Inhlase

11/12/2025

Congratulations to our Board Member Mr Khulekani Nene on his academic achievement as he has earned his MA in Journalism and Media from the University of the Witwatersrand(Wits).

08/12/2025

The cross-border foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak, which began in mid-May 2025 and has spread across the Shiselweni and Lubombo regions, has cost eSwatini taxpayers an unbudgeted E38 million—almost five times the initial investment. This massive expense and the subsequent closure of the nation’s lucrative meat market could have been prevented. An Inhlase investigation found the crisis is rooted in the Ministry of Agriculture’s 2020 decision to divert E8.5 million allocated for fixing and maintaining vital border fences.

By Vuyisile Hlatshwayo The cross-border foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak, which began in mid-May 2025 and has spread across the Shiselweni and Lubombo regions, has cost eSwatini taxpayers an unbudgeted E38 million—almost five times the initial investment. This massive expense and the subseque...

05/12/2025

Over E100 million of taxpayer’s monies meant for the development of the country’s strategic oil reserve cannot be accounted for. Between 2016 and 2025, over E100 million meant for the foundational design phase was spent with no works done. The Strategic Oil Reserve facility at Phuzumoya in Siphofaneni is an initiative meant to be the nation’s bulwark against fuel scarcity and price volatility, guaranteeing a crucial 60-day supply. An Inhlase investigation reveals a catalogue of financial mismanagement and procurement malpractices that saw over E100 millions of taxpayers’ money squandered on failed designs and ill-conceived contracts long before the recent E5.2 billion agreement for its construction was signed.

BY INHLASE REPORTER Over E100 million of taxpayer’s monies meant for the development of the country’s strategic oil reserve cannot be accounted for. Between 2016 and 2025, over E100 million meant for the foundational design phase was spent with no works done. The Strategic Oil Reserve facility a...

28/11/2025

The Ministry of Health quietly installed a new administrator to run the Phalala Fund through a process that violated mandatory hiring laws and bypassed every safeguard meant to protect the integrity of public appointments. Internal correspondence and records show that the Ministry filled the post without advertising the vacancy, interviewing candidates, or involving the Civil Service Commission’s Promotions Board — steps required under Regulation 28 of the Civil Service Order, 1973.

…Ministry of health admits it was unfair labour practice, commits another illegal appointment in bid to hide it …Court declares similar appointment void. By Zwelethu Dlamini The Ministry of Health quietly installed a new administrator to run the Phalala Fund through a process that violated mand...

25/11/2025

Due to shortage of proper colostomy supplies in public healthfacilities, a liSwati ostomate has resorted to using bread plastic bags as her colostomy bags. She glued and taped the bread plastic bags to the abdomen.

By Nokukhanya Musi  When 46-year-old road accident survivor Mkhulisi Masina* wheels himself across the small bedroom he now rarely leaves, his greatest fear is not pain or paralysis—it is the soundless leak that signals his colostomy bag has failed again. The stoma on his abdomen, an artificial o...

17/11/2025

Across eSwatini, amputees are discharged into communities with little to no follow-up care, a silent crisis unfolding far from the country’s policy promises. eSwatini has 146,554 people with disabilities. Three in ten of them (38,905) have a mobility disability. Inhlase has uncovered a critical driver behind this neglect: the government’s long-standing failure to hire adequate rehabilitation professionals, particularly psychologists, leaving amputees without the support they need to survive and adjust after life-altering surgeries.

By Vuyisile Hlatshwayo Sipho Dube (65) from Bethany says he left Raleigh Fitkin Memorial (RFM) Hospital in Manzini on crutches after losing his leg — but without the rehabilitation support he needed to recover. His case is not unique.  Across eSwatini, amputees are discharged into communities wit...

12/11/2025

While stories of drug shortages in Eswatini may sound like a broken record, the crisis has reached a point where repetition has become an indictment. After years of excuses — from “delayed tenders” to “budget constraints” — the truth is starker: the very officials and suppliers entrusted to ensure the steady flow of medicines have instead entrenched dysfunction, negligence, and corruption.

By Zwelethu Dlamini While stories of drug shortages in Eswatini may sound like a broken record, the crisis has reached a point where repetition has become an indictment. After years of excuses — from “delayed tenders” to “budget constraints” — the truth is starker: the very officials and...

07/11/2025

The winner

07/11/2025

winners

06/11/2025

06/11/2025

African Investigative Journalist of the year Award winner named