Background
Prince Mfanasibili Dlamini was born in 1939 in the Embekelweni area of the Manzini district where his early years were spent as a herdboy.
Prince Mfanasibili Dlamini was born in 1939 in the Embekelweni area of the Manzini district where his early years were spent as a herdboy.
Educated at the Florence Mission School from 1951 to 1956 when he left to take a job because there was no Standard V class at that time.
His first job was as gatekeeper with the Swaziland Canning Company at Malkcrns Valley. Nine months later he left for the coal mines of Natal, South Africa, where he served a six-month contract with the Native Recruiting Corporation as an underground loader. He returned home to work at the Havelock mines and then went back to school in January 1959 because a Standard V class had been opened at Florence Mission School. In 1960 he took Standard VI at Lozitha Central School. He completed his education at Matsapa Swazi National School from 1961 until June 1963 when he found a job as a weigh-bridge clerk with the Mhlume Sugar Company.
The first moves in his political career were made in 1963. He was nominated to the Swazi National Council. He went to join the Standing Committee at Lomamba, 10 miles south of Mbabane, and he became a member of the Imbokodvo National Movement. In the first elections to the Legislative Council in June 1964 the Prince won a seat and played an important part on the government committee set up in 1965 to make recommendations for a new self-governing constitution.
As Imbokodvo candidate in the 1967 elections he won a seat at Mphumalanga constituency and he was appointed Minister of Local Administration. He held the post until the government reshuffle after the elections in May 1972 when the portfolio went to Prince Masitsela Dlamini. After his defeat at the election Prince Mfanasibili was given a nominated place in Parliament and the portfolio of Commerce and Co-operatives.
A prince with all the experience of a peasant-having worked as a shepherd, factory gatekeeper, miner and clerk. His practical knowledge of commercial and industrial life has given him the proper perspective for handling problems of public administration. Methodical in manner yet cautious to the point of seeming hesitant. His political career received a jolt when he was defeated at the elections in May 1972 and he had to rely upon a nominated seat to get back into Parliament.