SMEGWA is born

April 7 witnessed the Swaziland Media Gender Watch (SMEGWA) came of age in this mountainous kingdom steeped in a rich culture and contradictory traditions.
April 7 witnessed the Swaziland Media Gender Watch (SMEGWA) came of age in this mountainous kingdom steeped in a rich culture and contradictory traditions.

In Swazi culture, when a child is born, people visit the homestead with gifts. So it was that when SMEGWA was born, a cross section of people- media personal, gender activists and representative of NGOs- crammed the Mbabane Theatre Club to say "arise and shine" SMEGWA.

Shouts of "Viva SMEGWA" punctuated a play by a local theatre group on how gender violence is destroying women and children, the pillars of society.

SMEGWA’ Chairperson, Dumile Ngcamphalala said the organisation would: "strive to educate the media on how to eliminate gender stereotype when reporting issues."

Secretary general of the Swaziland National Association of Journalists (SNAJ) Bongani Dlamini said: "media practitioners in Swaziland welcome the birth of SMEGWA. SNAJ is ready to support the cause of SMEGWA. Together we can work towards ensuring that media practitioners are trained to execute their duty."

"In the newsrooms, we have seen cases where women have been looked down upon when its time for promotions, others have left the journalism profession even before they could be considered for promotion," Dlamini observed.

He said SMEGWA would be torchbearers in sensitising society about gender equality and also ensuring that it is recognized in the media itself.

Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service and Information, Pat Muir representing the Minister, Themba Msibi said: "Government is aware of the challenges posed by gender equality in society, we acknowledge efforts of existing gender groups who have set the ball rolling in sensitising society on matters of gender."

Muir said efforts by gender activists have lacked the support of the media whose role is that of creating public awareness about the essence of gender equality. He pledged the ministry’s support for SMEGWA, highlighting the fact that it comes at a time when government is preparing to unveil a Media Complaints Commissions.

Director of Gender Links Colleen Morna urged all gender stakeholders to nurture the new organisation.