LUBULI – Every journey towards development begins with a first step.
In fact, development could only be achieved when there is unity and a solution to every challenge encountered. After having been left behind for many years, residents under the Myeni chiefdom in Lubuli Constituency have taken a giant positive step towards bringing development to the area.
They have done this by successfully completing the Chiefdom Development Plan (CDP) which contain detailed information of projects that they want to implement in the next coming five years. The targeted projects, as outlined in their CDP, include the construction of schools, clinics and a tourism attraction centre. Again, they want to bring fresh and clean water to the community. They believe the projects will contribute in crime prevention.
Last Thursday was the biggest day for the chiefdom as the residents were joined by cabinet ministers, senators and government officials to launch the CDP. The event that was facilitated by Eswatini Water and Agricultural Development Enterprise (ESWADE) in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture.
When addressing the attendees, Keith Simelane, the Chairperson of the Constituency Development Committee, said the residents had a beautiful dream about bringing development. This was after they had seen progress and development in other chiefdoms. She said the CDP contains all the projects they desire to implement in the chiefdom in the next five years.
However, she said this could only be achieved through unity.
“What is contained in the CDP represent the desires of the residents here. I am happy to state that all of us participated in the making of this CDP,” she said.
Lubuli Member of Parliament Thambo Gina, who is also the Minister of Economic Planning and Development, passed his gratitude to the minister of agriculture Jabulani Mabuza for his workaholic effort towards pushing agriculture in the kingdom despite the fact that his properties were among those that were vandalised and burnt down by rioters. Gina disclosed that Mabuza has shown his big heart and undeterred spirit even when things were against him.
Gina stated that the CDP will benefit the chiefdom, especially because there will be budget allocation for LUSIP 11 project.
“It is worth mentioning that local companies are playing a huge role in ensuring that the constituency get developed,” he said.
Meanwhile, Minister of Agriculture Jabulani Mabuza said the year 2026, Myeni Chiefdom will be a highly developed and independent community, adequately sanitized with reliable infrastructure, characterized by high levels of tourism and education in a safe and secured environment.
“It is indeed an honour to stand here today and be part of a community that has a vision that is not only aligned to their personal needs, but one which is also aligned to the National Development Strategies and plans. I also recognize that the activities highlighted in the CDP adhere to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and they clearly highlight 3 participation from different age groups which includes men, women and the youth from the community. I congratulate you all members of this community for coming up with such an initiative. From the level of professionalism displayed in the way the document is crafted, one gets the confidence that it will not gather dust on the shelves, like many others we have seen, but that all planned activities shall be followed through to be achieved within the set five-year period. As stated in the CDP, the community has set up a monitoring and evaluation mechanism to ensure effective implementation of the plan, which has eleven strategic focus areas,” he said.
He explained that the concept that has brought all of us here known as the Chiefdom Development Planning is a methodology that has been developed by the ESWADE through the implementation of rural development projects assigned to it by government.
“Its outstanding features are that it is centred on the aspirations of the beneficiaries. There is consensus on the use of available resources for the benefit of the community; it is holistic; and it involves multi-stakeholders, including households, traditional leaders, government institutions, development partners and the private sector. ESWADE, is a Government entity under the Ministry of Agriculture, which was established to empower communities to improve their quality of life through projects in commercial agriculture and associated enterprises. It also provides innovative services in infrastructure development and management,” he said.
The minister further explained that amongst many other projects entrusted upon ESWADE, is the Lower Usuthu Smallholder Irrigation Project Phase II (LUSIP II) valued at E2.1billion. This project follows LUSIP I which has been closed.
He said drawing from the ESWADE mandate, this project also aims to reduce poverty in the project area by transforming subsistence farmers into commercial farmers. He said the LUSIP II is set to cover four Chiefdoms in the rain fed Lowveld 4 areas of the Lubombo covering 2 Tinkhundla namely Nkilongo and Lubulini.
MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE APPLAUDES YOUTH AND WOMEN FOR PLAYING ACTIVE ROLE IN AGRI-BUSINESS
LUBULI – Minister of Agriculture Jabulani Mabuza says following that ESWADE is a project implementer, it remains acutely aware of the need to strengthen partnerships through the engagement of strategic partners.
“We applaud the collaborations between the ESWADE and other parastatals from the ministry which includes, the National Agricultural Marketing Board (NAMBoard), the National Maize Corporation (NMC), Cotton Board (CB) and Eswatini Dairy Development Board (EDDB). May I encourage farmers and the community in general to take full advantage of every opportunity that is availed by the above mentioned organisations and others, including NGOs, aimed at improving their livelihoods. You must attend organised meetings and trainings because you will be capacitated and be able to stand on your own. As alluded to earlier, we have been informed that you have already started implementing some of the activities in the plan. Such includes beekeeping enterprises which are run by the youth and a goat marketing group under the livestock value chain project. May I applaud the women and the youth for playing an active role in the running of these businesses. To date, a total of six farmer groups are being trained and supported on beekeeping and four groups on goat marketing. The government of Eswatini pledges to continue providing support to communities and will mobilize funding from all sources to benefit implementation of CDPs. While talking about funding it is important that you take advantage of already available resources including the Rural Development Fund (RDF), the Youth Empowerment Fund and others to finance some aspects of the Chiefdom Development Plan (CDP). I now take this opportunity to congratulate the Myeni Chiefdom for a job well done on the achievement of their Chiefdom Development Plan. I urge all members of the community to individually and collectively take this plan as your roadmap to 2026. As I conclude, let me thank all partners: the Ministry of Tinkhundla, Administration and Development and other stakeholders who have worked tirelessly to ensure that everyone is involved from the development to the implementation of the plan. This is the road to success. It is now my singular honour on behalf of His Majesty’s government to declare that the Myeni Chiefdom Development Plan is officially launched,” he said.
