Home | News | ALLOW FREE, FAIR PARTICIPATION OF WIDOWS IN NOMINATIONS - EBC

ALLOW FREE, FAIR PARTICIPATION OF WIDOWS IN NOMINATIONS - EBC

14/07/2023 08:12:00 Sabelo Majola

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MBABANE – The participation of widows in the nominations process of the 2023 General Elections squarely rests on the shoulders of chiefs.

This is because the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) will rely on community leaders to provide a neutral venue, which will accommodate all groups of society, including widows in mourning gowns. The nominations, which are the second phase of the elections, after the registration process, will be held on July 22-23. Subsequent to that, it will be the primary elections and then the secondary elections.

Proposal

During stakeholder submissions on the recently passed Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2023 in Parliament over two months ago, a proposal was made by Lutsango (women regiment) to the EBC that widows who were mourning the death of their husbands during the electoral year, should be permitted to remove their gowns to participate in the elections. Lutsango submitted that there was fear that widows were indirectly discriminated against in the electoral process, hence the proposal to the EBC to have them remove their mourning gowns during the electoral year. The Lutsango said this would be for widows who had at least been in mourning gowns during the electoral year, and be permitted to participate in the elections.

However, the proposal was met with a negative response from members of the Portfolio Committee of the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, who shared that such issues were well dealt with at family level. The Chairperson of the Committee, MP Sibusiso Mabhanisi Dlamini, shared that being in a mourning gown was a custom and they did not want to be seen to be participating in processes that would clash with the country’s customs.

He said the best way to deal with this was to convene as family members and reach a consensus whether to permit the individual, if the family deemed it fit, to participate in the elections. However, EBC Communications Officer Mbonisi Bhembe shared that their wish was for widows and every other group in society to be allowed to participate in all the election processes, which included the nominations, primary and secondary stages.

Bhembe said it was in this spirit that they were relying on community elders to accommodate the widows by identifying a central space, outside of the known nomination or voting centres or imiphakatsi, but within the territory of that umphakatsi, which would be utilised by all groups of society, including widows, in order for the exercise to be inclusive. He said some people were uncomfortable participating freely at imiphakatsi, but would be at ease going to the allocated spaces outside of imiphakatsi to participate in the elections.

He asserted that in the recently ended voters validation exercise, they had strived to make it fluid and accessible to the people by taking the exercise out of the umphakatsi and bringing it closer to the people, so that it would be central and easily accessible to all groups of society. “We are welcoming to the idea of everyone participating in the elections, no matter the circumstances. We are cognisant that some circumstances are customary and we have no authority over them. We are relying on community elders and every relevant stakeholder to ensure that all groups of society, including people with disabilities and widows, participate freely and fairly in the elections and we treat them with the highest level of professionalism in the sense that they do not even wait in lines, but are given that preferential treatment,” he said.

Bhembe mentioned that in one of the previous election years, a woman who had just lost her husband was nominated during the by-elections for bucopho, after the initial winner passed on. He shared that the woman got support from her constituency and the people of the inkhundla were behind her. “It is possible to accommodate the widows because we get to see them almost every day at government service centres, in buses and in town. We mingle with them, go to church with them and we should learn to be culturally tolerant and accommodating,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ntfonjeni Chief Prince Magudvulela, who is an outgoing Senator, shared that the EBC was right that community leaders should see it fit to allocate a neutral venue outside of the imiphakatsi, where the electorate would gather for the nominations exercise. The chief said he once did the same during the 2018 elections, where he directed that the exercise should be done at Ndlalambi High School, seeing that there was an aspiring candidate who was in mourning gowns. However, he shared that at the time, he was misjudged for what he had directed, as people assumed that he was issuing it out of respect for the aspiring candidate, something he said was far from the truth.

Customs

He highlighted that the country’s customs regarded widows in mourning gowns highly, so much that they were given preferential treatment in public service areas. “However, this is not to say they should be treated like outsiders. Elections should be free and fair and it is in that spirit that they should also be accommodated,” he said. Chief Gija, who is a former chairperson of the EBC, stated that emaSwati knew their culture and respected it. He shared that it was even provided for in the Bible that a woman in mourning gowns should respect that period and shy away from public events.

However, the chief said the elections were an exception because that was where the government of the country was determined and everybody deserved a fair chance to be part of that process. “Widows in gowns should be allowed to participate in the elections, and stand for nomination. They should be part of the country’s progress so that when the time comes that they remove the mourning gowns; they appreciate the progress the country has made, having participated in it. EmaSwati should not take offence of that,” he said.

Clause

During the stakeholder submissions, Gender Coordinator in the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office Nomzamo Dlamini stated, on behalf of Lutsango, that the EBC should consider including a clause in the Elections Act that would see widows being granted permission, just like any other citizen, to participate in the elections, at least after six months of mourning. “The way our society handles the issue of women in mourning gowns has seen most of them being discriminated against and not afforded the chance to participate in the elections. Our proposal is that women, who have at least been in mourning gowns for six months, should be allowed to participate in the elections,” she said. However, that amendment was not included in the Bill and widows were advised to seek consent from their families if they wished to remove mourning gowns to participate in the elections.