Prime Minister, Ambrose Dlamini. Source: World Bank.
The prime minister of Eswatini, Africa’s last
absolute monarchy, died in a South African hospital on Sunday after
contracting coronavirus, the government said in a
statement.
Ambrose Dlamini, 52, had been hospitalised in neighbouring South
Africa in early December, two weeks after testing positive for
Covid-19.
“Their Majesties have commanded that I in form the nation of the
sad and untimely passing away of His Excellency the Prime Minister
Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini,” Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku
said.
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The prime minister “passed on this afternoon while under medical
care in a hospital in South Africa,” he added, without detailing
the cause of Dlamini’s death.
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Dlamini had announced in mid-November that he had tested
positive for coronavirus but said that he felt well and was
asymptomatic.
Dlamini, a businessman but political novice, was named prime
minister in October 2018.
The head of government’s role is limited
in Eswatini where the current king, in power since 1986,
names all ministers and controls parliament.
Formerly known as Swaziland, the kingdom of
Eswatini has reported over 6,700 coronavirus cases and 127
deaths among its population of 1.2 million people.
A South Africa-based civil society group, the Swaziland
Solidarity Network (SSN), had accused the government of giving the
prime minister special treatment by moving him to a country with
better healthcare.
More than 39 percent of the tiny landlocked country’s population
lived below the poverty line in 2016 and 2017, according to the
World Bank.
AFP
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