The deputy prime minister’s office has revealed that 80% of the cases handled under the Asibambaneni SibeNgumndeni programme involved women who had neglected their children while seeking employment opportunities.
This is contained in findings from a report compiled by the office, following visits to affected families.
When speaking during an Eswatini TV Programme, Kusile Breakfast Show, Senior Gender Analyst Thandwa Dlamini said the findings showed that many families were experiencing severe economic hardship, forcing caregivers to seek employment away from home.
She said women, who traditionally carry the burden of caregiving, often face difficult choices after childbirth, including leaving children behind in search of work.
| The DPM’s Office says 80% of child neglect cases involve women seeking employment, driven by economic hardship and social challenges.
She said 80% of the cases involved women neglecting their children, noting that the analysis revealed widespread struggles among women in communities to adequately care for their children.
Dlamini added that, in many cases, this neglect was a survival strategy, as women who lacked the means to support their children often took them to their grandparents, who then became the primary caregivers.
“There is also a gender-based violence component, because in most cases women who are abused run away from perpetrators, leaving the child behind becomes a form of protection for themselves and the child from future abuse,” she said.
She said the findings highlighted the need for greater psychological support for women, as well as economic empowerment through targeted programmes.
Dlamini added that the country was increasingly dealing with skipped-generation households, where elderly people are caring for children, while the nuclear family structure, once regarded as the norm, continues to decline.
“We are seeing a situation where more elderly people are struggling with illness and ideally we want extended families to step in, but that is no longer happening. Some children are now behaving beyond their age and we are seeing more angry children,” she said.
She added that local families should take pride in values of respect and resolving conflicts amicably as well as make use of traditional structures, which define the nation’s identity.
She said this would help reduce the levels of abuse in the country.
Meanwhile, Gender Coordinator Nomzamo Dlamini said that in most cases men were the ones who neglected their children.
She said some men refuse to take responsibility after impregnating girls, a trend she noted was particularly common among the youth.
She added that some women who neglect their children are those who remarry, explaining that some fail to disclose to their new partners that they had children before marriage, resulting in the children being abandoned.
