Swazi king ends no-sex rite
2005-08-18 22:52
Mbabane - Swaziland's absolute monarch King Mswati III has ordered an end to a five-year no-sex rite for teenage girls, who had to pledge chastity and wear woollen "do not touch me" tassles in a bid to halt the spread of Aids.
Reports said Swaziland's maidens would forsake their tassles and the "umchwasho" chastity pledge on August 22, ahead of the annual reed dance ceremony, where the king was expected to choose yet another new bride.
Nkhonto Dlamini of Swaziland's maidens said: "I have it in command from his majesty to order all the national flowers (maidens) to converge on Ludzidzini (royal palace) on Sunday so that they can drop the woollen tassles on Monday.
"The woollen tassles will be burnt to mark the end of the ritual introduced by the monarch in 2001."
40% of adults live with HIV/Aids
Introduced by Mswati in September that year, the rite was aimed at reducing the spread of HIV/Aids in the country with the world's highest infection rate, where close to 40% of adults lived with the disease.
Breaching the chastity vow before marriage was punishable and any person who violated a maiden was fined one cow, or about $200.
But, the practice had been attacked by social workers who said it was ineffective.
Mswati himself breached the ban and was fined a cow for picking a teenaged girl as his ninth wife.
Parents of young Swazi men said they were also glad to see the end of umchwasho, which they said left them impoverished as they had to help their sons pay for their transgressions.
The annual reed dance, where bare-breasted maidens perform before the king, would start on August 28 and last for two days.