Mbabane: The task of supervising the codification of Eswatini law and custom, which must be passed into law by 2027, has been assigned to the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs.
According to the action plan and the costed National Strategy to End Violence in Eswatini (NSEVE) 2023–2027, the procedure may cost E850 000.
One of the strategy’s aims is to reinforce and revise laws and policies guiding the response to violence, with the government focussing on a supportive legal environment in which violence is outlawed by law. This, it is claimed, can be accomplished by encouraging law reform and the implementation of laws that are consistent with the constitution (2005) and encouraging the prevention of violence, promotion of human rights, and justice for victims.
The strategy is a carryover of the previous one of 2017-2022 and was concluded at the time Themba Masuku was the Deputy Prime Minister. In his foreword, he states that the government prioritises the eradication of all forms of violence, including violence against women and children, and that as a result, legislative, policy, and strategic frameworks have been in place since 2018 to address this public health concern systematically.
“The outgoing strategy to end violence (2017-2022) has proved that with sufficient resources from all fronts, the deliberate implementation of a well-thought-out strategy and action plan will yield the expected results,” Masuke said.
The Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence (SODV) Act 2018, the SODV Regulations 2021, and the National Guidelines for the Shelters of GBV Survivors 2021 were also made possible by the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office (DPMO).
The strategy is said to be a deliberate and strategic intention of the government to reduce by half the incidence of violence in all its forms by 2027.
This strategy aligns with the SADC Regional Strategy and Framework for Action for Addressing GBV 2018; the SADC GBV Prevention Handbook 2022; the UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW, 1981); the Convention on the Rights of Children (CRC, 1990); and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA, 1995).
The implementation of the strategy is not without challenges. Some laws continue to be inconsistent with the constitution, the SODV Act and other recent laws, including not being in harmony with one another.
It calls for the re-aligning of the age of consent, which the SODV Act pins to 18, whereas the CPWA of 2012 says it is 16. The lack of codified customary law results in the disguise of violence as culture and affects the administration of justice. The DPMO said this includes child marriage, ownership of assets by married women and rights of OVC.
Moreover, laws protecting women and children are not clear against economic or financial abuse. Also, customary marriage instills a subordinate and minority status for wives, which also affects inheritance after the death of spouses, as wives are given a child’s share.
While it is expected that the amendment of the Marriage Act will address this, the situation prevailed at the time of drafting the strategy. The courts are experiencing a backlog on GBV cases, while the absence of a case management system to track violence cases already in court, prosecuted, withdrawn and pending is still missing.
The DPMO says harmonising the laws and policies will lead to successfully responding to all forms of violence, promoting civil, family and administrative law procedures among statutory service providers and community cadres, as well as ensuring that constitutional protections against discrimination in marriage are codified in statutory law to ensure effective protection of women and girls.
If Eswatini Law and Custom is codified, it could lead to standardisation of its interpretation.
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