Juvenile delinquency is a global and major societal issue that has a negative influence on children's development. However, the consequences are felt more severely in developing countries such as Eswatini, owing to a lack of resources for rehabilitating juvenile offenders. Therefore, to understand the situation in Eswatini, the qualitative research described in this article investigated the perceptions of teachers, counsellors and former juvenile delinquents regarding the rehabilitation of juvenile offenders at a rehabilitation centre in the Manzini region of Eswatini. In-depth interviews and focused discussion groups were conducted with teachers, a psychologist and social workers to gain a better understanding of juvenile rehabilitation, determine the methods used at the rehabilitation facility, discover the challenges of rehabilitating juvenile offenders and recommend strategies to improve the rehabilitation system based on the findings. Purposive sampling was used to select the participants. In addition, the researcher employed a snowballing technique to select former delinquents for the study. The data obtained from the participants were examined using thematic analysis. The findings revealed that juvenile delinquents who had been sent to the facility by their parents because of disruptive behaviour had benefited from schooling but were not completely rehabilitated. They had developed psychological issues such as anger, which indicated that their behaviour had not improved. Moreover, they had learned inappropriate behaviour from the hard-core criminals with whom they had been forced to share dormitories. It appears that the system does not succeed in rehabilitating juvenile delinquents, although convicts might be reformed because they have psychologically prepared themselves for prison service and then choose to live as law-abiding citizens. Methods used to rehabilitate juvenile delinquents included education, recreational activities, religion, counselling and punishment. Furthermore, the results revealed that challenges encountered include the lack of human resources, insufficient training time and a lack of parental involvement.