A 78-year-old woman in Swaziland was sentenced to nine
months in prison with an option of a fine for ‘disrespecting’ local leaders.
She had refused to attend a meeting called by the
traditional authorities at KaLanga.
The Swazi
Observer newspaper reported on Wednesday (16 May 2018) that Tobhini Dlamini
appeared before the Swazi National Court where she faced a charge of
contravening the Swazi Law and Custom.
‘She was alleged to have wrongfully and intentionally
disrespected the traditional authority of KaLanga Umphakatsi by refusing to
attend a meeting after she was summoned,’ the newspaper reported.
She had been accused of selling Swazi Nation Land to
people wanting to build homesteads. In Swaziland, Swazi Nation Land is under
the control of King Mswati III, who rules as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute
monarch.
Court President Chief Ndlondlo Tsabedze sentenced her
to nine months jail with the option of a E900 (US$70) fine.
Chiefs in Swaziland are appointed by King Mswati and wield
tremendous power over their subjects. They can, for example, determine whether
people are allowed to live in the area, or whether children can attend
universities and colleges. In some cases they decide who lives and who dies as
they are in charge of distributing international food aid to starving
communities. About a third of the population of Swaziland receive food aid each
year.
Chiefs can and do take revenge on
their subjects who disobey them. There is a catalogue of cases in Swaziland.
For example, Chief Dambuza Lukhele of Ngobelweni in the Shiselweni region
banned his subjects from
ploughing their fields because some of them defied his order to build a hut for one of his
wives.
Nhlonipho Nkamane Mkhatswa, chief
of Lwandle in Manzini, the main commercial city in
Swaziland, reportedly stripped a woman of
her clothing in the
middle of a street in full view of the public because she was wearing trousers.
In November 2013, the newly-appointed
Chief Ndlovula of
Motshane threatened to evict nearly 1,000 of his subjects from grazing land if
they did not pay him a E5,000 (about US$500 at the time) fine, the equivalent
of more than six months income for many in Swaziland.
In March 2017 the Swazi Observer reported the EBC told residents
during a voter education exercise at Engwenyameni Umphakatsi, ‘it was not acceptable
have elected politicians to behave as if they were above community leaders’.
It added,
‘Chiefs remain superior to any other person in communities as they are the
administrative arm of His Majesty King Mswati III.’
See also
BULLYING
CHIEFS RULE IN SWAZILAND
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/06/bullying-chiefs-rule-in-swaziland.html
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