Velezizweni nets E6k in Montigny competition
MBABANE – A total of 11 primary schools competed in the Montigny Athletics Schools Competition held last Friday at Mankayane.
The competition was split into Under-10 and Open categories. Velezizweni Primary School won first place in the Open category, with 145 points and were awarded a trophy and E6 000 cash prize.
The runners-up was Mbesamandla Primary School, which managed to get 103 points and were awarded a trophy and E4 000. Holy Rosary Primary School took third place with 91 points, winning a trophy and E3 000 cash prize.
The Under-10 category was topped by Holy Rosary with 56 points, while Velezizweni Primary School got second place with 55 points. Mount Hermon Primary School was placed third, with 50 points.
In this division, the champions were awarded a cash prize of E3 000; second prize was E2 000 and E1 000 for third place with each winner given a trophy too. At the end of the day, all participating schools were winners as none left empty handed.
Each of the losing schools received E1 000 each as a token of appreciation for making the competition a success.
The Montigny Schools Athletics Competition started in February and is expected to cover part of April as the company takes the competition to more schools within its plantation. Already close to 40 primary and high schools have been partaking in the competition, which began in Malkerns before proceeding to Bhunya. It is currently in Mankayane, where there are more competitors.
The aim of the competition, according to a background provided by Montingy Community Liaison Manager Sihle Mavuso, is to raise awareness on the dangers of crime in schools. He explained that this was also to help in cases where crime was rampant as they would try to work with the schools in partnership with the police to eradicate such anti-social elements.
Mavuso said the primary objective was to create an environment where children could continue to be children, allowing them to focus on education and recreation.