Hon. DPM Thulisile Dladla Profile

The Deputy Prime Minister (DPM), Honourable Thulisile Dladla, worked in the education sector for 27 years before joining politics where she has now served in Parliament for 16 consecutive years. Honourable Dladla completed her high school education at St Michael’s in 1975. In 1977, she enrolled for a Bachelor’s degree in Humanities at the University of Botswana, graduating in 1981.

Upon graduating, she joined Evelyn Baring High School as a teacher under the Social Studies Department. In 1989, the DPM was promoted to Deputy Principal at Swazi National High School, a role she held until 1996. That year, Honourable Dladla became Principal of St Mark’s High School in Mbabane. She was in that role for two years before moving on to become CEO of Sebenta National Institute. She would be with Sebenta until 2008, when His Majesty King Mswati III appointed her as a Member of Parliament (MP), bringing an end to 27 years in education. She retained her position in Parliament in 2013. In 2018, His Majesty appointed Honourable Dladla as a Senator, and as Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the first woman to head the portfolio in Eswatini. In November 2023, His Majesty the King reappointed Honourable Dladla into Senate and then assigned her to be Deputy Prime Minister, the second woman to serve as Eswatini’s DPM. In Parliament, Honourable Dladla has previously headed the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) as Chairperson from 2008 until 2018. The DPM holds a Master’s degree in Educational Administration from Saint Mary’s University in Canada, obtained in 1994. Between 2003 and 2018, she was the Deputy Chairperson of the National Emergency Response Council on HIV & AIDS (NERCHA). She has also served as non-Executive Director at Select Management, SBC Limited and Nat Gilt.