In terms of our Customary Law,a child has two(2) homes ‘ekhaya kubo and ekhabo-nina’ and therefore, Chiefs have no authority whatsoever, to demand cows from grieving unmarried women seeking to bury their children within the premises of their parental homes.
I am writing this article to warn Chief Prince Gija as some weeks ago, I received a call from Khumbuzile Dlamini of Nkamazi, she was crying hysterically saying uMphakatsi “is demanding a cow before she could be allowed to bury her child”
The customary practice of reporting death to uMphakatsi was meant to among others, ensure that Indlunkhulu is aware that there would be a funeral within the community and then, send Lincusa to speak on behalf of the Chief,this is known as “Kulila”.
Now, some Chiefs have adopted a corrupt tendency of demanding cows from grieving unmarried women(bo-Antie) who reported the death of their children to the various IMiphakatsi, this outright corruption and/or abuse of power “has been sugarcoated” as if it’s part of our eSwatini culture and this, is far from the truth.
Our culture is unique and promotes the rights of women, of course we need to change some of our cultural practices that undermine women rights so that, we can subscribe and adhere to international women rights standards.
In our culture and in principle, there are no orphans or vulnerable children, we have a culture of taking care of each other, condemning our sisters who are getting pregnant outside marriage “is done out of love” but should this happen, it’s not our culture to disown and persecute women merely for getting pregnant outside marriage.
In my family we grew-up with bo-Mzala and we have relatives we refer to as “Mntfwane-Mzala” because our unmarried cousins had children, we never expelled them because of their vulnerable situation.
It might not be right for our sisters to produce children outside marriage but I don’t remember our culture promoting the discrimination of women just because, they were not lucky or they choose not to get married.
I was born out of wedlock(nginguMtfwana weNtfombi) but my grandfather raised me and I grew-up at home because in our culture, a child belongs to the entire family not an individual.
Indeed, a child also belongs to the State and you cannot heavily beat and harm your child to a level that amounts to Assault with Intent to Cause Bodily Harm, without consequences, the State will deal with you according to the law.
Therefore, our sister’s fatherless children are our children(boMshana), if their fathers disappeared after impregnating our sisters, we cannot discriminate them because children have no control on how they were born.
Forcing women to pay a cow when seeking to bury a child just because the child is disowned by uMphakatsi, amounts to discrimination and treating women and children as outcasts in their own country and this, is against our culture.
We all wish to see our sisters getting married and having families but, women have no control over marriage, they cannot marry themselves or force men to marry them.
A majority of emaSwati are living in poverty in this country and I can imagine a Chief demanding a cow from a textile worker who has lost her child.
So a woman must suffer just because she was impregnated by a man who subsequently disappeared?.
Personally, I love my culture because that’s my true identity and I will not allow corrupt Chiefs to manipulate eSwatini culture for their own corrupt agendas.
In siSwati, a vulnerable child “nguMtfwana-weNdlunkhulu” and this means, uMphakatsi should be assisting with a cow for the funeral of a vulnerable or fatherless child.
Women are going through a lot in this country, some were impregnated and dumped, they are scrambling for jobs in the textile industry just to provide for their children
In my view, only a heartless Chief can demand a cow from a textile worker who earns a mere three thousand Rands(R3000.00),our culture is being manipulated by corrupt Chiefs and some are beginning to be convinced that, demanding a cow from a grieving woman its part of our culture.
This nonsense must stop, women married or not, must not be persecuted and forced to pay a cow before burying their children.
Chief Prince Gija(pic: Gov).