Nearly 500 women in
Swaziland had been sexually assaulted in the period January to July 2017,
according to police reports.
But this is nothing new in
the kingdom where women are routinely treated as second class citizens.
In a media release Chief
Police Information and Communications Officer Khulani Mamba said 466 sexual
violence cases against women had been reported across Swaziland. Of these 237
were rape cases, 98 statutory rape and there were 24 reported cases of attempted
rape.
In 2015 a survey conducted in Swaziland suggested four in 10 women believe that a husband
was justified in beating his wife because he is the head of the
household.
The APA news agency said at the time a demographic health survey called the
Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey Comparative Report 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.”’
It added, ‘Clinical
Psychologist Ndo Mdlalose describes this as an abusive mentality where men also
tend to claim they are correcting their women by beating them.’
The world famous medical
journal, the Lancet in 2009 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 is so low that they are practically starved at meal times, because men folk eat first and if there is not
enough food for everyone, the women must go without.
Women, who under
traditional Swazi law are treated as children and are in effect owned by their
husbands or fathers, were 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.
See also
SWAZI CULTURE LETS WOMEN
STARVE
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2009/04/swazi-culture-lets-women-starve.html
TWISTED SWAZI MEN RAPE CHILDREN
TWISTED SWAZI MEN RAPE CHILDREN
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2009/03/twisted-swazi-men-rape-children.html
SHOCKING LIVES FOR SWAZI WOMEN
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2008/06/shocking-lifes-for-swazi-women.html
SHOCKING LIVES FOR SWAZI WOMEN
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