ABSTRACT
The traditional form of the age classes remains, but the content has changed with the ending of inter-tribal wars, the need to work for money (which results in long periods of absence from tribal activities), and the introduction of alternative values by school and church and city life. When Sobhuza attempted to have the traditional system introduced into the schools, the Pathfinder (Black Boy Scout) organisation was advocated by missionaries as a more suitable alternative. With the support of the Administration, the age-class system was extended to three Swazi national schools, but for various reasons the experiment was not very successful and was eventually abandoned. In the Second World War, Sobhuza called men up by regiments, and some 3,850 Swazi were in this way recruited for the African Pioneer Corps. In the Middle East Swazi built roads and fortifications, acted as stevedores, stretcher-bearers, drivers and mechanics, and a number were trained as machine-gunners.(D
Swazi women are also organised into classes, but these are less formal than those of the men, and do not extend under a common name throughout the nation. The female age classes are essentially local work teams of either girls or married women who come together on specific tasks for local or national leaders, and then return home. No girls or women are stationed in barracks and the official personnel is limited and has little precision of function.
