Africa-Press – Eswatini. THE death of parents without obtaining birth certificates for their children may result in a generation of stateless people. This was an observation by Umhluma Women and Youth Foundation Diector Lungelo Zulu during their visit to Siphocosini Umphakatsi over the weekend. The foundation, in partnership with the United States Embassy in Eswatini, has embarked on a widows’ right projects aimed and sensitising widows about their rights.
The organisation has selected four chiefdoms in each region to pilot the project. This past weekend, the organisation visited Siphocosini Royal Kraal.
This follows last year’s visits to Sigcineni in the Manzini region and Ka-Phunga in the Shiselweni region.
The issue of registration of national documents such ass birth certificates, identity cards, marriages and deaths certificates was one of the main issues discussed during the sensitisation campaign. Zulu said they discovered that most children were unregistered and as a result could not access inheritance and other essential services. “Some of the children’s parents have passed on, thus it is difficult for them to obtain birth certificates.
“Besides the passing on of the parents, they cannot claim their inheritance because they do not have documents proving that the deceased were indeed their parents,” he said.
Zulu stated that most widows were abused by their children, adding that the abuse was physical, emotional and financial. He further noted that some widows were not aware of their rights and as a result ended up being robbed what was due to them by greedy family members. With regards to the partnership between the two organisations, Zulu mentioned that the project would help create awareness on the plight of widows.
He said they would assist them fight for their right on land issues as well as impart knowledge and respect for widows’ rights to communities and traditional leaders. Zulu explained that through this project, they would conduct civic education workshops for widows; train them on financial literacy and entrepreneurship in order to empower them towards financial and economic success.
“We will also train paralegals to protect widows from land-grabbing and discriminatory practices based on their status as widows.
“The project will also train community members and leaders in all four regions on the extreme social and economic inequities experienced by women who lose their husbands. It will further help leaders understand why it is in everyone’s interest to correct the inequality,” he said.
Over 70 widows at Siphocosini showed enthusiasm to be part of project.The widows expressed gratitude to the organisation for its dedication in promoting the rights of widows. They applauded the trainings on financial literacy and further appealed for assistance in raising seed capital for incoming generating projects.
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