Background
Henry was born in 1933, in the Manzini district.
Henry was born in 1933, in the Manzini district.
Educated at Matsapa Swazi National High School and Lovedale Institute at Alice in South Africa’s Cape Province.
He entered government service in 1949 as an agricultural demonstrator. After 11 years he was promoted to rural development officer. Leaving the service in 1964, he took a course in agriculture in Taiwan on a Nationalist Chinese scholarship. In October 1965 he became a supervisor at the Swaziland Milling Company at Manzini. He retained his interest in farming as secretary of the Lubombo Farmers’ Union and as one of the master farmers in the district. He kept in touch with the young people of the area as chairman of the Stegi Lawn Tennis Club in Western Swaziland near the Mozambique border.
He won a seat in the new House of Assembly at the 1967 elections and after independence the following year he was appointed to the Prime Minister’s office as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. Nearly four years later he was transferred to Establishment and Training.
A government agricultural expert for 15 years before turning to politics. As a relative of Prince Makhosini Dlamini, the Prime Minister, he was often entrusted to represent him abroad as a junior minister. Earnest and conscientious, he has established a reputation for homespun philosophy and straightforward dealing. His interest in education made him a natural choice for supervising the maintenance of high standards in the civil service as the responsible minister from June 1972.