Our Story

The said group which was eventually to become the founding members of Luvatsi kept the promise and they shared the youth experiences in their communities. Not with much surprise, each community was engulfed by unemployment, lack of meaningful/productive education, crime, drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, idleness of the youth, and lack of business opportunities. There was a deeply found desire to interrogate these problems in an attempt to make a meaningful contribution, thus the involvement of more young people in that loose forum. Luvatsi is against letting evil reign as inspired by the words of Edmund Burke when he said “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men and women to do nothing”

That realisation brought about unprecedented depression to the pioneers of the ‘revival’ because they had initially anticipated a smooth journey of encouraging the young people of Swaziland to refrain from all bad habits and focus on improving their state and the state of their communities. However there was no turning back on the endeavour, primarily due to two factors; the burning desire to ‘save’ the youth from the negative stigma of ‘uselessness’ and also because the noble idea had already been shared with others who were now putting pressure to the vision bearers to help the youth ‘do something’.

It was at this juncture that advice was sought on how to map a way forward to initiate a sustainable roadmap to help our youth to rediscover themselves and take up their position of responsibility in the society. Extensive consultations were made with notable statesmen and stateswomen who, it must be noted, gave invaluable pieces of insight. Nevertheless such great ideas could not ‘hit the nod’ solely because they were only responding to particular areas of need and were tailor made for particular situations in normal societies yet the Swazi youth was no longer in a position to be considered normal, it was dire.

Therefore the relentless search for help continued and it was mid 2006 when it led those concerned to one Mr. M. Hlatjwayo, a business executive of repute best known for his role in the sugar-world with Illovo, not to ignore his prominent role in human rights activism during his university years. Meeting him formally was most humbling at the same time enlightening. One has to mention the fact that by then it was thought an economic solution would chase away all the youth demons, thus the meeting with a business executive, suffice to say that ideas had already been sought from academics and environmentalists. The man spoke passionately about being Swazi, the culture, the values, the language, the wealth of history, the heritage, the natural resources, etc, such that he was secretly christened ‘umfundisi’, a pastor, for his way with words in making all believe there was hope and that not all was lost for the youth because ‘nothing was impossible’.

If a journey had been travelled before, then meeting Mr. Hlatjwayo was the beginning of another journey. He had his own way of making very difficult things sound so easy and the easiest of things to sound so difficult. It was, with time, to be learnt that he encouraged thoroughness because ‘obvious’ was never part of his vocabulary, instead, doing things differently motivated him. His massive contribution, something we shall forever be grateful for was to ‘help us help ourselves’. He provided no solutions but did what is to be outlined in the next paragraph. It was in August 2006, that is, after his meeting with a small group of young people at Ezulwini Sun sometime around July of the same year that Mr. Hlatjwayo made a significant impact in the formation of Luvatsi.

Probably the million dollar question would be why Mr. Hlatjwayo’s advice was largely inspirational as compared to significant contribution from other personalities. What was so outstanding with Mr. Hlatjwayo is that he provided no prescriptions nor did he force his ideologies down our thoughts. He simply asked that a group of diverse young people from diverse backgrounds should meet in a relaxed environment. He provided for their week-long meeting where they were left alone to deliberate on, and answer a few critical questions. The first day was not that hectic as it was meant to outline the youth problems and then define the causes in a single inclusive phrase. In no time the participants had listed a mountain of problems and their prospective causes. It has to be noted that the blame game and passing the buck was widely discouraged, so introspection was the primary agenda.

Then the causal factors were analysed on day two to try and come out with the core cause. An amazing exchange of opinions, observations, debates and discussions led to the agreement that the core cause is the ‘lack of youth participation’. Young people were seen to be at the back bench in community development and good will activities, in economic development, in policy formulation, in leadership, even in educational initiatives. They were just nowhere near any productive course…literally non-existent in the now and the tomorrow of the nation. That sparked vigorous debates with the finger pointing starting to show up again with some blaming the government while others blaming culture and socialisation.

The host checked on the group at the end of day two just to ensure everyone was well and comfortable. A progress report was given and day three was meant for participants to relax and have fun in the morning, with the afternoon reserved for working on possible solutions to the youth problems. The ‘mfundisi’ only advised the group to be realistic in their effort to create an ideal world for the Swazi youth and to try and eradicate the culture of dependence. By the time to go to bed the chorus was unanimous, and the solution rested on ‘…creating an enabling environment for youth participation’.

The ‘how’ proved to be the most difficult part, taking over two days of non-stop brainstorming. By then there was no Luvatsi, no, no organisation, no association, but just a group of young people without an executive structure or anything. The problems were huge, and so were the solutions…quite a broad initiative which was often confusing, particularly because the young people wanted an inclusive programme. They argued that a human being is a wholesome creature that should not be marginalised or limited to small pockets of life experiences. If one has to develop, all aspects of life should be considered.

That was arguably the beginning of the formalisation of the Luvatsi journey, as a constitution was developed covering human rights defence, education, economic empowerment, environmental awareness, good governance, health, recreation, and others. The constitution itself was a well thought product guided by extensive debates. The creation of this organisation was preceded by an interrogation of the then existing national youth formations, of which, unfortunately none was found to represent the ideal values the Swazi youth was looking for, thus the need to form Luvatsi.

Then the next hurdle was to come up with a name for the newly-born baby. All in participation was required to provide a suitable name or names, and the response was mouth-watering. A count down to the most ideal name was started with the brutal analysis of each name until members agreed on ‘Swaziland Youth Empowerment Association’ which was later modified to Swaziland Youth Empowerment Organisation. That was not until the arrival of the ‘umfundisi’ who wondered why Swazis cannot find a Swazi name that would identify with what the youth wanted to achieve. The search for Swazi name commenced with an agreement that it would form part of the already agreed-upon name. That search ironically proved more difficult than the first one. At last it was found, appreciated and endorsed, and the name was…LUVATSI SWAZILAND YOUTH EMPOWERMENT ORGANISATION. For those in the dark, luvatsi refers to a kind of wood that was rubbed to start fire in ancient times in Swaziland. It was seen as befitting because the Swazi youth were intent to starting a fire of youth revival and restoration.