SWAZI CULTURE ENCOURAGES HIV AIDS

The international outcry after news that Swazi MP Timothy Myeni has called for people who are HIV positive to be branded on the buttocks to advertise the fact, reminds me of just how much work needs to be done in Swaziland to stem the tide of AIDS.

A study of Swazi cultural practices, funded by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) http://www.unfpa.org/public/ and released earlier this year found that they made it difficult to stem the tide of HIV AIDS in Swaziland where the infection rate is as much as 45 percent among some age groups, the highest in the world.

The study found, ‘In Swazi culture, decision making has traditionally been a male prerogative. Family planning decisions, therefore, lie with the man.

‘Women report that they have been subjected to continuous child birth by their husbands or in-laws against their will.’

Another cultural factor is a preference (which is sometimes made into a demand by in-laws) for a woman to bear a boy child. Unwanted pregnancies result as the birth of a girl child is immediately followed by an effort to have a male heir who by traditional law is of the only sex that can lead a family into its next generation.

So strong are these beliefs, coupled with an antipathy toward condom use, that AIDS prevention efforts directed at women haven’t made much headway, according to current statistics. HIV prevalence peaks at age 25-29 amongst Swazi women, 40 percent of whom are HIV-positive in that age group, and at age 30-35 amongst men, 45 percent of whom are HIV-positive in that age group.

In the study, Swazi men strongly defended the practice of kungena, whereby a widow becomes the wife of the deceased man’s brother; a practice that health groups say spreads HIV. Swazi men also defended polygamy as a cultural necessity.

But men also lamented cultural practices they said could stop the spread of HIV, like kuhlawula, whereby men or boys who impregnate unmarried women are fined five cows by their community elders, are no longer enforced.

Several Swazi customs were once in place to ensure that young people stayed chaste until marriages. At the time, marriages were usually arranged between families as forms of alliances. Until the traditional ceremony was completed, young people were not allowed to have sex.

One taboo was the people did not engage in sex outside their age groups.

Boys were subject to ridicule by their contemporaries if they were known to sleep with older women.

Now, Sugar Daddies and Sugar Mamas are common. It is not even sexual attraction that draws the youngest of the partners to such relationships, but the lure of money.

In previous Swazi generations, girls’ sexual debuts were delayed through such customs as umcwasho, when all the nations’ girls of certain ages were forbidden to engage in sex for designated periods.

This was examined last year by a report undertaken by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). he study covered much the same ground as this year’s health ministry research.

On the subject of Swazi customs that have been forgotten, but which could if they had continued positively assisted anti-AIDS efforts, the report noted, ‘Today these social practices have degenerated as a lot of negative sexual practices are tolerated by society.’

ONE IN THREE SWAZI WOMEN ABUSED

More evidence of the horrendous way Swazi culture treats women and girls emerged this week with a report in the world famous medical journal, the Lancet.

One in three girls in Swaziland has experienced sexual violence by the age of 18, according to a study.

Sexual violence against girls (females under the age of 18) is a substantial health and human rights problem, the report concludes.

A total of 1,244 individuals participated in the study and provided details of their experience of sexual violence. This was defined as forced intercourse; coerced intercourse; attempted unwanted intercourse; unwanted touching; and forced touching.

A little over a third of participants reported sexual violence by the age of 18, and this increased to 38 percent when the investigators included young women aged between 18 and 24 years. Forced intercourse was reported by 5 percent of girls before the age of 18, with coerced intercourse being reported by 9 percent.. The youngest age at which sexual violence was experienced was twelve, with the mean age being a little under 16 years.

Of the girls who reported sexual violence, 43 percent had experienced two or more incidents by the age of 18.

The most common perpetrators of the first incident of sexual violence were men or boys from the respondent’s neighbourhood or boyfriends or husbands. Over a quarter of all incidents of sexual violence occurred in the respondent’s own home, with a fifth occurring at the home of a friend, relative or neighbour.

‘This study documents that sexual violence against girls younger than 18 years of age affected one in three…and has serious health consequences’, note the investigators. They also comment that in most cases the perpetrators of sexual violence ‘were men or boys from the respondent’s neighbourhood, boyfriends or husbands, or male relatives’.

The investigators conclude that ‘this pattern could indicate the vulnerability of girls to victimisation and the importance of cultural factors that influence relationships between men, women, and children. Future strategies should focus on prevention of perpetration by men of sexual violence against girls, and since sexual and intimate partner violence might have common roots, local and national initiatives could be reviewed, adapted, and potentially scaled up for this purpose.’

The study was conducted in 2007 and I reported on it in April 2008. At that time, one of the people who conducted interviews with women and girls, commented, ‘Emotional abuse of girls is mostly carried out by the girls' female relatives, who were abused themselves. ‘Sometimes there is jealousy. Instead of reporting an abusive husband or unable to police [the girl], the girl’s mother or aunt will treat the girl as a rival.

‘This comes from a culture where any post-pubescent girl is considered eligible for marriage in a polygamous household, even if she is 13, although Swazi culture does not allow for the incest we find rampant in households where abuse occurs.’

The sexual abuse is only one aspect of the way Swazi culture discriminates against women. In June 2008 I reported that the National Democratic and Health Survey found that 40 percent of men in Swaziland say it is all right to beat women.

Last month, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) found that the status of some women in Swaziland is so low that they are practically starved at meal times, because men folk eat first and if there is not enough food for everyone, the women must go without.