6 000 jobs, 2 factory shells for Mankayane
“Most of the young people here are unemployed and this is encouraging them to engage in bad behaviour like stealing and many more. Some of the young women are forced to sell their bodies just to make money. This is very bad,” she lamented.
“The budget for this project has already been submitted to the ministry for approval before it can be set in motion.”
MANKAYANE – Over 6 000 jobs could soon be coming for Mankayane residents. That is if the dream of constructing two factory shells under this constituency by the Mankayane Town Board comes to fruition.
This plan, according to the Board’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) David Madlopha, has already been shared with the mother body, which is the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, led by former Malkerns Town Board CEO Appolo Maphalala.
Noteworthy is that the lack of such structures in this town, does not go down well with residents, as they feel this is the main cause of high unemployment rate in all the areas under Mankayane.
They complained that Mankayane was the only town without a factory shell. Nhlangano town (Shiselweni Region) has at least two of such factories, where a number of emaSwati are currently employed and the same applies to Siteki (Lubombo Region), as there is a factory shell for local citizens. Matsapha also has the highest number of the factory shells, while Pigg’s Peak also has one situated at Mkhuzweni area and some timber companies.
Madlopha said the plan to construct the two factory shells was informed by the fact that a number of Mankayane residents have always been complaining about the lack of such structures in the constituency.
“Even long before I assumed my current position as CEO of this Town Board, residents have always been calling for the construction of factory shells, which they feel would open job opportunities for them. This project has been included in our budget for the current financial year and we hope to see it to fruition,” Madlopha said.
Residents
Noteworthy is that most of the residents interviewed by this publication a week ago, shared the same sentiments. They unanimously agreed that the construction of factory shells has always been their biggest wish.
“The budget for this project has already been submitted to the ministry for approval before it can be set in motion. Our objective remains to provide service for the people of this town by ensuring that it is busy with developmental projects,” Madlopha
said.
One of the other concerns from the Mankayane residents is the lack of an upmarket shopping malls or complexes to uplift the face of the town.
A kombi driver told this publication that to him, Mankayane was more of a by-pass town that was being neglected in terms of development.
“You travel less than three kilometres through Mankayane town and that’s it. We do not have a proper shopping mall and even the big shops like Spar, Pick ‘n Pay, Shoprite and OK are not found the town. For you to buy at these shops, you have to travel to other towns, which is not right,” he said.
A woman vendor, who has been operating her business at
the local bus rank for over 15 years now, complained that the lack of job opportunities was promoting crime in the area.
“Most of the young people here are unemployed and this is encouraging them to engage in bad behaviour like stealing and many more. Some of the young women are forced to sell their bodies just to make money because most of them have children. This is very bad,” she lamented.
She said they welcomed the plan by the Mankayane Town Board to facilitate the construction of the two factory shells. “This is long overdue. I remember in 1995 when the last King’s birthday was held here, there was a promise made, that such a structure would be put in place but up to now, that has not happened. We trust and hope that this time around, it will happen because a lot of young people here will get jobs, which will reduce the crime rate,” she said.
Forests
According to information sourced from the Mankayane Town Board website, Mankayane is a town located in the Manzini Region of Eswatini, servicing the chiefdom of Velezizweni. Nearby are the extensive man-made forests, which cover much of the high veld areas of Eswatini.
The area around Mankayane is also covered in small homesteads, where traditional forms of agriculture are carried out. Other small irrigation schemes now exist providing a cash cropping basis for some local farmers. One such scheme is Ntamakuphila.
The areas to the west and south of Mankayane are Swazi Nation Land (SNL). These areas are ‘tribal’ lands, meaning they are administered under traditional systems of land tenure where a chief gives land to men, enough for their wives and children to use. This happens at the point at which these men ‘give khonta’, or allegiance, to the chief.
“Individuals do not own the land they have rights of usufruct, rights to use land as they need it for their families. To the north are the man-made forests and these sit in Individually Tenured Land (ITL). These pieces of land comprising almost 50 per cent of the country are those areas taken over for use as farms and industry at the time of colonisation.”
It is further stated that: “These areas are privately owned; originally by English or Afrikaans farmers and increasingly by indigenous or naturalised Swazi.”
Ngwempisi Member of Parliament (MP) Bhekibandla Vilakati is on record as praising the Mankayane Town Board for being innovative by coming up with proper development projects. This includes the plan to build the E4 billion 30 000-seater sports stadium in the area.