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November 2001

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Swaziland

Polygamy booms even as AIDS ravages Swaziland

By James Hall

Polygamy is very much alive in the tiny southern African kingdom of Swaziland. This is despite the fact that a quarter of the Swazi population is infected with the deadly virus.

A man with multiple wives was a necessity to ensure the survival of the Swazi nation a century ago. Today, health workers feel polygamy is among the greatest contributors to the spread of HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS and already infects at least a quarter of the population, according to the Ministry of Health, and up to a third of all Swazis by the findings of a recent UN study.

Polygamy in 21st century Africa also runs up against the issue of gender rights, a concept that inspires reactions from Swaziland’s traditional leadership ranging from confusion to hostility. But royal authorities are unanimous in their opinion that assertive women’s rights is a foreign concept whose rigorous application would undermine the cultural foundations on which the kingdom stands.

Polygamy remains legal, if optional, in Swaziland. The custom is a source of fascination for visitors. "Tourists particularly enjoy the sight of the look-alike bungalows belonging to King Mswati’s eight wives, lined up within Engabezweni royal village," says tour operator Mbongeni Shongwe.

Shongwe admits he has a hard time explaining what goes on in those houses, or that he can truly satisfy foreigners’ perplexity that a modern women in a society that on its surface appears half-Western, half-African, would share her husband with other women. "Polygamy is a concept whose time has come and gone," says Doo Apane, an attorney with the Swaziland chapter of Women in Law in Southern Africa. "But in Swaziland, it is not disappearing as long as those in power are polygamist. That is why we as lawyers must work to amend customs rather than waste our time trying to overturn them."

Apane’s work is cut out for her in a country where women are legally minors. A Swazi woman cannot own property or sign a contract without the consent of her husband or male relative. Women are scarcely represented in parliament, and of the over 300 chiefs who govern rural areas where four out of five Swazis reside, only one is a woman.

Gender rights and the sheer survival of women in the age of AIDS have focused the work of the activist women attorneys. Swazi customs are currently being catalogued by a royal commission, and by year’s end a report will be presented to King Mswati, who in September indicated that Swazi customs would be given the power of statutory law, and be incorporated into a new constitution.

Apane is realistic that she cannot end polygamy, but she sees life-saving reforms possible elsewhere. "We are working toward a law that will set a minimum age for marriage," she says. "In the past, a girl was considered of marriageable age when she reached puberty. But today, because of healthier diets and medical care, girls are maturing sooner, by 13 or 14, but they are not mentally or emotionally ready to be wed for life."

By putting off marriage until their late teen years, Apane believes, girls will be out of danger from HIV infection, at least for a time. This is particularly important given a superstition some Swazi men subscribe to that a way to cure AIDS is to sleep with a virgin.

Another customary practice that Women in Law seeks to address because of its potential for HIV transmission is the arrangement between a husband’s family and his wife’s family that calls for the substitution of a deceased wife with her younger sister in the case of a recent arranged marriage. Because a cattle dowry has been paid by the groom to the bride’s family, the deal has to be honoured by her relatives if the newly wedded wife dies shortly after marriage. Another arranged marriage is held, with a sister substituting for the deceased wife. The possibility of HIV infection has never had to be considered before.

The profile of a modern Swazi polygamist is that of an older, traditional man who lives in the rural areas. The traditional Swazi homestead finds the headman’s wives each assigned to a hut in order of seniority. The husband divides his time between huts. At one time, all Swazis lived this way, in a pre-Industrial agrarian society of subsistence farming, no education or health facilities, and short lifespans restricted to a 20-kilometre radius of the place where a Swazi was born. With infant mortality high, and about 70 000 Swazis alive in the country in 1900, polygamy was essential to keep the population growing.

A century later, overpopulation has overwhelmed natural resources, created the first urban slums the kingdom has seen, and has retarded economic progress on a national scale, according to the Ministry of Finance statistics. About 78% of Swazis are literate, and youth under 21, who make up 65% of the population, aspire to Western lifestyles. Thuli Ndwandwe, an AIDS counselor in Manzini, the country's economic capital, notes, "multiple wives are no longer admired by teenage boys; cars are admired. But the polygamous mindset still exists, and multiple-girlfriends are normal for boys. Perhaps because they have so few legal rights, girls have learned to acquiesce to their boyfriends in order to keep them."

In an effort to keep Swazi maidens pure, and less susceptible to HIV infection, King Mswati gave his blessing to the reintroduction of a set of lifestyle rules, including chastity, that go by the name of the garment that symbolizes maidenly purity: the umcwasho, a woolen tassel.

But news reports from the eastern Lubombo region show the plan is being undermined by local authorities who are polygamists. Post-pubescent girls up to the age of 18 must wear blue and yellow tassels, while girls 19 to marriage wear red and black. Some Lubombo chiefs are ordering some girls as young as 14 to wear red and black to show they are "spoken for." The Times of Swaziland reports that the girls are unaware that they are engaged. "It looks like the chiefs want these young girls to remain pure, for themselves," says counselor Ndwandwe.

Nonhlanhla Dlamini is the programmes officer for the Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA), which counsels victims of rape and other violence. She feels the umcwasho rules might have the effect of curbing polygamy if properly observed. "I love and respect King Mswati, but to be quite honest, when the idea of umcwasho was introduced, I was hoping that the king was not going to choose a wife for at least the next five years (while the chastity rule for maidens is in effect). I am sure their royal highnesses (King Mswati’s wives) shared the same feeling. Instead, a week after umcwasho was introduced, the king announced his engagement to his second current fiancée, who will become his tenth wife."

Other health sector workers doubt the chastity rules will have much success if examples are not set by authorities, or if boys do not take a vow of abstinence. But among Swazis it is hard to find a critic of King Mswati’s polygamy, which is considered an exception, and culturally vital. Throughout history, the Swazi monarch has secured the loyalty of the nation by marrying into different clans in a prescribed order. A Swazi king’s first wife, for example, always comes from the Matsebula clan.

"When polygamy comes to an end, it will happen through attrition," says Mbabane stockbroker Michael Matimela. "The old polygamists will die out. The modern guys will have to be very, very rich to support even two wives because girls now want a modern lifestyle. They won’t be content living in a mud hut in the country."

Polygamy will ultimately be determined by the outcome of a philosophical struggle between individualism versus communal need which is at the heart of political dialogue in Swaziland. The country is poor, and still developing, but starvation is a thing of the past, survival seems assured, and a middle class mentality is replacing a peasant mentality.

"What women want now is quality of life, which includes full-time attention from a mate," says Angel Fakudze of Manzini. "They can’t get that in a polygamous household. Forget about the damn cows given to the bride’s parents!"

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