Good news for women

Speaking before conservative traditional religious leaders last week, King Mswati III scoffed at the notion of equal rights for women. "What rights? God created people, and He gave them their roles in society. You cannot change what God has created. This is an abomination before God." But the draft constitution King Mswati accepted a few days later has drawn praise from women's empowerment groups locally and abroad for ending centuries of second-class citizenship and domestic servitude for women. Chapter IV, which deals with the Protection and Promotion of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, says in Section 29, on the Rights and Freedoms of Women, "Women have the right to equal treatment with men, and that right shall include equal opportunities in political, economic and social activities." Less concrete, but signaling the constitutional authors' intent, was the next clause: "Subject to the availability of resources, the government shall provide facilities and opportunities necessary to enhance the welfare of women, to enable them to realise their full potential and advancement." One way to achieve this goal, at no cost to government, is through a parliamentary quota system established in the section devoted to the legislature. Eight of the 20 members the Swazi monarch appoints to the 30-member House of Senate must be women. Of the 10 additional senators, nominated by the MPs of the lower House of Assembly and approved by the king, five must be women. In the House of Assembly itself, one woman MP will be elected from each of the kingdom's four administrative districts to join 60 elected and 10 royally appointed MPs. Political observers felt that Swazi women were under-represented among elected MPs, with only two serving in the current House of Parliament. The draft constitution seeks to address the imbalance. Women in Law in Southern Africa's Swaziland chapter worked with the Constitutional Drafting Commission on gender rights issues. Of particular concern to Women in Law were customary practices that degraded or endangered women. "There is 'kuteka', where a widow is forced to live with her deceased husband's brother, and becomes one of his wives in a polygamous household. This practice has been linked to the spread of AIDS," said Zakhe Hlanze, chief researcher for Women in Law. Mourning periods have also been hotly contested by modern Swazi women. By custom a woman may not appear in public for two years after her husband's death. Recently, Chief Electoral Officer Robert Twala said widows could not stand as candidates in this October's parliamentary elections, because voting is done at royal venues and traditionally women may not enter these because they are "unclean". "This causes great hardship for mothers who have to support children," said Doo Aphane, former national coordinator for the organisation. "By custom, a man's goods go to his family, and they often leave the widow with absolutely nothing," she said. As the draft constitution is dissected to see if its provisions are superior or subordinate to Swazi Law and Custom, which King Mswati said must be obeyed, one clause seems unambiguous: "A woman shall not be compelled to undergo or uphold any custom to which she is in conscience opposed." "This means an end to lengthy mourning periods - to something reasonable a woman can live with. The 'widow inheritance' where the dead man's wife goes to the brother, and other cultural practices, need not be observed, and this is real social change," said lawyer Fikile Mtembu.

SWAZILAND: Special report on the draft constitution SWAZILAND: Human rights and the draft constitution SWAZILAND: Interview with head of Constitutional Drafting Committee