Prince Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini (15 May 1942 – 28 September 2018) was a Swazi politician who served as

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Eswatini Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where i ...

, from 1996 to 2003 and again from October 2008 to September 2018.

Career

Dlamini was a member of parliament from 1978 before becoming Minister of Finance from 1984 to 1993. He was also an executive director of the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

(IMF). From 1996 to 2003, he was prime minister, and in 2003 he became a member of King Mswati III's advisory council."Swazi king names staunch royalist as prime minister", AFP, 16 October 2008. Elimane Fall
"Après Konaré, qui ?"
''Jeune Afrique'', 23 December 2007 . Dlamini was a candidate, backed by the Swazi government, for the position of Chairperson of the African Union Commission in early 2008."Ex-PM Sibusiso out of AU race"
''The Swazi Observer'', 2 January 2008. The government withdrew his candidacy out of solidarity with the

Southern African Development Community The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is an inter-governmental organization headquartered in Gaborone, Botswana. Goals The SADC's goal is to further regional socio-economic cooperation and integration as well as political and se ...

(SADC) so that SADC could present a single candidate. Following the September 2008 parliamentary election, Dlamini was reappointed as prime minister by Mswati III on 16 October 2008. Jan Sithole, the Secretary-General of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions, was critical of the appointment, saying that Dlamini worked to "suppress political organisations and advance the strong rule of the monarchy" during his earlier period as prime minister; he also accused Dlamini of "strong-hand tactics and lack of respect for the rule of law". Opposition leader Mario Masuku, the President of the People's United Democratic Movement, said that Dlamini "was not appointed on merit but on his level of allegiance to the king". Dlamini was sworn in by Chief Justice Richard Banda on 23 October 2008. He took the oath of office both in English and in SiSwati. In 2013, he was appointed for the third time in the ninth parliament.

Personal life

Dlamini was married three times. His first wife was Jane Gezephi Matsebula, whom he married on 26 June 1970, and who died on 14 December 2012 from kidney failure. On 15 March 2014, he married Pastor Joy Nonjabulo Gladness Maziya; however, Dlamini filed for divorce just over two years later, on 1 April 2016. In November 2017 he married Gugu Primrose Simelane, a teacher by profession. At the time Simelane was deputy head teacher at Siweni Nazarene Primary School. A few months after marrying Dlamini she was promoted to head teacher at Ngwenya Primary School.

Illness and death

In 2017, Dlamini went to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

for medical check-ups. He was admitted to an ICU in April 2018 in

Mbabane Mbabane () is the most populous city in Eswatini (previously called Swaziland), and is one of the two Capital (political), capitals (along with Lobamba), serving as the Executive (government), executive capital. It has an estimated population of ...

. Dlamini died at age 76 from natural causes on September 28, 2018, less than a month after stepping down as prime minister..

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Dlamini, Barnabas Sibusiso 1942 births 2018 deaths International Monetary Fund people Prime ministers of Eswatini Finance ministers of Eswatini Swazi officials of the United Nations