Swazi Bridge News

21/09/2026

They left the United States expecting deportation. Instead, they were flown thousands of kilometres to a country they had never known — and taken to a maximum-security prison.

This investigation is part of The Deportation Project — Inside the Trump administration’s secret deals to expel people worldwide, a collaborative investigation led by Forbidden Stories involving 24 media organisations in 15 countries.

They left the United States expecting deportation. Instead, they were flown thousands of kilometres to a country they had never known — and taken to a maximum-security prison. This investigation is part of The Deportation Project — Inside the Trump administration’s secret deals to expel people...

20/09/2026

EBC, ELECTIONS AND THE E36 MILLION SCANDAL

……. On the digital front, public records list Sionary Investments as the awarded vendor for the upgrade tender, valued at more than E27.9 million, with RSTP specialists contributing to evaluation and support activities.

By Swazi Bridge reporters

eSwatini’s 2023 general elections were preserved through a decisive measure to transfer control of election technology from the Ministry of ICT to the Royal Science and Technology Park (RSTP), following the failure of the EMS supplier to deliver the system in its entirety. This account is corroborated by sources associated with the process. The Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) disputes certain aspects of the account but has confirmed, through its documented responses to Swazi Bridge, that the electoral machinery was on the verge of failure.

When the provider of the election management system encountered difficulties, a ballot paper tender was annulled, and responsibility for election technology transitioned from the Ministry of ICT to the Royal Science and Technology Park (RSTP). Swazi Bridge chronicles this strategic shift.

Click link to read full story:

https://swazibridge.com/article/index.php?iywtrre=eFeo

20/09/2026

MICHELO SHAKANTU: THE BEGINNING OF AN END FOR A ONCE POWERFUL EMPIRE

….. Given the nature of the tenders at EWADE, and the fact that none has gone to organisations controlled by Shakantu, considerable pressure has been put on Sithole to leave the organisation.

By Swazi Bridge investigation

A few months ago, Michelo Shakantu walked into a meeting with Finance Minister Neal Rijkenberg attended by ministers and senior civil servants. He wanted money to finish the International Convention Centre. Sources put the sum he wanted at more than E1 billion. Rijkenberg refused and demanded a cost-of-completion evaluation before anything else moved. He threatened a full investigation into the ICC and it’s cost structure.

Shakantu, in the company of Prince Mcwasho, lost his temper. He addressed the minister by name in front of other ministers and senior staff, banged the table and left the meeting midway.
People who have worked with the Inyatsi executive chairman say the scene was not an aberration. It was the style.

Swazi Bridge interviewed several board members, former senior executives at Inyatsi and its group of companies, and chief executives of various companies. Almost all spoke on condition of anonymity. The picture that emerges is of a once-powerful man on his way down. In his rise, he made too many enemies. He grew emboldened by his closeness to royalty. And he ran his businesses in a way that was rough, brash and untidy.

Click link to read full story:

https://swazibridge.com/article/index.php?iywtrre=eFep

19/09/2026

COMING ON SWAZI BRIDGE THIS SUNDAY:

The Bridge Investigation team takes a deep dive into the extraordinary rise of Michelo Shakantu, shareholder and Executive Chairman of the Inyatsi Group, tracing how he built himself into one of the most powerful figures in Swazi business and the friends, allies and enemies he made along the way.

But what happened when Shakantu sat across the table from Finance Minister Neal Rijkenberg a few months ago? Why did the Minister put his foot down and made it clear it ends here and it ends now? What was Shakantu asking for and why did the Minister say NO. And why are some people close to the corridors of power now suggesting this could mark the beginning of the end of the once-mighty businessman.

From the boardroom to the corridors of power, The Bridge investigates the relationships, battles and events surrounding the “fall” of one of the country’s most prominent business figures.

Read the story on Swazi Bridge tomorrow on www.swazibridge.com

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19/09/2026

COMING ON SWAZI BRIDGE TOMORROW

2028 ELECTIONS SERIES — SECOND EDITION

This week, Swazi Bridge goes deep into how close the country came to a disastrous election, with no elections management system in place despite payment having been made.

We dig deep into the E36 million tender issued for the printing of ballot papers. What happened when the EBC cut out the middleman and procured the ballot papers directly? And what did Prince Mhlabuhlangene do when he inherited a commission in a mess? How Did RSTP save the integrity of out elections last minute?

Read the story on Swazi Bridge tomorrow on www.swazibridge.com

Make sure to follow us on all our socials to catch the story first

Send us your story on email at: [email protected] or WhatsApp us on:
+27622126521

‎Follow the The Swazi Bridge channel on WhatsApp:

https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va9PAvQ4o7qI6ie4vE2H

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18/09/2026

WHAT THE MEDIA AND COMMENTATORS GOT WRONG ON MTHANDENI’S RELEASE.

…. Mainstream media has unwittingly used the word “pardon” loosely yet in law it has different connotation than everyday use. Part XX of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act does not use "pardon" as a single, undifferentiated concept.

By Mandla Simelane

Bheki Makhubu's tribute to kwembula ingubo was a very nice read and it triggered me to think about a lot of misunderstanding most commentators have about Mthandeni Dube’s release. I must admit that Makhubu thesis on the ensuing controversy around Dube’s media interview and subsequent investigation by Correctional Services was poetic and well written. However, poetry is not law and, like many social commentators, he got some facts wrong.

First, it must be clarified that Mthandeni Dube was not released through Swazi customary law.
Some people argue that the power derives from the Customary law practice of kwembula ingubo. But this is not correct. Instead Dube was released by Special Royal Pardon issued under Section 329, read together with Sections 330, 331 and 332 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act No. 67 of 1938. This is a statute, not custom. HMCS itself confirmed this at the time of release and it is the reason Dube's release came attached to enforceable conditions rather than the unconditional forgiveness Bheki describes.

Click link to read full article:

https://swazibridge.com/article/index.php?iywtrre=eFeq

17/09/2026

IMBUBE MARATHON ENTRIES RACE TOWARDS 10 000

….. Employers engaging with ENPF during the Catsatsa! Sikuwe roadshow welcomed the growth of Imbube and the Fund’s wider approach to member and public engagement.

By Swazi Bridge reporter

The Imbube Marathon is gathering significant momentum ahead of its eighth edition, with 8,136 people from Eswatini and abroad already registered for the 17 October 2026 race at Somhlolo National Stadium. Lidlelantfongeni Chief Executive Officer Futhi Tembe said the registration figure was encouraging and expressed optimism that participation could reach 10,000 by race day.

The eighth edition features the 42.2km marathon, 21.1km half marathon, 10km race and 3.3km fun run, with the event increasingly attracting runners from outside Eswatini.
For Tembe, the growing response reflects the national character of the event.

“Imbube is for the nation, just as Lidlelantfongeni is for emaSwati,” Tembe said. She said the marathon had developed into more than a road race, providing a platform for wellness, sport, tourism and opportunities for local athletes while bringing participants from Eswatini and beyond together.

Click link to read full article:

https://swazibridge.com/article/index.php?iywtrre=eFaj

16/09/2026

MINISTER BRINGS SWEEPING LAW BARRING FOREIGNERS FROM TOWNSHIP ECONOMY AND SMALL BUSINESS

……These include retail operations with annual turnover below E8 million, including general dealers, supermarkets, grocery shops, pharmacies, automotive spares, hardware shops, liquor outlets

By Staff reporter

Retail, taxis, construction, restaurants, security, funeral services, advertising, tourism and other have now been ring fenced as exclusively meant to be run by Swazis, at least according to the
Citizens Economic Empowerment Regulations being proposed by Minister of Commerce Manqoba Khumalo.

If things go the way of Minister Khumalo the country stands on the verge of introducing a far-reaching economic empowerment regime that could fundamentally change who is allowed to participate in some of the country’s most common business sectors. The proposed regulations establish a framework under which certain economic activities would be reserved for targeted citizen-owned companies, while foreign participation in other sectors would be permitted only through approved joint ventures with citizens.

The regulations, made under the Citizens Economic Empowerment Act, create requirements covering ownership, procurement, employment, management control, enterprise development, reporting and compliance. At the heart of the regulations is a powerful proposition: economic participation in certain sectors should be deliberately structured in favour of targeted citizen-owned businesses.

The regulations state that the Minister may, on the recommendation of the Council, reserve, vary or remove sectors or activities for participation by targeted citizen-owned companies. Foreign participation in a reserved sector would only be permitted through an approved joint venture.

Click link to read full article:

https://swazibridge.com/article/?iywtrre=eFer

15/09/2026

TURNING FRUSTRATION INTO PURPOSE

…. For Matsebula, the Rhodes award therefore lands as more than a professional accolade, it is a quiet correction to a story that ran for months without her side ever being fully heard.

By Manqoba Nxumalo

A few years ago, typing “Zinhle Matsebula” into a search bar would have pulled up a very different picture of the woman being celebrated today. Headline after headline once branded her a face of the drug crisis that gripped eSwatini’s health system; one widely shared report even called her an “alleged multi-million-emalangeni drugs thief”. Matsebula insisted repeatedly and publicly that she had done nothing wrong, protesting her innocence even as the story spread across newsrooms and timelines, a defining moment that should have been about her businesses but instead became a crisis.

Today, Matsebula is being celebrated for something else entirely: she has been named a recipient of the Rhodes University Distinguished Alumni Award for 2026, an honour reserved for graduates recognised for exceptional professional achievement, leadership, integrity, service and social impact.

Matsebula graduated from Rhodes University with a Bachelor of Pharmacy in 2010 and later completed a postgraduate diploma in pharmaceutical medicine and an MSc in pharmacology at Stellenbosch University. But the university’s citation stresses less the credentials than what she did with them, from an early aluminium-solutions business to a diagnostic laboratory that reshaped COVID-19 testing capacity across the region.

Click link to read full article:

https://swazibridge.com/article/index.php?iywtrre=eFai

15/09/2026

DEAR PRINCESS NCENGENCENGE: YOU’RE DOING MORE DAMAGE THAN YOU REALISE NKHOSI

Dear Princess Ncengencenge

Princess, we loved you because you were different. Not only in who you loved, but in what you had seen. Educated abroad, you returned home carrying something rare in our body politic: proof that tolerance is possible, that a wider world exists beyond the borders of custom, and that education can loosen even the tightest grip of tradition.

You know what it costs to be different here. You wore that cost publicly. While tradition demanded that women, and royal women most of all, shrink themselves into silence but you refused. You stood as an openly le***an princess inside one of the most conservative royal households on the continent, facing not just the judgement of ordinary Swazis but the disapproval of your own family. To many of us that was heroism and courage. Whether you intended it or not but your presence alone did more to soften Swazi attitudes toward gay and le***an people than a decade of pamphlets could have.

That is precisely why what you are doing now feels like betrayal. You have taken to the airwaves to tell the country that being gay or le***an is sin. You are using the very platform your courage built to dismantle the tolerance your courage helped create at the exact moment sexual minorities here are at their weakest, vulnerable and least protected. That is not a change of heart, Senator. That is defection.

Click link to read full article:

https://swazibridge.com/article/index.php?iywtrre=eFas