Littering used sanitary pads deadly - Makhanya Makhanya
MBABANE – The president of the Witchcraft Association of Eswatini, Makhanya Makhanya, has strongly warned women against littering their used sanitary pads.
Speaking to Eswatini News, the president said such an act is reckless and advised women in the country to make sure that they did not throw their used sanitary pads anywhere, as some people with ulterior negative motives might recollect them and use them for wrong purposes, that may have a negative impact on their lives.
This was after this publication gathered that there was a woman who was arrested in South Africa (SA), who had confessed that she had been allegedly paid by some traditional witch doctors to collect used sanitary pads in different towns.
Warned
Speaking to eTV news reporters, the woman disclosed that she was paid over E60 000 by the witchdoctors for collecting the sanitary pads. In the news broadcast, the woman warned people to be careful not to throw their sanitary pads in rivers or garbage bins as they might be recollected.
She claimed that the tinyanga used the sanitary pads to bewitch.
“Throwing around used sanitary pads can have dire consequences on the owner as there are some traditional doctors who bewitch not heal. Those who are on the negative side can use it to manipulate you and you can even lose your lives in the process. The blood that is on the sanitary pad gives out what we call your ‘DNA code’ as a person and it will be easy for them to bewitch you,” pointed out Makhanya Makhanya.
Further, Makhanya Makhanya warned and advised women to always lookout and make sure that they disposed their used sanitary pads discreetly.
Serious
“This is a very serious matter as people are reckless as they also dispose their hair and fingers nails after cutting them and that too can expose them to extreme danger. People should discreetly bury them to avoid the inevitable as once your hair, finger nails and used sanitary pads reach their hands, hospitals will not be able to treat you and that is why people end up going from one inyanga to another, while losing a lot of money in the process because of their negligence,” advised the president.
While some women wrap the sanitary pads in plastic or paper and throw them along with domestic garbage, some flush them down the toilet or throw them into water bodies.
According to period of change, an average woman throws away about 150kg of mostly non-biodegradable absorbents every year.
However, the Bio-Medical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules 1998, says that items contaminated with blood and body fluids, including cotton, dressings, soiled plaster casts, lines and bedding, are bio-medical waste and should be incinerated, autoclaved or microwaved to destroy pathogens.