The Government of Eswatini has confirmed that it received about R87 million from the Trump administration in exchange for accepting deportees removed from the United States under a third-country transfer arrangement.
In October, the kingdom announced it would take in 11 more third-country deportees — individuals convicted of crimes in the US but whose countries of origin refuse to accept them. The government said the deportees would be held in a secure facility, isolated from the public, while authorities attempt to repatriate them to their home countries.
The move followed Eswatini’s reception of five deported prisoners in July, a quiet deal that emerged after months of negotiations between the US Department of Homeland Security and Eswatini’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Such agreements form part of Washington’s tougher immigration stance during Donald Trump’s administration, which included controversial attempts to relocate unwanted foreign nationals to partner states willing to host them temporarily.
This week, AFP reported that Eswatini’s Finance Minister, Neal Rijkenberg, confirmed in Parliament that the country had received $5.1 million (about R87 million) linked directly to the deportee arrangement.
“We were told it was for the US deportees after we enquired,” Rijkenberg said, noting that the Ministry of Finance had been kept in the dark about the details of the agreement.
He told MPs that the money was deposited into the account of the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA). However, the NDMA was not permitted to use the funds because they had not been officially allocated through the government budgeting process. The payment still needs to be regularised, he said.
The arrangement has raised concern in the region. South Africa — Eswatini’s immediate neighbour and largest economic partner — has warned that hosting foreign nationals convicted of serious crimes poses potential security risks.
In a statement earlier this year, South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) said:
“Whilst respecting the sovereign decision of the Government of Eswatini, the Government of the Republic of South Africa is deeply concerned about the profile of these individuals and the potential adverse impact on South Africa’s national security and immigration policy, given the geographical proximity between the two sisterly countries.”
Eswatini, Africa’s last absolute monarchy, has defended the deal as a sovereign decision while insisting that the deportees are securely contained and pose no risk to the public.
