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REPLY TO THREAD
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Subject
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Child marriage in Eastern Cape, South Africa - Ukuthwala
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Original Message
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A couple of months ago I posted a reply in a thread in which I mentioned a particular custom in a part of South Africa, in which some person, sometimes elderly, sometimes some family member, comes to visit the home of a girl, often minor, sometimes as young as 8 years old; all he had to do was put a particular kind of necklace around the girl's neck, and she was then supposed to follow him to his home where she stayed for a few days, which not seldom resulted in rape.
At the time I couldn't remember what the practice was called, nor what that "necklace" was called (notice the similarity to that other practice, which I think is called "necklacing", consisting of putting a tyre around your enemy's neck and setting it on fire which was used extensively still Win the nineties).
It is called "Ukuthwala."
Here are a few links, Google for many more.
Ukuthwala is a very old custom which men in those regions understandably are very reluctant to part with, but women nowadays are trying to get rid of it.
Nelson Mandela seems to be rather reluctant to criticize this practice. He even stated that this can happen to girls of all ages, not just children; and he says the problem resulting from sometimes taking young children stems from western thinking, because to them, it's not a matter of age.
[link to mg.co.za]
[link to www.genderacrossborders.com]
[link to alternation.ukzn.ac.za]
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