By Zweli Martin Dlamini

The achievement of the country in enacting the Sexual Offenses and Domestic Violence(SODV) Act should be attributed to, among others, the appointment of women editors in the media.

It should be noted that after the appointment of the then Times Assistant editor Cassandra Shaw and Swazi Observer’s Nomthantazo Nkambule, both newspapers managed to influence the enactment of the Domestic Violence Act with the Times taking the lead by creating awareness about Gender Based Violence.

The appointment of women editors benefitted the whole country because through their selection and prioritization of GBV stories, the country and the international partners managed to realize that we have a serious problem in this country, women were abused with impunity.

It is therefore important to understand that appointing women into positions of authority is every important so that the country can benefit from the diversity of ideas and skills from both women and men.

Now, we have the SODV Act because women editors managed to open our eyes by prioritizing these issues until we realized the problem, that’s the power of the media.

It is very unfortunate to note that after all the efforts by the media and women rights organizations, the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office is failing to declare Gender Based Violence as a national disaster.

DPM Themba Masuku always attends women rights organizations events but one wonders what is preventing him from declaring GBV as a national disaster at the time when women are killed by men in this country? 

It is important to note that it is not only GBV that needs to be prioritized, violence in this country is fast becoming a serious issue particularly because it is perpetrated by the State, during the political unrest, soldiers and the police were seen assaulting women with impunity.

We can’t discourage violence at domestic level and then allow State institutions to perpetrate it, violence against women and men must be discouraged, we want to live in peace.

Maybe, we need a woman Deputy Prime Minister who will understand the significance of declaring Gender Based Violence(GBV) as a disaster, it seems like Senator Themba Masuku is snoring.

Perhaps, let me lecture Masuku about the significance of declaring GBV a national disaster, maybe he will understand and take action.

Your Excellency, the Deputy Prime Minister, declaring GBV as a national disaster will raise awareness locally and internationally so that the world can allocate resources to various women rights organizations including Government to fight GBV.

This include but not limited to, the training of police officers under the Domestic Violence Unit, the law enforcement agency remains a major player in enforcing the law as a deterrence measure.

Journalists will also receive training on ethical reporting on issues of GBV so that the media can influence the fight against  Gender Based Violence.

Your Excellency, declaring GBV as a national disaster will also assist the various women rights organizations when engaging international partners to prioritize eSwatini in the fight against GBV and this might include allocating resources so that the organizations can visit communities and educate people about GBV.

Furthermore, this will influence the establishment of various programs that seek to educate the public about GBV and capacitate even Judges and prosecutors to understand how to handle cases of domestic violence.

Now that women rights organizations have decided to march to the DPM offices, I hope the media will put pressure on Senator Themba Masuku to declare GBV as a national disaster.

It is important for Masuku to understand that women are being killed while the Government delays to declare GBV as a national disaster, this is a very serious crisis that needs to be prioritized.