With Heritage Month in full swing, it is imperative that our cultural practices and rituals as African people are placed under the scope of the magnifying glass with a view to solidifying those that enhance our development and discarding those that diminish us.
As culture is not static but dynamic and always evolves, it is important that it should actively foster national growth and development. It is also worth remembering that Africa is the continent where human life originated and only began to migrate to other areas of the world about 60,000 years ago, according to the Natural History Museum in London.
Culture is therefore a broad term which encompasses a way of life of a group of people – the behaviours, beliefs, values and symbols that they accept, generally without thinking about them, and that are passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next.
In SA, one of the laudable achievements is the preservation of the indigenous languages through their recognition as official languages. Though a lot of work still needs to be done towards the development of these languages, no danger of their extinction currently exists.
Another practice still observed is that of keeping in touch with departed family members through visits to their resting places. This is usually followed by the slaughter of some animal and brewing of traditional beer as a form of remembrance and not for worship as adversaries love to misconstrue.
The wearing of traditional attire also serves to reinforce the aesthetic aspects of the diverse cultures. African music, visual art and other artistic endeavours also help to ensure cultural continuity.
What is worrisome though is the retention of some practices that do not serve any meaningful purpose but only devalue our cultures. Some of these practices include that of initiation schools which are attended by boys under the guise of the rites of passage to “manhood”.
There are mostly horrifying stories about the experiences of the initiates at these “schools” that include botched circumcisions which condemn ill-fated boys to a childless future. In most instances, boys who survive these obsolete centres return as rogues with a belief that the “manhood” they acquired at these centres entitles them to be disrespectful and disobedient, especially towards girls and even women old enough to be their mothers. Initiation schools must be discarded before they can wreak further damage.
Ukuhlola or virginity testing is practised mostly in Nguni cultures where a cultural examiner checks girls for an intact hymen to determine whether she has had sexual intercourse or not. Apparently, female virginity is highly valued in some cultures as it is linked with the bridal price. However, the belief in a broken hymen suggesting sexual activity has been shown to be unfounded as participation in sports can lead to the tearing of the hymen.
Virginity testing is an intrusive practice that may result in social and psychological harm, especially when the result is negative. An Iranian woman is said to have committed suicide after a negative result, even though she claimed that she was indeed, a virgin.
The public spectacle associated with virginity testing might also render the girls as targets for lunatics and rapists who believe that sleeping with a virgin would cure them of sexually transmitted diseases including HIV.
Virginity testing does not benefit girls and the results thereof are medically unreliable and therefore not authentic.
Another atrocious practice is that of ukuthwala, which refers to bride kidnapping, where a man abducts a young girl and forces her into marriage, often with the consent of her parents. To even think of this act as a cultural practice is actually intolerable as this is nothing else but abduction and rape which are criminal offences punishable by law.
There can be no justification for such a violation of women’s human and sexual rights. Ukuthwala is a remnant of a backward past and must be jettisoned to the scrapheap of history.
Adding to the outrageous list of cultural practices is ukugcaba, which is incisions made on an individual’s face ostensibly to symbolise the clan to which they belong. This is done mostly in the Zulu and Xhosa ethnic groups.
The process is usually carried out when the individual is still a baby using a razor blade to make the incisions. The members of the clan are left with permanent scars on their faces with the concomitant emotional effects on their self-esteem. This must rank as one of the cruellest cultural practices.
Equally shocking is the Xhosa custom of amputating the joint of the little finger on babies. This practice, referred to as inqgithi, is performed on children to apparently protect them from the wrath of the ancestors. As for why the ancestors would expect such a torturous offering, is anyone’s guess.
It is time the SA government acts firmly by eliminating constitutional concessions against practices that violate the constitution and that trample on the human rights of citizens.
• Lee is a Sowetan reader and social commentator
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