Virginity testing helps to develop future SA leaders

VIRGINITY testing is sacred and spiritual, and one of the rituals of growing up in our culture.

It is wonderful when the virgin girls lead us in rituals, such as when they lead the procession to the Princess of Rain, uNomkhubulwane, when we are doing a thanksgiving prayer on a mountain.

When African nations are going through periods of turmoil, virgin girls are the only leaders who can lead the procession because of their purity.

Democracy and the constitution of this country must not be distorted and be made to be a threat to indigenous religions.

Virginity testing is relevant. It promotes abstinence from sex, which is very important in the context of HIV/Aids and the high rate of teenage pregnancy.

Through practices such as virginity inspection, we ASSERTIVE WOMEN: Nomagugu Ngobese are able to curb the rise in HIV/Aids infections.

Just by looking at the Umkhosi woMhlanga festival, you can tell this by the thousands and thousands of virgin girls who participate.

But when discussing HIV/Aids statistics, the contributions of these virgins are ignored.

When it comes to my organisation, academics are involved and the girls who participate are educated in life skills and how to carry themselves.

Our future leaders, leaders who will take South Africa to the highest level, are these virgin girls.

The virginity inspection is done freely and voluntarily. In its real form, virginity testing is spiritual.

We live communally and share common culture and belief systems. Our upbringing is social in nature.

But no one has attended to our social rights; only the individual rights have been attended to.

A world without assertive women is not a world at all.

I must stress that virgins are the most disciplined and assertive girls.

Ubuntu is about the community — we share everything, our sadness and our happiness. Your child is my child. Leave us alone in the upbringing of our children.

Cultural activist Ngobese is the founder of the Nomkhubulwane Culture and Youth Development Organisation