- Mbeki was here By Akwet Sande President Thabo Mbeki who once sought refuge in the kingdom as an African Nation Congress [ANC] cadre , then waging a fight against the apartheid regime of South Africa “returned home “ this week .This time not only as an ordinary citizen of the regional power house but its president. This is why there was a thunderous applause in the banqueting hall of the Lozitha Palace when the president chose his words carefully in praise of the Royal family , and King Sobhuza 11 for protection against marauding security apartheid operatives; who crossed borders into the kingdom to hunt down ANC cadres. “The support of King Sobhuza is unimag…

- President Thabo Mbeki of South on Thursday clarified his position on Zimbabwe saying he never said there was no crisis in Zimbabwe. The South Africa made the denial during a press briefing after a two day working visit to Swaziland on Thursday this week. “ I was not asked on the socio-economic issue when a visited Zimbabwe on the eve of Lusaka SADC summit, but someone deliberately came out with a different story” he said when a reporter asked him whether indeed he felt there was no crisis in Zimbabwe. The South Africa president who was chosen as mediator on Zimbabwe’s political crisis recently got wide condemnation on a statement attributed to him saying there…

- By Akwete Sande Swaziland which has enjoyed relative economic progress since independence 40 years ago has in recent years faced challenges due to increasing population growth, reduction in agricultural production, disease outbreaks such as TB and HIV/AIDS among others. Prime Minister Themba Dlamini says the previous success was a result of priorities set by government on self-reliance and self-sufficiency in food production, high expenditure in education and health. “Significant investments were made in developing basic infrastructure and an economic policy based on free enterprise system and private sector driven economic growth” he said when King Mswati 111 launched t…

- Royal Sugar among top By Akwete Sande A leading African business magazine –The Africa Business has named Royal Swaziland Sugar Corporation [RSSC] as one of the continent’s top companies in the Southern region. It is the only Swazi company ranked in this year’s survey. The Corporation is ranked 22 with a 138m dollar market value, out of 50 top regional firms outside South Africa where Botswana and Zimbabwean firms compete. The April 2008 issue of the magazines says the annual company ranking includes all companies listed on various African exchanges, therefore excludes those that are not listed. “Information on unlisted companies is scarce and difficult to ve…

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Swaziland will hold elections this year under a new constittion.Women who form 20 percent of the representatives in parliament want more represenattion and plans by NGOS are under way to train potential leaders. - Women in Law For Southern Africa –WLSA, Swaziland Chapter  says despite progress being made to have   women to attain decision making positions both public and private sector a lot of work needs to done in Southern Africa.The organization has lined a number of projects to empower potential women leaders who participate in the general elections, planned for October, this yearNational Coordinator for Swaziland Lamcebo Dlamini says, like many countries in the regi…

- The Swaziland Electricity Board [SEB] has embarked on multi-million rand. Coal-fired power generation expected to offset current imports of electricity. The project will also cater for the expansion the Southern African Development Community –SADC regional electricity demand that is supplied by the Southern African Power Supply Pool [SAPP] Most of the known reserves of over 1000 tons of coal which range from the most high to low grade remain untapped and the project intends to make use of these reserves. According to the final Swaziland Coal-fired Plant Feasibility Report much of the coal is in Lubombo region and closer to existing rail road, SEB ‘s own 132 kV electrical…