Swaziland Newsletter No. 892 – 29
August 2025
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.
187 babies
die from malnutrition and poor breastfeeding
By Starsky Mkhonta, eSwatini Observer, 25
August 2025
Last year, 187 babies
under six months died not only from malnutrition or starvation, but also from
not being well breastfed.
This was revealed by Nutrition
Council officer Tholakele Mhlanga at the commemoration of World Breastfeeding
Week at Hosea Inkhundla.
Mhlanga said the deaths of
babies under six months were mainly due to not being breastfed properly. She
explained that some mothers were not breastfeeding their children correctly,
which meant the babies did not fully benefit from breast milk.
She was making a presentation
during the ceremony organised by Baphalali Eswatini Red Cross Society and its
partners. The guest speaker was Minister of Health Mduduzi Matsebula,
represented by Dr Adman Shabangu.
Mhlanga stressed the
importance of breastfeeding babies exclusively for the first six months. She
highlighted that proper positioning was critical for babies to enjoy sufficient
milk.
Announcing the figures
contained in the 2024 report, Mhlanga said the deaths could have been prevented
if the babies had been well breastfed.
“In the report, 187 babies
died because they were not well breastfed. The deaths are mainly caused by
babies not being fully breastfed for six months. Other mothers fail to hold the
babies properly when breastfeeding them. This should not be taken lightly, as
the baby has to be well handled and positioned to suck the milk well and enjoy
it,” said Mhlanga, who also demonstrated correct breastfeeding techniques.
Bongani Mdluli, Growth
Monitoring Officer in the Ministry of Health, added that mothers needed support
from fathers during breastfeeding.
“It should not be the mother
alone who ensures the baby grows—fathers also have a role to play. For a baby
to be brought on earth, two people are part of the process. Therefore, even
after the baby is born, both parents must support the child. The mother should
not walk this journey alone—let the father also be there during breastfeeding,”
said Mdluli.
To read more of
this report, click here
https://eswatiniobserver.com/187-babies-die-from-malnutrition-and-poor-breastfeeding/
eSwatini LGBTQ+
rights group resumes pivotal registration battle
By Roberto Igual, Mamba
Online, 27 August 27 2025
An LGBTQ+ group in Eswatini is
once again taking the government to court after the Minister of Commerce defied
a Supreme Court ruling ordering the registration of the organisation.
In June 2023, the Supreme Court of Eswatini ruled that the Registrar of Companies’ refusal to
register Eswatini Sexual and Gender Minorities (ESGM) as a non-profit
organisation was unjust and unconstitutional. The court ordered the immediate
reconsideration of ESGM’s registration.
Despite this ruling, widely
seen as a victory for freedom of association, the government has refused to
comply. On 25 September 2024, the Minister of Commerce again rejected ESGM’s
application, this time citing customary laws.
In response, ESGM has
approached the High Court with a new application to address the government’s
non-compliance.
According to the Southern
Africa Litigation Centre (SALC), which is supporting ESGM’s case, the customary
laws cited by the minister “are set out to exclude and oppress vulnerable
groups by criminalising same-sex acts” and “have no place in a modern constitutional
democracy.”
SALC argues that the case is
about more than just one organisation’s right to exist. It “serves as a crucial
defence against the erosion of democratic values across Southern Africa.”
The organisation further
contends that the Eswatini government’s refusal to accept judicial authority
undermines the rule of law.
“This case is pivotal not only
for advancing LGBTQ+ rights in Eswatini but also for defending civic space
against escalating pushbacks. By upholding these freedoms, we strengthen
democratic values and ensure marginalised communities can organise and advocate
without fear,” said ESGM’s Executive Director, Mphile Sihlongonyane, in a
statement.
SALC has called on the
judiciary to expedite the hearing of the application and enforce its previous
ruling without further delay. It also urged the international community to
intensify pressure on Eswatini to decriminalise same-sex acts.
“The government’s continued
defiance of the Supreme Court’s ruling in the ESGM case is a direct assault on
the rule of law and civic space in Eswatini,” said SALC Executive Director,
Anneke Meerkotter.
“This landmark struggle
underscores the vital role of courts in protecting the constitutional rights of
marginalised LGBTQ+ communities to associate and express themselves freely,
especially amid rising anti-gender movements and regional crackdowns on NGOs
and media. Upholding these freedoms is essential to preserving democracy across
Southern Africa,” she added.
Eswatini remains one of the
world’s last absolute monarchies and has a poor record on human rights,
including restrictions on freedom of expression and the arrest and torture of
political activists.
Although not actively
enforced, men “suspected” of sodomy can be arrested in Eswatini without a
warrant under the Criminal Procedures Act of 1938.
Gender Based
Violence a national disaster in eSwatini
Opinion by Wandile Dludlu, Swaziland News, 24
August, 2025
Homes in eSwatini are plagued
by violence, all forms of abuse and sexual immorality amongst siblings,
particularly against women and the girl child amidst this grim reality, whereas
as emaSwati we displays a complete inability to pushback and or redress this
catastrophe.
The scage of all forms of
violence amongst blood related and close neighbors continues to rear its ugly
head, dubbed Gender Based Violence (GBV), homicide and or femicide all reflect
a Swazi Nation completely detached from its moral fibre, lost with her soul and
societal alignment.
The spiritual, social,
economic and political superstructure is put into question whether it’s working
for the common good of the Nation.
The family is and remains the
primary unit of this society, first pot of entry for literally every citizen,
orientation, grooming and nurturing mainly happens at this level before formal
education, religion and all such as we develop into adulthood of the Swazi
child.
The proven record of
abominable family atrocious and demning prevalent wrongs, suggests that the boy
child, particularly daughters together with their mothers are more likely
psychological, physically and emotionally victims of violence and such like nefarious
forms of abuse at home and communal level, spaces that ought to be safe for
them.
The response to this grim
statistical backed picture has been Hypocritic, detached and complete
disproportionate to the aggressive velocity of this societal decay, we have
left this entirely to the hands of police and the justice system in a country
with not only a weak but compromised Judiciary, inherently incapable of meeting
justice to the poor.
As emaSwati we seem completely
to lack understanding nor the requisite appreciation as to why often times in
our family level, we turn to experience violence and or abuse between husband
and wife, girlfriend and boyfriend, brother and sister, neighbors alike,
violence between Pastors and congregants, leaders and members in political
parties and or trade unions, as well as King and his wives.
The social engineering is
flawed from foundation, we are wired to inherently hold backward beliefs, myths,
norms and practices that females are less human beings, in churches nor matter
its variance preaches gospel that depicts women as weaker vessels, unfit for
many responsibilities that male counterparts are deemed fit for.
The general belief that women
are not fit for leadership at home, work and at national level is amongst what
leads us into abusing our wives as soon as we are unhappy and or frustrated by
either economic pressure, poverty and or any kind of pressure in our daily
lives, both men and women dearly harbor these traits for we are all products of
the same society that teaches us from birth through overt and covert means such
backward ideas.
We need to stand up men and
women, brothers and sisters those of us who agree that we need a new social
engineering, we need to have a deeper understanding of the “mind of the
abuser" we live with in our homes, work with and have beers, go to
church with, go to political meetings with and hold in high esteem actually,
many of them are in leadership positions, loved if not revered, there are
Deputy Presidents like me, highly regarded even.
We have very few in jail, even
those, let’s have a program with the department of Correctional Services in
which a specialized volunteers have a “objective debriefing” after sentence to
collect raw data from which we can deduct the common thread of why we end up
abusing each other, there is a common reasons whilst there could be different
push variables, but until we highlight in bold capital letters as our diagnosis
can we respond with clarity and efficiency in a comprehensive fashion too.
We must run a national
response to this scourge, intervening, corrective and wholistically in which
family, church, schools and community groupings are turned into vehicles for a
new society.
We must understand that as
emaSwati we don’t have a government that under normal circumstances would be
central in such a national project.
No one will stop this madness,
no organization will liberate us, worse no Government department will solve
this calamity that continues to beseech the sanctity of a Nation so great that
today we are a brewing an abused new generation that tomorrow must be fathers,
mothers and leaders, this threatens the existence of everything we dream to be
as emaSwati.
Swaziland Rural
Women Assembly takes government to court over US agreement
By Nokwanda Mamba, Swaziland Democratic News, 22
August 2025
MBABANE: The Swaziland Rural
Women Assembly (SRWA), in collaboration with the Southern Africa Litigation
Centre and the Swaziland Litigation Centre, has filed a case at the Mbabane
Magistrate Court challenging the constitutionality of Eswatini’s agreement with
the United States on the deportation of dangerous criminals.
The case, lodged on Friday,
follows revelations that on 16 July 2025 the Eswatini Government secretly
received five convicted criminals from the US under a controversial agreement
permitting deportees to be sent to third countries.
Activists packed the courtroom
gallery carrying placards denouncing the deal. The matter has been postponed to
25 September 2025 .
The arrival of what have been
described as some of the most dangerous convicts has triggered widespread
security concerns in Eswatini and the wider Southern African region. Anxiety
has deepened following Prime Minister Russell Dlamini’s willingness to accept
more deportees under the agreement.
Acting Government Spokesperson
Thabile Mdluli exposed government's indifference stance toward safety concerns
raised by the South African government over the arrival of the dangerous
criminals by failing to communicate a concrete plan for addressing the issue in
an earlier interview with the SABC News .
" I don't know", she
admitted. "But I mean, Eswatini has more dangerous criminals than child
murderers and rapists. I'm sure South Africa has even more dangerous criminals
", she said.
See also
eSwatini
government faces court challenge over men deported by US (The Guardian (UK))
Trump’s secret deportations to Africa’s last absolute
monarchy
By Velaphi
Mamba, Progressive International, 21 August 2025
The Trump administration has been secretly deporting
prisoners to Swaziland, Africa’s last absolute monarchy.
On 16 July 2025, five prisoners from the United States
were secretly transferred to Swaziland, Africa’s last absolute monarchy. They
arrived without UN oversight, parliamentary approval, or judicial scrutiny.
Only after widespread shock and outrage among ordinary
Swazis did Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini concede the truth: the transfer
was arranged during “high-level engagements” with Washington, and the deportees
were described as “guests of His Majesty the King,” a euphemism for detainees
held at the monarch’s pleasure.
The prisoners are held at Matsapha Maximum
Correctional Prison, but no one knows precisely on what charges and in what
conditions, prompting significant concern from human rights groups. Civil
society activists have launched a lawsuit on the matter, but there is little
expectation of justice as the judiciary is commanded by the throne. Worse
still, it appears that the agreement with the US is for a total of 150
prisoners, suggesting that many are yet to arrive.
The secrecy of this deal, and the fury it provoked,
underscored a reality that ordinary people know too well: in Swaziland, the
rule of law bends to royal decree. Parliament was never consulted, the courts
were sidelined, and the Attorney General himself has declared the transfer
unconstitutional, warning that it could make the country a target for violent
reprisal. Yet legality means little when a king rules with absolute power.
This scandal is part of a
wider pattern. Swaziland is a dictatorship in which political parties have been
banned for over fifty years. King Mswati III wields sweeping executive,
legislative, and judicial powers, controls an economy marked by staggering inequality,
and presides over one of the most repressive regimes in Africa. The people have
repeatedly demanded democracy, only to be met with lethal violence. The
rebellion of 2021–2022 claimed at least 46 lives, with many more injured or
forced into exile. The assassination of human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko in
January 2023 was one terrible marker in a broader campaign of repression that
has also included other political killings, torture, and imprisonment of
activists. Regular abuses — abductions, unlawful detentions, and violent
intimidation — are well documented.
To read more of
this report, click here
See also
Calling people
‘barbaric criminals’ does not justify violating their rights (Polity)
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