SWAZI WOMEN ‘EVIL’ UPDATE

I wrote earlier this week that the Times of Swaziland had reported on a group of chiefs who said that the Vote For A Woman campaign ahead of this year’s Swazi election was ‘evil’.

Yesterday (11 July 2008) the Times went one better and launched a stinging attack on the chiefs, saying they should be thrown out of office.

The Times says the chiefs are acting unconstitutionally and speculates that one reason why the Shiselweni region (where the chiefs come from) is so lacking in development is because of the backward chiefs.

It also calls for a full probe into the welfare of women in the region.

The attack comes in the regular Friday Just Thinking column. In recent weeks this column has been unsigned, but it is usually written by the Times’ managing editor, Martin Dlamini.

Although the Times does have a website, it doesn’t have an archive so its reports and other articles only stay online for a day. This Just Thinking column deserves a longer life than that so I am reproducing it in full below.

GET RID OF THESE CHIEFS … women good for nothing but cooking and making babies for them


When the Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA) gets done with the PM and Cabinet over the planned march against ritual murders, they need to head down south to shake up our back­ward chiefs.

Chiefs in the Shiselweni region are apparently against the Vote for Women campaign. They see evil in the exer­cise and have branded it 'unSwazi'.

These are authority figures who rep­resent the king in their various com­munities. They have the responsibil­ity to carry though pronouncements from the Ingwenyoma on traditional, cultural as well as political develop­ments.

One such development is the call by the king urging the nation to recog­nise women as eligible politicians and leaders.

Defy

This call has gone as far as hav­ing the constitution give a specific quota for the number of women re­quired in Parliament (30 percent), which is in line with international conventions that seek to recognise women as equal citizens.

Not for our chiefs down south though. They are prepared to defy the king on this one. Chief Dambuza Lukhele, a former Cabinet minister, who one would think knows better, has been quoted; ‘this campaign seems to make Swazis lose their identity and cul­ture. It has a foreign evil element which we can't accept."

He was supported by his col­leagues. Disgraceful!

What has happened to Chief Dambuza? The last time I checked he was serving in one of the advi­sory bodies to Their Majesties. He therefore is in a better position to ap­preciate the wishes of the king to rec­ognising the significant contribution women can make in our society. Why would he put his foot down against the king on this one?

He must have read the constitution and the Bill of Rights which make women equal citizens of this coun­try. This document was presented to the people at the cattle byre where all chiefs, including Dambuza, were present.

Are these chiefs more concerned about losing control of their wives more than what they could probably do for the region or the country?

To think we still have traditional leaders so divorced from reality is scary.

This warrants a full probe into the welfare of women in the Shiselweni region where men see evil in a woman in a leadership position. There must be frightening incidents of margina-lisation. It gives a frightening picture of a region with kitchen wives and baby making factories and no 'women'.

Violate

Then we wonder why the Shiselweni region is so far behind in develop­ment. It's a shame and unforgivable. These chiefs must be called to order yesterday and forced to withdraw their statements which violate the rights of women and deprives them of an opportunity to be nominated and voted for. Such statements strip the women of their dignity and worthiness.

The Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) should see to it that women in the Shiselwni region have a free and fair election exercise and not just serve as voters otherwise it makes the entire election exercise under these stone age statements a sham.

To all the women in the region I urge you to vote for women in their numbers. The men who are supposed to look after your interests have labelled you useless for development.

We need a new group of chiefs as these have demonstrated they are not only a threat to development, but to the king.

Pity they are not democratically elected, otherwise the women would be voting them out of office come election day. God help us.


See also
SWAZI WOMEN ELECTION CAMPAIGN ‘EVIL’