Swaziland’s Senate
President Gelane Zwane has been ‘banned’ from attending parliament for up to
two years because she is a widow in mourning. Minister of Labour and Social
Security Winnie Magagula has met a similar fate.
Magagula was stopped from
attending the opening of parliament on Friday (16 February 2018).
The two senior politicians
have been caught up in Swazi tradition which dictates that a woman should mourn
her husband for two years and in that time must stay away from public office
and not be close to the King and his mother. King Mswati III rules Swaziland as
sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.
Zwane confirmed to the Times of Swaziland newspaper that she would be staying away from parliament
where she is leader of the Senate. It is also speculated that she will not be
eligible to stand in the national election due later in 2018, nor can she be
appointed to any official position until two years have elapsed. Her husband
Michael was cremated last week.
Meanwhile, Magagula was stopped
from attending the official opening of parliament where King Mswati made his
annual speech from the throne. Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Paul Dlamini told
her not to attend. She separated from her husband Enock Mfanyana Magagula in
1994 and he died last year.
The Sunday Observer newspaper in Swaziland reported (18 February 2018),
‘Magagula revealed that the DPM also informed her not to come close to any
royal residence, Parliament and anywhere where Their Majesties were
present. The minister said when she queried Dlamini on the suspension she was
told it was according to Swazi culture.’
The newspaper added, ‘She stated
that she would follow the directive by the DPM seeing as he was her elder and
she was socialised into obedience.’
The DPM said Magagula could
continue her duties as a minister.
The issue of Swazi culture
and mourning contradicts Section 28 of the Swaziland Constitution which
guarantees that women have the right to equal treatment with men, including
equal opportunities in political, economic and social activities.
Women in Law in
Southern Africa Swaziland Chapter Director Colani Hlatshwayo told the Sunday Observer mourning culture put
women at a disadvantage. She said Swaziland had signed United Nations’ treaties
that encouraged women to participate in politics.
Simangele Mtetwa, who is
responsible for gender issues in the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland
(TUCOSWA), told the Swazi Observer
(19 February 2018) the action against Magagula was, ‘Totally unacceptable, and
I condemn it in the strongest terms it deserves. This paints a gloomy future
for all women in the country.’
She added if the authorities were serious about the
development of the kingdom such practices needed to stop because they were
discriminatory in their nature.
There was a major row at
the election in 2013 when Dumisani Dlamini a chief’s headman in Ludzibini, an
area ruled by Chief Magudvulela a former Swazi Senator, threatened people would
be banished from their homes if they nominated Jennifer du Pont, a widow, for
the upcoming election.
The Times Sunday reported at the time, ‘[Dlamini] warned that those who
would nominate her should be prepared to relocate to areas as distant as five
chiefdoms away. Her sin was that she attended the nominations only a few months
after her husband died.’
The newspaper reported, ‘He
said she should still be mourning her husband.’
The Times reported Du Pont did not wear standard black mourning gowns
and was dressed in a blue wrap-around dress known as sidvwashi.
Enough people in the
chiefdom defied Dlamini and Ms du Pont was duly nominated.
In April 2017, Elections
and Boundaries Commission commissioner Ncumbi Maziya told a voter education
meeting at Bulandzeni Chiefdom that
women in mourning had a constitutional right to stand for election.
However, the Swazi Observer (3 April 2017) reported,
‘He said a person wearing a mourning gown was not allowed to be near His
Majesty the King. If a certain constituency elected a person in such a
situation, it was highly possible that the woman could not attend the
Parliament opening event, where the King would also be in attendance. Maziya
said that was when a woman would have to exercise conscience by at least
standing by the gate of Parliament, to avoid being near the King.’
See also
‘VOTE FOR WIDOW, GET EVICTED’
https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/vote-for-widow-get-evicted.html
