Africa's last absolute monarch renames Swaziland as eSwatini
Swaziland's King Mswati III, Africa's last absolute monarch, said on Thursday he was officially renaming the country as the Kingdom of eSwatini.
He announced the change to eSwatini, meaning "land of the Swazis", in the local Swati language at Golden Jubilee celebrations of the fiftieth anniversary of Swazi independence and of his fiftieth birthday.
The king has referred to the "Kingdom of eSwatini" several times in recent years - in an address to the UN General Assembly in 2017 and at African Union and other international conferences.
Addressing a large gathering in a stadium in the second city of Manzini, 40 km (25 miles) east of the capital Mbabane, the king said Swaziland was reverting to the original name it had before being colonised by the British.
The impoverished southern African nation - a member of the Commonwealth - gained independence from Britain in 1968.
"I would like to announce that from today onwards, our country will be known as the Kingdom of eSwatini," the king said.
He said the name "Swaziland" had caused confusion. "Whenever we go abroad, people refer to us as Switzerland," the king said.
The king, who wore a red and black military uniform and rode in an open car into the stadium, said he wanted his country to have a name people could identify with.
Most of the king's subjects eke out a living in agriculture, often cultivating sugar. There is widespread poverty in a country with the world's highest HIV/Aids rate.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen attended the event while on a visit to a country which is one of the few to maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan rather than Beijing.
It is Tsai's first trip to Africa since assuming the presidency in 2016.
Article Enquiry
Email Article
Save Article
Feedback
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Showroom
ATI systems comprises five divisions: electrical assemblies, drives and controls, feedback sensors, enclosures, and strip guiding.
VISIT SHOWROOM
Your global lifecycle technology & service partner for materials & minerals processing equipment for coal, iron ore, copper, manganese & other...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
