As we speak, I am voiceless because of all the singing I did particularly on Friday.
Why don’t I have a voice?
Because I sang and screamed for an entire one hour and 30 minutes on day one of the Luju Food and Lifestyle Festival held at the House on Fire on Saturday.
The reason is, I was singing along to each and every song that TKZee sang and interestingly I knew all the lyrics and even if I may have got some lines wrong, no problem because the music was loud, the people happy and it was fun all over.
In fact, I spotted old faces from high school and varsity whom I had not seen in over 20 years and it was basically a weekend of hugs, kisses and just love at the Standard Bank fest.
I realised though that a majority of us ‘senior’ citizens are really starved for fun. It was great to see all the who’s who’s of the country, from judges, Cabinet ministers, chief executive officers etc and they were all dressed down (as in out of their office wear) and partied like there was no Monday. Event organisers and not just House on Fire need to organise more such gigs instead of us waiting for May to attend Bushfire and August for the Luju Fest.
Last week I heard some senators during the budget debate of the ministry of tourism and environmental affairs stating that the Eswatini Tourism Authority needed to host more events in order to attract tourists.
They said as much as Umhlanga and Incwala were popular events, the country needed more events like the Bushfire Fest to attract more tourists.
I swear though the Luju Festival is now getting to Bushfire status because the numbers are beautifully increasing.
In the past no matter what time you arrived for the event the traffic was always smooth flowing. However, this time around I spent almost an hour in traffic from the Mahlanya market to Malandela’s gardens.
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The numbers are just get ridiculously larger as everyone wants to go out and refresh and have fun with their families and friends.
I even bumped into a happy looking Minister of Health Mduduzi Matsebula and it was clear that he had taken time off to take a breather from the challenges that await him in the office.
He was all dressed down even in a kotoyi and had a wonderful time with, I assume one of his sons. These events are highly needed for us to take a break from the challenges that we face on a daily basis, be it financial, physical, emotional etc.
I also bumped into the DPM, oops I mean former DPM and now Shiselweni RA Themba Masuku who was very bubbly and very chatty with everyone. Basically, it was a joy to see everyone and get hugs, although I would advise men to avoid wearing white T-shirts at these events because the make up stains after the dozens of hugs look ridiculous, and how do they explain the make up to their better halves?
Anyway, back to the event, I do not know which other venue can take up thousands of people, but Minister Jane Mkhonta-Simelane and her team have their work cut out for them especially in arranging the parking logistics.
We seem not to be able to handle a lot of traffic which was the same scenario when I attended the Hlane Buganu ceremony in March. Although the police tried their utmost best to control the traffic flow, something has to be fixed.
Another reason we need these events is because it is good to support all the Eswatini-based businesses, especially at the food and clothing stalls. The events bring us closer to the entrepreneurs and I was in awe of what Emaswati, young and old can produce at these events. Somehow, it is just a thought that the Eswatini International Trade Fair should not just be an annual event, but in my opinion, maybe it should be held four times a year at a very minimal charge so that we can support and promote all the businesses that are around.
Back however, to the Luju Festival, I would certainly rate it 10/10 I literally had no complaints about it as everything was properly organised, from bathroom queues to endlessly flowing drinks and the food was indeed in abundance.
Of course I had already scored the event 100 per cent from the onset based on having TKZee on the line up, I really wish we could reverse the clock so we could dance up a storm with all the age mates I bumped into at the event.
Long and short of it, this is a challenge to events organisers to come up with more activities of this kind, for now a big cheers to the Standard Bank team, I was even persuaded to change banks lol. Until next week do not forget to be kind.
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