Women mobilize in Swaziland...

Hooray for Gugu...with the moral attitudes in this country, I just wonder what kind of punishment these men actually received.

Hmmmm - indeed...did you read the article"


"Several of the taxi conductors said that a grown woman should cover her legs. Anything less, they say, is un-Swazi.

"The proper girls, they don't put on miniskirts," said Njulo Mamba, 25, a taxi owner.

A conductor, 16-year-old Kati Tsela, said, "When they wear those short things, they want us to buy. They are advertising."

The men at the taxi depot traditionally have whistled and shouted at women wearing what they consider improper clothing. The attack last month started that way, according to witnesses.A group of about 20 conductors ripped the denim miniskirt from the girl's body, as well as her sleeveless top and underwear, witnesses said. The men assaulted her with their fingers and a scrub brush used to clean the ramshackle minibuses that serve as taxis throughout southern Africa. ....."


".....But at the taxi depot, hundreds of drivers and conductors had what amounted to a counter-protest with placards of their own, including one that, according to one news report, threatened more attacks, saying, "We'll get them with our brushes." "

And, saddest of all:

".......Dozens of women, mostly vendors who sell fruit and vegetables by the taxi depot, joined in the protest -- on the side of the conductors. Together, they blocked the entrance to the depot, forcing the women's march to stay on an adjacent street, according to the reports........."


"....There was more backlash elsewhere.

A member of Swaziland's Parliament, whose every action is subject to approval by the king, made a speech criticizing what the press here has dubbed the "miniskirt march."

"We are tired of this. There should be a law against public indecency which would ban the wearing of anything that would expose a woman's thighs, her navel and also the wearing of G-strings," Ernest Dlamini said to rounds of applause, according to the Times of Swaziland....."

But:

"....But the bluster has died down among the conductors, whose friends and colleagues are suddenly facing the possibility of jail time.

Many interviewed at the depot maintained that the victim violated something quintessentially Swazi in wearing a miniskirt. But most agreed that the attack went too far.

"This thing," said 21-year-old taxi driver Mugabe Mabuza, "it would not happen today."........"


Hmmmmm.....