By Mbongeni Vilakati
MBABANE – The Minister of Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs Bongani Ndzima has officially launched the Tinkhundla National Talent Search Competition 2024.
The launch took place at the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs conference room today (Friday, July 12, 2024).
The competition, sponsored by His Majesty’s Government to the tune of E2 000 000, is aimed at decentralising talent identification programmes to all corners of Eswatini. This competition will be open to Emaswati under the age of 35 years, while the sport sector will have a cut -off of 20 years.
Speaking during the launch, Minister of Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs Bongani Ndzima said that this first-of-its-kind competition was a one of the Ministry’s responses to the submissions made by Emaswati during last year’s Sibaya, which is to ‘let Government come to the people.’
“This National Competition we are launching here this morning is based on the premise that Eswatini is brimming with talent across sports, the arts and culture that has, largely, been left untapped,” the minister said.
He went to add that, “This talent has the power to propel many of our young people into sustainable careers 4 and sources of livelihoods in these sectors, thereby responding to one of our country’s greatest Achilles heel; youth unemployment.”
According to the honourable minister, this initiative is aimed at fulfilling the Ministry’s mission, which is to empower young people to reach their full potential, using the development vehicles of sports, the arts and culture.
The Minister also highlighted that the main goal of the competition was to unearth talent and ensure that our young people could be put towards a path of decent and sustainable livelihoods, we also believe that this initiative will help promote the message of healthy living through sport and physical activity across Eswatini.
