•Š‘—–• ˜‹…–‘”› Concern as 2 widows appointed to inner council
MANZINI - Some community members of Nkiliji are aggrieved as their royal kraal has appointed two widows as members of the chiefdom’s inner council.
According to the concerned community members, they were called to a meeting at the royal kraal on Saturday and their leader, Chief Mkhumbi Dlamini and his libandla, removed the old inner council members, and announced new members. They said some of the members of the new inner council were part of the old one.
They mentioned that when the announcement was made; they were shocked when two names of widows were called. After the announcement, some of them raised their hands, indicating that they had something to say.
Speak
However, they claimed that only one community member was allowed to speak, and he raised a concern about the appointment of widows to the inner council. They said the member asked how the widows would represent them because culturally, a woman who was still mourning the death of her husband was not allowed to go into the royal kraal and to royal residences. “The meeting was closed without addressing the concern raised, and some of the people who had their hands up were not given a chance to speak,” the concerned community members said.
Thereafter, the community members said they were not discriminating against the widows, but their concern was that there were many available women who could have been appointed, instead of the two. They said they felt that their appointment was not just, as it added another burden to the widows since they were still mourning the death of their loved ones. In that regard, they wanted their leaders to reconsider their decision.
Period
Meanwhile, the newly-appointed headman, (Indvuna yemcuba) Ndaka Shongwe, claimed that one of the appointed women was no longer wearing the mourning gowns because she was given a short morning period. As such, he said she was present in the meeting when the new inner council members were appointed.
Again, the headman said the other woman’s mourning period would come to an end around August 2022. He added that after removing the mourning gowns, she could resume her duties fully.
On the same note, Chief Mkhumbi Dlamini confirmed that after the announcement, someone raised a concern in the meeting about the appointment of the widows to the inner council. In fact, he said after the announcement, he asked the community members to speak out if they had some concerns.
However, the chief said they could not address the concern at the meeting, because the manner in which it was raised, degraded and discriminated against the women. He said they felt that the libandla should meet over the matter and later on, they would call another meeting to engage the community members.
“When we look at the matter, we have to consider and respect the women’s rights as members of the community and what the Constitution and culture say,” the chief said. On the other hand, Manzini Regional Administrator (RA), Chief Gija, said he saw nothing wrong about the appointment of the widows, because they were still members of the community. He said what they encouraged was that chiefdoms should have inclusive inner councils – the old and young, men and women, including the marginalised.
Thereafter, he said the leaders of the community needed to engage the community members and find a way to make it work. He said this matter could be sorted out through engagements and peace would prevail.