GOVERNMENT PRESS STATEMENT
NO 34: 2012
GOVERNMENT STATEMENT ON MINI SKIRTS
Following incorrect and unfortunate reports that Government has banned the wearing of mini-skirts, we wish to clarify the matter as follows;
- 1.The story which has become topical has not only been blown out of context but turned into a sensational lie. Government has not deliberated or taken any position to that effect in recent times or any other time, nor has it ordered the arrest of anyone wearing a mini-skirt. We believe the fact that the news item is based on a law that was passed during the colonial era in 1889 should be evident enough that the issue may not be a recent State position.
- 2.His Majesty, King Mswati III may not have passed the law as alleged in the international media because not even his father King Sobhuza II was born when the law came into force in 1889. Secondly, the King does not pass laws but only assents to a law passed by both Houses of Parliament.
- 3.Section 28 (1,2 & 3) of the National Constitution of the Kingdom of Swaziland (2005) protects the freedom and rights of women in the country such that no custom may be imposed on them in which they are in conscience opposed. (Refer to the National Constitution on www.gov.sz).
- 4. Any law that is not in the spirit or is not in conformity with the Constitution is void as explicitly stipulated in Section 2 (1)
- 5.The process of reviewing all laws that are in conflict with the Constitution continues.
- 6.The Government of the Kingdom of Swaziland has consistently stood against rape, and no amount of justification on why it is perpetrated against women and children shall ever be acceptable. In this country rape remains a statutory crime.
Percy Simelane
Government Spokesman
27 December 2012