Funeral feasts off the Swazi menu

Swazi traditional gathering to hear king speak

By Tom Holloway BBC, Mbabane,

King Mswati has issued a royal decree, banning bereaved families from providing lavish food and drink to mourners at funerals.

The ban is intended to stop impoverished families from entering into massive debt at a time when they are struggling to pay funeral expenses.

King Mswati has an original way of fighting poverty

The call is already being enforced in many of Swaziland's 500 chiefdoms.

The majority of the population are poor rural families living below the poverty level.

The Swazi people have been told at community meetings called by their chiefs, that close relatives and friends understandably need refreshments at funerals.

But the modern trend was for the bereaved, already bearing heavy funeral costs, to pay for food and liquor for large crowds of visiting mourners.

This was not in keeping with true Swazi culture, they were told by their chiefs.

The bereaved could provide food for their close relatives but other mourners should bring their own.

Harsh penalty

Mourners should not expect poor, bereaved families to slaughter their cattle to feed all of those who attend, many of whom they see only at funerals and weddings, enjoying free food and drink or showing off their fashionable clothes.

Some subsistence farmers I spoke to, while agreeing with the "bring your own bottle funeral party" idea in principle, feared that even the poorest families would feel embarrassed about not feeding the mourners.

Cattle are at the heart of Swazi rural life

In the rural area of Kontjingila, the ban on feasting at funerals is reported to be working well and is already paying dividends, including for the acting chief, Gelani Simelane.

The community has agreed that any family found to have slaughtered a cow or a goat for cooking at a funeral must take a similar beast to the chief's kraal for contravening the royal order.

The seemingly harsh penalty for the bereaved, I was told, was based on a traditional principle - sometimes one must be cruel to be kind.