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File Photo: Welcome to Indoni Nzimande during the annual reed dance at the Enyokeni Royal Palace on September 8, 2018 in KwaNongoma, South Africa. (Photo: Gallo Images / Sowetan / Thulie Dlamini)
There was an unusual shift in focus to this year’s traditional reed dancing in KwaZulu-Natal. To begin with, the event was reduced to one day instead of four. And the regular sight of thousands of Zulu maidens singing and dancing was conspicuously absent.
Exceptional times call for exceptional measures, and the Zulu tradition known as Umkhosi woMhlanga is no exception. This year, as a result of Covid-19, only 30 maidens were invited to participate in a scaled down ceremony at the Zulu monarch’s eNyokeni royal palace in Nongoma, KwaZulu-Natal.
It is the last time these maidens will appear at the ceremony. According to Phathisa Mfuyo, spokesperson for the province’s department of arts and culture, this is because they will soon be getting married.
This year, the message was aimed at perpetrators of gender-based violence.
It is usually the maidens who present their reeds to King Zwelithini. This year, however, it was the king who gave gifts to the maidens. And instead of reeds, they carried banners calling for an end to gender violence.
Last year’s ceremony took place amid a wave of protests following the brutal murder of 19-year-old UCT student Uyinene Mrwetyana. This year, the event was held after the bodies of five women were found in the southern coast settlement of KZN in Mtwalume. They had been killed.
The group of maidens, led by Princess Cebolenkosi Zulu, asked the king to support the fight against gender-based violence.
Addressing the small crowd, Zwelithini said he was committed to fighting this scourge. “I want women to be assured that I am on their side. I promise to fight for your safety while I live, ”said the Zulu monarch.
Zwelithini said it was heartbreaking to raise a child, only to be killed. He said that even when the perpetrators were caught and convicted, he did nothing to “help the victims who have been abused and lost their dignity because of these criminals.”
Zwelithini offered his condolences to the families of the victims in Mtwalume. “No nation that allows the killing of women deserves respect,” Zwelithini said.
Over the years, Zwelithini has used the ceremony to promote sexual abstinence as a strategy to prevent the spread of HIV / AIDS. At least 18% of South Africans living with HIV live in KwaZulu-Natal.
Traditionally, before the ceremony, maidens are expected to undergo virginity tests. The gender activist Nomboniso Gasa has criticized the practice.
“It places a burden on young women to prove their virginity and protect it. Umkhosi womhlanga was introduced during the time of King Shaka, where basically young Zulu maidens would gather at a festival and celebrate being maidens. There wasn’t that much emphasis on virginity, ”Gasa said on a radio show.
Organizations like World Health Organization They have called for an end to virginity testing, calling it “unscientific, harmful and a violation of the human rights of girls and women.” King Zwelithini has consistently defended the practice, saying that it is an essential part of Zulu culture.
The truncated version of Reed Dance’s lockdown on September 5 was streamed live on the arts and culture department’s Twitter page and is available at Youtube. DM
