By Mduduzi Hlophe

MBABANE: Zweli Martin Dlamini, the Swaziland News Editor has been engaged as the new BBC World Service Focus on Africa, eSwatini contributor.

Dlamini started his first assignment on Monday when he reported about the death of Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini and the collapsed health system in eSwatini that saw the PM airlifted to seek medical treatment in South Africa.

The Prime Minister died on Sunday after he tested positive to COVID-19, however the editor told the BBC that the death of the PM triggered ‘tensions’ in the Kingdom as some citizens and even political parties clarified that the Prime Minister was not the problem but the King and the royal family was looting public something that resulted to the collapsed health system after the government failed to provide drugs in hospitals. Dlamini further told the BBC that some citizens were concerned that the Prime Minister died in the midst of a power-struggle between him and  Princess Sikhanyiso, the first born daughter of King Mswati who claimed she was the third most senior person the country.

“There have been mixed reactions but what I can say is the fact that before the Prime Minister died, there was a power struggle in Cabinet, one of the King’s daughters Princess Sikhanyiso wanted to oust the Prime Minister, she was claiming that she is the third most senior person in the Kingdom of eSwatini” said the editor when reporting for the BBC.

The editor described the late Prime Minister as a humble man with Christian values who was eager to see economic growth in the country.