ESWATINI: Prime Minister Bans Lavish Travel For Officials

The newly-appointed prime minister of the tiny kingdom of eSwatini on Friday banned first-class air travel for top government officials as part of a slew of measures to control spending.

Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini, who took office a month ago, also announced that he will not buy a new car for himself but inherit the old one used by his predecessor as the economy battles slowing growth.

Following the current economic challenges facing the kingdom, the cabinet has decided to implement major interim fiscal decisions to enhance financial prudence and controls so as to spend as little money as possible, he said in a statement.

Dlamini said all senior officials including himself and ministers will no longer travel first class but in business class when flying on national duties.

All other public servants will fly in economy class.

All foreign trips by government officials would be vetted to ensure they were of national importance.

A former banker and national executive of Africa’s leading mobile operator MTN, Dlamini was last month named prime minister by King Mswati III, to replace Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini who died in September.

Dlamini said he was preparing an economic recovery plan for the country which suffers dire poverty and has struggled to lift its economy.

The World bank says that eSwatini’s GDP is projected to contract by -0.6 per cent this year mainly as a result of worsening fiscal challenges and the government’s fiscal consolidation efforts.

Declining government revenue and high expenditure have resulted in high fiscal deficit and cash flow problems.

The king, Mswati, one of the world’s last absolute rulers, who has 14 wives and more than 25 children, has a reputation for lavish spending on private planes and royal palaces while 63 per cent of his subjects live in poverty.

Without warning in April, Mswati III marked 50 years since his country’s independence from British colonial rule by announcing that it would now be known as eSwatini meaning land of the Swazis.

The landlocked kingdom, which has close economic ties with South Africa, faces international criticism that the government stifles dissent, jails its opponents and denies workers’ rights.


Tourism Observer

ESWATINI: 2018 Umhlanga Reed Dance Start 28th Of August

The dates the biggest cultural event in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) have been announced and a hive of colourful activity will soon descend upon the country in the form of the festival known as ‘Umhlanga’ or Reed Dance.

The Festival is set to start on the 28th of August, with the main day (Day 7) set to take place on Monday 3rd September.

It will be on this day when the main ceremony occurs, with the dancing attended by the King signalling a public holiday in Eswatini.

This ceremony is an amazing spectacle and a centuries-old tradition where the Kingdom’s unmarried and childless females present their newly cut reed to the Queen Mother to protect her residence.

The King sometimes makes use of the occasion to publicly court a prospective fiancée or Liphovela.

When the main day arrives, young women from all over Eswatini and beyond her borders converge on the royal residence in Ludzidzini for this momentous occasion.

Maidens gather in groups and head out along riverbanks to cut and collect tall reeds, bind them and return to Ludzidzini, the Royal Homestead in Lobamba.

Tens of thousands of maidens, led by Swazi princesses, provide a sea of colour as they dance and sing, proudly carrying their cut reeds. Traditionally, virginity is a pre-requisite for participation as it is considered taboo for an ‘impure’ woman to cut the reed.

Residents of this tiny mountainous Kingdom are intensely proud of their deep culture and taking part in the Festival is a proud and privileged moment for all the family.

The highlight of the event is the reed-giving ceremony – one of Africa’s largest and most colourful cultural spectacles.

The maidens gather at Ludzidzini dressed in traditional attire; bright short beaded skirts with colourful sashes revealing their bare breasts to dance and sing and celebrate the unification of the Kingdom’s women.

His Majesty King Mswati lll joins the celebrations to pay tribute to the maidens.

At the end of the day, the maidens present their cut reeds to the Queen Mother, Ndlovukazi, and the protective Guma (reed fence) around her homestead will be rebuilt.

The Umhlanga Festival is a visual spectacle that bonds this small but perfectly formed nation. Its ever- increasing popularity defies the apparent decline of traditional cultures elsewhere in Africa.

Witnessing this festival is a truly unique experience. Visitors are welcome, but are vastly outnumbered by the participants! This is a traditional event that allows spectators, not one that exists for spectators.

See it for yourself and experience Eswatini’s unique blend of ancient culture, pristine wilderness, year round wildlife and spirit of adventure!

Umhlanga Reed Dance

This is Eswatini’s best known cultural event, and has a more open feel than the Incwala. In this eight-day ceremony, young girls cut reeds, present them to the Queen Mother (Indlovukazi) – ostensibly to repair the windbreak around her royal residence – and then dance in celebration.

Up to 40,000 girls take part, dressed up in brightly coloured attired – making it one of the biggest and most spectacular cultural events in Africa.

The proper festivities kick off on day six, when dancing gets under way in the afternoon.

Each group drops their reeds outside the Queen Mother’s quarters then moves to the main arena, where they dance and sing their songs. The dancing continues on day seven, when the king is present. This is the main day that most visitors attend. Each regiment dances before him in turn.

Little can prepare you for the sheer scale of the pageantry, with column upon column of girls advancing like vast ululating centipedes across the parade grounds of Ludzidzini, each dissolving in turn into the pulsating mass of bodies around the royal kraal.

Up close, it’s an almost overwhelming immersion in noise and colour, as the girls stamp, sing and sway in step, anklets rattling, naked flesh and dazzling costume blurring into a living, chanting kaleidoscope.

The warrior escorts, adorned with cow tails and clutching knob-stick and shield, are sternly intent on their duties and seem contemptuous of tourists, but the girls are all smiles.

It’s Eswatini’s biggest holiday and, after days of tramping the hillsides, cutting reeds and camping out, they’re determined to party.

Today the Umhlanga is as well attended as ever. Indeed cultural historians marvel at how its ever-increasing popularity in Eswatini defies the apparent decline of traditional culture elsewhere.

It offers the visitor a unique experience. There are no special visitor arrangements – except for a special grandstand to accommodate visiting dignitaries – but simply turn up at Ludzidizini and follow the crowds (Day 7 is the main day).

Police will direct you where to go, and where to park.

The event takes place around the last week of August / first week of September in the Lobamba area, next to the Ezulwini Valley. The dates for the event are released relatively close to the time as they derive from ancestral astrology.

The dates for the 2018 Reed Dance have now been officially announced. The main day is always a Monday, which becomes a public holiday. This year, main day will fall on Monday 3rd September.

Tourists visiting the annual Reed Dance are allowed to take photographs on Days 6 and 7 (main day) – as the maidens walk to deliver the reeds to the Royal Residence, and then as they dance in the main arena.

Photography at other times is restricted to accredited members of the media, who can check the Media Accreditation section on this page for further information.

Reed Dance Schedule

Day One

- The girls gather at the Queen Mother’s royal village. Today this is at Ludzidzini, in Sobhuza’s time it was at Lobamba.

- They come in groups from the 200 or so chiefdoms and are registered for security.

- Men, usually four, supervise them, appointed chiefs. They sleep in the huts of relatives in the village or in classrooms of nearby schools.

- This is a very exciting time for the maidens.

Day Two

- The girls are separated into two groups, the older (about 14 to 22 years) and the younger (about 8 to 13 years).

- In the afternoon, they march to the reed-beds with their supervisors. The older girls often march about 30 kilometers, while the younger girls march about ten kilometers.

- If the older girls are sent further, government will provide trucks for their transport.

Day Three

- The girls cut their reeds, usually about ten to twenty, using long knives.

- Each girl ties her reeds into a bundle.

- Nowadays they use strips of plastic for the tying, but those mindful of tradition will still cut grass and plaint it into rope.

Day Four

- In the afternoon, the girls set off to return to the Queen Mother’s village, carrying their bundles of reeds. Again they return at night. This is done to show they traveled a long way.

Day Five

- A day of rest where the girls make final preparations to their hair and dancing costumes.

- After all that walking, who doesn’t deserve a little pampering?

Day Six

- First day of dancing, from about three to five in the afternoon.

- The girls drop their reeds outside the Queen Mother’s quarters.

- They move to the arena and dance, keeping their groups and each group singing different songs at the same time.

Day Seven

- Second and last day of dancing. His Majesty the King will be present.

Day Eight

- King commands that a number of cattle perhaps 20 -25 be slaughtered for the girls.

- They receive pieces of meat and go home.


Tourism Observer

SWAZILAND: King Mswati III Reverts Swaziland Name To eSwatini

Swaziland's ministry of home affairs has reportedly said that the changing of the country’s name to the Kingdom of eSwatini won't happen overnight.

The ministry said this as it reacted to concerns that the renaming of the country would have serious financial implications.

King Mswati III, one of the world’s few absolute monarchs, announced last week that his country had changed its name to eSwatini to mark 50 years since independence from British rule.

I would like to announce that Swaziland will now revert to its original name, Mswati said during independence day celebrations.

African countries on getting independence reverted to their ancient names before they were colonised.

So from now on the country will be officially known as the Kingdom of eSwatini.

In reaction, critics of the king, who took the throne in 1986 aged 18, said the move was an example of his authoritarian and wasteful reign in a country that suffers dire poverty.

Meaning place of the Swazi, eSwatini is the Swazi language name for the tiny nation landlocked between South Africa and Mozambique.

The king, who was crowned in 1986 aged 18, rules by decree and has often been criticised for his lavish lifestyle despite the grinding poverty suffered by many of his citizens.

Political parties are banned from taking part in elections and only candidates approved by chiefs loyal to the king can stand for office.

The country, which has a population of about 1.3 million people, suffers the highest HIV rate in the world, with 27% of adults infected.

Unlike some countries, Swaziland did not change its name when it gained independence in 1968 after being a British protectorate for more than 60 years.

We see here King Mswati's autocratic style, said Alvit Dlamini, head of the Ngwane National Liberatory Congress, a political party which, like others, is not allowed to run in elections.

He can't change the name of the country on his own. He was supposed to consult the nation.

Dlamini said that the change would be expensive for Swaziland, where 63% of the 1.3 million population live below the national poverty line, according the World Food Programme.

This will come with major cost implications, we are a broke country, he said.

But according to SABC, Home Affairs Minister Princess Tsandzile Dlamini maintained that the renaming process would be done cautiously to prevent high costs.

The issue has come at the rightful time, we are 50 years-old now.

We were called by the name that was used by the British, we are now taking back what belongs to us.

We are eSwatini, we are most grateful and happy about that.

But talking to letter heads of government to passport to everything it would have to take time so that we finish the stock that we have, she was quoted as saying.

The name change could mean that the country’s constitution is re-written, as well as changes for the Royal Swaziland Police Force, the Swaziland Defence Force and the University of Swaziland.

After independence, Rhodesia became Zimbabwe, Nyasaland became Malawi, and Bechuanaland became Botswana.


Tourism Observer