BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – Eswatini Railways Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nixon Dlamini has been elected as President of the Southern African Railways Association (SARA).
Dlamini has been elected into the position on June 19, 2025 in Mbabane. He is expected to serve in this position for a period of two years. Dlamini will be assisted Chieleshe Malele, who is the General Manager of Botswana Railways, as Deputy President. Malele was respresented by Amon Sefawe during the elections.
The CEO has been serving as the Deputy President of SARA for the past two years. He was deputising Hisham Emeran, who is the Group CEO of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA). The elections took place in a SARA Board meeting that took place at Hilton Garden Inn, Mbabane.
Dlamini has been serving as Eswatini Railways CEO from 2020 to this day and he has previously worked for the same company as a civil engineer.
The Southern African Railways Association (SARA) is the association of railway companies in the SADC region, especially those using 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge. Besides railway operating companies, it welcomes also other stakeholders of the railway industry, like suppliers of railway technology and some important customers. SARA was founded in 1996 and is a not for profit organisation. SARA has its seat in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Besides promoting and lobbying for rail transport, SARA aims to promote interconnectivity and cross border operability of railways for a regional and continental rail network connectivity in Southern Africa.
According to information from the organisation, 15 railway companies from 10 countries (Angola, Botswana, D.R. Congo, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe) are members of SARA, as well as regulation authorities and other companies.
