On August 9 to 10, 1983 Queen Regent Dzeliwe of Swaziland was deposed in a palace power struggle within the royal house, the culmination of a factional contest over who would wield power during the minority of the future king Mswati III. King Sobhuza II had died in August 1982, and Dzeliwe, one of his widows, had been named Queen Regent to rule until the teenage heir came of age, with Prince Sozisa Dlamini as the Authorized Person, or regent's advisor. The Liqoqo, a traditional advisory council whose dominant faction was led by Prince Mfanasibili, clashed with Dzeliwe over the prime ministership and other appointments.
After she resisted and reportedly tried to dismiss ministers and the army commander, she was deposed on August 9, 1983; a notice of her dismissal signed by Prince Sozisa appeared in the Government Gazette, and she was placed under house arrest. She was replaced by Queen Regent Ntombi, mother of the heir.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Queen Regent Dzeliwe, deposed on August 9 to 10, 1983 in the palace struggle and placed under house arrest, then replaced by Queen Regent Ntombi; she was not physically harmed.
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Queen Regent Dzeliwe (regent deposed)
Prince Sozisa Dlamini (Authorized Person who signed her dismissal)
Prince Mfanasibili (Liqoqo faction leader driving the ouster)
Sources
On 9 August 1983 Queen Dzeliwe was dismissed as Regent and placed under house arrest, and a notice of her dismissal signed by Prince Sozisa appeared in the Government Gazette the same day, at a time when the country was said to be under the control of the Liqoqo.
SOURCE REVIEWEDWikipedia, Prince Sozisa Dlaminiopen source ↗
The government published special papers announcing that Queen Regent Dzeliwe, a widow of King Sobhuza II, had been deposed and replaced by another of his widows, Princess Ntombi La Thwala, and political sources said Dzeliwe was ousted because she had angered other members of the government by her autocratic role, having reportedly tried the week before to sack three cabinet ministers and the army commander.
SOURCE REVIEWEDUPI Archives, The Queen Regent was ousted todayopen source ↗
After the death of King Sobhuza II in August 1982, a power struggle took place within the royal house between proponents of modernization led by Prime Minister Prince Mabandla and the Queen Regent, and traditionalists centered in the Liqoqo led by Prince Mfanasibili, and in 1983 in a bloodless coup Prince Sozisa deposed Queen Regent Dzeliwe Shongwe and appointed a new Queen Regent, Ntombi Thwala.
Queen Dzeliwe opposed the dismissal of Prime Minister Mabandla and his replacement by Prince Bhekimpi in March 1983, and this led to her being replaced by Ntombi, the mother of Prince Makhosetive, as regent later that year, before Makhosetive was crowned as King Mswati III in April 1986.
SOURCE REVIEWEDWikipedia, Dzeliwe of Eswatiniopen source ↗
Editorial Note
Coding note: the dataset labels this a palace coup with a not-physically-harmed fate, accurately, as it was an internal power struggle within the Swazi royal house that deposed the Queen Regent; one source explicitly calls it a bloodless coup. Dzeliwe was placed under house arrest, not harmed, matching the fate. Nature of the event recorded: this was a regency dispute during the minority of the future King Mswati III, pitting the Queen Regent against the Liqoqo advisory council whose dominant faction was led by Prince Mfanasibili; Prince Sozisa, the Authorized Person, signed her dismissal. Date nuance: the dataset dates this August 10, 1983; the dismissal notice is dated August 9, 1983 with the news reported August 10, and both are recorded. Trigger recorded: Dzeliwe's resistance to the Liqoqo, including the March 1983 replacement of the reformist Prime Minister Mabandla with the more conservative Bhekimpi and her reported attempt to dismiss ministers and the army commander, is noted as the documented driver. Aftermath: she was replaced by Queen Regent Ntombi; the Liqoqo faction's power was later broken, and Mswati III was crowned in 1986, later context. Context recorded: a contemporaneous South African proposal to transfer the KaNgwane homeland to Swaziland is noted as background to the factional split.
Cross-Reference
Datasets agree. At least two of the three reference datasets we check against carry this event, and none of them disagrees about its date or its result.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Queen Regent Dzeliwe, deposed on August 9 to 10, 1983 in the palace struggle and placed under house arrest, then replaced by Queen Regent Ntombi; she was not physically harmed..
Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
“Swaziland Queen Loses Power Fight,” by Joseph Lelyveld, August 11, 1983
“Two Swazi Sovereigns, and Which One Rules?” August 12, 1983
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →