Swaziland Newsletter No. 903 – 14
November 2025
News from and about Swaziland, compiled by
Global Aktion, Denmark (www.globalaktion.dk)
in collaboration with Swazi Media Commentary (www.swazimedia.blogspot.com),
and sent to all with an interest in Swaziland - free of charge. The newsletter
and past editions are also available online on the Swazi Media Commentary
blogsite.
US
deportations like a kidnapping, says eSwatini lawyer
AFP,
7 November 2025
Leading Eswatini human rights lawyer
Sibusiso Nhlabatsi likens the
shadowy US expulsions of 15 men to his country, a tiny kingdom in southern
Africa, to kidnappings.
Since the first five deportees were flown
from the United States on a military plane in July, authorities have blocked
the lawyer from visiting them at the high-security prison where they are held.
Another 10 arrived in October and had also
reached out, via their relatives, for assistance, the lawyer told AFP in an
interview.
The expulsions are part of the Trump
administration’s crackdown on migrants which has seen scores removed to
countries in Africa and Central America.
“Eswatini finds itself participating in
what I can call human trafficking
or kidnapping because you cannot have these third-party state
deportees being housed (here) while denying them access to lawyers,” Nhlabatsi
said.
“They are far from their families, so
their relatives cannot come here, yet they are being denied a basic right,” he
said.
Authorities have released few details
about the deportees in Eswatini, who are from diverse countries including
Vietnam, Laos and Cuba. One -- a Jamaican -- was repatriated in September.
After being refused access by prison
authorities, Nhlabatsi turned to the High Court which in early October agreed
that local lawyers should be allowed to visit the detainees.
But the government appealed the ruling and
“that access has not yet been facilitated,” said Nhlabatsi, who is in his
mid-40s.
To read more of this report, click
here
https://iol.co.za/news/africa/2025-11-07-us-deportations-like-a-kidnapping-says-eswatini-lawyer/
See also
How a tiny African absolute monarchy
can play a ‘vital role’ in US national security: expert (Fox News, US)
Inside
the eSwatini ‘jungle’ prison holding US deportees
By
AFP, 7 November 2025
Few places in the small African kingdom of
Eswatini have a more feared reputation than the Matsapha Correctional Centre, a
high-security sprawl of concrete and rust outside the capital, Mbabane.
“It’s like a jungle,” a former detainee
told AFP of the prison that is holding 14 men deported from the United States
in the Trump administration’s crackdown on migrants.
For decades, the prison has embodied the
repressive policies of the southern African nation, routinely used to silence
critics and pro-democracy activists.
Now, as the United States expels foreign
nationals, the prison has an additional and just as troubling role, lawyers
say.
Africa’s last absolute monarchy has agreed
to accept up to 160 US deportees in exchange for $5.1 million to strengthen its
border and migration systems, according to a deal seen by AFP.
“Life is not easy in there,” said former
detainee Elvis Vusi Mazibuko, who spent more than two decades at Matsapha on
robbery and car theft convictions.
“It’s survival of the fittest,” the
soft-spoken 64-year-old told AFP, recalling tensions flaring over minor
disputes in cramped cells.
The first five US deportees were jailed at
the prison in July, with one later repatriated to his native Jamaica.
Washington branded them “depraved
monsters” convicted of crimes including child rape and murder. Lawyers told AFP
they had already served their time in the United States.
Ten more arrived in October, according to
the Eswatini government, which says it intends to repatriate them all.
They are being held without charge and
access to legal counsel, according to an AFP investigation.
Washington has also sent deportees to
other African countries such as Ghana, Rwanda and South Sudan.
A veteran prison warden told AFP there was
unease over the US deportees.
“We haven’t been trained to handle
prisoners like these,” he said on condition of anonymity. “We don’t have the
equipment either.”
“If America couldn’t keep them, what can a
mere Swaziland do?” he asked, using the landlocked country’s former name.
Matsapha is divided neatly between medium-
and maximum-security wings.
New blocks funded by the deal with
Washington, and where the US deportees are held, are on the minimum-security
side, another officer said.
Unlike the older blocks where inmates
share toilets in dormitories of bunk beds in rows, the new cells come with
individual bathrooms and mounted televisions. The walls are transparent,
allowing for constant surveillance.
There are concerns that the new wing could
also be used to house political dissenters.
“We are a country that does not foster
political participation,” said lawyer Mzwandile Masuku, who has challenged the
deportations in court.
“We will find more Swazis being
accommodated in these newly constructed structures than addressing the problems
that we have,” he said.
To read the full report, click here
https://iol.co.za/news/world/2025-11-07-inside-the-eswatini-jungle-prison-holding-us-deportees/
‘Titimela’ threaten development,
sanitation, promote crime
By
Mnelisi Dlamini, Times of eSwatini, 10 November 2025
MBABANE: The rapid rise of informal ‘titimela’
settlements is creating major development, crime and health challenges across
the country.
The mushrooming of informal one-room
houses, commonly known as titimela, in and around the country’s industrial
areas has become one of Eswatini’s most pressing development challenges.
These unplanned structures have spread
rapidly around Matsapha, Ezulwini, Sidvokodvo and parts of Manzini’s peri-urban
areas like KaShali, Nhlambeni, Sicelwini, Makholweni and Ticantfwini. They are
reshaping orderly commercial landscapes into congested, unregulated
settlements.
What began as affordable housing for
low-income factory, manufacturing and retail workers has evolved into a
national problem frustrating town councils, chiefs and government ministries.
Local authorities report that the titimela
are multiplying rapidly, with some areas witnessing overnight construction of
makeshift dwellings built too close together and often without sanitation.
“We are seeing the birth of unplanned
mini-towns around our industrial hubs. These structures are not part of any
approved layout plan, making it extremely difficult to provide essential
services such as water, sewerage and roads,” said one Matsapha council
representative.
Government and utility companies are
already feeling the effects. Utilities are facing these challenges as they seek
to improve service delivery in places like Matsapha, where some structures are
encroaching on the road, posing a threat to future expansion of the road
network as well.
To read more of this report, click
here
eSwatini’s
youth and women farmers thrive under FAO-led resilience project
FAO
Regional Office for Africa, 7 November 2025
From the vegetable fields of Luve to the
highlands of Nkhaba, Eswatini’s youth and women farmers are writing a new
chapter in the country’s agricultural story. Supported by the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) through the Technical
Cooperation Project (TCP/ESW/3903), young smallholders are shifting from
subsistence to commercial production, building resilience against climate
shocks, and accessing new markets through innovation.
In partnership with the Government of
Eswatini and the National Agricultural Marketing Board (NAMBoard), FAO is
helping farmers adopt protected agriculture technologies, such as shade nets
and greenhouses, that safeguard crops from harsh weather, reduce losses, and
allow year-round production. The initiative falls under FAO’s One Country One
Priority Product (OCOP) approach, which promotes sustainable production and
value chain development for strategic crops.
“Our collaboration with the Government and
NAMBoard is transforming smallholder farming into a viable business that
sustains livelihoods and supports national food security,” said Cuthbert
Kambanje, FAO Subregional Agrofood Systems Investment Policy Support
Consultant.
Through the project, youth and women-led
cooperatives have been trained in modern horticultural practices, marketing,
and quality standards. Many have since been absorbed by NAMBoard’s commercial
supply chains, supplying supermarkets and export buyers with high-quality
produce such as peppers and lettuce.
In Nkhaba, Hhohho region, a youth-led
cooperative demonstrates the success of this approach. “Protected agriculture
allows us to produce even during dry spells. We no longer fear losing
everything to drought,” said a local farmer proudly displaying her harvest of
bell peppers.
The project also strengthens extension
services through NAMBoard, ensuring continuous technical support for
smallholders. The results have been transformative, enhanced food security,
improved household incomes, and empowered youth who now see agriculture as a
dignified and profitable career.
FAO’s work in Eswatini supports the
country’s broader goals under Agenda 2030 and Vision 2022, particularly in
achieving SDG 2 – Zero Hunger. By focusing on market access and climate-smart
production, the initiative is building resilience and economic opportunity for
rural communities. Turning partnership into progress.
A section of unplanned housing located between
Eteni and Logoba in Matsapha. (Courtesy pic)
Running for nothing: the cruel arithmetic of
unemployment in eSwatini
Comment by Eugene Wa-Dube, Swati Newsweek, 12
November, 2025
In a country where youth
unemployment hovers at catastrophic levels, logic and fairness - not corruption
- should guide every decision that touches the lives of the young.
Yet, the recent spectacle in
Eswatini where hundreds of young men and women in different
tinkhundla/constituencies were invited for recruitment in the army, by
undergoing a number of tests including physical tests - such as running for
three kilometers or so - contesting for a mere three available positions in the
army - is a sobering reminder of how far we have strayed from reason and
justice.
Hundreds of young people.
Three posts. Those numbers alone tell a painful story. They tell of a nation
where opportunity has become so rare that even the faintest whisper of a job
summons hundreds to queue under the blazing sun. They tell of desperation so
deep that our youth will run, sweat, and strain - not for glory, but for a
chance, however small and hopeless, to escape the suffocating grip of
unemployment.
Let’s be clear: no one
questions the right of the army to recruit. But recruitment must serve a
purpose beyond public humiliation. Inviting close to a thousand hopefuls for
only three vacancies is not recruitment; it is emotional cruelty disguised as
national service. It is the conversion of hope into a spectator sport - a
televised reminder that in Eswatini, the dream of dignified work has become a
privilege for the few.
The logic behind such an
exercise is deeply flawed. In an economy struggling to create jobs, such
spectacles only expose the failure to plan and prioritize. They reveal a state
more comfortable showcasing scarcity than addressing it. What exactly is achieved
when hundreds of young people exhaust themselves in blistering summer heat in a
contest whose outcome was always predetermined by mathematics - or something
else like nepotism, cronyism, connections, etc?
Beyond the numbers lies the
moral question. Fairness demands that opportunities be distributed
transparently and realistically. How can it be fair to raise expectations among
so many, knowing only three per Inkhundla will succeed?
Worse, what confidence can the
public have in the process, when rumours persist that selections are often
influenced by personal connections, nephew, cronyism or political proximity
rather than merit? When meritocracy collapses, disillusionment takes its place
- and that is a dangerous currency in any society.
Eswatini’s youth are not lazy.
They are not entitled. They are, in fact, the most underutilized resource this
nation has. They have shown time and again that given a chance - whether in the
arts, entrepreneurship, or community service - they rise to the occasion. But
they need a system that values their energy, not one that exploits their
desperation.
True patriotism today would
mean designing programs that absorb this restless potential into
nation-building. We need youth cooperatives in agriculture, technology
incubators, local infrastructure projects, and skills training centres that
produce doers, not job-seekers. Instead of summoning a thousand bodies for
three uniforms, why not summon a thousand minds to build the industries of
tomorrow?
This episode is not merely
about the army. It is about the kind of leadership we tolerate - leadership
that prefers managing the optics of scarcity rather than confronting its
causes. When the state uses hope as a prop, it erodes public trust. When it treats
desperation as entertainment, it undermines dignity. EmaSwati are humans - not
objects of derision to be as taken advantage of just because they are
desperate.
Eswatini’s future cannot be
built on spectacles of hopelessness - corruption. It must be built on
deliberate, inclusive, and humane economic planning. Anything less is an insult
to the generation we claim to be grooming for tomorrow.
That's the honest and
unadulterated truth. Can this anomaly be fixed before the ticking youth
unemployed bomb explodes, blowing everyone and everything in its way to pieces?
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