Africa-Press – Eswatini. There are concerns of women being paraded as objects of ridicule in a newly-formed Facebook group styled ‘Men’s House Eswatini’.
Dominated by men, the group was formed on Monday and it had over 23 000 members at the time of going to print yesterday. According to one of the group’s administrators, it was formed as retaliation to Ladies House Eswatini, another Facebook group for women where instances of men being subjected to embarrassment emerged. Pictures of multiple women are posted in Men’s House and men are sharing their sexual encounters, among other things, with the women.
Intention
Some men post the women with the intention to unpack how their monies were taken by them and never to be returned. Some of these monies, as highlighted by the men, were sent for transport, only for the women to help themselves on it and not honour the proposed visits to the men. The group was one of the trending items on social media yesterday and some of the members could not hide their pleasure at seeing the women being paraded and made a mockery of. “We have endured mockery for a long time in the Ladies House group and it is high time we give them a taste of their own medicine,” shared one member in the group. Worth mentioning is that over a month ago, this publication ran an article of a man who laid a complaint to the police over a derogatory post that was shared on Ladies House Eswatini.
The man of Mliba, who is also a pastor, Gospel singer and a promoter, laid the complaint at Manzini Police Station, following numerous posts that were posted by the mother of his 11-year-old child, alleging that he was an absent father. Information gathered was to the effect that the social media ‘harassment’ started early in the year and prior to that, the two were constantly quarrelling over child support, one of the main items that gets men posted in the ladies group. What drew concerns from some Facebook users on the group was that even minors were posted, without the courtesy of being blocked, and used as reference to some of the posts. One member of the group posted a minor, with an estimated age of six, next to her mother and alleged that he was the biological father of the child and the ‘known’ father was actually being lied to.
Commenting on the newly-formed group, Swatini Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA) National Executive Director Nonhlanhla Dlamini shared that social media had proven that it contributed to the emerging electronic types of abuse, which usually led to suicides. Dlamini said this was because it was not everyone who could handle the pressure that came with the embarrassment from social media. “This amounts to committing a criminal offence according to the SODV Act and people can actually be arrested under the Act, if the victims can report to the police. We strongly condemn these acts on social media because some are posting because they merely want to get back at an individual for whatever reason. People should accept when a relationship has ended, not to subject the other person to ridicule,” she said.
Renowned Psychologist Ndo Mdlalose said this was a clear sign that men were frustrated and needed a place to vent, but sadly they were personal to a high degree and abusing the platform they were venting on. She shared that as much as men were tired of bottling things up, while going through mentally challenging situations; this was not a license for them to ridicule women. “It is easy to bully a person on social media and the platform has become toxic. It is very devastating and destroying to the targeted person and the embarrassment that comes with it is imaginable. One can only imagine the anxiety to women, knowing that they could be posted in the group. “This can be frustrating to a level of making one commit suicide,” she said.
Mdlalose warned that the members of the group should be constructive to their venting, seek counselling and engage experts rather than doing it to exert abuse to the next person.
Section 17 (1) of the Computer Crime and Cybercrime Act 2022, states that a person who intentionally engages, or solicits or abets another in the furtherance of cyber bullying of another person, commits an offence and is liable, on conviction to a fine not exceeding E100 000 or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years. Section 28 of the same Act stipulates that a person who intentionally and without lawful excuse or justification or in excess of a lawful excuse or justification initiates any electronic communication, with the intention to coerce, intimidate, insult, harass, or cause emotional distress to a person using a computer system, to support hostile behaviour, commits an offence and is liable, on conviction to a fine not exceeding E100 000 or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years.
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