THUMBS UP WINNIE

Sir,

Thank you for allowing me space to give thumbs up to Comrade Minister of Labour and Social Security Winnie Magagula.

This honourable lady almost consistently refuses to be a push-over allowing anyone to score social or political points at her expense. That alone makes her a woman of substance. Being my former classmate at the UNISWA School of law, I have known her to be dedicated, enthusiastic, an independent thinker, self-driven, down to earth and willing to learn and contribute. This was despite her apparent success as a person.

At varsity she used to receive the same retribution from no nonsense lecturers like Dr Vukor Quashie as the rest of us, without remembering or putting on the helmet of her social status for by then she was an already accomplished figure in the socio-politic-economic circles of Swaziland.

By distancing herself from the recent march called by the TUCOSWA women’s wing she has reminded me that true comradeship is not about taking up placards and marching in the streets but a carefully independently thought process of engagement, interactions and social discourse with whomsoever one may be aggrieved against. It is high time that women take a leaf from this minister and learn that feminine liberation is not equal responsibility liberation.

Women must remember that every right has a corresponding responsibility. Yes, Section 28(3) of the Constitution allows women a measure of freedom in subjectively choosing a custom they wish to uphold, moreover that’s where it ends, it’s subjective. Objectively a woman whose conscience is opposed to mourning cannot therefore expect to mingle with Their Majesties just because she refuses to wear the mourning gown. She has the responsibility to excuse such a gathering for her right not to mourn only applies subjectively. The public will still view her as in mourning, therefore that having been said I would like to commend the minister for showing respect not only for Their Majesties on the day but upholding this principle of life, for she being a lawyer, knows that this subjectively viewed may not be so objectively viewed.

Swazi Law and Custom will remain intact despite the advent of infiltrations from civil law and western culture. Honourable Justice Majahenkhaba Dlamini has even pronounced in the Supreme Court judgement of Mduduzi Masiko Dlamini - Supreme Court Case No. 33/2017 that where two people enter into a dual marriage, these two marriages operate side by side, they are not mutually destructive such that the man who tekas his wife then later marries her in terms of Civil Rites, can later lawfully teka another wife in Swazi Law and Custom without it being bigamy, for the second marriage to the other wife may not be a marriage fully recognised under the Marriage Act but surely one fully recognised under Swazi Law and Custom.

The honourable judge concludes that western culture was not introduced to destroy custom. In view of the foregoing women, ought to be careful that their western culture entrenched rights do not erode their customary expected responsibilities, for once an African always an African.
It’s not by default but by the design of the highest system of norms controlled by the Almighty himself.

Dumisa Khumalo

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