BY MBONO MDLULI
MANZINI – The elderly people should be taken care of because they are the country’s encyclopaedia.
This was said by Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Thulisile Dladla on Saturday during the Embiveni Biggest Braai 2024. Dladla was delivering her key-note address at the event and she officially opened the event.
The DPM encouraged Emaswati to continue supporting events such as the Embiveni Biggest Braai because they helped in making lives of the elderly people easy. Dladla made an example about the Old Age Home that was situated in Dvokolwako. She said proceeds from the Biggest Braai contributed in maintaining that home.
She said if that home was maintained, the elderly people would become happy and would look forward to living a better life. She said elderly people were important because they could be helpful when the country wanted to shape its future, as they were the ones that knew the history of the country.
Dladla likened the senior citizens to an encyclopedia, where all forms of knowledge was stored. The DPM said Emaswati could make use of such people because they knew where Emaswati came from, as a nation. It was important for them to be taken care of so that they lived longer, in order for them to easily and happily share their knowledge, which was needed by Emaswati today to gain an understanding of what was happening today.
The DPM also mentioned that Her Majesty the Indlovukazi wanted to see the elderly people taken care of because they had deep knowledge about Emaswati as a nation. Her Majesty is the patron of Philani Maswati Charity Organisation, which is behind the Biggest Braai event. The event, which started in 2015, was celebrated for the eighth time this year. It took a two-year break in 2020 a day 2021 due to the lockdown restrictions that were imposed to curb the dangers posed by the outbreak of COVID-19.
