Constance Simelane

Constance Simelane is an Eswatini politician who rose to become the first female Deputy Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Swaziland.

[1] In October 2006 Simelane was appointed Deputy Prime Minister by King Mswati III, succeeding Albert Shabangu who had died a month earlier.

[5] From Chicago she undertook a Master of Business Administration from the University of Washington before studying advanced purchasing strategies in Austria.

[6] In 2003 Simelane took her place as a member of the House of Assembly of Eswatini as one of the ten ministers constitutionally allowed by the monarch, then King Mswati III.

[8] With a national HIV infection rate of roughly 40%, the highest in the world, many children fell under the category that Simelane was attempting to address.

[10] In 2006, following the death of Albert Shabangu, Simelane was given the position of Deputy Prime Minister, the first woman to hold the role.