By Ntokozo Magongo
MBABANE – This year’s Ingwenyama Cup Culture competitions return with increased prizes, with Emajaha and Lutsango, the national champions, set to receive E110 000.
Ingadla and Sibhaca will each take home E65 000, while the best Imbongi will walk away with E25 000. In last year’s edition, Emajaha and Lutsango received E75 000 with an increase E40k in this year’s edition, while Ingadla and Sibhaca took home E50 000 last year and they had E15 000 increment this year, and the Imbongi champions were awarded E20 000 in 2024 and they got E5 000 increase in the 2025 edition.
The cultural competitions will commence this Saturday at Buhleni Sports Ground for the Hhohho region, and on Sunday, the events will shift to the Mavuso Sports Centre for the Manzini region.
The new prizes and dates for the cultural competition were announced by the Culture Competition Spokesperson, Sandile ‘Msandi’ Nxumalo, on Thursday during the Ingwenyama Cup quarter-final kit presentation held at Nkhanini Offices, Lobamba.
“We are delighted to announce the increased prizes for the cultural competition, and we are confident that the standard will be elevated, as it has been improving in recent editions. The number of teams expressing interest in participating in the competitions has also been impressive. This year, we had approximately six Emajaha competing in the Manzini region, whereas last year we had none,” he stated.
Nxumalo further noted that there has been a growing interest from the youth, which bodes well for the competitions. He remarked that this trend indicates that Emaswati are increasingly embracing their culture and are eager to showcase their heritage to the world.
