Mbabane - Teenage girls in the tiny mountain kingdom of Swaziland are incensed over a five-year ban on their sex lives, complaining their boyfriends "won't wait".
King Mswati III, the last absolute monarch in Africa, announced two weeks ago the reintroduction of the age-old "Umchwasho" chastity rite.
It requires girls up 18 to wear blue-and-yellow "don't touch me" woollen tassels, while young women 19 and older must wear red-and-black tassels.
Two days after the king's announcement, Lungile Ndlovu, the traditional head of maidens' affairs, announced a five year-ban on sex for all young Swazi women.
Unfair of the king, who has seven wives and a fiancee "During the (umchwasho) you will be expected to observe a five-year sex ban, no shaking of hands with males, no wearing of slacks, and you will be expected to wear woollen tassels wherever you go," she announced.
Continues Below ↓
The penalty for breaking the ban: a fine of one cow.
In charge of policing the chastity of Swazi maidens, referred to as the Imabali YeMaswati (Flowers of the Nation), will be the traditional chiefs who, under King Mswati, still rule over much of Swazi society.
That came as a relief to one law-enforcer interviewed by the Johannesburg-based Sunday Independent.
"The sex ban is like a 'noble experiment'," he said. Like prohibition in the United States when liquor was banned. That ended with massive lawbreaking."
'Chaste to what end?' Some non-governmental organisations, like Swaziland Action Against Abuse (SAAA), which counsels rape and incest victims, welcomed the return to traditional values, saying it would help curb the spread of Aids, which is calculated to have killed 50 000 of Swaziland's one million people.
But says Mandla Luphondvo, an education officer, the organisation was concerned about the ban on young women wearing slacks.
"Experience has informed us that slacks can be a delaying tactic to rapists, and besides that, its part of the school uniform.
Continues...
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
