MBABANE – It is common sense that when parents leave for work, they leave their minor children in daycare centres but, what if they work at night?

When government recently announced a clampdown on informal daycare centres following a series of tragic incidents, officials said the move was intended to address child neglect, unsafe environments and a rise in abuse allegations.

Even though attention intensifies around unregulated daytime facilities, a more secretive and less understood world of unregulated childcare continues to operate unnoticed throughout the country; nighttime childcare. This is where children  as young as one month old are left overnight or late into the evening in overcrowded rooms, supervised by untrained adults, or even teenagers and governed by no standards at all.

Investigations carried out by Eswatini News established that, in several densely populated communities, including parts of Matsapha, Manzini, Pigg’s Peak, Malkerns, Nhlangano and Buhleni, residents have for years relied on a quiet but growing network of night-time  so-called ‘carergivers’.

These are not formal centres, and they do not present themselves as such. Instead, they function as improvised spaces, often the front rooms of small flats or backyard structures, where groups of young children sleep, play or wait in the presence of any available adult until their parents return.

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Inside world of nighttime childcare

MBABANE – Eswatini News went into a few of these night care centres and what we found was shocking.

One such place was in congested Matsapha, where we found there were a dozen night care centres and we focused on one, a single room flat, where  residents said nightcare operations were common, especially during busy seasons such as December.

The flat visited by this publication doubled as a daycare during working hours. Each day parents drop off their young ones in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon.

It is then generally quiet. By 5pm, children between the ages of 3-6 years were brought in and filled the small room  while a single adult supervised them. The caregiver said they charged about E20 for the night, but clarified that children were not kept until morning, unless there were exceptional circumstances. “Sunday is out because it is church time,”  she added.

Insisting on being kept anonymous. We will call her *Nola.

She said  that nighttime childcare usually happened when a parent was not available for some reason, adding that some days remained quiet while others, especially during long weekends, festive periods, saw an influx of children. Residents said this trend intensified when children visited parents who lived in single-room flats for the holidays, as many mothers had no safe place to leave them when they needed to work or be away in the evenings.

*Not their real names.

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Sex work also driving night care centres

MBABANE – A sensitive but significant driver of night-time childcare emerged consistently in interviews: The link between night care facilities and the realities of sex work.

Though sex work is illegal in Eswatini, it is taking place at a massive scale. Some residents said many sex workers were also mothers of young children and because their work required them to leave home around 5pm and stay out until the early hours of the morning, they relied on trusted individuals in the neighbourhood to watch their children.

One resident described the cycle, saying trusted caregivers sometimes accepted one or two children initially, but as word spread, they began to supervise more. He added that, in many cases, the adults responsible stepped out during the night, leaving the children in the care of an older child, a situation that created serious risks of accidents, abuse or medical emergencies going unnoticed.

Residents interviewed expressed concern that the government regulators were focusing exclusively on daytime child care without recognising the extent of nighttime arrangements. They argued that while informal daycare centres posed known risks, night care facilities presented dangers of a different magnitude due to the hours, lack of structure and absence of trained adults.

Community members, who spoke during the investigation repeatedly said the government needed to find a way of inspecting communities during night hours. They claimed that the lack of oversight meant anyone could operate a night care room, and without established standards, children were exposed to significant dangers.

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Government takes action

MBABANE – The government announced renewed action against informal daycare centres after reports of neglect, poor hygiene and unsafe environments multiplied.

The findings were released against the backdrop of two deeply disturbing incidents: The death of a 10-month-old child at a daycare in KaKhoza, and the arrest of a caregiver in Mbabane for allegedly assaulting a toddler. These cases intensified public pressure on authorities to act, particularly as the rise of informal centres was tied to the needs of working parents in low-income jobs.

*Full article available in our publication