HLANE – The Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) is investigating a suspected human trafficking case involving two girls aged 17 and 15 who were reportedly taken from their home area by a person known to the family.
Information gathered is that one of the girls, aged 17, has since returned home, while police investigations continue to establish the whereabouts of the 15-year-old girl.
The matter was reported to the police on September 5, 2026, after the girls’ mother discovered that her two daughters were no longer at home.
According to the police report, the mother reported that the two girls were suspected to have been trafficked to the Republic of South Africa by a person known to the family.
The whereabouts of the person who allegedly took the girls, as well as that of the 15-year-old, remain unknown.
The return of the 17-year-old is expected to assist investigators as they work to establish what happened to the two girls, including how they left the country and whether they were taken across the border.
Police investigations are continuing and no arrests or charges had been confirmed in connection with the matter at the time of going to press.
The case comes amid continued investigations by law-enforcement agencies into suspected human trafficking and people-smuggling activities involving the movement of people across Eswatini’s borders.
This publication previously reported that REPS and the Secretariat for the Prevention of People Trafficking and People Smuggling were investigating several trafficking-related cases.
In one of the cases reported by this publication, a nine-year-old boy of Mozambican origin was allegedly smuggled with his mother towards South Africa before the mother reportedly left him near the Oshoek/Ngwenya Border Gate. The child was later fetched by Mozambican officials in liaison with the police.
The publication also reported in July that three Malawian nationals were allegedly lured to Eswatini under the promise of employment in vegetable farming before allegedly being subjected to forced labour. The case was being investigated through a mechanism involving the police, the Directorate of Public Prosecutions and the Prevention of People Trafficking and People Smuggling Secretariat.
In another case, government launched an investigation to establish whether Chinese nationals employed by a mining company were victims of human trafficking and forced labour after they alleged that they had not been paid and were stranded in the country.
The suspected trafficking of the two girls is, however, a separate matter and investigations are still at an early stage.
Human trafficking investigations can involve establishing how victims were recruited or transported, whether deception, coercion or exploitation was involved, and whether victims were moved across borders.
The People Trafficking and People Smuggling (Prohibition) Act, 2009, provides the legislative framework for combating trafficking and people smuggling in Eswatini.
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