Response to Swazi minister’s utterances on women and sex
The Times of Swaziland, Thursday 19 November 2010 carried a headline, ‘MPs gets sex lessons from Hlobi’. The Centre for Human Rights and Development would like to respond to the shocking remarks made by the Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs, Hlobsile Ndlovu. Captured in the story are her utterances that when a woman says NO she actually means YES. She further elaborated that she herself would sometimes say ‘Don’t touch me’, when in actuality she meant, ‘Touch me further’.
These utterances coming from a minister of state and a public officer must receive condemnation of the highest order. The fact that she uttered these unsavoury and sexist remarks inside parliament is even more troublesome. Minister Ndlovu is a parent and also holds public office, therefore her statements cannot receive the same level of privacy as those of an ordinary private individual.
The minister’s statement is interpreted to mean that when a woman refuses to have sexual intercourse with a man she is actually giving consent. The statement actually downplays the seriousness of rape and other sexual offences which Swazi women are subjected to everyday. Such perceptions are the key drivers to the ever escalating rate of HIV infection in this country.
The state of Swaziland is under a duty in terms of its own constitution and international law not only to protect and ensure, but also to promote fundamental rights, including the rights of women and children. For such statements to come barely a week from the commencement of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence on November 25, is very unfortunate. The minister’s actions water down all efforts civil society has undertaken so far to address the plight of women in Swaziland.
The Constitution of Swaziland in section 14(1)(f) provides that the respect for rights of the family, women, children and persons with disabilities are enshrined and declared. This means that women have rights and hence the need to respect them and accord them with the dignity they have.
Section 28 of the Constitution provides specifically for rights of women. Section 28(1) provides for the equal treatment of women with men . The Minister’s words are calculated to undermine women, and present them as creatures not on an equal footing with men.
Swaziland acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) which seeks to eliminate such discriminatory tendencies towards women. The country is also party to a number of other international instruments which provide for the dignity and worth of a woman, such as the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
The Centre therefore condemns such utterances and calls upon the Minister of Sports and Youth to:
1. Set the record straight on what exactly transpired in that parliamentary session.
2. Issue a public apology for the sexist statements she uttered.
3. Undertake to desist from similar hate speech in the future.
