Eswatini Inkhosikati commends First Lady’s empowerment projects

Tendai Rupapa in Bulawayo

ESWATINI Inkhosikati (Queen) Make Matsebula was charmed by empowerment projects being carried out by First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa as women-oriented projects took centre stage during a tour of exhibition stands at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) in Bulawayo on Friday.

The exhibition saw Dr Mnangagwa and her guest touring Hall 2 — housing the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development — where several women had breathtaking exhibitions and credited the First Lady for helping them venture into income-generating projects.

The exhibitors praised Amai Mnangagwa for assisting in training them through her Angel of Hope Foundation and giving them starter packs to begin their various ventures, saying were it not for her interventions and initiatives, they would never have succeeded.

Apart from her guest Inkhosikati Make Matsebula, the First Lady was accompanied during the tour by the Vice-President General (Retired) Dr Constantino Chiwenga’s wife, Colonel Miniyothabo Baloyi, and Defence and War Veterans Affairs Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri.

“In fact, I am out of words from what I have seen today. First of all, I have to thank her (Dr Mnangagwa) for allowing me to be part of this big function. What I have seen is very amazing and I would ask every woman in Zimbabwe to hold hands with the First Lady because she is doing great work in empowering women and the girl-child. No woman should let the stone that she is already pulling forward to fall down,” Inkhosikati Matsebula said.

They also toured Amai’s traditional kitchen, which is being run by vulnerable girls and widows from the Angel of Hope Foundation. The vulnerable girls and widows are being empowered by the First Lady so that they can sustain themselves.

Proceeds from the kitchen will go towards the welfare of the girls and women. The kitchen was serving mouth-watering indigenous dishes that captured the imagination of visitors to the trade fair, with the girls explaining the health benefits of the traditional dishes they were serving.
Some of the girls displayed their artefacts and said they were influenced by the First Lady’s Gota/Nhanga/Ixhiba Programme. The girls were making numerous objects using their hands.

“Through Amai’s empowerment, the girl-child is doing wonders. I am a girl-child and made that painting which is titled ‘Decolonise the Mind’. In that painting, we depict the fact that Amai has empowered us as girl children. She has also decolonised the mind of the men who thought women were inferior to men.

“In the other painting, there are women who are farming. Now, we are saying that, as women, we are empowered by Amai to do farming through her Agric4She and potato farming programmes. There is another woman who is driving a tractor, meaning not only men can do that, but women and girl children can do that as well. There is also a painting of a bulb, which represents Amai as our light as girl children. She is the light that is spreading more innovation to the girl child. She is spreading love and light to us, solving our problems as young girl children,” the girls explained eloquently.

Another girl extolled the virtues of Dr Mnangagwa as a beacon of empowerment.
“Amai has empowered us and we are now self-reliant. We can no longer be victims of gender violence and child marriages because of our mother, the First Lady. Thank you, Amai, for giving us platforms to speak out freely when abused. You have uplifted women. We are now doing industrial work because of your encouragement to occupy spaces in male-dominated fields,” one of the girls said.

Charmed by the presentation, Dr Mnangagwa weighed in, saying: “Vanangu, I am so proud of you. This cannot be done by children who are into drugs, so remain like that and, if possible, recruit as many girls that you can teach to also do this. Spread these things in schools so that other girls like you are not affected by drugs. Well done,” she said.

One of the women, Mrs Ottilia Ndlovu, — the managing director of Tread Softly Leather Products, which makes leather bags and jackets; various footwear, including safari, farmer and school shoes; belts; and wallets — expressed her admiration of the First Lady.

“I admire what the First Lady is doing for the womenfolk in Zimbabwe. We are now able to penetrate and operate competently in previously male-dominated fields. She has done the best for us and all we need to do is repay her through honest hard work,” she said.

Dr Mnangagwa, who is the Agric4she patron, also toured the Agric4she stand. Here, her guest was told of many success stories around the First Lady’s programme.

All the women at the stand said they had achieved a lot through Amai’s initiatives and thanked her for giving them inputs, saying they were enjoying high yields. Mrs Tshiyiwe Sibhula, who was showcasing the national fabric and finished products, praised Dr Mnangagwa for coming up with the national dress.

“We are so grateful for your innovation Amai. We are sewing this for resale to realise income to sustain ourselves and our families.
“Were it not for you, we would by now still be wallowing in poverty and relying solely on our spouses for finance and other requirements,” she said.
One of the foreign exhibitors expressed gratitude for being invited to ZITF. He also thanked the First Lady and her guest for touring their stand.

“We are happy to be here at the ZITF. To us, it’s very important because, with our technology and products, we can provide support for Zimbabwean people, especially women, who are at the centre of the First Lady’s heart, for their prosperity and good lives. We have many projects in different areas such as agriculture, construction and industry. We also have some projects in the humanitarian sphere like culture. We want to work closely with the First Lady, supporting her humanitarian work,” he said.