BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – Minister of Agriculture Mandla Tshawuka has given the new board of the Eswatini Water and Agricultural Development (EWADE) a mandate of working to help the country produce enough food for the nation.
Tshawuka said this on March 24, 2025 when he appointed an eight-member board of directors for the public enterprise. The event took place at Ministry’s Boardroom in Dlanubeka Building, Mbabane.
The board members include Nomsa Dlamini-Tibane (Chairperson), Majahonkhe Dlamini, Busangaye Masina, Sifiso Khumalo, Siboniso Masilela, Muzi Siyaya, Sifiso Shongwe, Sydney Simelane, and Dr Samson Sithole, who will be the ex-officio member of the board, in his capacity as the EWADE Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The board is expected to serve for a period of three years.
Speaking during the event, Tshawuka charged the board with the responsibility of helping his Ministry. He said the mandate of his Ministry was one – that is to ensure that the nation got enough food, so that it could be able to feed itself. Tshawuka stated that in order for the nation to feed itself, it should achieve food sovereignty.
He explained that food sovereignty is a situation whereby a nation was able to produce enough food so that it could feed itself. He said the country did not have to depend on other countries for food because it could find itself having to go through tough conditions to meet expectations of those countries. Tshawuka said there were projects such as the LUSIP II and the Mkhondvo Ngwavuma Water Augmentation Project (MNWAP), which included the building of the Mpakeni Dam.
The Minister stated that Mpakeni Dam was not the only project under the MWAP. There are many other projects that are to be implemented under the MNWAP, including building another dam, as well as establishment of an eco city and provision of irrigation systems. Tshawuka mandated the new board to ensure that these projects were implemented. He said there were many other projects that were going to be implemented from this year, while others were still in the pipeline.
In response, Nomsa Dlamini-Tibane promised the Minister that they were going to work diligently to ensure that the mandage given by the Minister was fulfilled. She expressed no doubt that the members of the board had the capacity to ensure that such a mandate was carried out. Her sentiments were echoed by Muzi Siyaya, who said what would make the work even more implementable was the fact that some members of the board served in the previous EWADE board. The Ubombo Sugar Limited MD thanked the Minister for seeing it fit that board should also include members who served in the previous board.
