Event Summary
On 10 January 2026, a funeral was held for a 30-year-old woman who was a victim of gender-based violence and femicide, killed by her husband, who later committed suicide in a nearby forest. Following this tragic event, women-led organizations and civil society organizations sought to conduct community outreach and awareness-raising activities in nearby rural areas to address the impacts of gender-based violence and encourage reporting and prevention of further femicide cases. However, these efforts were severely limited and restricted due to the impossibility of accessing the affected rural communities, as poor road conditions and heavy rains made the areas inaccessible. The funeral on 10 January 2026 therefore marked a critical triggering event that exposed both the severity of gender-based violence and the structural and environmental barriers hindering civil society’s ability to respond effectively.
In many rural and peri-urban areas, roads become severely damaged, muddy, and impassable, cutting off communities from essential services. These conditions disproportionately affect marginalized populations, including rural women, informal workers, persons with disabilities, and communities already facing economic hardship. For civil society organizations and community structures, poor road infrastructure severely limits outreach, monitoring, service delivery, and emergency response. Community members struggle to reach clinics and hospitals, while ambulances and health workers are often unable to access affected areas. These challenges are compounded by persistent shortages of essential medicines and medical supplies in public health facilities, further undermining the right to health and life.
Within Swaziland’s enabling environment, where civil society engagement with the state is often limited and highly controlled, these infrastructure and service delivery failures raise serious concerns about state responsiveness and accountability. Despite repeated community complaints and civil society advocacy, meaningful consultation on infrastructure planning, budget allocation, and maintenance remains minimal. Civil society voices are rarely integrated into decision-making processes, and public participation mechanisms are weak or symbolic. The continued neglect of roads and health systems reflects broader governance challenges, including centralized decision-making, limited transparency, and constrained civic participation.