Swazi Observer

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APOLOGY ON THE PEJORATIVE REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN

By By Macford Nsibandze | 2020-03-26

You might have read the article I wrote about specific incidents of two women: One, who went on social media to dress down her secret lover and the other who reported him for rape after their romantic fall out. Hot under the collar, I wrote an article reprimanding the two and seemingly I went overboard. I am writing this article to humbly apologise to all those who found it unpalatable! At this juncture it is not even important to defend myself and all that count now, is to apologise with no reservations. TEAM I have a team that give me feedback on my articles which had mixed feelings on the publication I have decided to go with those who said I goofed and should apologise! I had the apology ready before the NGO wrote in reply to my article. But they overtook my expression of regret. I believe it is the attitude of winners to know that you don’t win all the time and that a regret does not strip you bare but it is freedom of the wise-to those you hurt and to yourself. ENTRY POINT FOR WOMEN LOBBY Women organisations know who to consult in Parliament if they want to have their voices heard! It is yours truly and for more than 20 years I can be counted among those who have empowered the girl child and women in general! I have contributed immensely to women emancipation from the cultural stranglehold of patriarchy and I will never stop! So I cannot allow just one stain on a white background make me have a frosty relationship with women organisations! Just one article can lead to expunging my history and legacy! SODV On the 27th April 2019 I made headlines in all media organisations for my 100 per cent support of Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act, commonly known as SODV, which the media had termed ‘notorius.’ Against a wave of men’s ferocious attack on the Act, I put my head in the guillotine, not swept by a wave of cultural ideology, patriarchy, masculinity. I supported it and I still do thus I requested for the speedy tabling of the Rules and Regulations , education of the communities, empowering of investigators, prosecutors, magistrates and the whole judiciary! All the above and my relations with WLSA, SWAGAA, etc, stand for nothing if I do not retract the article thus I am sincerely sorry from the bottom of my heart! Thanking you in advance!\

JOKES ABOUT CORONAVIRUS ARE NOT FUNNY

The dreaded coronavirus started from a trickle to a flood. When it entered the global media space we were all shocked. Countries which quickly stood up like Korea were able to contain it. Others, who stood and watched, regret their actions. Just because humans by nature are humorous there are so many jokes about the ferocious pandemic-because people joke even in funerals. Some of the jokes are not palatable; ethnic, racist, body shaming, stereotypical, etc and leave a bitter taste in the mouth. Others are not funny just like the joke of calling the disease the ‘China Virus.’ Jokes are about who tell them. If comedians tell them in auditoriums and under trees they are ‘well’ received but when powerful political elites tell them they hit a wall and bounce back hard to haunt them. But your name has to be Donald Trump to have lived to see another day after drawing ethnic slurs with a joke. When everyone thought the frosty relationship between the two countries; US and China- after ending the ‘Trade War’ had ended-Trump punches below the belt. But as usual the diplomatic Xi Jing Ping, President of the People’s Republic of China won’t fire back. Maybe he will strike when the iron is hot. Knowing China’s resilience they will make a stunning return to economic power. DEVASTATING CONSEQUENCES But it looks like things will get worse before they get better-as the pandemic have devastating consequences on the economy. Already the world was in an economic slump with markets sliding daily. In some quarters there were scenes of recovery and then came the virus. With the world’s dependence on China in trade it goes without saying what this entails. Entertainment has already felt the spill over effects of the economic downward spiral. Big festivals all over the world have been cancelled! Next door, in South Africa entertainers have been put in limbo due to cancellation of gigs. TOURISM Hotels are feeling the hit of the shutdown of flights so are restaurants and entertainment resorts. Tourism has been hit a hard blow and in factories retrenchments will be unavoidable. Those who depend on entertainment for a living have their road-shows postponed or cancelled. For a full house you need only 50 people and no business will prevail under such conditions! If the pandemic does not stabilize there are businesses which will crumble forever. END OF YEAR GIGS No one is clear when stability will hit town but there seem to be the generic notion that in two months things will be back to normal! It is human nature to take an optimistic stance on issues regardless of any circumstance. But what about if two months become ten months or years? It means we will have no end of year gigs. Am I stretching it too much? Maybe YES! But we hope it won’t be that bad. For me, the greatest lesson from this pandemonium is that sometimes as human beings we think we are great-so great. But such calamities have taught us that there is a supernatural force (power) that is greater than us! Lets kneel down, look up to the sky and say, “Father, we sinned, have mercy on us, your children!”

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