{"id":85768,"date":"2026-02-26T07:27:42","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T07:27:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/pm-seeks-r2-billion-jet-amid-tensions-with-cabinet"},"modified":"2026-02-26T07:58:59","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T07:58:59","slug":"pm-seeks-r2-billion-jet-amid-tensions-with-cabinet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/pm-seeks-r2-billion-jet-amid-tensions-with-cabinet","title":{"rendered":"PM Seeks R2 Billion Jet Amid Tensions with Cabinet"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Eswatini. <\/strong> <\/span><b>Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini allegedly told Cabinet Ministers during a recent meeting that, he wants Government to buy him a private jet but, Information Minister Savannah Maziya vigorously opposed while warning him to stop elevating himself to the King\u2019s status triggering tension and, worsening the already hostile working relationship between the two.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Cabinet insiders told later on Wednesday afternoon that, the PM said when visiting Lesotho recently he discovered that, \u201cPrime Minister Sam Matekane is owning a private jet and therefore, he wants to have his own to travel the world\u201d on official State or Government duties.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMinister Savannah opposed and warned him to stop elevating himself to King\u2019s status,\u201d said a very influential Cabinet insider.<\/p>\n<p>It had been disclosed that, the PM allegedly took it personal when the Information Minister opposed him and as a result, on Wednesday afternoon while in Parliament, the Prime Minister informed the Information Minister that, \u201cshe has been fired\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Acting Government Spokesperson Thabile Mdluli declined to comment about the matter.<\/p>\n<p>On another note, the private jet that the Prime Minister allegedly \u201cwants Government to buy for him costs over R2billion\u201d,\u2019Eswatini has about 70% of the population living below the poverty line, the country is also facing a health crisis amid shortage of drugs in public hospitals.<\/p>\n<p>When asked to share a comment regarding the latest developments in the corridors of power, Wandile Dludlu, the Deputy President of the People\u2019s United Development Movement (PUDEMO) accused the Prime Minister of being in a calculated mission to loot public funds using international trips just like the other faction in Cabinet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSwazis must know, no one is working for their uplifting out of poverty, both factions in Cabinet are serving themselves, it\u2019s their time to loot and gravy train escapade,\u201d said the PUDEMO Deputy President.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Eswatini<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Eswatini. Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini allegedly told Cabinet Ministers during a recent meeting that, he wants Government to buy him a private jet but, Information Minister Savannah Maziya vigorously opposed while warning him to stop elevating himself to the King\u2019s status triggering tension and, worsening the already hostile working relationship between the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":85767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[249],"class_list":["post-85768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-eswatini"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>PM Seeks R2 Billion Jet Amid Tensions with Cabinet - Eswatini<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Eswatini. Prime Minister Russell Mmis ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/pm-seeks-r2-billion-jet-amid-tensions-with-cabinet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"PM Seeks R2 Billion Jet Amid Tensions with Cabinet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Eswatini. 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