Swaziland's Independence Day Means Nothing For Women - Nomsa Lusanda Mbuli

As we approach September 6th, I know everyone in Swaziland is looking forward to taking a break from their everyday life to celebrate being free since 1968, I just can't buy it. But who am I to argue with a paid holiday? The 6th of September might commemorate the independence of our country — but it also serves as a bitter reminder that in 1968 Swaziland gained an independence that as a woman, I'm yet to experience.

This independence day commemoration, just like every other year, comes at a time when the nation is facing challenges, brought about by a failed economy, pervasive corruption, increasing poverty and hunger, high unemployment, poor public service delivery, a ravaging drought, and the on-going civil war on women. That is why I do not think this independence is for me, and if you're a woman, it isn't for you either. Our 'independence' won't be until the day we are treated like citizens of this country, instead of guests that get chopped off anytime. 

Independence, or 'emancipation' is about fighting back against all forms of oppression and sexist norms so that women and men can be equal and can be who they are without fear of discrimination. However, I do not feel this is the foundation of our constitution. While I celebrate the fact that our forefathers negotiated for our liberation, I am not currently happy with the current state of this country. But most of all, I am completely and utterly ashamed and embarrassed by the fact that women have to constantly fight for a place in all kinds of spaces, that the emancipation of women is still an everyday struggle, despite 48 years of independence. I don't know about men, but women still have a long way to fight for equality. And even though the Swazi nation escaped colonization from the Whites, women's emancipation has always been fought against. So whose independence are we celebrating, really?

Women still hold a second class status in society; we still lack representation in decision making and therefore cannot equally contribute to the political, social and economic advancement of the country. The sexual reproductive health and rights for women is constantly under threat. Sexism is still present in all structures, and the media does all it can to perpetuate it. Women still get blamed for rape; they are told that they should try not to get raped instead of teaching men not to rape. They get assaulted, they can't walk at night, and their freedom is basically restricted, while the rights of men are unlimited and without responsibility.

Independence Day needs to be celebrated for what it is; for the break away from Britain and oppression, for men. Women still need to fight for their own independence. We still need to fight for the right to walk freely without fear of being attacked in our own land. We need to fight for the right to protection; we need the law to protect us from rapists despite our sexual history. We need to know that domestic violence, murder, rape and assault are all atrocities. The war on women is a national emergency, but until our leaders treat it as such, we have nothing to celebrate. As women, we need not wait for our leaders to start treating us as equals. We owe it to ourselves, and to our country, to make the contribution we were born to make. Our future daughters deserve to hear from us, and through our efforts we can ensure that THEY get to celebrate real independence on Independence Day.

Stop Trying To Look Good to Tinkhundla! Stop Trying To Be "Clean"!

I said this in 2011 when the so-called “clean PUDEMO” was telling the whole world that we were the “bad PUDEMO” which was causing problems! And it is still relevant today!

Be reasonable - by being unreasonable to tinkhundla. Tinkhundla is unreasonable to you. So why should you try and destroy it reasonably? Tinkhundla is not diplomatic when it kills your comrades. Why then should you be diplomatic when you destroy it?

You see, tinkhundla people will come out and insult you, whether you are rich, poor, homeless, educated, school drop-out, or anything. Tinkhundla always insults you using whatever you have. Don’t try to please them. You have nothing to prove to tinkhundla.

1.    When you haven’t been able to acquire tertiary education they will use that very fact to try and de-campaign you. They will be saying to the people, “Don’t listen to this uneducated fellow. She just wants to go down with the rest of you since she knows that she has got nothing to lose as she is already educated”.

2.    When you are at university or college and you have good grades, generally, they will say, “Don’t listen to him! He wants you to boycott classes because he knows that he is smart, and when the exams comes he will pass and you will all fail. He is using you. Why listen to him then?”

3.    When you are rich they will say, “Oh! Why should you listen to this person? She is rich yet she wants you to be engaged in the struggle so that you can continue to be poor. She wants to be rich alone.”

4.    If it happens that you are in exile they will jump and say, “He needs to shut up! He is not on the ground! He must come back and fight for freedom here in Swaziland if he is serious. Don’t listen to this person because he wants you to sacrifice but he is not willing to.”

They may even say, “He is not an exile. There are no political exiles in Swaziland!” When they say such things, do not be tempted to start releasing any list of exiles so as to try and prove to tinkhundla that there are political exiles of Swaziland.

5.    Tinkhundla censors the media. So, you may then take advantage of social media such as facebook, twitter, you tube, etc. Trust me, when you have advanced to such a stage they will come hitting hard, and saying, “Look at this person! She calls herself an activist yet she is on facebook/twitter. You can’t win freedom on facebook. She is nothing but a cyber-activist who keeps criticizing from the comfort of her arm-chair! Don’t listen to her!”

6.    When you are in jail for your political opinions, they will be hitting you saying, “Look at him! He is trying to be Mandela. He thinks he can emulate him. There will always be only one Nelson Mandela. This man must stay in jail and be sodomized by the inmates there!”

7.    When you fail in school or tertiary institution and repeat a class they will scream again and say “Why do you keep listening to a failure? Kodvwa lesidvomu nisifunani kangaka? This fellow has failed and lost everything and simply wants to go down with the rest of you!”

You see! That is tinkhundla for you. Whether you are rich, poor, homeless, educated, learned, jailed, exiled, inside or outside Swaziland, or wherever, they will always want to destroy you. It is a pity that even comrades use such tinkhundla garbage against other comrades.

Don’t try to look beautiful to tinkhundla. They are not beautiful. Don’t try to please tinkhundla, its agents or its leaders. Never ever change your ideology and approach to issues, no matter how the insults! Never ever reduce your radicalism simply because you want to please tinkhundla. In fact, never ever reduce your radicalism! Stay radical forever! Keep your cool and keep speaking the truth. Keep fighting the system! 

ALSO READ: Ten steps towards being the Perfect Revolutionary

Rape jokes are not funny!

Most of us are guilty of spreading rape jokes. I confess I have been guilty of this, thousands of times. But rape jokes are not funny. We should not beat about the bush on this matter. Rape jokes are simply not funny! They do not even enter the realm of ‘jokes.’ It should actually be a crime to spread such messages!

Sense of humour

On social networks, it is a norm that when someone comments that a certain joke is not funny, she or he is slapped with, “It is just a joke. Where is your sense of humour?” Imagine that nonsense! So many societal wrongs are condoned and accepted simply because they are reduced to jokes. They are reduced to ‘sense of humour’ and before we know it the scourge worsens in the midst of our tears of humour.

Let us all come together and stop belittling rape and making it a joke of the year. Rape victims need not be stigmatised by such lame jokes. They need our support. They are our sisters, brothers, fathers, mothers, daughters, sons, and so on. They need to know that they will get our support whenever they have been violated. But I speak about ‘they’ as if I can never, or have never, be violated. I also need to have belief that I will not be turned into a joke whenever I am raped.

I will end there, with the hope that everyone is on board. 

From being destroyed by colonialism to being destroyed by royal family…

When the colonisers came to Southern Africa, they taught the natives to forgive their enemies throw away their weapons and forget about earthly things but only focus on what awaits them after death. The natives did all these, but the colonisers did none such. Instead they took all the earthly possessions that the natives previously possessed and protected them by their colonialist laws.

Then the Swazi royal elites told the Swazi population that in order to inherit heavenly life, they should reject the indilinga (money) that was coming with the whites but only take the umculu (bible) they were coming with. The population did that, but the royal elites did the opposite. They focused on taking possession of indilinga and only used umculu to justify why only them have the right to possession of indilinga. They taught that the first divine duty of the indilingaless population is to pray for more blessings to be showered upon the indilinga possessors, the royal elites.

Today the ruling royal elite tell the poor population to go and register their complaints with the ruling royal regime. It is a known practice of shutting down a disgruntled nation. Another force has come into the picture in helping beef up the docility of the population; the elites in the mass democratic movement! They never prepare the masses for war, but they prepare them to be more docile and respectful to the humiliation meted by the royal regime upon them. They don't teach defiance, they teach compliance! They don't teach revolution, they teach ass-licking. They're all part of the rot! The rot continues!