Two women
in their thirties, described as ‘virgins’ have been locked away in their remote
home in Swaziland (eSwatini) for the past seven years and will remain
imprisoned until husbands are found for them – in the name of religion.
Hleziphi, aged 34, and
Ncobile Mphaphu, aged 32, of KaShewula, in Mnyamatsini, are members of the
Shembe Nazareth Church, which is a combination of Zulu culture and Old
Testament Christianity.
Phiwase Phungwayo, the Times of eSwatini
reporter who discovered the two women, wrote, ‘One of the women was said to
have been crippled from staying indoors for such a long time.’
The Times spoke to
the women’s mother Josephine who confirmed the two were virgins. The Times
reported, ‘According to the mother, a voice appeared to them through a dream
from their God. She claims that it informed the women to seclude from the world
and serve Him until the right time for them to become wives, a time which till
today, had not been revealed.’
The Times was denied
access to the women for an interview. ‘This, according to Josephine, was an
abomination and was strictly against the Shembe culture,’ it reported.
It added, ‘When explaining
the women’s confinement, the mother says it is called kugoma, meaning a sacred
time for women to set apart from the world and be confined in a room until
their God appeared to them in a dream to inform them when to return to the
world. She says this is done by women who are 20 and above.’
It quoted the mother
saying, ‘They stay in their room and are not allowed to do anything except to
pray and communicate with our god.’
The mother told the Times
that church elderly women who are also virgins would arrange for men who were seeking
wives to meet with the virgin girls. ‘The mother articulated that the men who
were interested in taking a wife would then indicate which woman he was
interested in and it was up to the woman if she also approved of the man.’
The mother said the Shembe
religion was ‘observant and obedient of the eSwatini [Swazi] traditional
customs’.
The Times spoke to Shembe
Nazareth Church senior member Qedusizi Ndlovu who said the women’s culture was ‘bizarre
and unacceptable in this religion’. He said, ‘There is no such law in the
Shembe culture since its establishment in the country in 1926.’
The case highlights the position of women in Swaziland
where by tradition they are considered to be owned by their fathers or their
husbands.
Women remain oppressed in Swaziland and a main reason
for this is King Mswati III who rules as an absolute monarch, according to
report on women in the kingdom published in 2016.
ACTSA (Action for Southern Africa) reported that
despite claims that Swaziland was a modern country, ‘the reality is, despite
pledges and commitments, women continue to suffer discrimination, are treated
as inferior to men, and are denied rights.’
ACTSA added, ‘The King has demonstrated he is
unwilling to change the status quo and promotes multiple aspects of the
patriarchal society.’
In a briefing paper called Women’s Rights in Swaziland ACTSA
said, ‘Swaziland has a deeply patriarchal society, where polygamy and violence
against women are normalised, deeply unequal cultural and religious norms, and
a male monarch who is unwilling to make any change. All this contributes
towards the daily discrimination faced by women.’
In March 2018 the European Union in Swaziland began
funding a three-year project called Supporting Women Empowerment & Equality
in Swaziland (SWEES) to advocate for and support women’s rights in the kingdom.
In September 2018 a report published
by Afrobarometer found women’s rights continued to be ‘a challenging issue’
in Swaziland.
‘Violence and abuse are a major development concern in
eSwatini profoundly affecting women and children,’ the report stated.
About one in three women experienced some form of
sexual violence as a child, and one in four experienced other forms of physical
violence as a child.
See also
Woman,
36, in Swaziland beaten and ordered to leave home because she is not married
No comments:
Post a Comment