 9th wife aged 17, he fined himself of a cow.

Three years after the royal decree. More than 40% of the population was HIV positive, the decree was ditched with the tassels worn by the would-be virgins.

Africa wonders why HIV and AIDS are making so much ravage in a god-fearing but god-forsaken continent. But as observed by Helen Epstein in her book (The Invisible Cure), the question Africans should ask themselves is “Who are we?”.

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