‘„ƒ–— ™‡Ž…‘‡• ‹†‡ƒǡ ”‡…‘‡†• Ž‡‰ƒŽ ˆ”ƒ‡™‘”

MBABANE – Former Army Commander Sobantu Dlamini has welcomed the idea of compulsory military training for the youth and suggested that it should be accompanied by legislation.

Dlamini boasts vast e[perience in the army, having served as army commander for a long time, until his Majesty King Mswati III redeployed him to the Ludzidzini Council in 2019.

He revealed that through the Gcina initiative, the country did have a similar platform, where the youth would be trained on different life skills.

He e[plained that the good thing about military training was that it instilled discipline in an individual.

Dlamini said countries such as Malawi and =ambia had the legislation which allowed government to make it compulsory for the youth to be trained in the army, once they completed school.

He said it was for that reason that people in those countries were highly disciplined and it was working for them.

He made an e[ample, that in Malawi, they were producing more in agriculture, because the people were very disciplined, which had a positive impact in almost all that they had worked in.

“For the country to implement it, it would require benchmarking, to see how other countries successfully implemented it and it also

requires legislation,” he said.

Chairman of the Swaziland Unemployed People Movement (SUPMO) Lucky Dlamini, said the idea may be good, having observed it in other countries.

“But first things first, is that there must be compulsory access to free quality and relevant education from primary school to tertiary first degree. Initiate decentralised skills development centres or colleges in all the tinkhundla centres. Then we can say let this idea be implemented, and we must clearly understand its objectives, not just discipline,” he said.