Creating the "New Man"

Disturbed by the stereotype of a typical Swazi male as a misogynist and polygamist, Swazi men are determined to show the positive side of African male culture and are reconsidering their roles as husbands, fathers and family providers. "I don't think we knew how bad we were until we started reading news reports about the chauvinistic Swazi man," laughed labour union organiser Charles Mdluli, a member of the Swaziland Alliance of Men. "We are out to prove that Swazi culture provides for strong men who are still sensitive to others." The alliance itself is partly to blame for the views expressed in local news stories, opinion pieces and letters to the editor that Swazi men are reactionary, and oppressors of women. Founded three years ago in response to a call for gender equality by women's empowerment groups, the alliance invited the press to debates where speakers denounced equal treatment for women. "We were reactionary. Even today, many men feel threatened by women's rights. They see it as an attack on their positions. There is a lot of bible quoting about a woman's place being subordinate to a man. But the real fear is a changing society. Women's roles are a just part of that, and not the cause of problems," said Mdluli. "A lot of Swazi men, especially the young guys, are confused by the changes in the country: Western ways, and not the old ways, so there's a loss of identity. Men feel insecure," Mandlambutfo Dlamini, a warrior leader with King Mswati's regiments, told PlusNews. A quiet movement to bolster young Swazi men's identity by reintroducing them to their culture is underway at the traditional thatched warrior barracks, which are located in royal villages. By custom, all Swazi men belong to the regiments of their age-mates. "When a Swazi man becomes confused about who he is, that is when he starts to rape women, and that is when youngsters show disrespect to their elders. No real Swazi man would do those things," said Dlamini. When the regiments assemble for royal assignments, a new type of mentoring is going on. The elders assign respected warriors who possess good knowledge of Swazi customs the job of reacquainting the warriors with a Swazi man's obligation to respect women. "King Somholo had a simple way of taking care of men who raped women, or who even made girls have children out of wedlock. He executed them," Sipho Ngwenya of the Tinkhanyenti regiment told a dozen young warriors, seated on the dirt in a half-circle within a branch enclosure. "Today you get AIDS if you have many girlfriends," he warned. The Swaziland Association of Men is holding meetings to inform its members of provisions in a national draft constitution compelling fathers to take care of any children they sire. "It is too bad that some Swazi men have to be forced by law to do the duty all Swazi men used to do willingly," Martin Shongwe, a farmer and warrior regiment member said. "In the old days marriages were arranged. Marriages were between families, not just couples. You could fall in love, but you had to seek the parents' permission through emissaries from your family if you wanted see her." Courtship rituals from earlier times are not likely to return. But the warrior regiments, whose active membership exceeds 50,000, and the Swaziland Association of Men, which claims several thousand members, are raising issues like incest and abuse in workshops, and by allowing health and social welfare NGOs to send speakers to gatherings. Most Swazi men approached by PlusNews brushed off King Mswati III's remarks last month that women should know their subordinate place in society. In an address to conservative religious leaders, Mswati said about women's rights, "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." "The king was telling the religious leaders what they wanted to hear," said Shongwe. "If he felt women should remain as children in the land, he would not have written the new constitution that guarantees equal rights for women." Although King Mswati has nine wives, one fiancée, and one prospective fiancée, polygamy is practiced less frequently by ordinary Swazi men. "Some people say the age of multiple wives is over because of AIDS, and for financial reasons, because it is just so expensive to maintain more than one household," said lawyer Fikile Mthembu. "But modern Swazi men realise that 24 hours in a day is not enough to be a devoted companion to just one woman."