I have been suffering from FOMO for the past week as seemingly everyone I am in constant touch with has been to the newly opened international convention centre which His Majesty King Mswati III christened the Ezulwini Palazzo.
I am also ‘jealous’ that I was seemingly the only one who did not receive the several invitation cards that were distributed on all the events that took place at the ICC.
As a result I had to make do with following whatsapp statuses and social media posts as people who were in attendance made sure to post everything to which I am not complaining. It was beautiful.
I also heard quite late that the ICC was open to public viewing and that people were taken on guided tours, but I will get my chance to see it sometime soon I hope. I can safely say I endorse it as all the pictures that I have seen show that it’s an out of this world place.
I further missed out on attending the theatre show last night because I was working and the news that the cover charge of E1 000 had been cancelled added to the FOMO, I would have loved to go and see it and watch the production of the king’s rein live on stage.
All the same though I have not been personally there, I still give it a 100%. I cannot wait for the Five Star Hotel (FISH) to be finished because it would complete the entire picture. I am sure even those responsible for the money to build the hotel will now release the funds without a problem.
For once I agree with senators that Parliament should release the funds without a problem, now that they have had a glimpse of the convention centre. According to Minister of Natural Resources and Energy Prince Lonkhokhela, the success of the 40/58 double celebrations reaffirmed the importance of the infrastructure which he described as a unique and world-class facility.
“We are short of words except to appreciate God for the 40-year Ruby Jubilee and His Majesty’s 58 birthday. What we witnessed was rare. The Ezulwini Palazzo is certainly desired by everyone. It is a structure that will lure investors into the country,” the prince told senators.
Another senator who spoke highly of the ICC was Chief Zabeni Shiba. He said the beauty of the place was on another level adding that they could not continue debating about funding when we could see what was built.
He said everyone who has visited the ICC now understands the direction we must take as a country.
The frustration among us as citizens about the ICC was that it took forever to build. It was even more frustrating for parliamentarians who were allocating the money without seeing what was happening.
Everytime a person went past the ICC in the back of our heads we would all mutter what a ‘waste of money’ or ‘eish that white elephant’. However, this is not the case now as we have seen the ICC’s wonders and one can only impatiently await the hotel.
The frustration was mostly caused by the fact that a very few people were allowed inside to see the progress of what was happening and I remember many motion s and questions to the minister of economic planning and development of when the structure would be completed.
Several times both members of Parliament and senators moved motions and threatened not to pump in any more money into the construction of the facility and clearly the phrase you cannot rush perfection was coined with the ICC in mind.
One hopes that the completion of the hotel will be done hopefully within a year because the ICC has shown us that we are ready to host the world and as much as we have several hospitality venues more rooms are needed for the people who will attend these conferences.
I also cannot wait to attend events which I am sure will be fully hosted there no matter the cost. This is not the place for us to host baby showers please, let us stick to our usual venues and not bring shadiness to the place. I am not saying do not host baby showers at all, but there’s certain levels to that venue even though I have not stepped in there, but one day is one day.
That place is so beautiful that even South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was in awe and even jokingly told the king that he did not know what he would do with his Durban International Convention Centre because many people would now fly to Eswatini to host conferences. Indeed Eswatini is open to the world with that beautiful structure.
