Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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United Press International - Wednesday, 19 September 2001
King Mswati III used the occasion of his 33rd birthday Sunday to revive the Umchwaso Chastity Rule. Under the order, young girls must wear yellow woolen tassels that send the message "do not touch me," according to a report by the African Eye News Service. Men in violation of the rule would have the tassels thrown at them and fined $152 or one cow. Adherence to the rule is to be overseen by local chiefs.
The news service quoted Mswati spokeswoman Lungile Ndlovo as telling the nation's women, "You will be expected to observe a 5-year sex ban which means no shaking hands with males, no wearing of pants and you will be expected to wear woolen tassels wherever you go."
The ban does not extent to women 19 years old or older "already involved in a love relationship," Ndlovo said, but those women must wear red with black tassels while "those who are still virgins will wear blue with yellow tassels."
According to the British Broadcasting Corp., the chastity rule was last put in place in 1982 by Mswati's father by was not enforced after he died shortly afterward.
An estimated 22 percent of the people in Swaziland as infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Swaziland is a country of about 1.1 million people in southeastern Africa. Nearly all of its national boundaries are shared with South Africa, except for an eastern frontier along Mozambique.
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