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WOMEN WAKE UP!

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LOOKING at the composition of the Deputy Prime Minister’s Portfolio Committee that has raised the ire of the public following its recommendations to have four critical clauses meant to protect women and girls in the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Bill removed, I see a woman.

She is Mbabane East MP Esther Dlamini who is also the Deputy Speaker in the House of Assembly. Her male colleagues have recommended the removal of abduction, incest, unlawful stalking and flashing from the long awaited Bill of 2015.
One is not privy to her submissions prior to the decision but the mere fact that she is a lone female voice on matters affecting women and girls renders any form of opposition by her an exercise in futility.

This development, sadly enough, takes us back to the subject of women representation in Parliament. It serves as a stern reminder to all the women voters of this country that time has come for them to vote for their own. It also comes at a time where the body count of female victims of abuse is on an upward trajectory with no immediate end in sight. Current legislation is failing to protect our women and girls. The few women voices in national leadership are too insignificant to spearhead any form of change in favour of this vulnerable group.


Numerous efforts to educate women voters over the years have not yielded the desired results. In fact, it has gone from bad to worse. Only one female MP was elected into the 55 member House of Assembly in 2013, which is a darn shame. Some women are still stuck in the past with beliefs that their own are incapable of leadership roles.

Of late they are quick to point out the chaos that our Health Ministry is in under the leadership of Minister Sibongile Simelane; the mess at Home Affairs led by Minister Princess Tsandzile; not to mention the continuous riots in tertiary institutions caused by the delay or lack of scholarships to students which is an annual problem that Minister Winnie Magagula seems unable to resolve and  the woes of the Public Works Ministry led by Lindiwe Dlamini, which is on the verge of starting a transport sector war by introducing a company that would put existing operators out of business.


However, it would be shallow minded of women to look at these examples and conclude the worst of their own because there are ministries led by men that are worse off. We have male dominance in Parliament and Cabinet but the economy is crying out for help. The country is retrogressing at dangerous levels but the urgency to effect the right solutions is conspicuously absent. 


Culture is largely held responsible for the negative perceptions held by women on leadership. This, despite the liberties now afforded women through the Bill of Rights in the national Constitution. Culture is, once again, at the forefront of the debate around the Sexual Offences Bill with the committee holding a strong misogynistic view that these clauses undermine our ancient traditions. This notwithstanding provisions in the Bill that exclude acts acceptable under Swazi Law and Custom practices.


Well it can be said that the committee has done an excellent job of inviting scorn and ridicule to what classifies us as a unique Swazi people. Reasons given for the committee’s decision on the cited clauses include possible abuse and the duplication of legislation. We certainly do not wish to have a duplication of the law but what the committee should be presenting to the House for debate are findings of the application and effectiveness of existing laws and their success in protecting the vulnerable groups from abuse.

We would expect a comparative analysis to help guide the decision on which of the two would do a better job. One would imagine extensive research was done before the Bill was taken to Parliament and these clauses were found necessary due to the failings of the current legislation.
Government still owes the nation a law reform exercise and Bills such as the Sexual Offences Bill are helping to partly speed up the process and therefore must be used to remove the archaic laws that are of no use to modern day living.


One feels sorry for MP Esther Dlamini to be sitting in a room full of men who see her as nothing more than a submissive who should satisfy the whims of her husband and be subjected to abuse without adequate protection. Her task now is to mobilise a woman revolution to take up seats in Parliament. It has been 10 years or more now and still the Sexual Offences Bill is being castrated. What more do they need to convince one another that only women can save themselves!

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