Uncensored sex sceneS aired by Swazi TV
MBABANE – Swazi TV showed uncensored sex scenes on Tuesday night, during a programme on prime time.
The programme, a drama series called ‘Secrets and Lies’ was produced and recommended by an anti HIV/AIDS organisation known as Lusweti. The programme was aired at 7:30pm. This is prime time when most young children get to watch TV.
Although the short film was educational, Swazi TV did not give an age restriction or warning about some of the scenes prior. Lusweti’s Advocacy and Marketing Coordinator Zanele Zwane acknowledged that it was an oversight on their part.
They did not issue a warning of the drama’s age restriction to Swazi TV, when giving them the programme. She said she was aware that some of the dramas contained scenes not suitable for young viewers.
“We usually send out programmes with an age restriction of 13 years and request that they be aired during prime time but we did not relay such a massage when giving out this particular series, which was a very big mistake on our side,” she explained.
Zwane said Lusweti sincerely apologises to the families of young children who might have been exposed to such scenes, and to the entire viewership of the Swazi TV. She said this was a once-off thing and that in the future they would ensure that such a blunder was not repeated.
The coordinator encouraged people to continue watching these dramas because not only were they educational, but they also made it easy for parents to engage in influential sexuality discussions with their children, after watching.
Meanwhile, Swazi TV’s Programming Coordinator Nomcebo Mbhamali when reached yesterday morning, declined commenting on the matter without first getting permission from the station’s CEO Vukani Maziya.
In the afternoon, another call was made and her phone was answered by another person who said Mbhamali was in a meeting.
The film in question was produced in South Africa. It educates people on the dangers of having multiple sexual partners, engaging in unsafe sex and how this increased their chances of contracting the drea-ded disease and also passing it on to other people, and also the possi-bility of the prevention of mother to child transmission.