MBABANE: Her Royal Highness Princess Sikhanyiso, the first born daughter of King Mswati has come out to clarify that she was not interested and eligible to become the next Prime Minister.

In a public statement and subsequent comments about the death of Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini, the Princess first expressed condolences describing the PM as a good leader who wanted to be active in politics.

“So cute how you wanted to be active in the field of politics as in culture. It has been exactly one year since I last saw or sat in the same room as you, working as per His Majesty’s commissioning in Nov 2018” read the statement by the Princess published on Instagram.

On Tuesday, the editor of this Swaziland News Zweli Martin Dlamini told the BBC World Service Focus on Africa that the death of the Prime Minister who died allegedly after testing positive to COVID-19, came in the midst of a power struggle between him and the Princess who was escalating moves to oust the PM as Head of Government.

The Princess, subsequent to series of investigative reports from this publication regarding the tension between her and the PM responded to a member of the public who commented, questioning if her condolences statement was genuine.

“The Prime and I have never ever had a verbal showdown, anyone who has encountered me can uttest to my Eswatini bred reverence for any human individual, let alone the Chairman of Cabinet in Parliament Business”she said.

But sources close to the Princess said behind the scenes, she 'laughed' saying the death of the Prime Minister will restore the country from being captured by the Jesus Calls Worship Centre, a powerful and politically connected church in eSwatini to which the PM was a member.

“She describes the death of the PM as a huge relief saying it will restore the country from being captured by the JC” said a source very close to the Princess.

Even though the Princess later denied any showdown with the Prime Minister, on or around January 2020, she sent ‘hot’ text messages to this journalist saying the PM was not the third most senior person in the country thus confirming the power-struggle between her and the Prime Minister. She later threatened this journalist and subsequently sent a battalion of police officers from the Tingcungculu Investigating Unit to arrest him few days after sending the threatening messages.

"The PM is not third in the line of seniority in the land, follow the salutation during the next national event" read one of the text messages sent by the Princess to this journalist.

But the Information Minister later clarified that she was not eligible to become the next Prime Minister, however, in her statement she did not mention why she refused to go back to work under the late Prime Minister's administration.

“Prime Ministers are selected from the royal households of Dlamini but not the ruling household, so stop degrading yourself with these infantile thoughts” said the Princess when responding to a member of the public on Instagram who blamed her for allegedly plotting to remove the Prime Minister.