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Misanet.com / IPS, 2 November - Statistically, infanticide is among a small minority of murder cases taken up by government prosecutors. But as a recent report of a baby's strangulation by its mother showed, the public's response to each case remains shock, and the crime prompted the people of this small African kingdom to question where their traditional society is headed. - Swazis are very worried about these killings, says Evah Kunene, a resident of Manzini, Swaziland's second city. "We are a small country, we need all our people, and to have a mother kill her own offspring is too disturbing," she says. Five incidents of young mothers killing their babies have been reported this past year, although health workers believe the number of actual incidents is higher. But each case receives banner front-page headlines in the local press. - When one of these girl mothers murders one of her babies, we always sell out our edition, says Martin Dlamini, editor of the Times of Swaziland, the country's leading newspaper. "Our biggest seller in October was the day we ran the story about a woman who dumped her baby in a latrine, which is not unusual because most girls after giving birth to unwanted kids throw them in latrines. But what made this killing sensational was that the woman strangled the baby to death before disposing of the body," he says. As Dlamini indicates, most babies discarded by their mothers are found dead in latrines, though some babies are also found still alive amid the feces. When the infants are recovered, and put in the care of social welfare workers, the mother is charged with attempted murder. Other infant corpses have been found in dumpsters in urban areas, and in the bushes along roads and footpaths of peri-urban or rural areas. Infant, bodies left in the open are sometimes devoured by dogs, leading to yet more grisly newspaper stories. The Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA), which counsels victims of rape and other forms of violence, feels unwanted babies are being killed and hidden in rural areas, but the bodies are not discovered because of remote terrain and a variety of hiding places. - You notice that the babies who have been discovered come from urban and peri-urban areas, says Thembi Shongwe, a counsellor. The office of the Director of Public Prosecutions reports that the typical perpetrator of infanticide is the baby's own mother, who is unwed and usually in her teens. Often, she is a schoolgirl. Pregnancy and motherhood mean automatic expulsion from Swaziland's schools. From this profile, Shongwe concludes the girls are too young, poor and inexperienced to raise a child. "The girls we have counselled feel they are all alone, with no support from boyfriends or families, and fearful of being thrown out of school," she says. "They feel they have no choice but to hide their pregnancies." Shongwe says, "Abortion is illegal in Swaziland. At birth, they get rid of the baby. This causes tremendous psychological stress. There is no assistance from the father, either financially or emotionally, and the girls feel they will only face censure and retribution at home." The 22-year-old woman, who strangled her baby, was subjected to two straight days of interrogation by community officials, the police and her family before she broke down and confessed to the deed. She will be tried for murder. In Swaziland, capital crimes carry the death penalty. Added to the pressure, faced by the girls, to keep from getting pregnant are new lifestyle rules for unwed maidens called "umcwasho", named after the woollen tassel a girl wears around her forehead. The "umcwasho" indicates that the wearer is following a five-year sex ban for maidens approved by King Mswati. - The penalty for breaking the sex ban is severe, says Doo Apane, an activist attorney with the Swaziland branch of the organisation Women in Law in Southern Africa. "The girl will be put on trial, without benefit of legal council, at a chief's court. When she is found guilty, she will be fined a cow." The monetary value of a cow in Swaziland is the equivalent of an average worker's net monthly income. But more important to the male head of a Swazi household is a cow's customary value. Swazi men treasure their small herds as symbols of wealth and status. They give their cows names, and refuse to sell them to abattoirs until the beasts have passed their commercial prime, to the consternation of the ministry of agriculture that wishes to transform peasant farms into efficient businesses. - The girls know they will be beaten and their life will be hell if their daddy has to give up a cow because they fall pregnant, says Shongwe. "Because of 'umcwasho' I predict we will see more unwanted babies abandoned or killed by their terrified mothers. The boys and men who impregnate them, of course, will be completely unaffected, as always." Health workers fear that girls who fall pregnant during the five-year sex ban will seek illegal abortions, putting their lives at risk. Infanticide is a crime repellent to a majority of Swazis, as their views are expressed in the local media. "The only thing worse would be the killing of our king," wrote one woman to the Times' letters to the editor page. But conditions in the kingdom exist to see that such crimes continue, say social workers.
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