Africa-Press – Eswatini. Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini secretly left the country to allegedly hold a high level meeting with officials from the Lesotho Government and discuss among others, the advantages of having an elected Prime Minister with Executive powers.These latest developments c…
Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini secretly left the country on Thursday morning to allegedly hold a high level meeting with officials from the Lesotho Government and discuss among others, the advantages of having an elected Prime Minister with Executive powers.
These latest developments come after reporting on Saturday how the PM allegedly sought advice from Lesotho Government officials very close to Lesotho Prime Minister Ntsokoane Samuel Matekane, about the advantages of having an elected Prime Minister, this was around October 2025 and the Eswatini PM was in Lesotho for the National Celebration of King Letsie’s Award in Maseru.
But now, an investigation conducted by this publication has uncovered new information suggesting that, on Thursday (2nd April 2026) around 6:40am, Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini left the country through the King Mswati International Airport with Eswatini Air flight number RN-101, he was using his normal travel document not the official diplomatic passport.
According to information sourced from the Ministry of Home Affairs Immigration Systems, the Prime Minister subsequently came back around 7:56pm using Eswatini Air flight number RN-106.
It has been disclosed through the Prime Minister’s travel documents that, he declared “attending Workshop or Conference” as the reason or purpose of the international Johannesburg trip.
Acting Eswatini Government Spokesperson Thabile Mdluli declined to comment regarding the Prime Minister’s alleged secret trip to Johannesburg.
But it is alleged that, the PM did not inform His Majesty the King that, he will be leaving the country so that, Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Thulisile Dladla could officially act as the country’s Prime Minister, the trip was not even reported by the Eswatini media.
Responding on Sunday afternoon, King Mswati’s Spokesperson Percy Simelane said, “the Prime Minister is expected to report before leaving the country”, so that the DPM could automatically act as the Prime Minister.
But Simelane said, he was not aware of the alleged secret international trip adding that, maybe “there was a communication breakdown” somewhere, in the chain of communication.
“Our experience is that when the Prime Minister leaves the country, the Deputy Prime Minister, officially and automatically acts on his behalf. If for some reason, the Deputy Prime Minister is unable to act, a Minister is temporarily trusted with acting and, unlike the DPM, has to commit himself in black and white. This picture does not represent “secret” international trip if followed but an official travel by the Prime Minister with approved financial coverage for himself and his security detail. We have no idea of a secret internatipnal travel by a Prime Minister and can only hope there was mere communication breakdown somewhere, along the chain of command,” said the King’s Spokesperson.
On another note, the Prime Minister is currently at loggerheads with the Eswatini Parliament over poor governance, interference in the budgeting process of the National Budget with an alleged intention to loot public funds.
Eswatini is ruled by King Mswati as an absolute Monarch, political parties are banned from participating in elections but in Lesotho, the Prime Minister is democratically elected through a Parliament majority vote.
It remains unclear why the Eswatini PM was even interested in learning about the Lesotho system of Government but, information gathered by this publication suggests that, within the Eswatini royal family, various factions are already monitoring King Mswati’s health condition with an alleged intention to “quickly seize power in the event he takes the last breath”.
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