7 August 2024 by Limpho Sello

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A steep road leads to a yard adorned with two old huts, a modern house, a kraal, and a fireplace in Mjanyane in the Quthing district, Lesotho.

In the yard, Nokhaya Tyhali, the Queen of Mjanyane, wraps her waist with a grey and white fleece blanket, complementing it with a matching grey and brown hat. She is seated on the veranda amongst women and a man who help make her journey as a queen more bearable.

Her journey to queendom began 41 years ago when, at just 13-years-old, Queen Tyhali fell pregnant and married into the Tyhali family. She stayed in one of the two old huts with her husband after an early and unintended pregnancy cut her youth and classroom days short.

“I got pregnant while I was still in school, and that was the end of my school days,” Tyhali said.

She added, “I was forced to drop out of school and assume the full duties of a mother and a housewife.”

Queen Tyhali profoundly remembers how, as a young bride, she would collect firewood with a child on her back. “When I got home, I had to start a fire and cook pap right there,” she recounts, pointing to a fireplace in her family yard.

Born in South Africa but raised in Mjanyane in the village of Ndongwane, Tyhali attended Mjanyane Primary School. She dropped out of school at Standard 4, now known as Grade 4. She admits that mothering a child and becoming a housewife at 13 was a sad story because “I had to grow up before my time.”

She recounted her journey to journalists on July 16, 2024, during a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)-sponsored journalism trip documenting sexual and reproductive health rights, gender equality, and child marriage in Quthing and Thaba-Tseka. Queen Tyhali said her journey was worsened because her equally young husband was unemployed.

Now 54, Queen Tyhali explained how this experience left her with scars that she has turned into advocacy to end child marriage in Lesotho. In this Southern African country, 24 percent of women are married before the age of 18 as per the 2016 Lesotho Bureau of Statistics’ Census report on Child Marriages.

“I do not wish for any child to grow up as I did because I have lived and passed that journey, so I know it very well,” Queen Tyhali said.

A 2021 study titled “The Effects of Early Marriage and Early Fertility on Women’s Educational Attainment: Evidence from Lesotho” indicates that the 24 percent child marriage statistics placed Lesotho in the 13th position among countries in the Eastern and Southern African region with a child marriage prevalence rate above 20 percent.

“Approximately 1,567 children drop out of school each year due to adolescent pregnancy, which is primarily caused by adult and adolescent males. The majority of adult males respond by paying damages to the family of the adolescent, leading to these girls’ early marriage due to pregnancy,” the study read.

Queen Tyhali explained that when she got married, she did not know what career path she wanted to take, but she eagerly wanted to continue with her education. However, the odds of marriage denied her that opportunity. She narrated how, shortly after delivering her child, her South African aunts planned to find a nanny for her child so she could be re-enrolled in school. Sadly, her in-laws did not support these plans.

“I wanted to go back to school, but my mother-in-law refused, saying no one was going to look after my husband when I was at school,” Queen Tyhali said.

She quickly added, “When my husband heard that I was not allowed to go back to school, he decided to drop out of school. At that time, he was about to start high school, so he did not pursue his studies.”

Not being allowed to return to school and having her husband drop out of school broke Queen Tyhali. “It pains me more when I speak about this further.”

Teenage pregnancies, child marriages in Quthing

According to the preliminary results of the Lesotho Demographic Health Survey 2023 to 2024, nearly 14 in every 100 girls aged 15 to 19 have given birth to their first child.

Queen Tyhali identified one major contributing factor to the high rate of teenage pregnancies in her Mjanyane queendom in Quthing: young girls are often left on their own or with their grandparents while their parents seek work in South Africa, particularly in Cape Town.

Although the intention behind parents leaving is to provide for their families, Queen Tyhali noted that the sad reality is that many parents forget to send money back home, placing these children in vulnerable situations.

“Many households here are managed by children. Some just live their lives as they please because there is no one to reprimand them. Just today (July 16), I received a report of a missing young mother who left her small baby with a sickly person to visit her boyfriend in Marakong. It has been days now,” she said.

Queen Tyhali shared that it is common in Mjanyane for young girls to leave their babies behind to see other men, whether within the community or in South Africa. She also noted that the nightlife in Mjanyane contributes to the problem, with girls allegedly conniving to get married while intoxicated.

“Sometimes our young girls fall into this trap because they believe the men they are with have money,” Queen Tyhali said.

“We have tried to address this issue, but when we do, the girls become angry at us for preventing them from marrying these men, even though we don’t provide any support,” she added.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) stated that child marriage is a human rights violation. Despite laws against it, the practice remains widespread. Globally, one in five girls is married or in an informal union before reaching age 18. In the least developed countries, like Lesotho, that number nearly doubles—36 percent of girls are married before age 18, and 10 percent before age 15.

UNFPA emphasised that child marriage threatens girls’ lives and health, limits their future prospects, and often leads to early pregnancy, which increases the risk of complications during pregnancy and childbirth.

UNFPA, a United Nations entity that promotes policies, programmes and legislation designed to end child marriage, stated that these complications are the leading cause of death among older adolescent girls.

Legislative conundrum

With child marriages remaining prevalent in the Quthing district, Inspector Mamakaliana Moeketsi stated that the Lesotho Mounted Police Service faces a complex challenge. Inspector Moeketsi, from the Child and Gender Protection Unit at the Quthing Police Station, explained that addressing child marriage cases is difficult due to the absence of a specific law targeting this issue.

“Directly dealing with child marriage cases in court is rare and complex,” she noted. “We rely on the penal code, which only touches on the topic indirectly. Ideally, there should be a specific law addressing child marriage,” Moeketsi emphasised.

Watch Inspector Mamakaliana Moeketsi’s full interview here:

Mokhothu Makhalanyane, Chairperson of the Social Cluster Parliamentary Committee, informed Uncensored News on August 5, 2024, that Parliament is finalising specific clauses on child marriages in the Child Protection and Welfare Bill (Amendment) of 2023.

 “Tabling is expected this week (August 5-9), with discussions to follow on a clause-by-clause basis,” Makhalanyane said, adding, “We have recognised that loopholes in the current law hinder the fight against child marriages.”

He indicated that the proposed amendments include a clear limitation on the age for marriage, stipulating that no child should be married under the age of 18. Marriages involving children under 18 will be considered an offense.

“This clause ensures that the rights of children born in such criminalized marriages are fully protected,” Makhalanyane explained.

Addressing the root causes of child marriages, Makhalanyane highlighted poverty as a significant factor. The Social Cluster Portfolio Committee plans to popularise the new law once it is passed and engage in public education to combat child marriages.

“We will be out in full force to educate the public once the bill is approved,” Makhalanyane said. “The relevant ministry has already consulted with different stakeholders and sought public views. Our role will be to popularise the law and contribute to ending child marriages.”

The fight against child marriages in Quthing continues, with collaborations between law enforcement and legislative bodies.

In a telephonic interview with Uncensored News, Mjanyane Queen Nokhaya Tyhali pleaded with the Lesotho government to intensify its efforts to alleviate poverty. “Poverty is the main cause of school dropouts, teenage pregnancy, and child marriages,” Queen Tyhali said.