Eswatini Gives Foreign-Owned Businesses 12 Months to Exit Under New Law

Eswatini has begun enforcing a law intended to increase citizens’ ownership of businesses. Parliament resolved that foreign-owned businesses should have at least 12 months to leave, provided the law is formally amended to set that timeline. Otherwise, the ministry may continue enforcing the law as written, according to a BBC report. Some lawmakers called for more time so emaSwati, as Eswatini citizens are known, can learn to run the businesses. Others urged officials to close foreign-owned shops immediately. The debate follows complaints from local traders that foreign businesses are competing with them and threatening livelihoods. Inspections launched in August found some businesses compliant, while others faced questions about staff leave and overtime. The issue has broader regional relevance: anti-immigrant protests have also taken place in South Africa, where two Ghanaian and two Nigerian nationals were reported killed amid the tensions.

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