CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
by Vuyisile Hlatshwayo, Swaziland, July 1999
THEME = SOCIAL ACTION
The notion of gender equality continues to be elusive in
patriarchal Swazi society.
The concerted efforts of both the government's gender unit and of women's organisations
are deliberately undermined by some sectors.
One of these is the Royal Swaziland Police which has stopped recruiting
women police officers
For the first time in its history, the Royal Swaziland Police (RSP) has discriminated against under-represented female officers. This discriminatory move has sparked off nationwide protests from advocates of gender equality. But, RSP spokesperson Leckinah Magagula explains that females have only been left out this year for specific reasons. She, however, declines to reveal these reasons to the public. However, she hopes women will be recruited to the police force in future. "There is nothing strange about only recruiting male officers, because we do have a lot of women in our police force. Some of them even hold senior rank. We believe that female officers are as capable as males except that maternity leave causes a break in their service".
The police themselves cannot disclose the specific reasons why women are not being recruited, but in talks between the Gender Unity and the RSP, it has transpired that one of the specific reasons is that the RSP wants to "beef up" its Operational Support Service Unit (OSSU), the police force's paramilitary wing.
Popular opinion has it, that the RSP is cutting down on the number of women police officers, because they have a tendency to sleep with their male colleagues when they are on night duty. Also, with the escalating crime rate, the RSP wants to strengthen its paramilitary unit in order to curb crime.
Even the Government Gender Unit (under the Ministry of Home Affairs), criticises the RSP's discriminatory decision not to include women among new recruits. Gender Officer Nonhlanhla Dlamini laments that such a discriminatory move is frustrating the efforts of all the women's organisations to promote gender equality. She also decries the fact that the country does not have any legal instrument to enforce gender equality in the workplace. "We, the Gender Unit, are planning to lobby the government in order to introduce the 30% gender quota in the workplace, in accordance with the 1997 Southern African Development Community's Declaration on Gender and Development. As this is affecting our goals, we would like to appeal to all pressure groups to push the gender equality agenda", says Dlamini.
The Women's Resource Centre Director, Iris Dlamini, condemns the RSP's segregation of women police. She wonders why women could not be taken on as recruits. She pleads that women should be given a chance to do the job of their choice, rather than being treated as inferior citizens.
Nonhlanhla Dlamini of the Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse laments that on the threshold of the new millennium, there is still no gender equality in the police force. She urges the police authorities to give everyone equal opportunities in their recruitment exercise. "I take this as a big challenge for those among us who are advocates of gender equality, to strive to make people understand gender equality", she says.
The President of the Human Rights Association of Swaziland, Vulindlela Msibi, calls upon the Police Commissioner to review the RSP's recruitment policy. "The policy which only requires male officers in this day and age, is surely an insult to all women in the Kingdom of Swaziland".
END
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