Evidence is growing in Swaziland that
traditionalists do not support a constitutional change to ensure 30 percent of
members of the House of Assembly are women.
It has taken 10 years for a Bill to reach parliament
and on Monday (21 May 2018) debate on it was halted because some members left the
house leaving fewer than the necessary quorum of 30 in place.
During the debate on the Election of Women Members to the House of Assembly
Bill, Mbabane
West Member of Parliament (MP) Johane Shongwe said that wives should not stand
for election unless they had the permission of their husbands. His comments
were reported prominently by both of Swaziland’s daily newspapers.
The Times
of Swaziland,
reported he ‘had
some of his colleagues in stitches while others were seething with anger’.
The Times reported, ‘In his usual funny tone’, Shongwe said he was in
favour of passing the Bill but had an issue with the fact that some of the
women who would be nominated would be people’s wives.
It added, he queried, ‘If I
nominate someone’s wife, who will I say gave me the permission?’
The Swazi Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III,
who rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, reported
Shongwe saying, ‘It is difficult for women to nominate one another in
chiefdoms. Therefore, it is advisable for them to get permission from their
husbands. I was nominated by a woman to be where I am right now, to show that
most women would rather nominate a man than another woman.’
The Observer reported, ‘The legislator further said women MPs would
sometimes attend workshops at places far away from their homes. This would mean
they would have to go for days without sleeping next to their husbands at home.
MP Shongwe said this could pose a problem for the husband, especially if his
permission was not sought by the wife before taking the politics path.’
Later, Silindelo Nkosi,
Advocacy Officer, for the Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA), said,
‘This is clear backward thinking. While the rest of the world is advocating and
promoting gender equality, it is rather worrying to have a prominent public
figure making such an irresponsible statement with no shame.’
In Swaziland, political
parties are not allowed to run for election. The King chooses 10 of the 65
members of the House of Assembly and 10 members of the 30-strong Senate.
Members of the House of Assembly choose the other 20.
The Constitution that came
into effect in 2006 requires five women to be elected to the Senate by the
House and the King to choose another eight. There have been two national
elections since the Constitution came into effect and the required number of
women members of parliament has not been met.
On representation in the
House of Assembly, the Constitution states, ‘The nominated members of the House
shall be appointed by the King so that at least half of them are women.’
It also requires there are
four female members specially elected from the four regions of Swaziland.
The Election of Women
Members to the House of Assembly Bill will put into legal force the
constructional requirements. It was tabled in the House of Assembly in April 2018 on the instruction of the King. It is hoped that
it would become law before the next national election due later in 2018.
There has been opposition
to the change across the kingdom. In the past year, the Elections and
Boundaries Commission (EBC) ran a series of voter-education workshops and
conferences.
Chiefs at a capacity
building conference in Siteki in February 2017 spoke against encouraging the
electorate to vote for women for gender-balance reasons, the Swazi Observer reported at the time.
‘The traditional leaders said this may be equal to interfering with the
people’s choices or rather channelling them into voting against their will but
adhere to an order.’
It added, Chief Mdlaka
Gamedze raised the issue and he said the call by many organisations to vote for
women might lead to interference with the people’s choices.
‘Instead, Gamedze urged the
EBC team to encourage the freedom to nominate or elect any member of the
society without considering whether it is a male or female,’ the Observer reported.
‘Meanwhile, Chief Mvimbi
Matse reported that some women were denied the opportunity to contest for the
elections by their husbands. Matse said there have been instances where women
were nominated during the first stage but later withdrew after their husbands
instructed them to do so. However, Matse said they would now work closely with
the EBC to make sure that such incidents are not repeated in the future,’ the
newspaper reported.
At a voter education
workshop at KaGucuka in June 2017, One women, reported by the Swazi
Observer at the time, said most women of the area feared being nominated
for the elections because they would be questioned and even disowned by their
husbands.
It reported a woman who did
not want to be named saying, ‘To be very honest, the reason why this small area
has never had a female nominee for elections is because we fear our husbands
who will question us on how we got nominated to stand for the elections in the
first place. We have heard that a successful nominee requires at least 10
people to nominate them to stand for the elections, unfortunately for us women
our husbands will get angry at us when we get nominated.’
Women remain oppressed in
Swaziland, according to report published in 2016 by ACTSA (Action for Southern
Africa). It 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’.
In a briefing paper called Women’s
Rights in Swaziland ACTSA reported,
‘Cultural gender norms dictate that women and girls provide the bulk of
household-related work, including physical and emotional care. As a result,
girls are under pressure to drop out from school, especially where there are
few adults available to care for children and the elderly, for example, in
child-headed households.’
Despite the misgivings of
traditionalists, the Bill will certainly be passed because
King Mswati has instructed it.
Barnabas Dlamini, the Swazi Prime Minister, is on record saying government
belonged to His Majesty and it took instructions from him to implement them to
the letter, without questioning them. In 2012 the Times Sunday newspaper
reported him saying, ‘Government listens when His Majesty
speaks and we will always implement the wishes of the King and the Queen Mother.’
The PM said Cabinet’s position on the matter was that
it respected His Majesty’s position on all matters he spoke about. He said
Cabinet just like the nation, heard what the King said and his wishes would be
implemented.
See also
BILL TO GET WOMEN IN PARLIAMENT
NEW DRIVE FOR SWAZI WOMEN’S RIGHTS
WIDOWS CAN STAND IN SWAZI ELECTION
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2017/04/widows-can-stand-in-swazi-election.html
