Mswati III

Mswati III (born Makhosetive Dlamini; 19 April 1968) is the Ngwenyama (King) of Eswatini and head of the Swazi royal family. He heads an absolute monarchy, as he has unrestricted political authority and veto power over all branches of government and is constitutionally immune from prosecution. Along with his mother Queen Ntfombi, Mswati is the last remaining absolute monarch in Africa and one of the only twelve remaining absolute national or subnational monarchs in the world.

Under the constitution, the king is the commander-in-chief of the defence force and commissioner-in-chief of police and correctional services, and Mswati effectively controls local government through his influence over traditional chiefs. Political dissent and civic and labor activism in Eswatini are subject to harsh punishment under laws against sedition and other laws. In 2018, Mswati promulgated a decree renaming the country to Eswatini, from its previous name of Swaziland. Pro-democracy protests from 2021 onwards have been violently dispersed and political activists have been arrested.

Mswati lives an opulent and lavish lifestyle which stands in sharp contrast to the lives of most Emaswazi people. In 2022, an estimated 32% of the population lived below the US$2.15/day international poverty line (measured by price-purchasing parity (PPP) in 2017) while 55% of the population was under the lower-middle-income country poverty line of $3.65/day. The government exercises total control over the broadcast media, including the only privately owned TV channel, which belongs to the royal family. Almost all media outlets are either directly or indirectly controlled by Mswati III.