The First Boer war against British rule in Africa ended fairly swiftly, within a year. The second one was more protracted, but ended with much of the same: British took control over the Transvaal and the Oranje Vrijstaat lands in South Africa, giving them very limited self-rule. Briefly under that arrangement, the Swazi people became attached to the Transvaal republic, but within four years they were split off into a separate colonial area, with significant input into the governing of their own affairs, a precursor to their full independence.

On this day, September 6, in 1968, following the first parliamentary elections the country, Swaziland became independent. The elections were set up by the UK government as one of their last acts, following a sustained and peaceful call for full independence from the Swazi people.

The Swazi INM party that won the elections in 1968 and negotiated full independence again won 75% of seats in the Parliament in 1972, but another party, Ngwane National Liberatory Congress (NNLC) took 20% of the vote. This gave the king of Swaziland pretext to dissolve the government and found a constitutional monarchy, which has remained more or less in force to this day.