The Eswatini Tertiary Institutions Sports Association (ETISA) aims to be in a position to provide all sporting activities to its membership within the near future.
“Our long term goal is to provide activities that are being played worldwide, such as rugby, boxing, swimming, women’s soccer etc. without being limited by lack of funds,” said Hubert Maziya, the chairperson of ETISA, to Njabulo Brian Mndzebele, a future participant of the 2020 FISU Volunteer Leaders Academy. “Our primary limitation has been lack of funds for renting sporting facilities such as swimming pools and equipment for boxing.”
“We want to raise standards of performance through training programmes and national, regional as well as international competitions,” continued Maziya. “We are going to achieve these goals by applying a students’levy as a system of subscription for ETISA membership, wherein each student subscribes with a smallamount.”
“This will also help us obtain sponsorship from local companies,” added Maziya. “When we have applied forsponsorship in the past, some corporates believe that because ETISA is short of funds, we divert the money to the bank account of the organisation rather than for the benefit of institutions.”
ETISA is responsible for the development of sports in all tertiary institutions of Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland. Currently, ETISA reaches about 14 tertiary institutions in the country and offers activities such as netball, volleyball, football, athletics, basketball, pool, table tennis, lawn tennis and darts. The member institutions of ETISA are technical colleges, teachers’ colleges, nursing and health colleges, universities, vocational institutions and disciplined armed forces training institutions.
UNISWA, the largest university in Swaziland is further divided into three campuses; the Kwaluseni campus, Luyengo campus and Mbabane campus. Overall, ETISA reaches more than 8000 students across all the tertiary institutions that are members.
The Federation itself was formed as a result of a conference of ministers with portfolios related to sports, that was held in Zambia in 1990.
“From this conference, the Confederation of University and College Sports Association (CUCSA) was born,” Maziya explained the history of the organization to Njabulo Brian Mndzebele. “By 1991, ETISA (formerly known as Swaziland Universities and College Sports Association, SUCSA) was formed and formally launched in 1992 by Professor B Magagula at the University of Swaziland.”
“Today, ETISA communicates with the sports directors and captains from each institution through social media,” added Maziya. “Student representatives are urged to make sure that the message reaches every last student,”
ETISA hosts an annual general meeting (AGM) where the federation’s activities and challenges are discussed, and financial reports are also submitted. Representatives from all member institutions attend the AGM and are actively engaged, so that the message reaches the students.
Finally, Maziya said it was a great achievement for ETISA to be represented at Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) by a number of students from different institutions who play for the big teams in the country.
“To mention a few, Samkelo Ginindza from UNISWA Mbabane campus plays for Moneni Pirates and Innocent Dlamini who is studying at Ngwane teachers training college plays for Vovovo football club.”