CULTURE-SWAZILAND: Time Up for Traditional Marijuana Smokers

The consumption of marijuana is such a well-entrenched part of Swazi culture that the small log enclosure where the headman of a traditional homestead escapes the burdens of life to enjoy a pipe has been lovingly recreated at Mantenga Cultural Village.

CULTURE-SWAZILAND: Warrior Priests Observe Unique Pageant Events

One of Africa's great national pageants continues to be observed in Swaziland as it has for centuries, having been lost or suppressed during colonial times in other lands.

SWAZILAND-CULTURE: The Wrath Of The Gods Or A Scientific Phenomenon?

Scientific evidence may show that lightning is created by a build up of electrical charges in storm clouds and dissipated through unpredictable connections to ground surface objects, but this is not enough to dissuade many people in the traditional kingdom of Swaziland that bewitchment is not involved.

SWAZILAND-CULTURE: The Wrath Of The Gods Or A Scientific Phenomenon?

Scientific evidence may show that lightning is created by a build up of electrical charges in storm clouds and dissipated through unpredictable connections to ground surface objects, but this is not enough to dissuade many people in the traditional kingdom of Swaziland that bewitchment is not involved.

ENVIRONMENT-MOZAMBIQUE: Rediscovering The Beauty Of Mozambique

No African country has more Indian Ocean coastline than Mozambique, whose 2 600 kilometre stretch from Tanzania to South Africa is spotted by several fishing villages, metropolitan Maputo to the south and the port of Beira half-way down.

ECONOMY-MOZAMBIQUE: Rehabilitated Port Promises to Lift Tourism

The 200-year-old port of the Mozambique capital Maputo is being rehabilitated as a key component in the nation's recovery, promising to lift tourism and exports the way the Indian Ocean tides raise the freighters in the calm waters at the southern tip of the country.

ECONOMY: Mozambique’s Growth Rate the Envy of its Neighbours

Mozambique, which a decade ago was ranked as the world's poorest country, now has a growth rate that is the envy of its neighbours in the Southern Africa region.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINEMENT/MUSIC-SWAZILAND: Gospel Fever Seizes African Kingdom

When King Mswati III, of Swaziland, recorded a track for a gospel album earlier this year, the sensation of a head of state singing holy praises was merely a part of the cresting enthusiasm his country has for the infectious music.

POLITICS: Mozambique Leader Brings Democracy Message to Swaziland

Mozambique's president Joaquim Chissano first state visit to Swaziland made him the point man for regional leaders who seek political reform in the last sub-Saharan African nation to be ruled by a king.

MEDIA-AFRICA: Editors Urged to Increase Business News Coverage

The study of economics may have been labelled the "dismal science", but there was nothing dry and arcane about the deliberations of 70 beleaguered, bothered but undaunted business editors and correspondents who met this week in South Africa's business capital, Johannesburg.

MEDIA-SWAZILAND: Press Police at Loggerheads

Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini was angry at the press this week when he told the Senate that charges of police brutality were merely the creation of the media.

RIGHTS-SWAZILAND: Govt Wakes up to Murder Cases of Infants

Statistically, infanticide is among a small minority of murder cases taken up by government prosecutors.

HEALTH-SWAZILAND: Not all News on the HIV/AIDS Front is Bad

Not all news on the HIV/AIDS front out of Swaziland is bad.

ECONOMY-SWAZILAND: Govt Jumps on the Privatisation Bandwagon

Swaziland's ministry of finance has hired a firm to create a policy paper for the privatisation of state- owned public enterprises, signalling government's seriousness about jumping on the privatisation bandwagon that has rolled across all other nations in the subcontinent.

LABOUR-SWAZILAND: Merger of Sugar Firms will Result in Job Losses

Vusi Simelane, a seasonal cane cutter at Mhlume Sugar Company, is unhappy about the proposed merger of Swaziland's two largest sugar corporations, Mhlume and Simunye Sugar Estate.

RIGHTS-SWAZILAND: Rape of an Inmate Dents Police Credibility

In Swaziland, long-standing denials by the police of brutality and other abuses of criminal suspects have taken a credibility dent with the arrest of a police officer on the charge of raping a woman jail inmate.

RIGHTS-SWAZILAND: Govt Indecisive about Hanging

In Swaziland, the issue of capital punishment has again been raised following the shooting of a prominent newspaper editor.

ENVIRONMENT-SWAZILAND: Some Traditions Harmful To The Environment

Formerly innocuous traditional practices in Swaziland are causing major environmental and economic problems today, with the result that a top company in the kingdom may be forced to shut down operations.

CULTURE: SWAZILAND: The Ever Powerful Swazi Chiefs

Swaziland's chieftaincy system, the bedrock on which the tradition-minded Southern African nation is founded, is growing stronger with age.

CULTURE-SWAZILAND: Traditional Leaders To The Rescue

Swaziland's orphans, whose parents have succumbed to AIDS, are having their plight addressed by an innovative programme based on the tiny kingdom's greatest asset - its close-knit traditional society.

WOMEN AS LEADERS SERIES

When the city councilors of Swaziland's second largest city, Manzini, elected Fikile Mtembu as the first woman mayor, some of them mistook the soft-spoken, self-made attorney as a person they could manipulate to do their bidding.