……about 11 381 jobs created during COVID-19 pandemic (2020/21)
BY MBONGENI NDLELA
MBABANE – A total of 18 152 jobs have been created in the Kingdom of Eswatini in the last three years.
Again, in 2020/2021 about 11 381 jobs were created from 49 new investments.
This is despite rising concerns that job creation has propelled negativity to many who now believe they
have been pushed to poverty. However, recorded statistics have projected promising figures that
several business sectors have created more employment opportunities. Furthermore, indicators are that
due to travel restrictions and lockdowns the kingdom of Eswatini has recorded an increase on tax
collection by at least 15 percent as more money got circulated locally.
According to a report released today by the Eswatini Investment and Trade Promotion Authority (EIPA)
as part of government’s Post COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan, more jobs have been created in the last
two years than previous years. This has brought hope that if it was not for COVID-19 impact on
businesses, the country would have been in a better standing on issues of unemployment rate.
The statistics were shared by Bheki Maziya from EIPA, from the E30 billion that was projected by
government as an enabler for investment, E5 billion was reserved for the SMEs including the youth and
women. Maziya disclosed that a lot has been achieved by this unit including the Kellogg’s project where
30 SMEs have got business opportunities are working. Maziya stated that FuelEx Eswatini has already
signed 18 contracts with local businesspeople who have also hired many Emaswati. He said there are
also more projects that are on the pipeline but the reason they were mentioning the two companies
was because there are now direct results.
“On financial inclusion, I am also happy to report that government has taken the lead by developing the
SME Revolving Fund to the tune of E45 million where the money has already been disbursed to local
SMEs in particular as a response to the impact of COVID-19,” he said.
He said the Youth Enterprise Revolving Fund was also playing a major role in helping young people
resuscitate the impact of COVID-19 and E10.2 million has been disbursed, resulting to 500 job
opportunities being created.
“Government has also taken the lead on small scale loan guarantee which is housed at Central Bank
where E138 million has already been disbursed so far to guarantee loans for SMEs in local commercial
banks. Otherwise, without this guarantee they wouldn’t have accessed the loans due to lack of
collateral,” he said.
Maziya further disclosed that there was also a revolving fund for Informal Traders that has been
established by government where about E500 000 has been disbursed. He said this fund was playing a
significant role in funding the young.
“I can also announce that the Trade Hub has finally been completed. It is now operational and it is
expected that informal Emaswati businesses will be able to sell their product in a more formal and
organized setup that will attract the market,” he said.
He disclosed that for now what is on progress is the development of a linkage between the business
group together with investors, linking them with the SME sector in order to leverage upcoming
opportunities.
Meanwhile, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade Mancoba Khumalo has issued a summary of
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Domestic Investment which has become good news for Emaswati.
Below is the summary:
◦ Over the last three years, a total of 18 152 jobs have been created.
◦ In the year 2018/19 at total of seven (7) companies established and created 1 854 jobs. Six (6) of
the companies are in the textiles sector as two expanded their investment. One investment in
the wine processing industry.
◦ In the year 2019/2020 a total of 11 companies established and created 4 917 jobs. KDDP and
LUSIP projects in the agriculture sector contributed 3 714 and the remaining where from the
construction of the Kelloggs factory, expansion in the textile sector, forestry, ice sugar, pvc pipes
and rum processing.
◦ In 2020/21, 49 new investments were realised and created 11 381 jobs. Retailers, Commercial
bank, property developers, investment companies, manufacturers investment on infrastructure
such as shopping complexes, petrol filling station, warehouses, hardware store, and many
others.
The minister further announced that despite the achievement on the jobs created under FDI, a total of 1
702 jobs were made redundant from January 2020 to March 2021.
Below are tables showing summary of the jobs created:
