Vol 52 No 25 | ESWATINI Economy faces royal crisis 16th December 2011 Social unrest has been strong but not revolutionary. Could the cash shortage achieve what campaigners could not? Swaziland is resorting to desperate measures to meet its public sector payments amid fiscal problems that the International Monetary Fund warns have reached a 'critical stage'. Afr...
Vol 52 No 8 | ESWATINI Uprising put down 15th April 2011 The 12 April ‘uprising’ was heavily advertised so it was no surprise that the security forces outnumbered any who dared to go out on to the streets to protest. Riot police used wat...
Vol 52 No 5 | ESWATINI The King's budget 4th March 2011 Swaziland is suffering a severe economic crisis and the monarchy looks ill-equipped to survive it While rebellion has spread only within North Africa and the Middle East so far, monarchies all over the world fear the worst and Swaziland’s has more reasons than most to fear ...
Vol 3 (AAC) No 10 | ESWATINI Mswati III 17th August 2010 King of Swaziland Of Taiwan's four African allies, the staunchest has been Swaziland. At independence from Britain in 1968, King Sobhuza II declared allegiance to Taipei. Despite China's rise in ...
Vol 46 No 9 | ESWATINI Democracy's a luxury 29th April 2005 The economy is failing and running out of food as King Mswati buys a $500,000 limousine Swaziland has become synonymous with royal extravagance, in an absolute monarchy whose sovereigns have long resisted local and international pressure for democracy. The ruling clas...
Vol 43 No 19 | ESWATINI King and pawns 27th September 2002 Absolute monarchy may be benign but donors and neighbours don't like it One of Africa's most traditional states may be in for the shock of a modern constitution. As pressure for change builds up both at home and abroad, a committee headed by Prince Dav...
Vol 41 No 24 | ESWATINI High price of kingship 8th December 2000 Politics get complicated when an absolute monarch changes his mind King Mswati III vies for the title of Africa's last absolute monarch with Mohammed VI of Morocco. Mswati is the more absolutist but his standing is falling so fast that some say th...
Vol 40 No 4 | ESWATINI King's move 19th February 1999 The political relaunch of a former Prime Minister, Obed Dlamini, could revive the antimonarchist opposition. This has been marking time since the 70,000-strong Swaziland Federation...
Vol 39 No 19 | LESOTHOESWATINI Militants and monarchs 25th September 1998 Two troubled kingdoms have embroiled South Africa in some messy power-broking Pretoria’s African National Congress government finally lost its diplomatic virginity with the deployment of 600 South African soldiers in the early hours of 22 September to put do...
Vol 38 No 21 | ESWATINI King to move 24th October 1997 The opposition to King Mswati’s traditional government is split – and losing hope The trades union movement has tried and failed to bring down the government of King Mswati III. Jan Sithole, Secretary General of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions, called a...
