PRIME Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini says there is no record or instrument indicating that the Minister of Information, Communication and Technology Savannah Maziya was fired.
According to responses from the prime minister’s office, which were tabled yesterday by the Chairperson of the committee and Mtfongwaneni Member of Parliament (MP) Nathi Hlophe, the prime minister stated that they had no record or instrument showing that the minister was dismissed.
As such, he said Maziya had remained part of Cabinet and Parliament and had continued to draw a salary.
This follows Maziya’s confirmation that the premier had dismissed her from her position. This admission came during a high-stakes session in Parliament last week, where the minister was presenting the 2025/26 annual performance report for her ministry.
Her confirmation followed weeks of intense speculation and social media reports regarding her status within Cabinet.
In confirming that she had been fired, Maziya disclosed that it was the intervention of Attorney General (AG) Sifiso Mashampu Khumalo that kept her in office.
She revealed that the AG provided critical legal guidance regarding the hierarchy of power in government and how, as a Cabinet minister, she ought to be removed from her position.
“I can say yes, I was fired; I was tortured,” Maziya admitted. She explained that, as a professional coming from a business background, her first instinct was to follow protocol, even if the dismissal seemed irregular.
“As a business person, I contacted the attorney general to say that I was leaving because I did not know how procedures work when you have been dismissed,” she said.
She added that it was the intervention of Khumalo that kept her in office.
“He actually told me to go back to work,” she said.
She further explained that the AG informed her that she could not leave because the person who had dismissed her was not the one who had appointed her in the first place.
Despite remaining in her post, the minister painted a bleak picture of her experience within the current administration, describing a hostile working environment.
“I can say it has been two years of torture,” she confessed.
However, she concluded her response with a plea for unity and a focus on national progress rather than internal strife.
Responding to questions from MPs, who asked him to clarify the disturbing reports that he had fired the ICT minister, the prime minister reiterated that there was no record of such action.
Maseyisini MP Nokuthula Dlamini had stated that they supported Cabinet, but were concerned by disturbing reports circulating on social media claiming that the ICT minister had been fired. She asked the PM to clarify what was happening within Cabinet.
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Sigwe MP David Ngcamphalala said the prime minister should be given an opportunity to present his side of the story in light of the many disturbing reports circulating about him and Cabinet. He also sought clarity on whether there was collective decision-making within Cabinet.
Mbabane East MP Welcome Dlamini referred to the prime minister’s earlier remarks about the stages of Cabinet development. He asked which stage Cabinet was currently in according to Tuckman’s stages of group development, given that they had three years remaining before 2028.
“We saw Cabinet holding hands, declaring agape love during the recent retreat, and the following day a minister was crying along the corridors. What stage does the firing of the ICT minister fall under? Does the prime minister have the power to fire a Cabinet minister? I do not think a minister would come to this House and lie,” said the MP.
Chairperson of the ICT portfolio committee Charles Ndlovu also came down hard on the premier during the debate of his office’s performance report.
Ndlovu stated that the prime minister makes decisions autonomously, without consultation.
He cited the alleged firing of the ICT minister as an example, claiming that the decision was taken independently, without authority or consultation.
Ndlovu further alleged that the prime minister appears to oppose ICT initiatives, including Government In Your Hand (GIYH), an app intended to enable Emaswati to access services without having to queue in offices. Ndlovu asked the prime minister to clarify whether these allegations were true.
In response, the premier denied the claims, stating that he would never stand in the way of initiatives aimed at improving the lives of Emaswati.
Dlamini said doing so would be contrary to the mandate given to him by the appointing authority and the nation at Sibaya, as well as the country’s development aspirations as outlined in the Nkwe Programme of Action and the Grand Plan for National Transformation.
“The prime minister’s office is, however, concerned about the protection of people’s data should our systems not be robust enough, hence the emphasis that Government In Your Hand must be watertight. At no time was GIYH unsupported by the PM,” he said.
He added that the PM’s office does not support outsourcing data to global IT companies and believes that any memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed without proper consideration for data protection is meaningless.
Dlamini stated that similar initiatives have failed in some countries because they become very expensive to sustain.
