By Zweli Martin Dlamini

MBABANE: Alpheous Nxumalo,the Eswatini Government Spokesperson has slammed News24, subsequent to the publication of an article titled ‘The country is going in the wrong direction; Eswatini majority unhappy with monarchy, survey finds’.

Eswatini is ruled by King Mswati as an absolute Monarch, political parties are banned from participating in elections while human rights defenders are arrested, tortured or even killed for demanding democracy.

In a public statement released on Wednesday, the Government Spokesperson said the so-called survey was not the true reflection of the feelings of emaSwati.

“Government believes this survey is based on a sampling that is both non-inclusive and biased. This survey does not even take into consideration the views of the 89% of eligible emaSwati who are currently participating in the ongoing national elections. The high volume of emaSwati who registered for the national elections should be an indication of how much emaSwati believe in their Tinkhundla system of governance.It is extremely rare for any country to record that level of registration and participation,” said the Government Spokesperson.

On another note, News24 published an article quoting a survey report by Afrobarometer. 

“An Afrobarometer survey has found that many citizens of Eswatini are unhappy with the standard of living in the last absolute monarchy in Africa.

According to the survey report, "overwhelming majorities say the government is performing poorly on key economic issues", reads the article published by News24.