Prince advocates male circumcision
ZULU men, go out and get circumcised.
This call from Prince Nhlanganiso Zulu was the second edict telling the Zulu men to do so since King Shaka banned the practice to save youths time in the hills during the rites of passage ritual so they could rather go out and fight to build the nation.
The prince said he was repeating the message delivered by his father, King Goodwill Zwelithini in 2009 “for the war against HIV”, noting the high prevalence in the province.
Last night, at least 50 people had responded to his calls and gone to the St Aidan’s and Prince Mshiyeni Memorial hospitals for the free circumcisions on offer, said Skye Grove, spokesperson for the HIV/Aids NGO, Right To Care.
“It’s free and it’s quick,” said the 45-year-old prince.
He said he had been circumcised when he was 19.
The prince also called on men to speak openly about any disease they faced, then took off his shirt to show a surgical scar he had from an operation for tuberculosis that had cost him a lung.
He was sharing a platform at Warwick Junction taxi rank with soapie star Kagiso Modupe, an ambassador for Right To Care and another HIV/Aids NGO, Brothers for Life.
“I made a call this year to get 2 000 men to come and get circumcised with me,” he said recalling the March event at Katlehong in Gauteng.
“It was a big day. I brought my wife and kids with me. We made it a family day.”
This was because people needed to start having discussions about this, and to protect women from diseases such as cervical cancer, he said.
More than 200 000 men had undergone the surgery since his call, he said.
Boilermaker student from the KZN School of Welding, Vincent Sethaba, 27, told the small crowd he had been circumcised “just for myself and my family”.
He said it had been an easy decision because he kept the company of people who had been circumcised.
YESTERDAY was a busy day for circumcisions in Durban – and this will save the lives of many men and women. Patients knocking on the doors of local hospitals, asking to be given the snip, is the outcome of a cultural shift among Zulu people.
Zulu royals, King Goodwill Zwelithini and his son, Prince Nhlanganiso Zulu, are helping to bring about this change.
Apparently it is only the second time since the 19th century, when King Shaka banned circumcision, that a public edict has gone out from Zulu royalty, encouraging men to have the procedure done.
In times past, the males of various Nguni tribes underwent the procedure according to traditional norms, and some still do today, including among the Swazi, Ndebele and Xhosa peoples. Having gone through this rite of passage they would then be regarded as men.
King Shaka banned it among Zulu males because he regarded the time taken to travel to the mountains and undertake the rituals interfered with their training for warfare.
But there are different battles to fight today, including against HIV/Aids, and King Goodwill understood that when he issued an edict in 2009 that lifted the ban.
The fight continues. Yesterday at the busy Warwick Junction taxi rank, near St Aidan’s Hospital, where the circumcisions take place, the prince made the second public edict about medical male circumcision (MMC).
KwaZulu-Natal has the highest rate of HIV/ Aids in South Africa. There is compelling evidence that male circumcision reduces the risk of heterosexually-acquired HIV infection in men by approximately 60% – and other sexually transmitted diseases.
These positive role models are taking the taboo out of circumcision. This is the excellent way in which modern warriors, both men and women, fight for the future of our country. We are proud of them.