DON’T NOMINATE ME - PHETSILE

MBABANE – “I cannot compete with my children.”  This was said by the President of the Association of Christian Artists in Eswatini (ACAESWA), Phetsile Masilela, in an interview with the Entertainment Desk yesterday. She said the above mentioned, when she shared that she would be not participating in the Lockdown Gospel Music Awards (LOGMA).

Masilela said she took the decision because she wanted to give other artists an opportunity to be appreciated and marketed through the awards.
 Is it worth noting that the president does qualify to participate, as the requirements demand one to be a member of the association (ACAESWA) and to also be an active artist.

 Masilela is a member and has recently released an album titled ‘Ngibalekela kuwe’.
“I cannot compete with my children and it was a personal decision that I took as their leader. The awards are meant to unearth and also celebrate local talent. I saw it fit to not participate. I am also glad that the committee heading the awards responded positively to my decision, (sic)” she said.

Online

 The awards will be hosted online and the voting lines will be opened on the third weekend of August and close on the night of the awards, which will be the first weekend of November.
The nominations are open for two categories, which are public and technical.
The public category will be decided by the public and is open to anyone who qualifies, while the technical category will be decided by an adjudication panel except for ‘The Most Downloaded Gospel Song’ category, which will be based on online statistics.

“I would like to apologise to my fans who had planned to nominate and vote for me. I will be participating in some other awards, this is the time for other artists to shine and I would also like to urge the public to nominate  their favourite artists, for the show to be a success. This is a great time for fans to show their love to their best chosen artists,(sic)” she added.
Nominations will be done using the MTN Eswatini and Eswatini Mobile networks, where users will send a short message service (SMS) code to the provided number 6677. 

While users of the two giant local networks can SMS ‘LOGMA’ followed by the artist’s name and category to the short code provided, Eswatini Post and Telecommunications Corporation (EPTC) users can nominate their favourite artists by purchasing recharge vouchers and then log on to http://voting.sptc.co.sz/portal/nominations/ and follow the steps.

The association’s Public Relations Officer, Nhlanhla Mathunjwa, confirmed that the president would not be participating.
 He said they respected her decision as the organising committee. “The legislation does allow her to participate and she does qualify. The decision was taken by her and the committee respects it as she will be giving a fair chance to other artists,(sic)” he said.
 Mathuntjwa went on to remind interested artists that the rules and regulations, submission checklist and waiver forms would be made available at ACAESWA offices and through the LOGMA secretary, who is Bertha Sithole.

“An artist may be entered into multiple categories and two copies of their CD/album are required per artist as reflected in the category rules. Entries received are then screened for compliance with the relevant rules and to check whether such entries are entered in the correct categories,” said Mathunjwa.

vetting

The purpose of this process, known as vetting, is to ensure that each entry is eligible, in the right category and is not at risk of disqualification.
One of the local gospel artists, Nompulelo Nkambule, said the president led by example and was looking forward to the awards.

“She is leading by example and actually being a mother to us. The awards are a great platform for us to showcase out talent and actually be marketed. I proud of her,” Nkambule said.
Prizes  and sponsors are yet to be revealed.

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