Swaziland- A new name for the last african absolute monarchy

Omar Tchilombo

Swaziland is one of the smallest countries of Africa located in the middle of South Africa like Lesotho. It is a landlocked sovereign state in Eastern Africa. Due to its size and scarce natural resources, generally it is not recalled in media or even it is not spoken at all; however, this year, the small country and last African absolute monarchy has had some visibility, mainly because it changed his name to Eswatini.

This moment coincides with the 50th anniversary of independence -1968. Swaziland was a former British protectorate since 1903, after the outcome of the second Boer war.

King Mswati III decided to change the name of the country to ESwatini. The intention was to get rid of the last colonial remnants, but the idea isn't pleasing everyone. The opposition considers this change expensive, even more, regarding the country faces a serious economic crisis

Furthermore, several activists consider this change disturbing, because, according to them, this would require an advisory process, involving citizens at all levels. To some, a referendum process would be the best solution.

Nevertheless, in addition to erasing the colonial heritage, the King stressed that "when we travel abroad, many people refer to our country as Switzerland (an allusion to the name of the two countries in English: Swaziland and Switzerland)."

Eswatini is a small country with major problems: two-thirds of the population live in absolute poverty and the unemployment rate is above 40 percent. The biggest issue however is the proportion of people infected with the HIV virus - probably the highest in the world.

If you want to know more interesting facts about former Swaziland (Eswatini), please visit this link: https://www.factretriever.com/swaziland-facts