RIGHTS-SWAZILAND: Women Candidates Vow to Promote Social Agenda If Elected

By James Hall Reprint | | Print |

James Hall

MBABANE, Oct 24 2003 (IPS) - In this week’s parliamentary elections, the number of women legislators increased by 150 percent in a country where women candidates had complained that it is difficult for them to be taken seriously as representatives or as authority figures because of their gender.

"This is a remarkable increase, and it comes from a country which is so traditional it is still ruled by a king. All week I’ve been receiving phone calls and e-mails from other African countries, asking how we did it. Could it be that little Swaziland may be an example to follow to achieve success for women candidates in elections elsewhere in Africa?" said Alicia Simelane, an attorney in the central commercial city Manzini.

Of the 55 elected members of the House of Assembly, only two were women during the last session (1998-2003). This week, Swazi voters elected five women members.

King Mswati will use his royal prerogative to choose 10 MPs, and 20 members of the House of Senate. (Members of Parliament, MPs, from the lower house elect 10 persons from the country at large to fill the remaining seats of the 30-member Senate.) Swaziland is committed by treaty with the other nations of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to have a parliament with a 30 percent women membership.

"This is tricky, because of a simple fact: What if voters of a country don’t elect enough women MPs? Fortunately, in Swaziland, King Mswati may choose MPs to fill the gap," said political scientist Aaron Vilane.

Swazi voters have made the king’s task easier, with their growing embrace of women to represent voting districts. In a country where women are legally minors, where they cannot own property, enter into contracts or secure bank loans without the sponsorship of a male relative, how were attitudes toward gender able to be surmounted this week?

Non-government organisations, who are seeking to have their issues better understood by lawmakers, feel they have the answer.

"We engaged in a candidate education process like never before. We held workshops to instruct women candidates about the issues. But we also gave them tips on how to impress the voters, and how to run a successful campaign," said Doo Aphane, national director for the Swaziland Chapter of ‘Women in Law in Southern Africa’.

"The time for an education campaign is before the MP enters office, even before she is elected," said Aphane. "Once they are in the House of Assembly, it is almost too late to ground them in an understanding of basic issues, because of their work duties."

As for educating candidates who may not succeed in their electoral bids, Aphane said, "For the most part, the candidates are made up of community leaders. If they have been nominated, and succeeded in the primary elections to run in the general elections, then they have influence and supporters. They will continue to be involved in developmental issues in their areas. It is important that they be trained as well even if it turns out they don’t become MPs."

"It is hard for a woman to be elected to parliament," Ntombi Nkosi, president of the ‘Ngwane National Liberatory Congress’ women’s league, told IPS in an interview.

Nkosi failed to gather enough votes in the primary election to run in the secondary general elections. But she intends to try again.

‘The Women in Law’ workshops introduced participants to a wide range of social issues. The candidates were also taught about gender empowerment, and specific legislation that is required to elevate the status of women. Laws are needed to permit women to own property, and sign contracts without the sponsorship of a male relative.

Heading the sessions, which were paid for by the British Embassy in Swaziland, was a prominent women MP from South Africa, Thabsile Mavimbela. She brought a wider regional perspective to gender issues.

"All over Southern Africa, it is very hard to get elected if you are a woman. For me as a woman in 1993 (when South Africa had its first democratic elections), to even stand for elections got attention," she said. "I was in business, and I wanted to show other women how to make money in small businesses, like raising chickens."

Mavimbela lost in 1993, but was elected to stand in the 1998 elections, when she was rated number one most likely to succeed.

"But being a woman, I couldn’t make it in the end. The House of Assembly, though, they learned of me. They heard I was a candidate two times, and I was a businesswoman. They nominated 20 people to be MPs, and I was the only woman! So, they voted me in," she related.

Mavimbela believes that with gender equality laws that will enable women to succeed in businesses, society will have new respect for women’s capabilities, and throughout Southern Africa women will be more likely to be elected into national legislatures.

"I think South Africa is one of the leading countries in Africa in terms of gender empowerment. South Africa was the first nation of SADC to achieve the goal of the gender declaration to have women make up 30 percent of parliamentarians and in cabinet," said Mavimbela.

To help achieve that goal elsewhere, the ‘Women in Law’ programme in Swaziland for candidates may prove a template for other nations where civil society would like to ‘educate’ about social agendas.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) also hosted workshops for women candidates.

"You cannot separate child welfare from national welfare," UNICEF’s national director for Swaziland Alan Brody told IPS. "Children who are uneducated and unhealthy are bad for the nation’s future."

"We haven’t fully understood how important to the future of the country is HIV/AIDS. But the candidates are growing more knowledgeable, and this bodes well for an educated parliament," Brody said.