Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - July 10, 2005
Bongani Mthethwa and Sibongile Khumalo

ZULU King Goodwill Zwelithini is hopping mad over a new law that bans virginity testing.

The monarch has lashed out at the government for failing to consult him on the Children's Bill, which was recently passed by the National Assembly.

And other groups who favour virginity testing said this week they would defy the law.

If approved by the National Council of Provinces, the Bill will impose an outright ban on virginity testing - making anyone who participates in it guilty of an offence.

It also gives young men the right to refuse to undergo traditional initiation rites, although it does not ban the circumcision ceremony itself.

"I am opposed to a ban on virginity testing as I believe that it was revived to restore dignity among the youth," King Goodwill said this week through his aide, Nhlavuyelanga Sithole.

He said virginity testing was a dignified practice aimed at encouraging the youth to regain pride in themselves.

Chairman of the National House of Traditional Leaders Inkosi Mpiyezintombi Mzimela said traditional leaders were very unhappy with the Bill.

"We view it as an attempt to prevent people from practising their cultures," he said.

The Bill was a re-colonisation of Africans, said Zolile Burns-Ncamashe, spokesman for the Rharhabe Royal House of Xhosa King Maxhoba Sandile, in the Eastern Cape.

"We will resist and fight every law that threatens to undermine and infringe on our culture and heritage," said Ncamashe.

He urged the government to undertake a thorough consultation with concerned stakeholders of different ethnic groups before passing the Bill.

"Our democratic government is heading for disaster if it doesn't subscribe to the protection of all cultural practices as stipulated by the Constitution," he said.

"Circumcision and virginity inspection forms a crucial part of growth and adulthood in the Xhosa culture and other groups that practise it. Even Jesus Christ was circumcised."

Princess Thembi Zulu-Ndlovu, co-ordinator of the KwaZulu-Natal Maiden Cultural Movement, said the Bill undermined the purpose and dignity of the Zulu tradition.

"This law will not only undermine our culture, it will also cast a dark shadow over the purity of maidens attending the Royal Reed Dance. Testing is the only method we use to differentiate between virgins and non-virgins."

In fact, the Bill could throw the annual Royal Reed Dance, which is held at Enyokeni Palace in Nongoma, into turmoil as only virgins are allowed to take part in the ceremony to ensure that it remains ritually pure.

Nomagugu Ngobese, who is credited with reviving virginity testing and who founded the Nomkhubulwane Culture and Youth Development Organisation which promotes the practice among African communities, said the passing of the Bill would mean the death of the ancient Zulu custom.

"They cannot outlaw virginity testing on the basis of abuse because no one is abused and all girls do it of their own free will. No law is going to stop us from practising a custom that is the pride of Zulu culture," said a furious Ngobese.

On Thursday, Ngobese will lead a march of maidens to the provincial legislature in Pietermaritzburg to protest against the Bill.

Kubi Rama, deputy director of rights group Gender Links, said any move to ban virginity testing was welcome as the practice was a violation of human rights.

She said the practice was unacceptable because young women were stigmatised if they were deemed not to be virgins.

"In addition, the practice places the burden of being sexually responsible only on young women.

"Clearly, being sexually responsible is an important priority for both young men and women in the face of high levels of HIV/Aids."

Rama dismissed virginity testing as inherently sexist, saying it indirectly promoted the idea that young women need to preserve themselves while it was acceptable for young men to be sexually active.

"The Constitution guarantees the right to bodily integrity and any act that violates this right has no place in a democracy," she said.

Meanwhile, King Zwelithini has vowed to go ahead with his plans to start virginity testing for men.

Sithole told the Sunday Times that even though it had not been thrashed out how this would be done, virginity testing for men would go ahead as planned.

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