REDEFINING INDEPENDENCE DAY

Sir,

Yesterday was a very important day for Eswatini, Independence Day, the day to celebrate our freedom as a country. It marks the day when as a nation we were declared independent from our colonialists. As a democratic country, we celebrate those very ideals of democracy, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and it particularly means more for anyone who finds faith in the words ‘all men are created equal’. But the spirit of Independence Day is not only about the Kingdom of Eswatini officially becoming a country. It’s about celebrating the values that the country was founded upon. The Constitution states that every person has rights, whether young or old, male or female, and this day signifies the celebration of those rights.

As it is exciting to celebrate the freedom of the country, it is not so thrilling to celebrate the current state of this country as a woman. A lot has been/is being done in contribution towards development, and some highly respected public figures have done a lot for this country, and for women. But we are nowhere near where we should be in terms of equality. Women still hold second class status in society, women’s equality will always be fought against. Then one might wonder who is really celebrating Independence Day in this country? Is it the society, and who is the ‘society’ in this case? Frankly, as women, we find less and less to celebrate about Independence Day.

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We are still not free to choose what to wear, as we are harassed and abused when we dress the way we want. The media reports more and more cases of abused women; raped, beaten up, and ill-treated in all sorts. Women still cannot walk at night by themselves, they cannot walk in the streets without being harassed, and they cannot say their mind without being labelled the B-word. The oppression, demeaning and cruelty against women is the order of the day, and then there’s a day put aside to celebrate independence? Who is really meant to celebrate this day? We are really thankful for all forms of freedom. However, freedom of choice is what should really be celebrated in a broader sense than just the constitutional right for women to choose as it relates to bearing children.  Overall, our ability to make our choices for what we want and want best for our lives is a freedom every human being of sound mind should be afforded. The foundation and sole purpose of this day should be to fight against all forms of oppression and sexist norms so that women and men can be equal and can be who they are without fear of persecution, this should be the basis of our country’s Constitution!

This day should really be about encouraging society to regard equality as a virtue, as the best of who we are as humanity, rather than a day to skip work and come together to celebrate the freedom of ‘some’ people. On this day, the women of this country owe it to themselves, and to their country, to make the contribution they were born to make, the world deserves to hear from them! Some may say Independence Day has lost its meaning, but that is not true – the meaning attached to it has simply aged. As much as we celebrate liberation from colonialism, we should also celebrate respect, appreciation and love towards each other as a nation, as much as we should be celebrating the country’s economic, political and social achievements. When everything in this world advances and changes, why shouldn’t the meaning of Independence Day? It is called development and moving forward, things are changing around us, let us change with them.

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