Pholile Shakantu

Pholile Dlamini Shakantu is an Eswatini politician. She has been the Minister of Justice from 2018 and the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2023.

Life
Shakantu studied law at the University of Eswatini and she has a law degree. She also has a master's degree from Leeds Beckett University in Leadership and Change Management.

She was appointed to be the Minister of Justice by King Mswati III in 2018.

She was reelected as a senator in November 2023 after the appointment of Mmemo Rusell Dlamini as the 12th Prime Minister to advise the king about new ministers. There are meant to be about thirty senators in Eswatini and she was one of the twenty appointed by the King. Later in 2023 she became the Minister of Foreign Affairs and an early task was to visit Taiwan.

Eswatini is unusual for an African country as it is the only one that recognises the Republic of China (Taiwan) and she was received by the President Tsai Ing-wen and Vice President Lai Ching-te as an ally. The President thanked Shakuntu for her country's support including speaking up at the United Nations. Shakuntu and Taiwan's Foreign Minister Jaushieh Joseph Wu signed an agreement reaffirming the two countries close relationship. Over 25 years Taiwan's assistance to Eswatini is estimated to be worth more that two billion dollars.

The Taiwan government started its own digital platform TaiwanPlus in 2021 Shakuntu was shown TaiwanPlus by Deputy Digital Minister Yeh Ning they and discussed how it could help co-operation and counter disinformation.

Shakuntu is the founder and patron of the Eswatini Network of Women.

Criticism
Criticism published in South Africa alleges that the King, Shakuntu and her husband are involved with corruption.