BY PHUMZILE NDLOVU
NHLANGANO – Minister for Tourism and Environmental Affairs Jane Mkhonta-Simelane successfully launched the 10th edition of the Mahamba Gorge Hiking Sport 2024 last Thursday.
This year the hiking expedition will be hosted in two folds (Saturday and Sunday), with Saturday, April 27th, 2024, being a family fun day, a relaxed event for creating awareness on gender-based violence with local artists and comedy shows, and the Pre-Gorge hiking music festival later in the afternoon, graced by SA artist AYMOS from Amapiano Mix, and April 28th, 2024, being the main hiking event with Gospel Sunday music.
In attendance at the launch were the Chairperson of the Mahamba Gorge Hiking Sport Foundation, Dickson Khumalo; Shiselweni Region Regional Administrator; members of the Mahamba Gorge Committee; senior government officials; and the tourism fraternity.
The minister said, “Mahamba Gorge Hiking is a non-profit organisation committed to promoting the socio-economic development of the people of Shiselweni and ultimately of Eswatini through exploring the region’s potential in eco-tourism. This initiative for over 10 years has been achieved through the joint efforts of diverse stakeholders drawn from state and non-state players, including non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the private sector, community members, and others.”
She went on to add that this was with the view of creating public awareness about the socio-economic challenges and the potential of the Shiselweni region.
“As highlighted in His Majesty’s speech from the throne, tourism is among the key sectors that have been identified for economic recovery in the country. Therefore, as a ministry, we applaud and encourage any innovative initiatives that support tourism and contribute towards our goal of transforming the economy.” said the minister.
The minister also touched on the rise of GBV and said, “With the rise of gender-based violence incidents in the Shiselweni region, the Mahamba Gorge Hiking Committee, in collaboration with sponsors, has seen it proper to retain the Year 2022 hiking theme of Hiking Against Gender-Based Violence in a bid to support the government’s commitment to amplifying the importance of creating more awareness; thus, this year’s theme 2024 is “NKWEEEE!! Let’s invest to prevent gender-based violence.”
According to the minister, this is to continue supporting the government’s effort to end gender-based violence and raise awareness against any form of violence. Every single day, the country wakes up to very disturbing headlines about either the brutal murder of a woman or girlfriend in a domestic setting or a child being raped. In addition, the National Surveillance Report shows an increase of 20% in GBV cases between 2020 and 2023.
Mkhonta highlighted that the Shiselweni region alone recorded 1912 GBV and VAC cases in 2023 alone, which is very concerning. This has prompted the government to contribute to the move towards ending GBV by providing a platform for engagement and raising awareness about this scourge through Mahamba Gorge Hiking.
This year’s theme also resonates with the objective of the hike, which is to alleviate poverty by supporting and empowering deserving communities and vulnerable groups, such as the youth, through the sponsorships it receives.
Over the past 10 years, the hiking programme has supported a number of initiatives. These include:
- Building houses for the destitute people, including OVC, people with disabilities, and most vulnerable elders, at Mahlashaneni, Nsalitje, Magele, Mangwaneni, and Masibini.
- Livelihood support is available at Maseyisini Inkhundla (Masibini & Simemeni, KaDlovunga) and Mzizi under the Mahamba Gorge Lodge Board of trustees’ communities.
- Food aid support to the Shiselweni constituencies, including the Mahamba Gorge Hiking households.
- Continued support for Hlatikhulu Girls’ Home through support from Eswatini Royal Insurance Cooperation.
- Construction of a washing basin and maintenance of kitchen roofing and wall painting with support from Shiselweni Forest Company.
- Provision of start-up kits to youth business enterprises (Shiselweni one, Maseyisini, KuMethula, Shiselweni two, and Zombodze constituencies).
- Support with farm inputs for youth cooperatives under Shubuta and Shiselweni one Tinkhundla.
- Conducting gender-based violence campaigns in some communities (Mbilaneni, Dlovunga, Maize, KuMethula, etc.) targeting males, community leaders, and youth.
- Hosting of crime prevention dialogues in communities and schools, to mention but a few.
In conclusion, the Minister thanked previous and current sponsors, which are the Standard Bank, Fincorp, FTM Textile, SFC (Shiseweni Forestry Company), Inhlonhla, Eswatini Bank, Melon Enterprise, Purple Chilli, Indlela Yekuphila, and many others, for their invaluable contributions.
“I would also like to plead with companies and organisations to support this initiative for the upliftment of domestic tourism and by giving a helping hand to less privileged communities for the betterment of emaSwati,” Mkhonta-Simelane said.
