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Virgins oppose testing ban
15/07/2005 08:46 - (SA)
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| Girls from the Nomkhumbulwane Culture and Youth Organisation, sporting stickers confirming their virginal status, protested in favour of virginity testing.(Ian Carbutt, The Witness) |
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Lindsay Barnes and Mokgadi Seabi
Pietermaritzburg - Bare-breasted virgins and their supporters danced and sang their way through the streets of Pietermaritzburg to the KwaZulu-Natal legislature on Thursday to protest the proposed banning of virginity testing.
The new Children's Rights Bill, which has been passed by the National Assembly but awaits the approval of the National Council of Provinces, has angered traditionalists who have labelled the move as against Zulu culture.
The protest march was organised by Nomagugu Ngobese, the founder of the Nomkhubulwane Culture and Youth Development Organisation, who has been credited with reviving the tradition. Young maidens dressed in the traditional isigege (beaded skirt) were bussed in from all over the province to register their protest against the outlawing of the practice.
A memorandum protesting the bill, which will effectively make anyone practising the tradition guilty of an offence, was handed to Nonhlanhla Mkhize, chief director of human rights in the premier's office.
Unconstitutional, discriminatory
The protesters said the decision goes against the Constitution, which provides for the freedom of religious beliefs, of which this practice forms a part. It discriminates against Zulu people, who practise the tradition, whereas Xhosas remain entitled to circumcise young men - which has caused many unnecessary deaths.
"No one dies in virginity testing," Ngobese said. "This practice is our religion and it is about the empowerment of women."
The draft bill effectively criminalises anyone who conducts virginity testing, as well as the parent of the child who allows it to happen, said Joan van Niekerk, Childline's national co-ordinator.
Ngobese said virginity testing is very popular in the province and helps prevent the spread of HIV/Aids and unwanted pregnancies.
No sex before marriage
Nomkhubulwane aims to counsel youths - including boys and young men - to abstain from sex until marriage in order to minimise.
Her organisation also counsels the victims of rape and incest, and if these girls and women choose thereafter to practice abstinence, they are checked regularly to confirm this.
A small group of young men and boys, dressed in traditional gear, joined the maidens in their dancing. "We support the girls," said Nduduzo Shezi of Imbube youth gruop for boys, who said he is proud that he is a virgin. "If the girls can keep themselves [virginal], why can't we?"
"There is a lot of peer pressure [to have sex] but we keep on pushing [abstinence] because we want to see an Aids-free culture," he said.
Young maidens protesting said: "We go through the virginity test because we want to. After all, it is my body to do with what I want," said 18-year-old Zinhle Dlamini. "Why should the government dictate to me what I should not do with my own body? They are violating our rights to practise our culture."
- The Witness
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