Swaziland Newsletter No. 940 – 21 August 2026
News from and about Swaziland, compiled by
Global Aktion, Denmark (www.globalaktion.dk)
in collaboration with Swazi Media Commentary (www.swazimedia.blogspot.com),
and sent to all with an interest in Swaziland - free of charge. The newsletter
and past editions are also available online on the Swazi Media Commentary
blogsite.
eSwatini steps up efforts to get children off streets
By Phumelele Gamedze, eSwatini Positive News,
18 August 2026
MBABANE: Key stakeholders
gathered yesterday at Hilton Garden Inn to find lasting solutions for children
living and working on the streets, with plans focusing on immediate support and
long-term family care.
The meeting was convened by
the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office through the National Children Services
Department, bringing together municipalities, the Royal Eswatini Police Service
and the Social Welfare Department.
In Eswatini’s major towns and
cities, children can increasingly be seen on the streets, some selling goods or
asking members of the public for money. Behind every child on the street,
however, is a story that may involve family circumstances, poverty, lack of
support or other challenges.
The meeting therefore sought
to look beyond the presence of children on the streets and understand what can
be done to change their circumstances.
The stakeholders are working
towards a short-, medium and long term plan that will guide how children and
their families can be supported. The intention is to create a coordinated
response where children are identified, their individual situations understood
and appropriate assistance provided.
This is important because
prolonged exposure to street life can put children at risk of losing
opportunities to attend school and may expose them to situations that threaten
their safety, health and development.
To read more of
this report, click here
https://eswatinipositivenews.online/eswatini-steps-up-efforts-to-get-children-off-streets/
eSwatini signs $195m US health funding deal
Associated Press, 20 August 2026
Eswatini has signed a health
funding agreement with the United States worth more than 3.24 billion
emalangeni ($195 million) amid concerns the deal will expose the kingdom to
abuse of its biological resources and health data in exchange for aid.
The memorandum of
understanding was announced Tuesday during a courtesy call on Prime Minister
Russell Dlamini by senior US State Department official Clinton Brown, who
praised Eswatini’s “successful negotiation” under King Mswati III’s
guidance.
Brown said the agreement would
“benefit the health of Emaswati”, citing expanded support for HIV programmes
and epidemic preparedness.
The deal forms part of
Washington’s America First Global Health Strategy, which has replaced
traditional aid channels such as USAID and scaled back President’s Emergency
Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
Under the scheme, the US
provides funding for health systems in exchange for access to pathogen samples,
surveillance data and sometimes critical minerals.
More than 18 African countries
– including Nigeria, Botswana and the Democratic Republic of Congo – have
signed similar agreements.
...
Critics describe the
agreements as “transactional” and “imbalanced”, arguing they externalise US
health responsibilities while undermining African autonomy.
Pathogen sequencing data is
vital for biosecurity, pharmaceutical innovation and vaccine development,
giving Washington a competitive edge.
See also
US credits PM
leadership for e3.24 billion health deal (eSwatini Positive News)
https://eswatinipositivenews.online/us-credits-pm-leadership-for-e3-24-billion-health-deal/
One in three learners bullied as violence takes
multiple forms
eSwatini Observer, 16 August 2026
One in three school-going
adolescents in the country reported being bullied on school property while
almost one in five experienced cyberbullying.
The country’s latest national
adolescent health survey paints a picture of pupils facing violence both inside
and outside the school environment.
It found that 33.2% of
learners aged 13 to 17 had been bullied on school property during the month
preceding the survey. Girls were slightly more affected, with 35.1% reporting
that they had been bullied compared with 31.3% of boys.
The findings also show that
bullying is no longer confined to the school grounds.
A further 17.3% of learners
reported being cyberbullied, with girls again recording a higher prevalence at
18.1% compared with 16.3% among boys. Cyberbullying also increased with age,
rising from 16.5% among learners aged 13 to 15 to 18.6% among those aged 16 to
17.
The survey does not establish
which digital platforms were involved, who was responsible for the harassment
or what form the cyberbullying took. It also does not establish whether
learners who experienced bullying at school were the same learners who reported
cyberbullying. However, the findings point to an increasingly complex
environment in which harassment can extend beyond the school gates and continue
through phones and digital platforms after learners have left school.
The wider findings indicate
that bullying forms part of a broader concern around violence and injury among
adolescents.
To read more of
this report, click here
https://www.eswatiniobserver.com/one-in-three-learners-bullied-as-violence-takes-multiple-forms/
eSwatini eyes curbing children’s social media access
By Mlondzi Nkambule, Times of eSwatini, 19
August 2026
MBABANE: Government is
examining measures to shield children from harmful social media content as
countries tighten age restrictions on young users.
The issue came under scrutiny
in Senate last week when Senator Isaac Magagula asked what was being done to
prevent minors from accessing social media platforms that expose them to
harmful content. Magagula sought to know what mitigating measures were in place
to combat what he described as a scourge affecting children.
Responding on behalf of the
Ministry of Tourism and Environmental Affairs during the Senate debate on the
Deputy Prime Minister’s Office First-Quarter Performance Report, the DPM’s
Office said it was working with the Ministry of Information, Communications and
Technology (ICT) on the regulation of online content.
“On the issue of regulating
content on social media platforms, the office works in close collaboration with
the Ministry of ICT to ensure that contents on certain social media platforms
are censored, as per the practice globally, to ensure that children are
protected from accessing harmful social media sites,” the DPM’s Office stated.
It further pointed to the
regulatory framework administered through the Eswatini Communications
Commission (ESCCOM), saying it was intended to ensure compliance with cyber
laws and protect children from harmful and inappropriate online content. The
response, however, did not announce a specific minimum age for social media use
in Eswatini or indicate that government had adopted a blanket restriction on
under-16 accounts.
Instead, it signals that the
protection of children online is increasingly being treated as a regulatory
issue involving content control, cybersecurity, data protection and cooperation
between government agencies.
Eswatini already has
legislation dealing with a range of online harms.
To read more of
this report, click here
https://times.co.sz/41773/news/eswatini-eyes-curbing-childrens-social-media-access/
Govt eyes incentives to grow eSwatini to 2 million
By Sifiso Nhlabatsi, eSwatini Positive News, 14
August 2026
LOBAMBA: Government could
consider introducing incentives to encourage population growth in Eswatini,
with a Cabinet minister suggesting that the country should set a long-term
target of growing its population to two million people.
This was disclosed by Minister
of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Senator Pholile Shakantu, who
was representing Minister of Home Affairs Princess Lindiwe during the Senate
Portfolio Committee debate on the Ministry of Home Affairs’ First Quarter
Performance Report for 2026/27.
Shakantu was responding to a
question raised by Senate President Senator Lindiwe Dlamini on the country’s
population growth.
The minister said Eswatini’s
relatively slow population growth was an issue that deserved attention,
suggesting that Government could explore incentives aimed at encouraging
families to have more children.
She cited examples of other
countries where governments provide financial allowances and other forms of
support to families with children as part of efforts to stimulate population
growth.
According to the minister,
Eswatini could similarly examine what incentives would be appropriate and
sustainable to encourage population growth.
She noted that for many years,
the country’s population has remained within the region of 1.1 million to 1.2
million people, arguing that a clear long-term national population target could
help shape future policy.
To read more of
this report, click here
https://eswatinipositivenews.online/govt-eyes-incentives-to-grow-eswatini-to-2-million/
See also
73 % of eSwatini’s
population is under age 35 (eSwatini Positive News)
https://eswatinipositivenews.online/73-of-eswatinis-population-is-under-age-35/
The King’s Emperor is naked as Judiciary and Cabinet
fight
Comment by Wandile
Dludlu, Swaziland News, 16 August 2026
 |
King Mswati III (Pic: via TimesLive)
After the 2021 unrest, the
State is working overtime to sell a story, through State media, royal events,
and curated optics, Emaswati and the world are told that the Monarchy is
strong, united, in charge, efficient, and loved by the people.
But the numbers tell a
different story, the fiscus is bleeding, debt is climbing. Unemployment and
poverty are at crisis levels, the Judiciary and Cabinet are at war with
themselves, the clothes are gone, the Emperor is naked.
The cash flow crisis in
Government has reached unprecedented proportions, for 2025/26, total
expenditure is projected to grow by 8.5% to E32.61 billion, driven by security
wages and infrastructure.
The fiscal deficit is
projected to widen to E2.88 billion, or 3% of GDP.
The World Bank is even
bleaker, projecting a deficit of 6.3% of GDP in 2026-among the largest in
Africa and nearly double the Sub-Saharan average of 3.5%.
Public debt has followed. It
rose to 40.3% of GDP by June 2025, up from 38.6% a year earlier. The IMF
projects it will hit 42.9% owing to the regularization of arrears.
Borrowing is now expensive, with government securities trading 3.75 percentage
points above South African instruments.
The result on the ground is
collapse. Departments operate at a bare minimum. Local service providers remain
unpaid, with government arrears still at 3.2% of GDP despite E1.05 billion in
“clearance”. Clinics lack drugs. Schools lack books. Yet the pageantry
continues.
The economy is not just failing. It is failing the majority by design.
Unemployment sits at 34%, with youth unemployment at 58% in 2023. Poverty is at
59%. Income inequality is among the highest in sub-Saharan Africa.
Growth projections of 4% to
4.6% for 2026 mean little. Economists warn this is “largely cyclical, driven by
consumption” and “insufficient to fundamentally alter the country’s high levels
of unemployment, poverty and inequality”. Without structural reform, “this
momentum risks fading, leaving the economy trapped in a familiar pattern of
stagnation, limited job creation and persistent social pressure”.
Social security provisions are
buckling under the same pressure.
With deficits eroding
contingency buffers and financing costs rising, the state has less capacity to
protect the 59% living in poverty. Grants, health, and education — the bare
minimum of a social contract — are being sacrificed to keep the system afloat. Governance
has collapsed inward, the Judiciary is once again at odds with the executive.
The Master’s Report released
by the Chief Justice a week ago depicts a Government that is coy and evasive of
accountability to the poor — the victims of malfeasance, corruption and
maladministration.
The deplorable saga of the
United States detainees has been yet another emblematic reminder of a system in
jeopardy, one that has compromised the integrity of His Majesty’s Correctional
Services together with the judiciary. It exposes a chronic political disease.
The Head of State has failed
once more to intervene and restore confidence, the King is failing to provide
leadership when it is most needed. In the Tinkhundla system, no one can
evaluate the performance of the most expensive public officer.
Yet for the sake of the
nation, one person must urgently pull the different organs of state in one
direction.
Instead of removing deployed
officials presiding over looting, there is a clear pattern of protecting
mediocrity and maladministration.
In Cabinet, endless political
wrestling between the Prime Minister and ministers exposes the rot at the top.
The appointing authority
appears either unwilling or unable to enforce unity and cohesion. If the
Cabinet cannot agree among itself, how can it deliver national goods and
services to Emaswati?
The optics cannot hide the
reality and the maths on the ground anymore.
6.3% deficit. 40%+ debt. 34%
unemployment. 58% youth unemployment. 59% poverty.
A Government that cannot pay
its bills, cannot keep its house in order, and cannot account to its people.
The post-unrest narrative of
strength and stability is a misdiagnosis, it is propaganda to cover a regime in
total dire straits.
Eswatini does not need more
pageantry, we need accountability, jobs, and a Government that serves the
people and is democratic now!
SWAZI
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