The South African Human Rights Commission recognises certain traditional and cultural practices as human rights violations and has encouraged policies that ban them. However, some continue, with prohibitory laws having limited impact on their practice. Recently, HSRC researchers published a report that highlights the need to understand the practice of certain rites of passage through engagement with survivors, leaders, service providers and other members of communities. Jessie-Lee Smith summarises the findings.
For girls in many cultures, rites of passage mark the transition to womanhood, often reflecting societal beliefs about how they should behave and conform to roles and expectations. However, some rites are considered harmful by international standards and the South African Human Rights Commission, and lawmakers have enacted legislation to ban them. Despite this, some persist.
Recently, with the support of the UNFPA-UNICEF Canada-funded Joint Programme, the HSRC published a report on cultural rite-of-passage practices in South Africa, addressing harmful implications and how they can be mitigated. “We wanted to identify why illegal practices are sustained and what social and cultural structures uphold them,” HSRC strategic lead Dr Nompumelelo Zungu told the HSRC Review.
The report stems from a study conducted by HSRC researchers in three South African districts: uThukela in KwaZulu-Natal, and Alfred Nzo and Nelson Mandela Bay in the Eastern Cape. The study explored rites of passage that young girls undergo, the views of communities and the government on these practices, how certain practices have evolved, and the role of government services in these communities.
Umemulo
The study found that rites of passage are important in several South African cultures. Researchers cite umemulo, for instance, where parents of young women and their communities will celebrate their coming of age (often at 21 years), marking readiness for adulthood and marriage.
Participants in the study cited rites-of-passage ceremonies as beneficial to preserving culture and teaching customs to the next generation of young women. Many also believed that they fostered community cohesion and identity by bringing community members together and reinforcing social bonds and shared cultural identity.
Virginity testing
Similarly, participants considered virginity testing, which usually preceded umemulo, as a positive and vital part of a woman’s coming of age. To test the virginity of adolescent girls and young women, an older woman will inspect her genitalia to see whether the hymen is still intact.
In South Africa, virginity testing of adolescent girls (under the age of 16) is prohibited, but it may be done with consent and counselling for those between the ages of 16–18 years. Yet the HSRC study found that most individuals in communities where virginity testing was practised supported it. One participant said, “Yes, people are supportive … It will preserve their children and teach them to conduct themselves well.”
Many participants who practise virginity testing also saw it as important for their self-respect and for gaining the respect of others. One participant said, “That thing [virginity testing] earns me a sense of dignity … Yes, I earn people’s respect right, and I get respected by all. I feel as if I’m a role model, I mean an inspiration. People are looking at me.”
Girls undergoing this ritual gather to camp overnight and participate in traditional songs and dances before being tested. One participant described what happens to a person when they are found to be a virgin: “They take something like that imbola [white clay] and put one dot on your forehead … Then you come out of the forest [or bush], then mothers would ululate, even fellow participants will ululate.”
The white mark is an indicator of purity, and its absence publicly labels young girls as no longer virgins, which researchers maintain causes distress, humiliation and stigma for both the girls and their families. “Once you sleep with a boy, you are the one who will face embarrassment, and you [as a parent] have to pay a fine if your child breaks her virginity; it is a painful step,” a community member said.
Among supporters, there was a belief that virginity testing curbed HIV transmission and unplanned pregnancy in adolescent girls and young women. One supporter said, “The test is done for a child not to fall pregnant … Yeah, it’s going down [HIV]; it also helps to slow down the pregnancy [rate].”
“Many of these communities are grappling with health and socioeconomic issues, trying to find cultural solutions to societal problems,” said Zungu. The HSRC study suggests that virginity testing is too narrowly constructed as a prevention method for HIV, as it is limited to vaginal penetration in this context, and does not take into account other methods of transmitting the disease.
Ukuthwala
Another practice covered by the HSRC study was ukuthwala, which is the abduction and forced marriage of girls and young women, often involving older men taking young girls without their consent. One victim said, “I was taken against my will and forced into a marriage with a man much older than me, a man I did not love.”
Survivors and community members explained that the current practice evolved from the original practice of ukugcagca. Ukugcagca took place when a couple eloped as a way to speed up marriage negotiations. It was consensual for both partners. Today, the practice of ukuthwala involves various forms of abuse, including physical and sexual violence. One participant said she knew of girls who had been abducted, beaten, and fed muthi [medicine] mixed with insila [dirt] from the body of the suitor.
Researchers in the study wrote: ‘This practice robs the girl of her human right to exercise choice and free will in terms of whether she wants to get married.’ Community members said girls who were forced to marry often became trapped, as they considered themselves “ruined”. A young survivor of ukuthwala told researchers, “I wanted to go home, but the problem I had was that I was already pregnant.”
The findings indicated that most perpetrators of ukuthwala were either strangers, men whose advances were rejected by the girl, or widowers. One participant in the study said that ukuthwala usually happened in his community during an umemulo ceremony, as “That is where people from different places are gathering, and they see something which is unusual, which is pure girls and their beauty.”
The HSRC report cited research indicating that most girls who experienced and survived ukuthwala came from low-income families, and that parents may have cooperated with perpetrators, handing over their daughters in exchange for lobola [dowry]. Researchers maintain that girls who are taken are often not able to attend school, which perpetuates the cycle of poverty.
Some scholars have argued that ukuthwala reflects how marriage customs adapt and respond to the social, cultural, political and economic challenges in South African communities. Participants regarded the current practice of ukuthwala as a distortion of culture. Traditional leaders consulted while validating the results argued that it should be called ukuthumba [abduction] rather than ukuthwala.
Impact
The HSRC study reported that barriers to addressing these issues included parental collusion with the abduction of their child, poverty, lack of information about laws, and a shortage of policing and enforcement infrastructure. “Outside of the law and policy interventions, engagements should take place at a community level with families, men and women, traditional and religious leaders, representatives from the Department of Social Development and the police,” said Zungu, emphasising the need to foster community leadership and ownership in addressing harmful cultural practices.
Researchers assert that this can be done by establishing collaborations among community members, law enforcement, grassroots organisations, and faith-based groups and implementing primary and secondary prevention measures, including awareness campaigns and support services for survivors. They also suggest enforcing mandatory reporting of such practices while protecting victims’ privacy and confidentiality, alongside comprehensive community-wide efforts to challenge and change patriarchal attitudes.
Research contacts:
Dr Nompumelelo Zungu (strategic lead), Dr Zaynab Essack (chief research specialist), and Dr Vuyelwa Mehlomakulu (senior research specialist) in the HSRC Public Health, Societies and Belonging Division, and Dr Mokhantšo Makoae (research director) in the HSRC Developmental Capable and Ethical State Division
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