Mbabane – The Minister of Information, Communication and Technology, Savannah Maziya, opened the First National Stakeholder Workshop on the National Data Policy at the Hilton in Mbabane, pulling together government officials, development partners, private sector leaders, civil society organisations and academics to begin drafting a framework that will govern how the country handles data.
Maziya was direct about what the moment meant.
“This workshop is not merely a policy consultation exercise. It is the formal beginning of a national conversation that will define how the Kingdom of Eswatini governs, harnesses and protects data,” she told those gathered. 
The minister pointed out something that many in the room already knew: Eswatini is generating enormous amounts of data every day across health, agriculture, finance and public services, yet the country has no unified system governing how that data is collected, stored, shared or protected. She said that gap is costing the country.
Without a proper framework, she warned, citizen privacy is at risk, national security is exposed, investor confidence suffers and Eswatini remains on the sidelines of the fast-growing African and global data economy.
“A National Data Policy will position data as a strategic national asset to be managed with the same care and intentionality as our land, water and financial reserves,” Maziya said.
She described data as the new currency of competitiveness and social progress, noting that every hospital visit, bank transaction, farm report and government interaction produces valuable information that the Kingdom is not yet fully using.
The policy being developed is expected to tackle data sovereignty, privacy, interoperability, open data, cross-border data flows, artificial intelligence and data quality standards. It will also feed into bigger government goals around e-services, digital financial inclusion, connected healthcare and precision agriculture.
Maziya reminded participants that Eswatini already has legal groundwork to build on, including the Computer Crime and Cybercrime Act, the Data Protection Act and the Electronic Transactions Act of 2022, with regulations for the cybercrime and data protection laws said to be at an advanced stage.
She also spoke warmly about the National Data Centre, calling it a sovereign national asset that keeps government data stored locally, supports integrated services and opens doors for businesses and innovators.
The Smart Africa Alliance is backing the process, providing both sponsorship and technical support. Maziya welcomed the partnership, saying it showed that the continent is moving together on digital governance.
The consultation will not stop at this workshop. Regional outreach, targeted sector engagements and a public comment period are all planned to make sure the final policy reflects the needs of ordinary emaSwati, not just those in the room.
“To the private sector, civil society and government institutions, your voices are essential in shaping a policy that belongs to the nation,” she said.
