Africa-Press – Eswatini. Easy Buy Supermarket has been rebuked by social media users for posting a video of a female pupil stealing a sanitary pad from a pack inside the shop.
Yesterday morning, social media was abuzz with a trending video of the pupil taking out a sanitary pad from a pack and hiding it inside her pants at the supermarket. The pupil attends one of the schools in the Lubombo Region. The video received many reactions from social media users, with some questioning the rationale behind the posting of the video. The users wanted to know the intention of posting it, as it was evident that the pupil was on ‘emergency mode’ by taking out one pad compared to the full pack.
Leaked
It was established that the incident happened on Monday afternoon, when the supermarket staff allegedly leaked the video. Noteworthy is that the video was removed from the social media page at around 10am yesterday. One social media user questioned the motive of posting the video on social media platforms, stating that the pupil appeared to be desperate to attend to an emergency. “It is disheartening that the shop posted the video in trying to identify the pupil, while her rights were violated. They could have approached the school with the clip and presented it to the teaching staff to identifying the pupil,” said one user. Another user also blasted the shop, asking why the matter was not reported to the police. “She did not take the whole pack but only one. Now she has been made viral by… some of the staff members,” echoed another user. Another suggested that the shop management should have sought out the pupil and engaged her. “They could have donated more sanitary packs to her, because it appears she was desperate and could not afford them,” said the user.
Manager
According to the store’s manager, identified as Jamal, the staff was not permitted to post the video but to only identify the pupil so that she could be engaged. Jamal said he was yet to convene a meeting with the staff to investigate and establish the truth about the employee who posted the video without the permission of the management. He distanced himself from issuing instruction to the effect that the video must be posted on social media. “I don’t know who posted it and who gave that staff member permission to do so. It is unfortunate that it is trending,” he said. The school’s head teacher asked that the pupil be not interviewed, as such could subject her to depression if she had not seen the video. The head teacher further asked that the parents of the pupil not be contacted, as that could result in her being interrogated, and further frustrating and confusing the pupil.
However, he shared that the school provided sanitary pads to pupils for emergency purposes and mentioned that the pupil might have been subjected to the emergency situation while in Siteki town without money. He said it was wrong for the shop to post the video instead of trying to contact the pupil. Adding, the head teacher indicated that he would convene an assembly and enlighten the female pupils about reporting problems they were facing during school hours to avoid such incidents.
Wrong
“It is unfortunate that she has been posted on social media, yet that is not the way to correct a wrong. The shop could have contacted the school or the police, as it appears the pupil was not on a stealing spree by taking only one sanitary pad,” he said. Meanwhile, government, through the Ministry of Education and Training, has been distributing sanitary pads to female pupils. In 2022, inspired by Comedian Dr Shakes, the Times of Eswatini started the ‘Giving of Sanitary Towels to The Girl Child’ campaign where each child had a three-month supply of the pads.
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