MBABANE – In just 15 years, citizens of the Kingdom of Eswatini have lost over E500 million to investment schemes that ultimately collapsed.
All the schemes have one thing in common, they all looked authentic until their collapse, leading to them being placed under liquidation.
Another common factor is that investigations, mainly forensics, have been conducted, but the nation has less in terms of arrests and prosecution of those involved.
The latest scheme where emaSwati have lost their monies is the Status Capital Building Society (SCBS), which the court has ordered should be placed under provisional liquidation.
The Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) is currently facilitating the process.
As reported recently, the FSRA has moved to wind up SCBS, which the regulator has said was supposed to function as a building society, accepting deposits and providing mortgage-backed loans. Instead, investigations revealed the institution never conducted legitimate building society business.
Rather, according to the FSRA, it operated a structure consistent with pyramid or Ponzi schemes, using funds from newer investors to pay earlier participants and allegedly siphoning large amounts of money to related companies.
Approximately E205.4 million was deposited by the public between 2020 and 2025 into products that promised attractive returns of up to 13.25 per cent per annum. Status Capital’s troubles reflect a broader pattern of fraudulent or mismanaged ventures in the country.
The SCBS’ proposed liquidation comes at a time when the nation is still reeling from the shock of about E340 million which emaSwati lost after investing in Ecsponent Eswatini.
As widely reported, over 1 138 investors who include pensioners, non-governmental organisations, retired police officers, churches and others lost millions of Emalangeni which they invested in Ecsponent since 2014.
One of the casualties in the E340 million loss was Likhwane Beneficiary Services (LBS) which invested around E60 million.
The fund, which has over 500 beneficiaries, including orphans, some of whom were enrolled in tertiary institutions, faced cashflow challenges following the loss of investments.
Likhwane opened a court case against entities and individuals it believed were responsible for the loss of the funds. The Ecsponent money had accumulated to E431 million when it was discovered missing. Following concerns raised by the investors and pressure from different sectors including Parliament, the Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE) appointed South Africa’s Cliff Dekker Hofmeyer (CDH) to conduct a forensic investigation into what led to the mismanagement of the E340 million.
A report, containing insight into findings regarding the licensing process of Ecsponent Eswatini was then presented. One of the findings in the report was that Ecsponent Eswatini, as an investor advisor, had initially had its application rejected by the Capital Markets division of the FSRA.
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