from SAMBULO DLAMINI in Mbabane, Eswatini
Eswatin Bureau
MBABANE, (CAJ News) – ESWATINI has allocated E413,9 million (US$26 million) to finance its mandate of accelerating the government’s digital economy agenda.
This has been allocated in the E36,92 billion ($2,32 billion) budget for the 2026/27 financial year, which Minister of Finance, Neil Rijkenberg, has recently presented in Parliament.
“In pursuing its mandate of transforming the digital economy agenda, the government will continue to focus on information and communication technologies implementation as a priority and a key enabler to attain the vision of a knowledge-based economy and digitally inclusive society,” he said.
Rijkenberg was addressing the Speaker, Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, and legislators.
The minister disclosed a budget of E35 million ($2,2 million) had been allocated to upgrade the mainframe computer system in order to deal with the frequent downtimes afflicting the e-government services.
Rijkenberg reported the government had during the previous financial year recorded significant achievements across regulatory enforcement, spectrum management, cyber security, data protection, infrastructure support, broadcasting expansion, postal and courier reform, in addition to consumer protection and sector strengthening.
“The vision towards efficient service delivery by leveraging digital transformation has yielded notable achievements in e-government.”
Programmes include the development of the Government in Your Hand (GIYH) app, launched in May 2025 to bring services closer to citizens.
Rijkenberg said current downloads were above 10 000 and increasing daily.
To date, more than 5 000 citizens have enrolled for free lessons offered through the Coders Eswatini initiative, announced in partnership with the United Arab Emirates, to bridge the digital divide and boost innovation for Eswatini’s economic development.
The target is to upskill 300 000 locals in courses such as android development, artificial intelligence (AI), data science and programming.
– CAJ News