“Yet at the same time there’s a cost – a physical cost in changing the identity.” “There’s value in that, there’s intrinsic value in that identity and what it means for the people,” he points out. It was his nineteenth century ancestor, King Mswati II, from whom the people of eSwatini took their name in the first place.Īlthough changing the country name is not a purely superficial act, according to South Africa-based intellectual property lawyer and blogger Darren Olivier.
It must have had some personal significance, too, as 19 April was also the king’s 50th birthday. King Mswati III chose a day of celebration marking 50 years since the end of British colonial rule to make his decree on the national name change. Like many countries in Africa, landlocked eSwatini which borders Mozambique and South Africa has wrestled with how to redefine itself in its post-colonial era.
And, indeed, what the national rebranding exercise will cost this nation of around 1.5 million people.
Now enshrined in law, the change has left many wondering how and in what forms the change will be effected. Too often, he added, was Swaziland confused with the similar-sounding nation, Switzerland, when referred to abroad.Īlthough the name eSwatini (pronounced “eh-swa-TEE-nee”), meaning ‘Home of the Swazi people’, is often used locally, is not a new creation, the announcement came as something of a surprise to the country’s citizens – and the rest of the world.