WUNRN
February
16, 2010
Hundreds of teenagers every
year fall victim to what village elders defend as a "tribal
tradition", most of them in the
Girls who had escaped the
marriages spoke to Sky News from a secret refuge in the province.
Some said that their own
families had arranged for them to be abducted and married off to men they
didn't know.
"I cried to my mother
for help when the man came for me, but she just told me she didn't want a
spinster in her house," one 15-year-old said.
Healer
Nongenile Nyoka
Another teenager said
she had been repeatedly raped and beaten by her "husband" in the
eight months before she managed to escape.
"It was a very painful
experience for me, in the first few days I didn't even know his name," she
said.
The girls did not want to
be identified for fear of being tracked down by their parents and forced to
return to the men they left.
All of the teenagers we
spoke to had been exchanged by their parents for livestock or grain.
A
certificate proving that village girls are 'safe and pure'
The refuge where they
are staying was set up by Zoleka Capa, who is using her status as the first
female Mayor in the area to try to change the traditions of her own people.
"It is totally
unacceptable," Ms Capa said. "Forced marriage has no place in a
democratic state. It is a violation of rights."
Her campaign has divided
the local community where the word of the male elders still holds sway.
"The women tell us
when their daughters begin their menstrual cycle," village leader Thobile
Ngcwangu said.
One
of the girls
"Then the girls
are adults not children and they should be married, even to a 60-year-old
man," he said.
He declared his own wife -
who was forced to marry him two decades ago at the age of 17 - as extremely
satisfied with the arrangement.
Sitting next to him, she
nodded her agreement.
Some communities have begun
to reject the practice, but they have replaced it with a new tradition that is
almost as disturbing.
In one village, just a few
miles from the place where Nelson Mandela was born, we were invited to
attend a special service at the church.
The tiny building was
crowded with young girls who were invited to approach the altar to be presented
with certificates of their virginity.
The local traditional
healer physically inspects all unmarried females above the age of 12 every
month.
"This is a good way to
ensure they are safe and pure," the healer, Nongenile Nyoka, said.
The virginity testing is supported by the local
council which sees it as a step forward in the campaign against forced marriage
================================================================
To contact the list administrator, or to leave the list, send an email to: wunrn_listserve-request@lists.wunrn.com.
Thank you.