Senior DA member Dr Nomafrench Mbombo, who is also the MEC for health in Western Cape, has labelled the AmaZulu nation’s annual reed dance and virginity testing counter-productive in the fight against HIV-Aids pandemic and unwanted pregnancies.
Mbombo said this during the DA’s “Ready to Govern” election campaign in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal last week.
“I always laugh my lungs out that this province has this cultural practice of preserving purity through virginity testing as if these young girls wait for Prince Charming riding a white horse.
“The Prince Charming will be the one riding the high viral load of HIV infections. For us in the Western Cape, we prioritise keeping girls in school,” charged Mbombo.
The long-held practice, commonly referred to in IsiZulu as umkhosi womhlanga (virginity testing), is considered a sacred custom whose custodian is the monarch.
According to the king, his subjects, and Zulu cultural enthusiasts, the practice involving the inspection of a woman’s genitalia to examine her purity, is key in the fight against HIV and teenage pregnancy.
Mbombo’s criticism comes after the United Nations (UN) launched a campaign against virginity testing in 2018, saying the long-standing practice should cease to exist.
The global organisation described the practice as unnecessary, driving trauma and humiliation among women and girls. In its bid, the organisation’s wing, the World Health Organisation, petitioned, among others, the late AmaZulu King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuZulu, to ban the cultural festival.
“The social expectation that girls and women should remain virgins is based on the stereotype notion that female sexuality should be curtailed within marriage. This notion is harmful to women and girls globally,” the UN reasoned.
It further stated in its condemnation of the practice that it leads to untold physical and psychological suffering.
“In extreme cases, women or girls may attempt suicide or be killed in the name of honour. Some governments have banned virginity testing and enacted laws to criminally punish those who continue to perform such practices,” said the UN.
But Dr Nomagugu Ngobese, a known cultural activist and strong proponent of virginity testing, said it was unfortunate that people like Mbombo cast aspersions on African customs and belief systems while protecting Western practices.
“We have gotten used to our own people who would defend Western norms and beliefs to the grave but condemn what is authentically African.
“The reed dance is more than about virginity testing. It’s about celebrating the purity of a woman and connecting to our ancestors. Women who are part of this practice know and appreciate its value, and we will not entertain any doomsayers and haters of the African culture.”
The Department of Social Development report into teenage pregnancy for the 2022/23 financial year painted a bleak picture, revealing that out of the 88,122 schoolgirls who gave birth, 25,239 were in KwaZulu-Natal. The girls were between 15 and 19 years of age.
Meanwhile, the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL) explained that while it supported the reed dance as a cultural practice, girls should conduct virginity testing voluntarily.
“Our view as the CRL rights commission is that nobody should force women into virginity testing because it would be tantamount to criminality. But the commission supports the practice,” Mpiyakhe Mkholo, spokesman for the commission, told Sunday World.
The cultural festival attracts hundreds of maidens across the country destined for the royal palace of eNyokeni in Nongoma in the province. Bare-breasted, they carry riverbed reeds and hand them over to the king of AmaZulu.
