Eswatini has a new kind of national tribute. **Mswaz’omnyama**, a music single accompanied by an AI-animated video, has been released in honour of His Majesty King Mswati III’s forty-year reign, marrying the Kingdom’s oldest traditions to its newest technology.
Executive produced by Genesis Ekucaleni Media and led by digital artist Nhlakanipho Ndzimandze, the project renders the King’s praises, Tibongo Tenkhosi, as a piece of moving art. Archival photographs and period imagery are brought to life through AI-enabled motion, tracing four decades of national infrastructure, development and socio-economic progress under the leadership of BakaNgwane. The technical and executive production was carried out by Genesis Ekucaleni Media, with historical guidance from the archivist and historian Lethumusa Simelane.
One of the work’s most striking choices is its narrator. The story is carried by a female AI character, a deliberate reflection of the growing leadership of women across Eswatini. It is a fitting signature for a production overseen by one of the country’s most senior women in public office, and it echoes national milestones such as the appointment of Tandzile Maziya as the first female official interpreter for Ingwenyama.
A message of congratulations
For Senator Shakantu, the release speaks to something larger than a single video. It shows that heritage and innovation are not rivals, and that emaSwati can tell their own story to the world, in their own images and their own voice.
“I extend my heartfelt congratulations to Nhlakanipho Ndzimandze on the release of Mswaz’omnyama. He has shown that our young people can honour where we come from while confidently building the tools of where we are going.
To place four decades of His Majesty’s reign into a living, moving tribute, told through our own archives and our own praises, is a gift to the nation and to the generations still to come. It is also proof of what our creative talent can achieve when tradition and technology are allowed to thrive together.
I am proud to have played a part in bringing this work to life, and prouder still of the young Liswati leading it. This is the calibre of storytelling that will carry our culture onto the global stage.”
Heritage for the next generation
Mswaz’omnyama is part of a wider movement to preserve siSwati culture through digital tools. Ndzimandze continues to develop cultural documentation work, including the Tinshumayelo Tesintfu initiative with historian Lethumusa Simelane, and has spoken of a “LiSwati Dream” in which citizens earn sustainable livelihoods by sharing the nation’s heritage with international audiences.
The team has also signalled that AI will next be used to reach younger emaSwati, including children in pre and primary schools, ensuring that the Kingdom’s traditions are not lost in the digital age but amplified for a new generation and a global audience.
