Being widowed doesn’t make you unfit to hold office

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

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