Africa-Press – Eswatini. Gege Member of Parliament Magesi Dlamini has urged the youth to take culture seriously as it can be an alternative to earning a living and travelling the world.
He said young people were not equally gifted academically with others being talented in sports, and performing arts.
He urged chiefdoms to open platforms for the youth to form culture groups and compete among others. This could assist in preserving and promoting culture which Emaswati were known for world over.
Dlamini was speaking after partaking in the Ngculwini Lujikeleto Lwemabhaca Culture competition recently where a group from his area, Mashobeni Chiefdom was also competing.
The event saw a number of groups competing in sibhaca, ingadla, lutsango and emajaha. The event was also graced by Army Commander Mashikilisana Fakudze.
The MP said getting closer to the hosts and familiarising himself with the cultural activities made him to appreciate it even more.
“I have seen how important it is for our people, especially the youth, to involve themselves in cultural activities. There are many benefits of engaging young people as they can be instrumental in promoting culture such that even the future generations can still continue and pass it on.
We have already started groups under Mashobeni chiefdom and want to spread the gospel to other chiefdoms under my constituency,” he said.
Dlamini who is also a businessman said they had already started lutsango and ingadla groups wanted to establish Sibhaca and Emajaha groups so that they had a full participation in the competition.
“We are learning a lot from the people, like Ngculwini, and we have fully joined Lujikeleto and hoping to host a similar competition in the near future,” he said.
Thembinkosi Nkonyane, the chairman of Lujikeleto said they were grateful to have support from legislators noting that even their own MP Sabelo Mtetwa had been supportive of the activities. He said with such support, they foresee a brighter future for the culture groups in the country.
“I would also like to thank the army commander for taking time to join us during the competition.
“This means a lot to us as Lujikeleto because getting support at this level means more good things are yet to come. We even have full support from Chief Prince Mgebiseni,” he said.
Nkonyane said as the year drew to a close, they were planning a number of activities for the coming year as they wanted to recruit more groups especially from the different chiefdoms to be members of this competition. He said currently they have groups from the security services, private companies, municipalities and a few from the communities.
“Our wish is to have culture groups in all the chiefdoms around the country,” he said.
Winners in the various categories who received various prizes were:
Seniors
1. HMCS
2. UEDF
3. Ngculwini
JUNIORS
1 UEDF/HMCS/REPS
INFANTS
1. UEDF
2. ILLOVO
3. MCC
INGADLA
1. UEDF and Ngculwini
2. HMCS and REPS
LUTSANGO
1. Khamatfo
2. Mafutseni
3. Mantjonga
4. Mashobeni
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