Officially, Swazi opposition leader Gabriel Mkhumane died at the hands of criminals when he was shot dead in Nelspruit at the beginning of this month. But fellow opposition supporters reject the official explanation for his murder and believe that he was assassinated by government operatives.
A substantial increase in the number of Swazis requiring food aid has raised some questions in this Southern African country. Why the rise, and how long are the higher numbers likely to prevail? More fundamentally, what has caused such widespread and enduring hunger to begin with?
Trade-union leaders in Swaziland have threatened more strikes to force Africa's last absolute monarchy to reform, arguing that the lack of democracy is crippling the economy. A two-day strike, the biggest in a decade, brought the tiny landlocked country to a standstill last week, and union leaders are threatening further stoppages.
Down on two occasions in a protracted, vacillating penalty shoot-out, a youthful Bafana Bafana team won 5-4 on penalties after a goalless and sparsely attended Cosafa Cup game against Malawi at the Somhlolo Stadium in Mbabane on Saturday afternoon. The ultimate hero of the game was goalkeeper and captain-of-the-day Moeneeb Josephs.
A Cabinet minister is one of 30 Swaziland businessmen who are to be investigated by the country's main anti-corruption unit over how they amassed their fortunes. Prime Minister Absalom Themba Dlamini told Parliament earlier this week that a Cabinet minister had amassed more than 30-million emalangeni in his bank account.
The government of Swaziland, one of Africa's poorest and most Aids-ridden countries, has defended plans to spend nearly $2,5-million on celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary of independence. The opposition has called for the celebrations, which will also mark King Mswati III's 40th birthday, to be scrapped or scaled down.
Hundreds of people have been left homeless in the landlocked kingdom of Swaziland after a severe storm wreaked havoc, disaster officials said on Thursday. Ben Nsibandze, chairperson of the National Disaster Management Agency, said 76 households had been given tents and blankets after the heavy rains that began sweeping through Swaziland on Tuesday.
Nearly one-third of Swaziland's children are considered orphaned and vulnerable as Aids takes its toll on the country, a study commissioned by the state's emergency-response council said on Friday. Life expectancy in the country dropped from 60 years in 1997 to the world's lowest of 31,3 in 2004.
Swaziland is in the grip of another drought, and withered maize stalks in dusty fields, rural women who spend ever more time searching for potable water, residents of urban informal settlements forced to use polluted streams, and dropping river levels all testify to a water crisis.
Swazi maidens started arriving on Monday at the country's spiritual capital, Ludzidzini, ahead of this week's annual reed dance, where bare-breasted virgins dance before Africa's last absolute monarch. A royal announcement aired on state radio summoned all maidens to register on Tuesday.
At least 60 cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) have been detected this year in the Southern African kingdom of Swaziland, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday. Swaziland's TB programmes manager, Themba Dlamini, said that none of those with the disease had died but added that they had all been placed in isolated wards in hospital.
