MBABANE:Eswatini Queen Ntombi Tfwala allegedly violated international and the country’s laws protecting children by exposing young girls to a traditional alcohol drinking ceremony held at Hlane Royal Residence last weekend.
The Buganu Ceremony is an annual event hosted by King Mswati and his Mother Ntombi Tfwala where thousands of women come together to drink alcohol and socialize with men.
Efforts to reach Dumsani Mnisi,the Director of Save the Children eSwatini proved unsuccessful at the time of compiling this report.
Responding to this publication when asked to share a comment,Sibongile Mazibuko, a former Deputy Headteacher and President of the Ngwane National Liberatory Congress(NNLC)said, the country “has the Child Protection Act” that protects children from being exposed to harmful environments including buganu drinking spree.
The NNLC President alleged that, the Buganu ceremony “is sometimes” marred by acts not meant to be witnessed by minor children.
“It happened during the last event in the same place where the nearby primary school kids were forced to pick up condomns from the venue,that’s why we’re disappointed to see young children seating and slumbering behind the Queen Mother at a ceremony that lasted for very long hours since they were even deprived resting hours,we condemn such action”, said the NNLC President.
But King’s Spokesperson Percy Simelane, when asked by this Swaziland News to clarify why the children next to Indlovukazi were taken to the alcohol drinking ceremony, held a different view on the subject matter.He said,to the best of his knowledge, children were only prohibited from drinking alcohol.
“We are aware of a regulation militating against sale of alcohol to children under the age of 18 years.This regulation idealy cuts them out of drinking.We are not aware of any piece of regulation that explicitly says their parents should not take them along when they are going to participate in traditional ceremonies that involves drinking alcoholic beverages.We will continue to believe that normal thinking Swati parents are conscious of keeping their children out of harm during festivals such as this one and in family households where everybody drinks”, said the King’s Spokesperson.
Eswatini Queen ‘forces’ young girls to attend traditional alcohol drinking ceremony in violation of laws protecting children,King’s Spokesperson Percy Simelane says regulations only prevents them from drinking.