By Zweli Martin Dlamini

MBABANE:King Mswati allegedly used intelligence to manage his wayward Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini by sending him on two(2) weeks long international trips so that, Cabinet could discuss the employment of a new Royal Science and Technology Park(RSTP) Chief Executive Officer(CEO) without any disturbances.

An independent investigation conducted by this Swaziland News uncovered that, the PM has been blocking the employment of the RSTP new CEO saying King Mswati wanted Cabinet to employ Prince Dzabulemanti but, Information Minister is alleged to have verified with Mswati who denied issuing any order directing Cabinet to employ Dzabulemanti who was born from the royal house of former Justice Minister now Liqoqo member Prince David.

As a result, Information, Communication and Technology(ICT) Minister Savannah Maziya is alleged to have told the King that, she was experiencing some difficulties in employing an independent minded and qualified Chief Executive Officer “who is not related to the royal family as the PM was using the King’s name to intimidate her”.

King Mswati is alleged to have given Minister Maziya a go ahead to employ any CEO who qualifies without considering whether that individual is related to the royal family or not and, a plan was then made to send the Prime Minister on international trips so that, Cabinet could discuss this issue and other matters where the PM is conflicted or has an interest, with Acting Prime Minister Thuli Dladla as the Chairperson.

Acting Government Spokesperson Thabile Mdluli declined to comment about the matter.

But King Mswati’s Spokesperson Percy Simelane said, he was not aware of the alleged instruction to Minister Savannah but, clarfified that, members of the royal family “are citizens of this country as well who deserved to employed” if they qualify for certain positions.

“We are not aware of the King’s  instruction to Minister Savanna but very much alive to the fact that members of the royal family,including the King, are bonafide Swati Citizens and deserve to be employed too where they qualify like any other Liswati.We are not aware of any piece of legislation  that militates against the employment of members of the royal family in this country.We therefore have no baseline to argue they should not be employed by anyone”, said the King’s Spokesperson.

But a senior source within Cabinet told this Swaziland News this week that, Cabinet was also mandated to discuss the awarding of a contract to the new CEO and further discuss the issue of SEMLEX, a passport manufacturing company that was ‘blessed’ by Mswati and allocated land to establish business and operate at the Special Economic Zone(SEZ) in Matsapha.

“The King wants SEMLEX to start operating in the country and Cabinet to speed-up of the employment of the RSTP CEO to drive the development program to digitalize the country but, the PM was not only interfering with the employment of the CEO but, colluded with Home Affairs Minister Princess Lindiwe, they want their own company from Belarus to manufacture the passports. So they were blocking everything in Cabinet”, said the insider.

The PM travelled to Japan to attend the Expo 2025, he then proceeded to France to represent King Mswati in a United Nations(UN) preservation of oceans Conference.