Eswatini company search: CIPA (gov.sz)

TL;DR. Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) company registration sits with the Company and Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA). https://www.cipa.org.sz no longer resolves, at either the www or the bare address. https://www.gov.sz is online, titled Home-Page, and is an English government hub rather than a CIPA search form; its linked Company Registrations article no longer exists. No replacement CIPA search page could be confirmed, so fees, turnaround and payment methods are unknown rather than free; confirm at source.

Who searches for Swazi company information, and why it’s hard

Eswatini is a small landlocked kingdom of approximately 1.2 million people, completely surrounded by South Africa (except for a short border with Mozambique). Its economy is closely integrated with South Africa, and many Swazi businesses have South African ownership or supply chain links. Foreign buyers are primarily South African investors and companies, development finance institutions, international NGOs, and regional traders.

The search challenge is the missing CIPA host: https://www.cipa.org.sz no longer resolves, and https://www.gov.sz is an English government hub rather than a CIPA search.

Registry at a glance

Name: Companies Registry, operating under the Companies Act 2009 of Eswatini.

Operator: Company and Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA), established under the CIPA Act 2013. CIPA replaced the former Registrar of Companies and handles company registration, intellectual property registration, and related services.

URL: https://www.cipa.org.sz no longer resolves. https://www.gov.sz is online but is not the CIPA search; this guide points at it as the live government host because the published CIPA host is dead. No replacement CIPA search page could be confirmed.

What is covered: CIPA registers all commercial entities formed under Eswatini law: private companies limited by shares (the most common form), public companies, companies limited by guarantee, external companies (branches of foreign companies), close corporations, and other entities. Sole traders operating under a business name register with the Ministry of Commerce.

Access model: Not confirmed, because the CIPA host no longer resolves. The portal has been reported to allow a basic public name search, with account registration needed for documents; confirm at source.

How to search

Step 1: CIPA host. https://www.cipa.org.sz does not resolve, and https://www.gov.sz is not a CIPA company search, so there is no online Company Search to walk through.

Step 2: Identifiers. Obtain company name or registration number from the counterparty. There is no reachable CIPA form on which to use them.

Step 3-5: Account, profile, certified documents. Account rules, search speed and certified-document turnaround could not be confirmed while the CIPA host does not resolve; confirm at source.

Step 6: Tax. https://www.sra.org.sz did not present a valid security certificate when last checked, so it could not be confirmed as a working tax portal.

What you can find

Nothing could be confirmed through a CIPA portal, because cipa.org.sz no longer resolves. The fields reported for it (name, registration number, type, status, directors, shareholders, annual returns) are not confirmed here; confirm at source.

Financial statements and UBO data are not routinely published via CIPA.

What is missing

• Beneficial ownership: No public UBO registry in Eswatini as of mid-2026. Eswatini’s AML/CFT framework has been developing beneficial ownership requirements, but a publicly searchable register has not been established.
• Financial statements: Not available through CIPA. Companies file accounts with SRA for tax purposes, but these are not publicly accessible.
• Royal family business interests: Eswatini’s absolute monarchy means that royal family members and government officials have material business interests that may not be immediately apparent from CIPA registry data. That network is the PEP context for this jurisdiction; confirm current status at source.
• Litigation records: Not available via CIPA. Court records are at the High Court of Eswatini.
• Real-time status: CIPA data is generally current but may lag filings by a few weeks.

Pricing

No fee figures can be confirmed while https://www.cipa.org.sz does not resolve, so the table above reads unknown rather than free. Turnaround and payment methods are not published either; confirm at source.

English availability and practical access

The CIPA portal could not be reached. https://www.gov.sz is in English, but that hub is not a CIPA search screen.

For certified documents beyond what the portal provides, CIPA’s Mbabane office is accessible by road from Johannesburg (approximately 4 hours) or by fly-in to Sikhuphe International Airport. Eswatini’s small scale means that local lawyers and commercial agents handle verification requests efficiently and at reasonable cost.

Alternatives when online access is limited

• In-country legal counsel: Mbabane-based commercial lawyers can obtain certified documents and conduct supplementary checks (court searches, tax standing) efficiently.
• South African affiliated firms: Many Johannesburg-based law firms and accounting firms have Eswatini practice capabilities given the economic integration.
• Eswatini Revenue Authority (SRA): sra.org.sz for tax registration confirmation and, for licensed sectors, the relevant regulatory body.
• Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA): Eswatini’s financial sector regulator. No FSRA portal address could be confirmed; confirm at source.
• Open Ownership: Eswatini has not published a public beneficial ownership register as of mid-2026.

Compliance buyer notes

Eswatini’s current FATF listing is not restated here; the current list is at fatf-gafi.org/en/countries/black-and-grey-lists.html. Its AML/CFT framework has been assessed through ESAAMLG (Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group) mutual evaluations. Key compliance considerations:

• Absolute monarchy: Eswatini is Africa’s last absolute monarchy, governed by King Mswati III. The royal family has material direct and indirect business interests across multiple sectors, and the royal family network is extensive. Confirm current PEP status against the lists your own framework uses.
• Political risk: Civil society unrest and periodic political instability (including material protests in 2021) create political risk for government contract and infrastructure-related counterparties.
• South Africa integration: Eswatini’s deep economic integration with South Africa means that many Swazi businesses have South African beneficial owners or are subsidiaries of South African groups. The South African parent’s CIPC record is often where the beneficial-ownership trail continues.
• Customs union: Eswatini is a member of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and Common Monetary Area (CMA) with South Africa, Lesotho, and Namibia. Trade statistics and customs data from SACU may supplement commercial registry data.
• AML/CFT gaps: ESAAMLG assessments have identified weaknesses in beneficial ownership enforcement and some financial sector supervision areas. The published mutual evaluation reports at esaamlg.org carry the current findings; confirm at source.
• OFAC: Eswatini is not under any OFAC country sanctions program. Individual designations can still exist; confirm against the current OFAC SDN list at source.

For standard commercial due diligence on an Eswatini counterparty, no working CIPA search was available, because the host no longer resolves, and certificate-of-good-standing availability and turnaround could not be confirmed; confirm at source. Financial sector, royal family-linked, and high-value counterparties are the areas where the ESAAMLG findings above are most relevant; how you weight them is a matter for your own framework.

Last verified: 2026-09-04. Sources: https://www.cipa.org.sz, which no longer resolves; https://www.gov.sz, a government hub rather than a CIPA search; Central Bank of Eswatini; ESAAMLG; FATF (fatf-gafi.org). For the full global due diligence framework, see our Global Business Due Diligence Guide.