The young children who died
in a traffic pile-up on their way to Swaziland’s Reed Dance were packed
into the back of a truck like cattle, photographs of the event reveal.
The girls were forced to stand up in the back of an
open truck cheek-by-jowl. There was no space to sit down or even to turn
around. Photographs show that at least sixty children were squashed onto the
back of a single truck. Many of the trucks that transported the girls were
usually used to move building materials.
Tens of thousands of young girls from across
Swaziland were forced to travel in similar trucks to attend the Reed Dance
where they were expected to dance topless in front of Swaziland’s King Mswati
III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. Media in Swaziland routinely
describe the girls that dance for the 46-year-old king as ‘virgins’ or ‘maidens.’
Reuters news agency has released photographs of trucks
used to transport girls to the Reed Dance. They are similar to the one that transported
the children to their deaths.
The crash happened on Friday (26 August 2015)
evening. Media reports of the accident are inconsistent, but it is generally
agreed that the children were thrown from the back of the truck when it was
involved in a collision. Police reported that not all the girls died on the
spot.
The exact number of deaths in the incident is
disputed. The Swazi
Government said 13 people died; 10 maidens and three older people who were
their supervisors. There is widespread
disbelief in Swaziland that the death toll was so low. The Swaziland
Solidarity Network, a prodemocracy group banned in Swaziland, citing the Swaziland
Defence Force as a source, on Friday put the figure of deaths
at 38. It later revised this figure to 65, citing medical officials as a
source.
The official figures include an 11-year-old girl and
seven girls aged 16 or under.
Media in Swaziland are heavily censored; the Swazi Observer, one of only two daily
newspapers in the kingdom, is in effect owned by the King. The Media Institute
of Southern Africa Swaziland chapter in a report on media freedom in Swaziland
described the Observer newspapers as
a ‘pure propaganda machine for the royal family’.
International
media reported that journalists in Swaziland were stopped from gathering
information about the accident. The Reed Dance, which is also known as Umhlanga,
is one of the main cultural events in Swaziland and it is strongly connected
with the King. In Swaziland reporting negatively about the Reed Dance would be
seen to be the same as criticizing the King.
Welcome Dlamini, a senior reporter on the Swazi Observer, confirmed on his Twitter account
that only ‘official statistics’ were used in compiling the report on the
accident.
(Below) A
photograph issued by Reuters. The caption reads ‘Maidens
riding in the back of a dump truck arrive before the last day of the Reed Dance
at the Ludzidzini royal palace in Swaziland.’
See also
‘COVER-UP
ON SWAZI REED DANCE DEATHS
‘CANCEL
REED DANCE AFTER DEATHS’
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