Hon. Minister Appolo Maphalala Profile
Honourable Appolo Maphalala was born in 1976, in Nkiliji in the Manzini region of Eswatini. He began his professional career in 2001, covering Government, local Government and non-Governmental sectors before becoming the Honourable Minister of Housing and Development.
Hon. Maphalala completed his high school at Ekukhanyeni High School in 1994 and in the following year, enrolled at the then University of Swaziland (now Eswatini), where he eventually obtained a Bachelor of Arts Social Sciences, majoring in Public Administration and Geography as well as Environmental Science and Planning. He landed his first job in 2001, under a programme jointly run by the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office and UNICEF, serving as Executive Secretary for Community Action for Child Rights. In 2002, Hon. Maphalala became CEO of Pigg’s Peak Town Council, a role he held until 2006, when he moved jobs to become Area Development Programme (ADP) Manager at World Vision.
In 2007, the Honourable Minister switched industries, getting into sport to become Chief Operations Officer for the Eswatini 2010 FIFA World Cup Technical Committee. In 2011, he took up a role as Health Systems Strengthening (HSS), Malaria & TB Grants Manager, under a programme jointly run by the Ministry of Health and Global Fund. Two years later, Hon. Maphalala landed his second CEO job, taking up leadership of Nhlangano Town Council. He left that job in 2021 to become CEO at yet another local Government authority, this time at Malkerns Municipality. This would prove to be his last job in local Government as in 2023, Hon. Maphalala contested in the National elections and was voted Member of Parliament (MP) by the people of Kukhanyeni Inkhundla. Then, on 13 November 2023, His Majesty King Mswati III appointed Hon. Maphalala as Minister of Housing and Development.
The Hon. Minister also holds a Master of Science (Leadership and Change Management) from Leeds Metropolitan University (UK) as well as a Certificate of Competence on Decentralisation in Africa, from the University of the Western Cape (South Africa). Hon. Maphalala has served as Chairperson of the Forum of Municipal CEOs for all urban localauthorities in Eswatini (2015—2023) as well as Chairperson of the Road Safety Council (2019-2022). He is a member of the National Executive Council for The Apostolic Church- Eswatini and is also Marriage Officer and Counsel.