PM rallies MPs to back E200 bln grand plan for Eswatini’s transformation

By Delisa Magagula
Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini has called on Members of Parliament to rally behind the government’s ambitious Grand Plan, a 30-year national development blueprint aimed at transforming Eswatini’s economic and social landscape.

The Prime Minister made the call during a consultative engagement held with the House of Assembly at Piggs Peak Hotel on Monday.
The Grand Plan, which is currently in draft form, is built on three pillars Economic Transformation, Social Transformation, and Government Transformation and requires E200 billion to implement over the next three decades.

The Prime Minister said the plan represents a bold and necessary shift from the incremental progress of previous national strategies.
“I am humbled to witness a presentation to this Honourable gathering, a long-awaited document, one that started as a wild idea and is finally taking shape,” he told Members of Parliament.

He further said that less than two years ago, he made a presentation at Sibaya and shared what had long been conceived in his mind, but something he never thought would come to fruition, let alone that he would have to be the one driving its formulation.

The Prime Minister said he was encouraged by the national response to the plan since its conception, and that public interest in it had grown rapidly, indicating a collective readiness to shift toward a long-term development strategy that extended beyond the normal five-year political cycles.

“It is almost as if we were all in one accord, just waiting for the right moment to come up with a long-term plan that would not only take Eswatini out of an economic conundrum, but bring continuity beyond the normal five-year term for politicians,” he said.

The Prime Minister acknowledged that Eswatini had made progress through previous national strategies such as the National Development Strategy, the National Development Plan, and sector-specific master plans.

However, he said that despite these efforts, broad-based prosperity and inclusive growth had remained elusive.

“Despite pockets of growth, Eswatini remains far from achieving its ambition of broad-based prosperity. Economic challenges over the past decades, including slow GDP growth, limited foreign direct investment, fiscal constraints, and high youth unemployment, have underscored the urgent need for a bold and transformative response rather than incremental change,” said the PM.

He said that while past development plans had achieved gains in areas like agricultural productivity, basic education access, and SME support, structural challenges such as weak infrastructure, gaps in the health sector, and limited private sector development continued to persist.
According to the Prime Minister, the Grand Plan is a response to this moment of national reckoning.

“Eswatini stands at a critical crossroads. Will we continue on the path that has led us here today, or will we brave a different path altogether?” he asked.

He said the long-term goal was to see Eswatini reach high-income status within the next two to three decades and be counted among the most developed nations in the world, a vision aligned with His Majesty’s aspiration for the Kingdom.
“To get there, we need a deliberate and credible long-term strategy that corrals the whole of Government. We must work together to see this future materialise,” he said.
Dlamini emphasised that the Grand Plan was not a quick fix, but rather a carefully structured long-term solution that had been built with extensive input from a team of young professionals, experts, and regional benchmarking efforts.

“It gives me such great pleasure to present to you a document that has taken months to put together a piece of work that has been done with such meticulous detail that it even justifies the time it has taken to produce,” he said.

He said the Grand Plan would only succeed if MPs actively participated in its refinement and ultimately championed it.

“Honourable Members of Parliament, I do hope that this draft document will at least meet some of your expectations, but most importantly, it should be able to deliver the desired outcome if executed, particularly as this plan is a direct response to the Sibaya mandate,” he said.

The Prime Minister said unity was critical to the plan’s success. “I have no doubt that if we pull in the same direction, having unity of purpose and driven by our common desire to serve the Nation well, we will achieve that target. For divided we fall, but united we stand,” he said.

He described the strategy as one that was ambitious, innovative, and realistic, designed to attract participation from people across all sectors of society.

“We must address the multiple crises confronting the Nation and grow the economy at rates that sustainably surpass this polyresin,” he added.

The Prime Minister said the Cabinet had already reviewed the framework and would do so again after Parliament’s input, before final adoption.

“Our job today, therefore, is to first listen, secondly to critique, and thirdly to make an input. You are advised to provide detailed feedback or input in writing to the team so that the final document articulately captures our collective sentiments and vision for the future of this beautiful kingdom,” he said.

Also speaking during the engagement was Speaker of the House of Assembly, Jabulani ‘Buy Cash’ Mabuza, who welcomed the consultation and called on MPs to actively contribute to the plan’s development.

“This engagement is both timely and necessary. It allows Parliamentarians to not only understand the vision behind the Grand Plan but also shape it with meaningful contributions,” said Mabuza.

Mabuza, who is also the Member of Parliament for Piggs Peak, said he was honoured that the historic engagement was taking place in his constituency.

“This is a proud moment for Piggs Peak. I want to encourage all Honourable Members to engage constructively. We all have a role to play in shaping the Eswatini we want to see over the next thirty years,” he said.