Durban - The ANC Women’s League’s (ANCWL) proposal to ban virginity testing, which is an integral part of King Goodwill Zwelithini’s annual Reed Dance, has been slammed by supporters of the practice.
During their national policy conference in Boksburg last weekend, Women’s League members proposed that “harmful cultural practices like ukuthwala (abduction of girls and forcing them into marriage) and virginity testing should be abolished”.
The league’s provincial secretary Nonhlanhla Gabela said she did not think KwaZulu-Natal members would support the proposal when they went to next year’s national elective conference.
“The ANC respects other people’s cultures, and virginity testing is highly practised in this province as most people believe it encourages girls not to engage in sex at a young age.
“Isilo (Zwelithini) revived it as he felt it helped in the fight against the spread of HIV.”
This was since 1984 and thousands of maidens converge on his Enyokeni Palace in Nongoma for the annual Reed Dance in September to celebrate their virginity.
Cultural activist and founder of Nomkhubulwane Cultural Institution Nomagugu Ngobese said the ANCWL should not put their noses where they didn’t belong.
She said she was shocked that women living in a country where cases of sexual abuse were sometimes not reported would propose something like this.
KZN Provincial House of Traditional Leaders’ Chief Thulasizwe Ngcobo agreed, saying: “Girls take part because they want to. We don’t force or coerce them.”
Cape Times