MBABANE – The Eswatini Schools Sports Association (ESSA) will no longer use passports as a verification tool for pupils during games.
This was revealed by ESSA Vice President Thami Shongwe during the 2026 KFC/Scara Thindwa Soccer Foundation kit presentation held at the Mountain View International Hotel a week ago.
Deserving schools were presented with full soccer kits courtesy of KFC, the main sponsors of the developmental football programme.
Shongwe said the move follows a decision by the Ministry of Home Affairs to ban the use of passports for this purpose. The ministry stated that the document is highly expensive and often ends up being left unused, eventually expiring without the pupils ever utilising it.
“We will have to introduce other ways of verifying the ages of the pupils during our games as the Ministry of Home Affairs has warned us against using passports, which they said is an important document and is very expensive to produce,” Shongwe said.
The ministry’s Communications Officer Mlandvo Dlamini was quoted on Eswatini TV warning against the use of the document as a verification tool during school games.
The event drew a gathering of prominent sporting and government figures, including KFC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nigel England, foundation founder Absalom ‘Scara’ Thindwa and Eswatini Football Association (EFA) CEO Frederick Mngomezulu.
Also in attendance were Ministry of Education and Training Under Secretary (US) Lungelo Nhlengentfwa, Eswatini Sport and Recreation Council (ESRC) CEO Darius Dlomo, school representatives and Ministry of Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs Minister Bongani Nzima, who was represented by Director of Sports Lucky Sihlongonyane.
It is worth noting that the total cost for all the soccer kits, boots, balls and referees’ kits presented amounted to E223 770.
Following the presentation, the draw for the semi-finals was conducted. The games will be played tomorrow at the EFA Lobamba Technical Centre.
ESSA Vice President Thami Shongwe (R back row) after the kit presentation. (Pic: Machawe Fakudze)