Swaziland's King Mswati III will take delivery of a long-range executive jet worth $45-million before the end of November even though the parliament of the tiny southern African monarchy voted to cancel the deal, officials said on Monday.

Gender activists in Swaziland said a decision to halt a lawsuit challenging the absolute power of the monarchy was a serious setback for women's rights in the country. Lindiwe Dlamini, the mother of 18-year-old Zena Mahlangu went to court last month to demand that her daughter be returned after palace aides allegedly abducted the girl from school to become King Mswati III's 10th wife.

An outmoded land tenure system, poor farming methods and adverse weather patterns have subjected more than a quarter of the population to imminent starvation. The solution, the government says, is the formation of agricultural co-operatives.

On 12 October 2002, security forces barred five journalists from the "Times of Swaziland" and the "Swazi Observer" and a foreign freelance reporter from covering the proceedings of a prayer meeting organised by different political and social groups in Swaziland. The prayer meeting, termed Justice for Peace, was organised in memory of families that were evicted from the Macetjeni (south-eastern Swaziland) and KaMkhweli areas in October 2000.

Opened by King Mswati III and South Africa's Deputy President Jacob Zuma in June to help alleviate their countries' chronic water shortages, the Maguga Dam appears to be the first victim of an impending drought.

The African National Congress (ANC) Woman's League and Congress of South African Students (Cosas) have called on King Mwatsi III to return the three girls allegedly abducted by the king to the care of their parents immediately. ANC Woman's League representative Lulu Xingwane said the woman's league supported and respected cultural and religious practices as long as they were not harmful and did not violate women's rights or dignity.

Women lawyers in Swaziland have embarked on a campaign to alert both genders to the need for women's rights in a proposed new national constitution.

A concerned mother took southern Africa's last absolute monarch, King Mswati III of Swaziland, to court this week, challenging the selection of her daughter as his bride. Lindiwe Dlamini told the Mbabane High Court on Tuesday her daughter, Zena Soraya Mahlangu (18) was abducted by two men employed by the king of Swaziland, a small kingdom landlocked between South Africa and Mozambique.

Ted Reilly, founder of Swaziland's wild animal park systems, surveys the green early spring hills of October, noting that "the Southern African region enjoyed some good rains this past week, but meteorologists tell us not to think a few showers can break this drought. We are in for more of the same next year.”

The Swaziland Royal Police, acting on a court order, raided Channel S, the only privately-owned television station in the country, and confiscated a video tape containing a sermon that has been termed by the Swazi government as "threatening the foundations of the kingdom."

Rights groups in Swaziland are concerned that Swazi women who want to receive government scholarships must prove their loyalty to the Swazi way of life by showing that they subscribe to the maidens' chastity rules called "umcwasho".

A Swazi Transport minister, Titus Mlangeni, has been ordered by a parliamentary select committee to resign following findings by the committee that he received bribes in the sale of a government-owned airline.

A new report by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has found that cultural practices intended to safeguard young Swazi women from unwanted pregnancies and HIV infections may actually be contributing to the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The UK-based Swaziland Solidarity Campaign (SSC) has called on the Swazi government to stop harassing journalists after receiving reports that some Swazi journalists have been the subject of death threats and intimidation by police.

The Swazi government could be facing a stark choice in coming weeks: it can either publish a democratic constitution or face international isolation. That was the message given to the UK-based Swaziland Solidarity Campaign (SSC) by officials within the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) this week.

The possible sale of 11 "orphan" elephants from Swaziland's Hlane Royal Game Reserve to US zoos has led to a threat of a tourism boycott by a leading US animal rights group.

A blistering conflict has erupted from within the Swazi royal camp over the inclusion of a clause that recognizes political parties in Swaziland. The dispute has led to the drafting of the national constitution being delayed now by a month. The committee, led by King Mswati's brother, Prince David, is reported to have angered the King by unbanning political parties in the draft constitution.

Workers of a large commercial transport company in Swaziland, Cargo Carriers, are on strike demanding the expulsion of a white expatriate manager of the company who assaulted one of their colleagues on Thursday.

In a surprise move, the Swaziland Cabinet announced on Thursday (12 September) that the proposed purchase of a private jet for King Mswati III's personal use was being shelved.
Instead, Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini announced that the government would use chartered planes for the king's overseas trips. Already government auditors have reported a loss of over R4 million in costs involving the hiring of chartered planes by the King when undertaking his trips.

As the political debate heats up over whether Swaziland is a democratic country, the leaders of the tiny southern African kingdom have been accused of being "looters" of state funds by using developmental projects as financial scams.