NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – By giving scholarships to girls who are virgins, South Africa is trying to control women’s bodies while ignoring the role of men and sexual violence in spreading HIV/AIDS, a campaigner said.
In KwaZulu-Natal Province, uThekela municipality is offering higher education scholarships, known as The Maidens Bursary, to girls who can prove they are virgins.
“This is part of our contribution in fighting HIV and AIDS and also in encouraging education,” Dudu Mazibuko, mayor of uThekela municipality, told local media.
“When they get into high school, that is when they start to be sexually active and they end up with HIV and AIDS and unwanted pregnancies.”
South Africa has the largest population living with HIV/AIDS, some 6.8 million people, or 19 per cent of adults, according to the United Nations (UN) Programme on HIV/AIDS.
Its government, like many across Africa, has been promoting sexual abstinence as a way of tackling the pandemic.
KwaZulu-Natal, home of South Africa’s polygamous president Jacob Zuma, has one of the country’s highest rates of HIV.
The Zulu king reintroduced the traditional reed dance ceremonies, for which girls must pass a virginity test to participate, several years ago in a bid to promote chastity and combat the disease.
