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USA COMPANY NAMED AFTER EX-ESWATINI MINISTER

14/02/2021 00:29:00 BY MFANUKHONA NKAMBULE

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mfanukhona@times.co.sz

MBABANE – A USA company with a clientele that involves Google, Uber, YouTube and others has been named after deceased former Eswatini Cabinet Minister Dr. George Soze Vilakati.

The profit-driven company is called The Soze Agency.

Soze means ‘never again.’ Dr. Vilakati was recruited by His Majesty the King from Los Angeles to work for his Cabinet in 1998. He died in October 2000 at the age of 52. He was buried at his home in Mahlangatsha.

He was born at Edulini, Mahlangatsha. He did his primary education at Mahlangatsha Methodist Primary School before proceeding to Magubheleni Secondary where he did his Standard 7 in 1966 and completed his senior secondary education at Franson Christian High School.

He studied teaching at William Pitcher College in Manzini and began his career at the age of 24 at Franson Christinan High at Mhlosheni where he later became a deputy head teacher.

profession

He then left the teaching profession to further his studies abroad, mainly at University of California where he obtained a PhD in Educational Administration and Policy Analysis in 1991. He returned to the country to be a head teacher at St. Phillips High School. He headed back to the US to take a post as lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles from 1991 until 1998 when His Majesty King Mswati III recalled him to assume his ministerial position.

He was a minister of then Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Communication, which is now called the Ministry of Tourism and Environmental Affairs.

Ironically, the current minister of the Ministry of Tourism and Environmental Affairs is a Vilakati (Moses).

Dr. Vilakati was already serving as Cabinet minister at the time of his death.

Michael Skolnit, one of the company’s directors, told the Times of Eswatini SUNDAY that they decided to name their agency after the ex-Eswatini minister because he was a very special man.

Skolnit, whom the late Vilakati named Jabulani, said he was his professor at UCLA from 1997-1999, where he taught him the Zulu language. Over the years, he said the Soze Agency has employed over 100 people. The company is said to be successful as its annual donation to charities, at some point, amounted to E45 million.

The six co-founders of the Soze Agency are - Jamila El Sahili, Daniel Leon-Davis, Paola Mendoza, Michelle Minguez, Michael Skolnik and Daveen Trentman. After his passing, he said they decided to do whatever they could to keep his legacy alive.

“Fifteen (15) years ago, I also started a scholarship at my old high school in his name and honour,” he said.

“While I only had him in my life for a few years, before his sudden passing, he had a profound influence in all that I have done in my career. He came to work everyday with a smile, a big laugh and a joy for teaching his students.”

He said the joy for life was contagious and certainly rubbed off on me. He mentioned that Dr. Vilakati was his mentor and he would forever be thankful for all the incredible lessons he taught him about life.

incredible

On a lighter note, he said the man was also an incredible chef as he made the best ribs in the entire world.

One of the politicians who were close to Dr. Vilakati is Lutfo Dlamini, the former minister of Enterprise and Employment (now Ministry of Labour and Social Security). The department of enterprise was fused with that of commerce to create the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry.

In an interview, Dlamini, the current MP for Ndzingeni in the northern part of Eswatini, said he was happy that a company in the USA has been named after a highly qualified liSwati who never bragged about his education, but remained humble and approachable.

He said he heard of the US company for the first time from this publication.

“Soze was a likeable fellow. Why am I being reminded of this fellow gentleman who never showed anyone that he was highly educated? He is the one who introduced a programme whereby ministers would visit border gates to welcome tourists,” said the politician.

He said the late minister would have taken the country’s tourism to greater heights had he survived his illness. He said he told him at some point that the Matsapha International Airport was too small to accommodate the thousands of tourists he had arranged to bring to the country.

“His strategy was to bring American tourists to the country. He was highly respected in the US at that time,” he said. Dr. Vilakati’s death is one of the unfortunate losses which caused grief and sorrow in the country’s echelons of power as it happened a year after the passing away of another minister, Peter Dlamini, who was killed in a car accident at Mpaka in November 1999.

Soze Agency, which is different from Soze Foundation, is involved in programming, curation and exhibition, integrated marketing strategies, creating planning, ideation and development, research, branding, design, content creation, etc. During his tenure of office, he introduced visitations of Cabinet ministers to border gates to welcome tourists.

At some point, he amused stakeholders in the tourism industry during a workshop held at the University of Eswatini that hotels should be fully booked during the festive season of 1999, including a motel that was perceived to be largely frequented by strippers.

belittlement

The directors of this defunct motel took offence at the late former minister’s remarks, which they misconstrued as belittlement. They did not understand why their most loved motel was singled out for laughter.

“Kufanele kugcwale lapha kule motel (the motel should be fully booked),” Dr. Vilakati had said when he triggered an all-round laughter, which did not go down well with the establishment’s directors. He was likeable and a jovial minister. In fact, he was a favourite minister in the newsrooms and many editors and their reporters in the country’s media houses liked him. Dr. Vilakati spoke English with an American accent. However, he preferred communicating in SiSwati.

Despite the fact that he earned a decent salary, which was obviously in US dollars, the former minister and university lecturer heeded the King’s order in 1998 and returned to serve as a minister in Eswatini. It is said that some former students of the University of California are still devastated by the death of the ex-minister despite that it occurred 21 years ago. Apart from making profits, The Soze Agency also offers internships and fellowships to Americans to get work experience.

The company is not the only entity that has honoured the liSwati former minister as there is a scholarship for students studying at John Jay High School that was named after him. It is called the Dr. George Soze Vilakati Memorial Scholarship. This scholarship is given by a 1996 graduate of John Jay High School in memory of his UCLA liSwati professor. This is Skolnit.