King Mswati III
of Swaziland has told his subjects they are not allowed to divorce. ‘In our culture, once you marry
someone, there is no turning back,’ the King said.
King Mswati,
who rules as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, told Swazi pastors at an Easter service held at the Engabezweni Royal
Residence on Saturday (15 April 2017) marriage was covenant with God.
The Times Sunday newspaper in Swaziland
reported, ‘He said it was wrong for people to break agreements made with God.
He said that in siSwati, there was no word for divorce.’
The newspaper reported the King’s ruling comes after
the office of the Attorney General drafted the Marriage Bill of 2017, which carries
five grounds of divorce and if passed to law will replace the Marriage Act of
1964.
In Swaziland, women,
who under traditional Swazi law are treated as children and are in effect owned
by their husbands or fathers, are expected to live lives devoted to their men
and families. A report on the State of the Population in Swaziland said that
Swazi women were responsible for childbirth, raising the children and taking
care of the entire family.
Women are
expected to give their husbands sex on demand and those who refuse have been
blamed for men who rape children.
A survey in
Swaziland suggested four in 10 women believe that a husband is justified in
beating his wife because he is the head of the household.
This is not the
first time that so-called ‘Swazi culture’ has been investigated.
The APA news agency reported
in 2015 a demographic health survey called the Multiple
Indicator Cluster Survey Comparative Report which gave a number reasons for
wife-beating which included; ‘if she refused to have sex with him, if she
argued with him, if she went out without telling him, if she neglected the
children and if she had sex with other men’.
APA reported,
‘Silindelo Nkosi, the Communication and Advocacy Officer for Swaziland Action
Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA) said, “These beliefs of justifying abuse have
increased to the worst rate resulting in more young women dying in the hands of
their lovers or husbands.”’
The world
famous medical journal, the Lancet reported
that one in three girls in Swaziland
had experienced sexual violence by the age of 18, according to a study.
Sexual violence
was defined as forced intercourse; coerced intercourse; attempted unwanted
intercourse; unwanted touching; and forced touching.
The most common
perpetrators of the first incident of sexual violence were men or boys from the
girl’s neighbourhood or boyfriends or husbands. Over a quarter of all incidents
of sexual violence occurred in the respondent’s own home, with a fifth
occurring at the home of a friend, relative or neighbour.
In June 2008 it was reported that the National Democratic and Health Survey found
that 40 percent of men in Swaziland said it is all right to beat women. The same year, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) found that the status of
some women in Swaziland was so low that they were practically
starved at meal times, because men
folk ate first and if there was not enough food for everyone, the women must go
without.
See also
SWAZI CULTURE LETS WOMEN
STARVE
TWISTED SWAZI MEN RAPE
CHILDREN
SHOCKING LIVES FOR SWAZI
WOMEN
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