Times Of Swaziland: MAN PAYS E500, PUPIL (13) GIVEN AWAY FOR MARRIAGE

MAN PAYS E500, PUPIL (13) GIVEN AWAY FOR MARRIAGE
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Kwanele Dlamini on 01/08/2024 09:34:00


MBABANE – The Department of Social Welfare rushed to rescue a 13-year-old
pupil, who was allegedly given away by her family for marriage to an over 40
years old man of Lomahasha.
The mother of the minor is alleged to have accepted an amount of E500 from the
family of the man to kick-start the process of marrying *Thandeka, who is a
Grade VI pupil in one of the schools in the Lubombo Region. According to the
Social Welfare Department, Thandeka was already performing wifely duties at the
homestead of Magwaza Mbatha, when she was rescued on July 16, 2024. She is said
to have met Magwaza at a traditional healer’s homestead, where there was a
ceremony (litjempe). The traditional healer’s homestead is situated next to
where Thandeka resides with her mother. Thandeka is currently kept in a safe
house, pending finalisation of investigations by the Social Welfare Department.
However, Thandeka’s mother and elder sister want the department to bring her
back home and have since instituted legal proceedings.
Thandeka recorded a statement with the police and said she resided at Nduma with
her biological mother. *Thandeka’s father, according to her mother, requested
her to abort the pregnancy, but she refused and opted to keep it. Her father is
said to have rejected her and he resides in the Republic of South Africa. In her
statement with the police, Thandeka said in March 2024, she was alone at home as
her mother was in church. She said she heard the beating of drums at the
traditional healer’s homestead nearby, where there was litjempe (traditional
dance of traditional healers). Thandeka stated that around 4pm, she decided to
go back home. Along the way, she said, she met Magwaza, who was unknown to her
at the time. The minor said Magwaza introduced himself and proposed love to her,
telling her that he would like to marry her.
Sister
Thandeka told the police that she informed Magwaza that she was too young to be
a wife. “He continued to say that what he was saying was true and he would not
disappoint me. He then gave me his sister’s phone number, but I forgot it and
went home while he proceeded to a Mthembu homestead (home of the traditional
healer, where the ceremony was taking place).
“Before he went away, he asked me to give him my phone number, but I told him
that I did not have one and he said I must give him my mother’s number and I
did,” Thandeka said.
She further informed the police that Magwaza called on her mother’s cellphone
and the latter asked her who the caller was.
According to Thandeka, she told her mother that she did not know and further
that she did not know what Magwaza and her mother had talked about on the phone.
She went on to tell the police that on a particular day, her mother was not at
home and she had left her cellphone behind when Magwaza called. “I answered
the call and he continued to say that he wants to marry me. On that day, I
agreed and said ‘ngiyavuma kuba ngumfati wakho (I agree to be your wife)’
and he said ‘ngiyabonga’ (thank you).’  “On yet another day, my mother
was not at home and had left her cellphone behind, Magwaza called and said his
family wants to meet me. I told him that I would come,” narrated Thandeka to
the police.
The minor further informed the police that Magwaza once again called and
requested her to visit him and she agreed. She said she went to the bus station
and boarded a bus to visit him.
The minor stated that she asked for directions to the Mbatha homestead, when she
arrived at his home area. She said at the Mbatha homestead, she did not know
what had been discussed and she spent some time with Magwaza’s sister.  In the
evening, she stated, she went to sleep after Magwaza had arrived. “At first we
did not have sexual intercourse but later we had sexual intercourse once without
a condom. It was painful. I told him so, but he said at first it is painful. It
was my first time to have sexual intercourse with a boy,” she recorded in her
statement.
Thandeka further mentioned that in April 2024, Gogo Hlatsi and Mkhulu Mbatha
told her that she had to go with a Maseko man to show him her parental
homestead. She said Maseko spoke with her uncle, since her mother was not at
home and he left for Shewula. The minor informed the police that on May 5, 2024,
she went back to Magwaza’s homestead at Shewula and he gave her E300 and told
her to go back home since schools were about to open.
Parents
Meanwhile, *Dudu said in April 2024, she was called by Thandeka’s mother,
Dudu, and ignored her at first. She said she later went to the homestead and
found Thandeka’s mother with Absalom Maseko, the man who had been sent by
Magwaza’s parents to tell her that Thandeka was at their homestead. Maseko
also told them that he had been sent by Magwaza’s family to inform them that
he wanted to marry their daughter. Dudu said since Thandeka is a minor, she
advised him that she would not tolerate that, because she was supposed to be in
school when they reopened. She said the other woman, who was present with them,
asked Maseko what the Mbatha family had provided to prove that indeed they
wanted to marry Thandeka.
“Absalom (Maseko) then took out E500 and said this is a fine for inkhomo
yemabhodo (for making Thandeka cook for the Mbatha family). I told them that I
did not want anything that would associate me with this, since it is a serious
offence,” said Dudu.
Thandeka’s mother is said to have taken the money and Maseko left. Magwaza’s
parents are alleged to have advised him that Thandeka was a minor and too young,
so she had to go back home to be in school.
*Mot real names to protect minor.