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The southern African kingdom of Eswatini is ramping up rights for married women, enforcing the charge of rape against offending husbands — a taboo in conservative Swati society.

This week, 34-year-old Nhlanhla Dlamini became the first man to be arrested and charged with rape for having sexual intercourse with his wife without her consent.

Relying on the 2018 Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence (SODV) Act, which criminalises non-consensual sex between a husband and wife, police nabbed Dlamini and charged him with rape.

He was on Tuesday granted R50 000 bail by the high court in the capital Mbabane and is set to appear again in court over the next few weeks.

The man accused of murdering 12-year -old Michaela Williams appeared in the Wynberg Magistrate on Monday morning. The accused was released on parole in 2018 after serving time for rape. The case will be heard again on April 14th.

“It’s the first one (case) to be recorded and be heard in open court,” Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA) spokeswoman Slindelo Nkosi said.

First-time offenders are likely to be sentenced to up to 20 years in jail, while repeat rapists can get up to 30 years. The historic arrest sent shock waves across Africa’s last absolute monarchy, formerly known as Swaziland, which has a deep-seated patriarchal culture.

The country’s ruler King Mswati III has married 14 women since he was crowned in 1986 aged 18.

He also has more than 25 children and a reputation for lavish spending while 63% of his 1.3 million subjects live in poverty.

“This law is against the indigenous values of our culture as Swazis,” married businessman Sabelo Mahlangu said.

“You can’t tell me that a wife I married and paid dowry for, following our customs and traditions, can say to her husband he has raped her.”

“What nonsense is that?” he asked. “Even the Bible warns couples not to deny each other conjugal rights.”Mahlangu’s views are widely echoed across the country.

One Facebook user, Ndosi Shenge, urged men to have multiple partners “so that when one does not want sex, one would proceed to the next partner”.

But for divorcee and mother of two Sizakele Langa, the SODV Act is an important piece of legislation protecting married women as “men over the years had a field day abusing women without punishment”.

Langa said she left her 12-year marriage after suffering countless acts of marital rape. — Sapa