MBABANE (20 May 2025): His Majesty has appointed diplomat Zwelethu Mnisi the new Commissioner of the Human Rights and Public Administration Commission (HRPAC).
Mnisi who is being recalled from the United Nations Office at Geneva where he was Eswatini permanent representative, is one of 33 Royal Appointments to the top 5 high-level commissions announced by the Attorney General Sifiso Khumalo on 19 May 2025.
New members have been appointed to the Border Restoration Committee; the Judicial Service Commission; the Commission on Human Rights and Public Administration the Royal Commission; the Swaziland National Council.
Notable new members in the royal commissions include Mangololo leader, Phetsa Dlamini who has been appointed to the Border Restoration Committee.
Former minister of agriculture and Ngobelweni Chief Dambuza Lukhele has been transferred to the Human Rights Commission as Deputy Commissioner while former minister of justice Edgar who is previously commissioner of police has bounced back as a member of the Swazi National Council (SNC).
Many of the appointments into the Border Restoration Committee are transfers from other committees.
One of the most significant appointments however is the revival of the Judicial Service Commission which has been defunct for almost two years. Absence of the Commission ground many functions of the judiciary which has been unable to employ new judges and other staff essential for the rule of law. New members are Chakazile Dlamini and the Law Society Secrety Charity Simelane. Together with Mfansile Dlamini and Justice Nxumalo. This team is chaired by the Chief Justice.
Appointment of a new HRPAC Commissioner is significant and suggests a renewed vigour to energize the body. It was created in 2011 with the mandate of overseeing implementation public access to human rights and combatting corruption. The constitutional assigns HRPAC responsibility for the Leadership Code of Conduct and requires it to hold all policy leaders accountable and monitorable by requiring a declaration of their assets.
Mnisi is taking over from Duduzile Nhlengetfwa who stepped in on an acting capacity to replace Sabelo Masuku who ascended to the bench. The first commissioner David Mathse had vacated the position soon after appointment to become minister of justice.
HRPAC which has been hobbled over the years by resource constraints finally exited the Nkhanini offices to allay public concerns of its close proximity to government and moved into its own offices in Mbabane to enhance its profile of independence. For the first time in almost 15 years, this year the body was able to secure a declaration of assets by the prime minister and his cabinet.
The new Commissioner is well known. He is the son Mhambi Mnisi and Princess Ngebeti, a daughter of King Sobhuza ll. Mhambi was the Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office during the minority of the King and one of the trustees of the ‘Pencil Fund’, a resource mobilization drive for the Crown Prince’s education. The new Commissioner is a former Mbabane Swallows goalkeeper and as a UNISWA student was one of six future leaders that were handpicked by the authorities for a leadership development programme in Kenya, and subsequently earning the sobriquet “Kenya Six’.
Mnisi is a career diplomat who entered the foreign service after he earned a law degree from UNISWA and an International Relations and Law Degree from Wits in 1991. Prior to his appointment to the HRPAC he was in Geneva serving as the Permanent Representative of Swaziland to the United Nations in New York since 2010. In 2014 and 2015, he was also the Vice-President of the United Nations General Assembly. He served as Counsellor at the Swaziland Embassy in Washington, D.C. from 2007 to 2010. From 2005 to 2007, he was a Counsellor at the High Commission of Swaziland in London, after serving there as a Counsellor and Acting Head of Mission from 2004 to 2005.
From 2002 to 2004, Mr. Mnisi was Chargé d’Affaires at the Swaziland Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark, after serving as First Secretary of Administration there from 2000 to 2002. From 1997 to 2000, he was First Secretary of Administration of the High Commission of Swaziland in Ottawa, Canada. A career diplomat, he first joined Swaziland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1993, where he worked as an Africa Desk Officer, focusing on the Organization of African Unity, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Southern Africa Customs Union.
jm/today/20.5.2025
