Eswatini–South Africa relations

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) and South Africa have a long, close relationship because Eswatini sits next to South Africa and shares historical and cultural ties. They established mutual High Commissions in Pretoria and Mbabane around 1994, and Eswatini’s Pretoria office is also accredited to several neighboring countries.

Eswatini uses the rand in the Common Monetary Area, so the South African rand and the Swazi lilangeni circulate at parity. Some people describe Eswatini as a satellite state of South Africa, though there have been tensions. Swazi authorities have sometimes been seen as betraying or trying to reclaim territory, and Eswatini has claimed some areas that were once part of its kingdom.

In the 1970s and early 1980s, Swaziland claimed to be neutral but leaned toward the West and was closely connected with South Africa. South Africa invested heavily in Swaziland’s economy, and Swaziland joined the Southern African Customs Union dominated by Pretoria. During the 1980s, some South African businesses used Swaziland to bypass international sanctions, and Swazi officials, aided by a secret security pact with South Africa, pressured and expelled ANC representatives. South African security forces also operated secretly on Swazi soil. Some Swazi royals secretly wished to reintegrate Swazi-occupied territory into their kingdom in South Africa.

Formal trade relations began in 1984. In 1993, the two countries upgraded to embassy-level relations, and in June 1993 they signed a judicial agreement allowing South African judges, magistrates, and prosecutors to serve in Swaziland, along with training for Swazi court personnel. After Nelson Mandela’s 1994 election and the end of apartheid, diplomatic relations were upgraded further. In 1995 they agreed to cooperate on anti-crime and anti-smuggling along their shared border.

In 2010, the ANC Youth League criticized South Africa’s relations with Swaziland’s absolute monarchy. Around the same time, Chancellor House acquired a 75% stake in Swaziland’s Maloma coal mine, drawing condemnation from other political parties.