Times Of Swaziland: NGWEMPISI YOUTH MISS OUT ON E130 000 SPONSORSHIP

NGWEMPISI YOUTH MISS OUT ON E130 000 SPONSORSHIP
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Sithembile Hlatshwayo on 22/08/2022 08:35:00


MBABANE – Young people under the Ngwempisi Constituency have missed out on a
E130 000 sponsorship which they were set to benefit from.
This was after some of the youth under the constituency forced the Minister of
Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs, Harries ‘Madze’ Bulunga, and the Shukuma
Eswatini activation team, to abort a physical exercise programme on Saturday.
This was confirmed by the Indvuna Yenkhundla, Majaha Ngwenya, and Eswatini
Football Association (EFA) Vice President Mashumi Shongwe. According to Shongwe,
he decided to abandon the trip to Ngwempisi and not waste resources after
receiving a call that it was not safe to continue with the event. This, he said,
was after the people from the constituency could not agree as others felt they
could not celebrate or host activities while their Member of Parliament (MP),
Mthandeni Dube, was behind bars.
Urged
Shongwe stated that he was urged by the constituency to raise sponsorship
through his capabilities in sports and the love he had for same. He added that
Ngwenya had asked for support from him to assist in raising the sponsorship for
a tournament. Shongwe said the indvuna yenkhudla was his ally as they previously
worked together while he (Ngwenya) served as mayor for Mankayane Town and he
(Shongwe), for Nhlangano Town Council. According to Shongwe, through his
connections with his business associates, he was able to raise the funds which
were contributed by various sponsors. He added that the youth had lost out due
to the infighting in the constituency. However, he said the money would not be
turned back, but was set to benefit other constituencies where there was no
infighting. The EFA vice president said he could not reveal the companies which
had sponsored the tournament, adding that the plan was to unveil them when the
presentation of the cheques was made.
In an interview with Ngwenya, he said it was disheartening that the youth who
interrupted their programme did not come from the five chiefdoms; Velezizweni,
Ngcoseni, Macudvulwini, Dladleni and Bhadzeni. He said the said ‘youth’ was
a group of people who were either working around Mankayane or were not attached
to their chiefdoms in anyway. “Most of the young people who disrupted the
event were strangers, although a few from the area were spotted,” said the
indvuna yenkhundla. Ngwenya said he spotted young people from two chiefdoms,
Ngcoseni and Velezizweni. Further, he added that leading the young people was
resigned Swaziland Liberation Movement (SWALIMO) Manzini Branch Chairperson
Brian Sihlongonyane, who stayed at his mother’s homestead at Velezizweni.  He
stated that a number of activities which the youth was expected to compete in,
including cultural activities such as sibhaca and ingadla, had to be cancelled.
Tournament
Also, he mentioned that the youth was set to compete in a soccer and netball
tournaments. According to Ngwenya, they had decided to dub the event as a Youth
Day, because it was difficult to bring people together without providing any
form of incentive. Ngwenya said the community members under Ngwempisi
Constituency were supportive of the Shukuma exercise, adding that even the
incarcerated MP, Dube was aware of the programme which he also embraced and was
part of in 2019. Ngwenya said both himself and the MP committed to conducting
the shukuma exercise until the end of their term in office. He mentioned that
there were talks that he was now campaigning for the position of MP through the
same exercise, something that he disputed. “This is part of my job to deliver
towards the development of the area,” Ngwenya noted. He said they had also
invited the young people to learn business skills from some institutions,
including Sebenta.
Meanwhile, Sihlongonyane conceded that he lived at his mother’s parental
homestead, but stated that he was born and bred at Velezizweni, which was his
chief code. He said he led the youth to stop the event in his capacity as
chairperson of the young people there. Sihlongonyane said the pro-democratic
youth went to the constituency to urge them to stop the activities which had
elements of celebration, yet their MP was behind bars. He said they felt the
activity was a campaign strategy of some sort by the indvuna yenkhundla who
allegedly always wanted to position himself as MP. However, Ngwenya disputed the
allegations by Sihlongonyane.