WOMEN GBV ACTIVISTS AT MASHUMI CASE SPARK DEBATE

MBABANE – An observation has been made on how organisations against gender-based violence crammed the Shiselweni Magistrates Court but none were visible in Mbabane.

In the Shiselweni-based court, Nhlangano Town Council Interim Committee Chairperson Mashumi Shongwe had made an appearance after being implicated in the death of his wife, who was shot dead. Shongwe made his court appearance on Monday. On the same day, three accused persons were also making an appearance at the Mbabane Magistrates Court for the death of a popular inyanga, Malungisa ‘Bayamzonda’ Matsenjwa. The deceased’s wife was part of the trio who have been arrested for the murder. A group of women were seen demonstrating outside the Shiselweni Magistrates Court, where Shongwe had appeared on Monday, though no activist was in sight when Nonhlanhla Matsenjwa appeared alongside Bhekithemba Matsenjwa and a minor for the alleged murder of Malungisa. This sparked a debate among many on various social media platforms, mostly questioning how the gender-based violence (GBV) activists choose whom to support.

One of those who had something to say about the issue questioned whether ‘gender’ simply referred to women only. “A man was (allegedly) killed, no demonstration. A woman was killed, all round demonstrations, where do we draw the line?” a social media user asked. Another said the activists should not be seen to be biased in their advocacy and support role or they would not be taken seriously. “Let us be fair in our approach and be seen to embrace all people,” the user said.

Rubbished

Some critics centred their assertions on the belief that women condoned each other as they shunned appearing in court to support the family of the killed traditional healer. Such comments have, however, been rubbished by the women’s rights activists groups in the country. Swatini Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA) Communications Officer Sakhile Dlamini said the observers who were men, were speaking from a point of patriarchal privilege on how women should behave. Dlamini said men wanted to dictate what should be happening and how the women’s organisations had to operate. These men, she said, were speaking as observers and not participants. “We want them to move from their seat of observing and become participants if they see something they are not happy about and drive the change that they want to see,” she said. Dlamini said when men saw women protesting against men who were perpetrators of GBV, they should join the protest.  She said their job was mainly empowering communities to stand up for their rights and act accordingly. Dlamini said the empowerment was on all sides, both male and female, adding that taking forward such empowerment was up to the individual. She said seeing women stand up to support each other was good news to them. “We are not complaining about that and not criticising and if men see a gap, they should close it,” she added. According to Dlamini, men wanted women to do things on their behalf while they folded their arms. “Men are very bold at being critics of things that were happening and done by women,” she observed.

Victims

She said women had been victims of GBV for the longest time and the community was aware of it, while they were not used to female perpetrators.  Dlamini said they had not come across any difficulty in law enforcement when dealing with issues involving female perpetrators. Also, she said as an organisation, they did not show up in court at all times as they had other work commitments and clients to attend to.  She said the Mashumi case was long overdue and was already looking as if justice was failing.  “Justice delayed is justice denied, which is exactly what the people were feeling,” she said. Furthermore, she said by women demonstrating, it was a form of celebrating that finally justice had been served.
She said GBV, where a male perpetrates violence on a woman, was much more prevalent and, as a result, it was being normalised. Dlamini said most often, the men did not care what happened in those cases, yet suddenly when a woman was a perpetrator they were expected to support men.

One Billion Rising Director Colani Hlatshwako said people were fed up with the violence against women and killings. This, she said, was happening at a high rate compared to violence against men and boys. “What we should be asking ourselves, as a society, is where we have lost it?” she said. She said the society needed to turn things around and become peaceful and have justice served. Hlatshwako said in most cases, where women had been abused, the law was not applied.

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