What about women in mourning gowns?

MBABANE - Widows and women in mourning gowns should be allowed to participate in the general elections, says Umhluma.

Umhluma Women and Youth Foundation Director Lungelo Zulu said they had noted that widows in morning gowns faced exclusion from national elections. Zulu explained that in most communities, where the voting stations were in royal kraals, these women’s constitutional right to vote was denied.

He explained that she was aware that Eswatini customs did not allow women in mourning gowns to enter royal kraals.

The director said in some instances, these women were not able to stand for elections. He said this was unfair to the women and it made it look like women participation was exclusionary.

He said the country was still lagging behind on widows’ rights, due to poor representation of women in Parliament, let alone widows. In an effort to advocate for the plight of widows Zulu said it was necessary for them to stand for elections.

He stated that they were hoping that the authorities would relax the customary rite as is usually the case during prestigious national celebrations.

In such events, it is usually announced by traditional authorities that widows are allowed to take off their morning gowns even before the end of the mourning period. Worth noting, in some families, the mourning gowns can be worn for up to a year.

He said as an organisation they were hoping that all widows who had worn their mourning gowns for six months would be allowed end the morning period. He said this would allow them to partake in the elections process from the start. He mentioned that currently, the Elections Boundaries and Commission (EBC) was conducting civic voter education, mostly conducted in royal kraals, where morning women were could not participate.

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He noted that these women usually find themselves voting for candidates who they did not nomination. He said they would engage the EBC to ask that it accommodates the morning widows during the 2023 national elections.

Meanwhile, EBC Communications Officer Mbonisi Bhembe said as they conducted the civic voters’ education they were also addressing some of such issues. He explained that they constantly urged chiefs to choose neutral venues for elections in order for everyone to access the voting stations.

“We are yet to meet with them and deliberate further,” he said.

Bhembe stated that they were aware of the issues that were raised by the organisation and they were still to meet with them and deliberate further. He invited other organisations who might need to have inputs to come to the EBC in order to have free representation during the upcoming elections.