BY SIFISO NHLABATSI
LOBAMBA – Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini has mounted a robust defence of his much-debated “disruptive leadership” approach, dismissing suggestions that it undermines Eswatini’s Tinkhundla system of governance and instead arguing that it is the catalyst needed to accelerate national development, improve service delivery and transform the country’s economy.
Responding to Private Members’ Motion in Parliament, Dlamini said disruptive leadership had been misunderstood by some Members of Parliament, insisting it was not about disregarding tradition or collective decision-making but about challenging complacency, accelerating implementation and producing measurable results.
The motion, tabled by Mbabane East MP Welcome Dlamini and seconded by Ngudzeni MP Charles Ndlovu, sought an explanation of how the Prime Minister’s leadership style aligns with the Constitution and the Tinkhundla system, affects Cabinet’s collective responsibility and influences service delivery across government.
Addressing the House, the Prime Minister said the concept had been wrongly portrayed by those supporting the motion.
“Disruptive leadership, properly understood, is a visionary approach that challenges entrenched norms and resists complacency. It is not content with the preservation of existing systems or the status quo; rather, it seeks to redefine them through innovation, calculated risk and principled decision-making,” he said.
According to Dlamini, disruptive leadership is about changing the pace at which government operates while ensuring that every programme produces measurable outcomes for citizens.
He said the approach had become central to the implementation of His Majesty King Mswati III’s Nkwe directive, which calls for urgency in executing government programmes.
“When His Majesty issued the Nkwe directive, he was commanding Government to disrupt the ordinary manner of doing things, which has too often been painstakingly slow. He was not merely directing us to quicken our step; he was commanding us to rise and run,” he said.
The Prime Minister rejected any suggestion that his leadership style was incompatible with the country’s governance system.
“I am a firm believer in, and proponent of, our unique Tinkhundla system. There should therefore be no suggestion that my call for disruptive leadership constitutes a challenge to our traditions or to our system of governance. Such an interpretation is wholly misplaced,” he said.
Instead, he argued that accelerating decision-making and implementation would strengthen, rather than weaken, the Tinkhundla system.
Dlamini also defended his leadership within Cabinet, saying democracy and consensus should never be confused with indecisiveness.
Quoting Section 66(2) of the Constitution, he said the Prime Minister had the responsibility of chairing Cabinet and leading Government business in Parliament, requiring decisive stewardship while maintaining collective responsibility.
He said Cabinet continued to rely on established mechanisms including weekly meetings, special sittings and annual retreats to build consensus before decisions were taken.
The Prime Minister also criticised what he described as misinformation surrounding Cabinet deliberations, particularly claims that Government intended changing its diplomatic relationship with Taiwan.
He maintained that Eswatini’s foreign policy had not changed and that the Cabinet Declaration released after this year’s retreat remained the official position of Government.
To support his argument that disruptive leadership was producing tangible results, Dlamini presented a lengthy account of achievements recorded since his administration assumed office.
Among the headline achievements, he said Government had attracted more than E30 billion in investments while creating over 16 000 jobs, with approximately 11 000 of those opportunities going to young people.
He also pointed to a decline in the national unemployment rate from 35.4 percent to 33.5 percent.
The Prime Minister highlighted the allocation of 500 hectares of land for the proposed Taiwan Innovation Park at Phocweni, saying the project was expected to attract investments worth US$6 billion and eventually create about 10 000 additional jobs in high-value industries.
On healthcare, Dlamini said medicine availability had improved dramatically from approximately 30 percent when his administration assumed office to around 90 percent.
He said Government had also maintained Eswatini’s achievement of exceeding the global 95-95-95 HIV targets while becoming one of the first countries to introduce injectable Lenacapavir PrEP as part of efforts to eliminate new HIV infections.
Other health sector interventions included establishing the Eswatini Medical Supplies Agency (EMSA), launching the National Medical Waste Management Facility and facilitating the establishment of a private oncology hospital in Manzini.
In education, the Prime Minister said Government had increased scholarship beneficiaries by 1 000 students and raised the monthly student allowance from E1 690 to E2 000.
He said improvements in the efficiency of scholarship payments had significantly reduced student protests over delayed allowances.
Dlamini further cited progress in agriculture, saying Government had expanded food security initiatives through increased maize and bean production, established the Eswatini Agriculture Development Fund, launched the Hamba Ubuye Maize Revolving Fund and successfully contained one of the country’s worst outbreaks of Foot and Mouth Disease.
He attributed the country’s lower inflation rate, which declined from four percent in 2024 to 2.6 percent, partly to food sovereignty programmes implemented by Government.
According to the Prime Minister, poverty levels had also fallen from 58.9 percent to 53.5 percent while the country’s Gini coefficient improved to 0.45, indicating reduced income inequality.
Housing also featured prominently in his response, with Dlamini revealing that Government had built 1 033 houses for vulnerable households nationwide.
On infrastructure, he said Government had made significant progress on several strategic road projects while improving rural access through the construction of concrete roads, footbridges and low-level bridges under the Micro Projects Programme.
He said nearly 890 kilometres of roads had been graded since November 2023, surpassing Government’s target of maintaining and upgrading 500 kilometres of road infrastructure.
The Prime Minister said Government had also reconstructed 11 Tinkhundla Centres damaged during the 2021 unrest, connected more than 40 centres to free internet services and distributed over E471 million through the Regional Development Fund.
Energy security formed another key pillar of his presentation.
Dlamini said Eswatini remained on course to generate 188.6 megawatts of renewable energy by 2030, while applications for projects capable of producing an additional 1 400 megawatts were under consideration.
He said these investments would eventually eliminate dependence on imported electricity while supporting industrial growth.
Government, he added, had also secured approximately E1 billion to connect more than 1 000 public facilities, including schools, health centres and Tinkhundla Centres, to digital infrastructure.
The Prime Minister further highlighted progress in anti-corruption efforts, saying Government had established a joint task team comprising the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, Royal Eswatini Police Service and Anti-Corruption Commission to speed up corruption investigations.
Additional police officers had also been assigned to strengthen investigations, while a Commission of Inquiry had been established to investigate the operations of Eswatini Medical Christian University.
Dlamini further noted that Government had finally reviewed civil servants’ salaries after eight years without adjustments and resolved the long-outstanding Phase II salary review for junior security officers.
He also pointed to reforms within the public service, including the introduction of the Performance Management System, implementation of the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS), adoption of International Public Sector Accounting Standards and establishment of the Treasury Single Account to strengthen accountability and improve financial management.
Internationally, the Prime Minister said Eswatini continued strengthening diplomatic relations while successfully negotiating its removal from special paragraphs of both the SADC Troika agenda and the International Labour Organization.
He also credited Government with securing a E4.1 billion bilateral health agreement with the United States while maintaining the country’s eligibility for benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
Concluding his response, Dlamini acknowledged that Government continued facing challenges including fiscal pressures, external dependencies and lengthy legislative processes.
However, he maintained that his administration remained committed to accelerating industrialisation, creating employment opportunities, improving service delivery and transforming Eswatini into an upper-middle-income country.
Despite resistance and what he described as entrenched corruption, Dlamini insisted the country was making measurable progress.
He urged Members of Parliament to support Government’s reform agenda, arguing that disruptive leadership, when aligned with the principles of the Tinkhundla system, represented good governance rather than a departure from it.
The Prime Minister also disclosed that Government would table a comprehensive Government Performance Report for 2025/26 together with a signed Cabinet Declaration outlining commitments under the Nkwe Programme of Action, while a broader State of Development Report would be launched in the coming weeks.
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