Girls from widow-headed homes forced into marriages
Practice of ukuthwala has been declared unlawful
Siziwe Zwane, the mother of a 16-year-old girl, who was abducted on her way to school under the pretence of the customary practice known as ukuth wala (forced marriage) has highlighted the vulnerability of widow-headed households to the act.
Zwane from the rural village of Bergville in the KwaZulu-natal in the far Midlands district told Sunday World that ukuthwala had been on the increase. She detailed how young women of school-going age were forced to constantly look over their shoulders, terrified that the older men and their accomplices might hunt them down.
“My husband passed away years back, so I had to raise our four daughters all by myself. The eldest is 19 and the youngest is 12. My elder daughter was targeted while on her way to school by men who said they wanted her to be a wife to one of their brothers who was working as a truck driver.
“She was 16 at the time doing her matric. The following day, a group of men came to our homestead forcing us to accept ilobolo [dowry] for her,” she said.
She said she had no one to turn to for assistance because the local induna (headman) supported the assailants, calling the act a “good gesture”.
“I eventually opened a case with the police to help me get my daughter back. I, then, had to send her to my sister’s place in Newcastle fearing for her safety. I only stay with the youngest who is 12, the rest of them are with my relatives,” she said.
Slindile Ntanzi of emthandeni village in Kwamaphumulo near Stanger, in northern Kwazulu-natal has her own harrowing story to tell, saying her virginity was taken away prematurely by the son of a respected traditional the leader in the area.
“I was about 17 and had just
finished matric. I was only told by my uncle that in the next few weeks some people were coming to pay ilobola for me. He said as a family there was nothing they could do because he was the son of an important family in the area. I was a virgin then and had big aspirations of becoming a geologist. All this was taken away from me,” said Ntanzi.
The forced marriage didn’t last long, compelling her to rebuild her life from scratch after the arranged setup crumbled. Ntanzi said the abduction of young girls into arranged marriages was rife in the village and was rarely reported.
Following an outcry and pressure from the women rights organisations, the government
criminalised ukuthwala under the Trafficking in Persons Act, but despite these drastic measures the customary practice persists mainly in the rural areas of Eastern Cape and Kwazulu-natal.
Dr Nomagugu Ngobese who runs Nomkhubulwane Youth Development Organisation, said ukuthwala had been misconstrued by paedophiles.
“People who abduct young girls are not practising ukuthwala; they are rapists and sex traffickers.
“They must be arrested, and harshest sentences must be imposed,” Ngobese said.
“Historically, ukuthwala did not promote marriage without a woman’s consent.”
People who abduct young girls are not practising ukuthwala