Foreign-owned businesses in Eswatini are facing mounting pressure to shut down or transfer operations to local entrepreneurs following the passage of a new law aimed at giving citizens greater control of the country’s economy.
Parliament has agreed that foreign business owners should be given at least 12 months to leave, following a heated debate over the implementation of the Citizen Economic Empowerment Act.
The legislation seeks to expand economic ownership and participation among emaSwati, as citizens of the southern African kingdom are known, amid complaints from local traders that foreign operators are dominating traditional retail markets and threatening their livelihoods.
Mbabane East MP Welcome Dlamini told Parliament on Tuesday that officials from the Trade Ministry had already started enforcing the law by closing shops owned by Asian nationals.
However, lawmakers disagreed over whether foreign traders should be required to leave immediately or given more time to prepare local successors.
Hhohho Regional MP Tanele Magagula called for immediate action, arguing that businesses owned by foreigners in rural communities should be seized without delay.
Dlamini, however, questioned whether local entrepreneurs had the experience and capacity to take over the businesses, suggesting that foreign owners should be allowed up to three years to train their replacements.
Magagula rejected the proposal, insisting that struggling local traders should not be made to wait while foreign-owned enterprises continued operating.
The debate eventually resulted in Parliament agreeing to a minimum 12-month departure period for foreign business owners.
However, the timeline may face uncertainty unless the law is formally amended to reflect Parliament’s decision, potentially allowing the Trade Ministry to continue enforcing the existing provisions.
The closures follow inspections conducted by the ministry from August, which found that some businesses, including those in Mbabane, were operating in compliance with the relevant requirements.
The inspections also raised concerns about labour practices in some foreign-owned enterprises, including complaints from workers over inadequate days off, annual leave and overtime arrangements. At least one case remains under investigation.
The government has defended the new legislation as part of efforts to create more economic opportunities for citizens in a country where approximately 70 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line.
Authorities are concerned that persistent poverty and hunger could deepen public frustration and fuel further political instability.
The developments also reflect a wider regional debate over foreign participation in local economies.
In neighbouring South Africa, anti-immigration campaigns have led to raids, arrests, looting and disruptions targeting foreign-owned informal businesses. The March and March movement intensified its campaign against undocumented immigrants on July 30, 2026, issuing a deadline for them to leave, before staging another protest on September 30.
The tensions have been accompanied by attacks on foreign-owned businesses, with two Ghanaian and two Nigerian nationals reported killed.
Kenya has also intensified enforcement against foreign traders, adding to concerns about the treatment of foreign nationals and their businesses across parts of Africa.
Eswatini’s new policy has therefore placed the government at the centre of a difficult balancing act: expanding economic opportunities for citizens while managing the rights and interests of foreign business operators.
