‡Œ‡…–‡† ‰‹”Ž ȋͳ͹Ȍ ™‡‡’•

HLUTI – A 17-year-old aspiring soldier shed tears as she was told she was not fit to participate in the army recruitment exercise.

The aspiring soldier will be turning 18 years around November this year, hence she was turned back. Meanwhile, a man who turned 36 years two days ago was also disqualified. He stated that he wished the exercise came earlier at his constituency so that he could qualify. He was disqualified along others who turned 36 in April this year as they were told that they were outside the permissible bracket which was 18 to 35 years.

On a different note, two men were disqualified at Sandleni Inkhundla. One of them had not brought back a ticket that proved that he had reached the turning point, though he had the markings that he reached it. He was among the first 20 males who then proceeded to do exercises.

He was eventually replaced by the first reserve, regardless of his effort to try and justify himself. The other disqualified aspiring soldier was identified as Bongani and was also in the top 20.

Code

He had no clear relations to the constituency as it was said that his sister had married a man from the constituency yet his chief code was that of Mbangweni under Shiselweni II. In fact, the second reserve complained that he saw Bongani participating at Mbangweni and wondered why he was allowed to participate in two different constituencies.

He persisted until a short meeting was convened, which involved the army recruitment exercise leaders, the bucopho of all the constituencies and indvuna wherein the second reserve narrated his complaint. It was eventually decided that he was to be removed and the complainant as a second reserve ended up replacing him.

It was established that the duo knew each other from Mbangweni Royal Residence