Virginity testing helps prevent unwanted teenage pregnancies, says Alex’s Philisile Mpongose
Virginity testing is a traditional AmaZulu practice of time immemorial that helps to curb unwanted teenage pregnancies among girls and Alex’s master of the craft Philisile Mpongose says it has worked for the AmaZulu nation.
Philisile Mpongose’s years of working with young girls in Alexandra as part of a programme to prevent early teenage pregnancies are finally paying off as one of them has made the passage to maidenhood.
Known as Umemulo [21st birthday celebration], this is a traditional AmaZulu celebration that has been practised from time immemorial in which girls often get together under the guidance of an elderly woman and are taught programmes and practises of preserving their virginity until they reach the age of passage maidenhood on their 21st birthday.
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During the guidance period from an elderly and traditionally qualified woman, the girls constantly undergo virginity tests to confirm their purity. “This is our own traditional AmaZulu way of nipping in the bud unwanted teenage pregnancies among our girls and it has worked for us,” Mpongose told Alex News during the height of the Umemulo celebration for Palesa Ndou in Alexandra’s 9th Avenue home on September 10.
This is a voluntary exercise which also paves the way for her to attend the traditional Umkhosi woMhlanga or reed dance as popularly known where maidens present their reeds of purity [imihlanga] to the AmaZulu Monarch, which this year took place on September 17 after a two-year Covid-19 inspired hiatus.
Palesa joined Mpongose’s group uLwazi Lwamasiko Arts Alive at the age of 12 years. “I am proud to have made the passage and I urge the girls to join the group to learn to respect their bodies and also prevent teenage pregnancies which are rife in Alexandra and a cause of concern,” Palesa told Alex News.
Mpongose said her group was not restricted to AmaZulu girls but anyone who wanted to join the girls’ purity movement was more than welcome. “Palesa herself is a Venda girl and is living testimony of what I have just said,” added Mpongose, who has a class of 25 girls of different ages.
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