PLEASE forgive the cynicism, but this is just too unbelievable in an age when burning witches at the stake should only happen in Hollywood movies.
If reports in a daily newspaper on Monday are to be believed, last Saturday must have been the stuff of nightmares: Hoards of crazed, but beautiful bare-breasted virgins storming down on one.
This was the ‘horror’ that was sprung on King Goodwill Zwelithini and President Jacob Zuma as they sat, patiently waiting on stage to address about 40 000 young maidens who converged on Enyokeni Palace in Nongoma for the annual reed dance.
The ceremony went terribly awry when some of the maidens, apparently bewitched by ‘demons’, charged the stage. Their actions were said to terrify security guards to such an extent that the latter dashed to usher President Jacob Zuma to safety. (In a follow-up the next day, a Zuma spokesman denied that the president was shielded from the maidens and said he had actually gone for a pee break.)
The mind boggles.
To make matters worse, many of the maidens were apparently transported to the traditional ceremony by drunken taxi and bus drivers. One culprit was allegedly a government official driving a government vehicle.
Some girls must have been from this area. In fact, memories are still raw of the nine from Mtwalume who died last year when their drunken driver crashed.
Back to last weekend’s events, after countless prayers by religious leaders to ‘chase away the spirits’, King Goodwill Zwelethini started his address.
All this was happening while the near naked maidens stood around in the open, shivering in the rain and cold.
Organisers saw this as a ‘good sign’ and hailed the rain as a ‘blessing’ because the area is in the middle of drought.
However, many of the girls obviously disagreed and bounced off to find shelter. Now speaking to a near-empty soccer pitch, the king threw his toys out of the cot and demanded an audience.
So maidens were all ‘ordered’ back to the open field and were forced to stand in the rain again while His Majesty berated them for their behaviour.
Adding to the intrigue, some (the king included) are still convinced the maidens were ‘attacked’ by demons and he asked the ‘whole nation to pray for them’.
But other reports suggested a lass at the back sparked the whole thing off after she was scared by a ‘snake’ and ‘frog’.
Rather than ‘demons’, common logic in this modern age suggests the ‘snake’ and ‘frog’ scenario is more far feasible.
Either that or some hallucinogen was in play.
Are there any medical doctors in the (royal) house who can come up with a scientific explanation? Or… do we still believe in the ‘bogeyman’, tokoloshe’, ‘fairy-tales’ and ‘witches’?
