Times of Eswatini

Revealed: Women pimping girls to men

- BY JOSEPH ZULU

PIGG’S PEAK – In western movies, it is often men who are known to pimp out young girls to older men but in Pigg’s Peak, it is reportedly women who do this. Pimp refers to ‘a man who arranges women for male clients for paid sexual favours’.

Nomfundo ‘Fufu’ Magongo, a popular local musician known for the song ‘Sawubona’ revealed this during the commemorat­ion of Menstrual Health Day at the Gobolondlo Hall in Pigg’s Peak. Fufu was one of the performers who were invited to motivate the girls from Mhlatane and Pigg’s Peak Central High Schools.

The commemorat­ion was organised by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. The foundation also later distribute­d sanitation pads and other healthcare products.

Fufu said she had noticed something very sad in the watering holes, around Pigg’s Peak. She warned the girls that they should be careful of people who pretended to care about them. She said some women pretended to care about young girls, especially

Nomfundo Fufu Magongo performing the song ‘Sawubona’. those who were considered very in turn paid them. “They make a lot of beautiful, yet they had ulterior motives. money from these girls,” said Fufu. She

“They will look like they support you warned the pupils not to go to bars because and even take care of you,” she said. they would end up being used by women

Fufu said she had noticed how some who ‘pimped’ them. Fufu also revealed of the girls ended up being adopted by the tough life she went through during these women only to be used by them. her upbringing, while she lived at a place She mentioned that the women ended known as Macembeni. This is one of the up giving away these girls to men who communitie­s around Pigg’s Peak where poverty is a harsh reality. She told the youth that it was not necessary for anyone else to tell them that they were beautiful other than themselves. “You must be the first person to realise that you are beautiful,” she said.

Fufu told the girls that when they were dependent on hearing this from others, they would end up being used.

Fufu further urged the young people to listen to their teachers and parents even when they said something that they did not like. “They may sound harsh on you because they want you to have a better life,” said Fufu. She said challenges always continue even when one had completed his or her high school education.

Since it was Menstrual Health Day commemorat­ion, Fufu also used the opportunit­y to teach the youth about hygiene. She also shared her experience­s since her first day of menstruati­on.

Also, the Deputy Mayor Sibongile Magagula also shared her experience­s of when she first experience­d her menstrual cycle. She joked about how she thought former Member of Parliament (MP) Hlobisile Ndlovu would laugh at her because she was a jovial friendly person who joked a lot. She said she went to the same school with the former Pigg’s Peak MP.

“Nami bengi phapha kepha nga lelilanga lela, kwaphela,” meaning she was a jovial person but after her first day of menstruati­on, her jovialness ended.

Magagula told the pupils that menstruati­on was a normal cycle of every girl and that they did not have to be afraid.

Recalling her growing up with a single parent, Magagula said her mother was supportive.

 ?? ??
 ?? (Pics: Joseph Zulu) ??
(Pics: Joseph Zulu)

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Eswatini