Times Of Swaziland: Being widowed doesn’t make  you unfit to hold office

Being widowed doesn’t make  you unfit to hold office
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The editor on 21/08/2013 01:23:00


Sir
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to voice my concern about a story that
appeared in the Sunday’s edition of the Times of Swaziland about Chief
Magu-dvulela decampaigning aspiring Member of Parliament Jennifer Du Pont.
It is a very unfortunate statement by the chief to tell ‘his subjects’ never
to vote for a widow.
If we claim that Tinkhundla is democratic, then we should not be seeing
statements like these in national newspapers; what picture is the chief trying
to paint to the outside world about Swaziland and women’s right?
Eligible
For the benefit of the chief and those who gave him a round of applause when he
said this; democracy is a form of government in which all eligible citizens
participate equally—either directly or through elected representatives—in
the proposal, development, and creation of laws.
Section 98 of the constitution states the reasons that would make a person unfit
to hold office as a member of Parliament and it does not include ‘widowed’.
Therefore the chief’s statement is degrading the constitution which is
supposed to be the supreme law of the country.
In fact this is discrimination against widows and it touches on many aspects of
the rights of women such as Section 28 (1).
Though I am not into Swazi politics because I do not understand them, it was
execrable for the chief to decampaign Jennifer like that in the presence of
other aspiring members.
Perhaps this might also be the EBC’s fault for not educating the chief on what
disqualifies a person from running for elections and I think that in light of
this shocking speech by the chief, this might also mean that if widows cannot be
voted for into Parliament, then widows might as well not vote for anyone, just
to make everything fair.
Understanding
I would like to urge Chief Magudvulela and other chiefs to get a copy of the
constitution; as a foundation of their journey through it, read with
understanding Section 1 and 2.
This will help prevent issuing of such undemocratic orders to the people whereas
the constitution labels Swaziland as ‘democratic’.
And also the EBC as a body that manages elections should make sure that chiefs
have a thorough understanding of the election process itself, so that people in
general do not publicly expose their ignorance and lack of knowledge in the
presence of the media simply because this will tarnish the country’s image.
Thank you
Somkhanda kaSguda