BY KWANELE TSABEDZE
MBABANE – “Such partnerships will cancel the word called ‘unemployment’.”
These were the words of MTN Foundation Chairperson, Busisiwe Simelane, when handing over a E150 000 cash donation by the MTN Foundation to the Vukani Bomake Foundation yesterday.
According to the Chairperson, the MTN Foundation saw it fit to support the Vukani Bomake Project because it aligns with their mandate to support self-sufficiency, especially for the disadvantaged.
“We are here to ensure that life goes on even better when we employ ourselves. Life goes on better when we decide to be the employers and not wait for someone to employ us. We are here as the MTN Foundation to say we have a dream of that world where there will be no disadvantaged person,” said the Chairperson.
She encouraged the members of the Vukani Project to continue their work, citing that what they are doing should be done in all communities. She added that there is a need for a platform which will make stories of destitution matters of the past.
“Vukani Bomake is that platform that needs to be promoted, supported, and embraced by every community. Thank you Vukani Bomake for doing the work that you are doing out there, thank you Vukani Bomake for putting smiles on the faces of those young people and women out there in the communities,” said the Chairperson.
She revealed that they had earlier handed over a factory to disabled persons in Ntondozi, drawing the parallel between it and partnerships like the one between the MTN Foundation, Vukani Bomake Projects, and Business Women Eswatini.
Vukani BoMake Project was initiated in response to job losses as a result of the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, by Business Women Eswatini. Business Women Eswatini saw it as an opportunity to empower unemployed women with vocational and business skills so they could sustain themselves. The three Tinkhundla that are part of this project are, Lobamba, Nhlambeni and Manzini South Inkhundla.
