Swaziland
Newsletter No. 945 – 25 September 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.
PM criticises parliamentary proceedings
By Mnelisi Dlamini, Times of eSwatini, 22
September 2026
EZULWINI: Prime Minister
Russell Mmiso Dlamini says the current parliamentary proceedings do not meet
the standard of legislative debate.
The PM criticised the
parliamentary proceedings, saying what is called debate in Parliament is not
actually what is expected of legislators.
He said, instead, legislators
shout and make personal attacks that do not constitute genuine legislative
debate.
The PM made these allegations
during the Kingdom Leadership and National Transformation meeting at the Happy
Valley Hotel yesterday.
The meeting was hosted by
Campus Crusade for Christ Eswatini.
During the engagement, the PM
expressed strong disapproval of the current conduct within Parliament.
He noted that lawmakers often
mistake noise and hostility for constructive dialogue.
“Even what we call debate in
Parliament is not a debate. We just rise, shout, make noise, insult, attack
personalities and we call that a debate. It’s not a debate,” he said.
He said true parliamentary
engagements should focus on discussing constructive ideas aimed at national
development and nation-building.
Dlamini cautioned that the
current environment lacks the necessary maturity and civility required to serve
the country effectively.
“What we need is
civilisation,” he added, calling on parliamentarians to understand their core
purpose and prioritise the nation’s greater good over self-serving interests.
Meanwhile, during his main
address Dlamini issued a stern call to action, demanding lawful disruption of
inefficient systems to drive national economic transformation.
He stated that while no policy
framework is beyond improvement, current governance structures provide a solid
base for progress, requiring principles to be translated from mere aspirations
into disciplined action.
Emphasising a crucial
crossroads for Eswatini, Dlamini warned that the nation faces a choice between
continuing to manage present limitations or summoning the courage, imagination
and discipline required to build a greater country.
To read more of
this report, click here
https://times.co.sz/44400/news/pm-criticises-parliamentary-proceedings/
See also
Corruption, toxic
debate threatens Eswatini’s future, PM (Times of eSwatini)
https://times.co.sz/44355/news/corruption-toxic-debate-threatens-eswatinis-future-pm/
153 new HIV infections hit Mbabane
By Sifiso Nhlabatsi, eSwatini Positive News, 20
September 2026
MBABANE: Mbabane is sounding
the alarm over new HIV infections after the City recorded 153 new cases, with
most of the infections occurring among adolescent girls and young women.
The cases were recorded during
the 2025/2026 reporting period, according to the Municipal Council of Mbabane’s
annual performance report. Council said all 153 people who tested positive were
successfully linked to care.
The figures come amid renewed
national concern over rising HIV infections, with recent findings presented by
the National Emergency Response Council on HIV and AIDS (NERCHA) showing that
Eswatini recorded about 4 220 new HIV infections in 2024, up from approximately
4 000 recorded in the previous HIV impact measurement survey.
The latest national findings
were presented during the 2026 HIV Prevention Indaba, which involved a
community-centred study examining the barriers and factors influencing HIV
prevention across the country.
The study involved 1 284
participants from Hhohho, Manzini, Lubombo and Shiselweni and was conducted
between November 2025 and February 2026. It found that young people, adolescent
girls and young women, as well as other vulnerable populations, remain particularly
affected by new HIV infections.
The national picture is
particularly concerning for young women. NERCHA’s National HIV Strategic
Framework records that HIV incidence among women aged 15 to 49 was 1.45 per
cent among those aged 15 to 49 in the 2021 estimates, compared to 0.20 per cent
among men. Overall adult incidence stood at 0.62 per cent.
Against this backdrop, Mbabane
Council has intensified HIV prevention and testing interventions.
To read more of
this report, click here
https://eswatinipositivenews.online/153-new-hiv-infections-hit-mbabane/
‘I had never heard of eSwatini’: Deported by the US to
a country that rejects them
By Caroline Dumay, France 24, 23 September 2026
Migrants previously convicted
by US courts have been imprisoned in Africa’s last absolute monarchy, Eswatini,
over the past several months. Since being deported from the US, they have found
themselves in a country about which they know nothing, and where local
residents look on these “criminal” arrivals with suspicion. Their abrupt
journey to the small southern African kingdom stems from a secret deal struck
by Trump administration as part of his programme of mass deportations
investigated by “The Deportation Project”, undertaken by Forbidden Stories and
a network of 72 journalists across 15 countries.
Protests are rare in the small southern African kingdom of Eswatini, and largely repressed. But that didn’t stop more
than a hundred women from gathering on July 18, 2025 in front of the US embassy
in Manzini, the economic capital of the country still widely known by its
former name of Swaziland.
“Come out, ambassador! Come
out and talk with us!” they shouted.
What the women wanted to talk
about was the secret
arrival of foreign “criminals”
who had just been transferred to Swazi prisons. Fearing for the safety of their children, the
demonstrators were demanding that these prisoners be sent back to the US –
where they had just been deported from.
Over the course of a year,
four planes have discreetly touched down in Eswatini carrying 32 migrants deported by the administration of US President Donald Trump. Wedged between Mozambique and South Africa, this country is preparing to host 160 deportees in
total.
All of them will be held in
the central prison of Matsapha, not far from Manzini. In a country where daily
life is still largely shaped by tradition and where few dare to question the
decisions of King Mswati III, the secret arrangement with Washington has
nevertheless set off an outcry of rare force.
“If South African media hadn’t
announced it, we never would have known,” said Sibusiso Nhlabatsi. Determined
to meet these migrants face-to-face, the lawyer has been turned away from the
prison five times. A well-known attorney and human rights specialist as well as a former colleague of Thulani
Maseko, a human rights lawyer shot dead in 2023, Nhlabatsi is not taking no for
an answer.
He took his case to the
Supreme Court, which ruled in his favour in 2025. The government appealed the
decision. In March 2026, the High Court of Mbabane finally authorised the
detainees to see him.
“They had been transported
like a bag of potatoes – and even with a bag of potatoes, if you transport it
from one country to another, there are concerns that you have to go through,
there are standards that must be met,” Nhlabatsi said. “They’ve been thrown in
prison, despite the fact that they have never committed a crime in Eswatini.”
To read more of
this report, click here
See also
Held in hotels or
detained for a year after being deported to Africa: ‘This is called human
trafficking’ (El Pais)
By Phiwase Phungwayo, eSwatini Observer,
24 September 2026
 |
Veteran journalist Bheki Makhubu in a conversation with Eswatini Observer acting Managing Director Mbongeni Mbingo on 5 Questions Podcast, unpacking power, journalism and the changing media landscape
Veteran journalist and The Nation
Magazine Editor Bheki Makhubu says the country’s media has gradually
“folded” under pressure from political leadership, losing sight of its
fundamental responsibility to question those in power and tell the public what
is happening.
Makhubu made the admission on
the Eswatini Observer 5 Questions podcast.
He said the deterioration in
relations between political leaders and the media had affected journalists and
newsrooms to the point where the media had begun accommodating tensions with
those in authority instead of holding firm to its watchdog role.
“We folded as a media to try
and accommodate the tension and in the process have also lost our purpose. Why
are we here, what is our job and should we tell the public what’s going on?”
Makhubu said.
The change had occurred
alongside what he described as increasing hostility towards the media from
people in positions of authority.
He contrasted the current
environment with his early years in journalism, when being summoned by a
minister could result in confrontation, but was generally an opportunity for
engagement and education.
Makhubu also questioned
whether newsrooms still subject stories to the same level of scrutiny that
characterised journalism when he worked at The Times of Swaziland. He
recalled an environment where journalists underwent extensive training and
stories were rigorously interrogated before publication, with editors prepared
to hold back stories where information required further verification.
He said this internal scrutiny
was essential to producing journalism that served the public responsibly.
His comments came after he
reflected on the contrasting relationship that some older politicians had with
the media. Makhubu recalled that one of the last politicians of that generation
while serving as prime minister, would attend breakfast meetings with
journalists and take questions from the floor without preparation. He said the
politician viewed the media as an opportunity to communicate directly with the
public. According to Makhubu, such engagements required leaders to be
comfortable explaining their decisions and defending them when questioned.
To read more of this report,
click here
https://www.eswatiniobserver.com/leaders-no-longer-see-media-as-platform-for-accountability/
eSwatini takes TB screening to hard-to-reach
communities
BY Sibusisekile Ndlangamandla, eSwatini Positive
News, 22 September 2026
MANZINI: Eswatini is taking
tuberculosis screening directly to high-burden and hard-to-reach communities to
identify cases earlier and link patients to treatment.
National TB-HIV Services
Coordinator Similo Simelane said community-based screening has become an
important part of the National TB Control Programme’s active case-finding
efforts.
He said the approach targets
people who may have TB but do not realise that they have the disease. Simelane
said conventional screening relies heavily on symptoms such as coughing, night
sweats, fever and unexplained weight loss.
some people with TB may not
report these symptoms despite having the disease. To close this gap, the
Ministry of Health has introduced chest X-ray-based TB screening supported by
computer-aided detection technology.
Simelane said the approach
started being implemented around August last year and has since been taken into
communities across the country. Screening activities are being conducted in
communities with a high TB burden and in hard-to-reach areas.
The programme also takes
screening to national and community events, including places where large
numbers of people can be reached. Simelane said active case finding provides an
opportunity to identify people who may otherwise remain undiagnosed if health
teams simply wait for them to become sick and seek care.
He said this is important
because many people who die from TB present late for treatment. Early detection
allows people with suspected TB to undergo further diagnostic assessment and,
where confirmed, begin appropriate treatment.
It can also help reduce
transmission because people with active TB may spread the disease through the
air before receiving treatment. Simelane said taking screening services into
communities therefore benefits both individuals and the wider population.
The expansion of
community-based screening forms part of Eswatini’s broader efforts to
strengthen TB detection and move the country closer to its goal of ending TB by
2055.
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