CORRUPTION THE CAUSE OF LESS WOMEN IN PARLY - COLANI HLATJWAKO

MBABANE – The buying of votes puts women at a disadvantage.

One Billion Rising African Regional Coordinator Colani Hlatjwako cited corruption as one of the reasons there were fewer women who eventually made it to Parliament. Hlatjwako was reacting to His Majesty King Mswati III’s call, that he made at Sibaya on Tuesday. The King urged the nation to conduct free and fair elections. His Majesty also urged the electorate to favour women as well as people with disabilities, because they were equally fit to assume political positions. Hlatjwako applauded the call from the King to have women elected into Parliament. Following the King’s call, she said it was crucial for government to follow through the call by having clear strategies on how women could be elected.

responsibility

“It is the responsibility of government to level the playing field. As it is now, our government is not doing enough to ensure that we have equal participation. This requires more resources allocated for this exercise. There are a couple of things that we need to work on to ensure that what the King was talking about is implemented,” she said. The coordinator said there was a high level of corruption that was preventing the chances of women participating fairly in the elections. She said the level of corruption in this country was putting women at a disadvantage. Hlatjwako said there was too much buying of votes, both directly and indirectly. She said most women did not have the money to buy votes, hence they made up only a few percentage in Parliament. “Where there is corruption, you will see few or no women in decision-making positions or Parliament. The face of poverty is female, they do not have money to buy votes and practise corruption in order to go to Parliament,” she said. “For a change this year, we want to see more young women in Parliament. They bring hope for the country’s future.  Let us allow young women to lead for it is high time,” she added.

Hlatjwako also mentioned the need to have a change of mindset and attitude towards women. She called for intensive and inclusive sensitisation throughout the whole country, which should have started years ago. The coordinator said the sensitisation may help uproot the patriarchal mindset that people have been socialised into for many years - that women were of a lesser value that men.

Promoting

“We need the youth, women and men, to play a role in ensuring equal representation. “Promoting equal participation has got layers; this includes changing how we socialise our children.
“Let them see their sisters and mothers given equal opportunities to lead at home or family level,” she said. Further, Hlatjwako said another layer was that of religious bodies or institutions. She said they could also play a huge role in promoting equal participation. Moreover, she said schools were also very important institutions to influence change. She went on to state that community leaders (chiefs) must lead by example when making appointments for any position in the communities. She added that electoral laws guiding the electoral process should also be gender sensitive.

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