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VIRTUOUS: Thenjiwe Hadebe, Indoni 2012 winner, and her first princess Nomfundo Mbotho.

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This appeal was made by young girls from various parts of KwaZulu-Natal who participated in a two-week-long programme organised by Indoni - a moral regeneration programme that focuses on empowering young people.

Indoni uses culture, tradition and identity to bring about behavioural change.

The programme provides young people with the skills and competencies necessary to contribute positively to society.

"As Zulus, we have good traditions that we should be proud of. Among these is the annual Reed Dance.

"But we also have outdated practices such as ukuthwala or forced marriage," said Thenjiwe Hadebe from Umsinga.

Hadebe won the Indoni 2012 competition and earned a bursary to study any culturally-related course at a university of her choice.

Slindile Dlamini, from Ladysmith, said they were taught to respect their parents and other people, as well as about their culture at the programme.

Dlamini also lashed out at forced marriages.

"It's not right. Maybe past generations had no problem with the practice, but we are definitely against it.

"It should not have been allowed in the first place. Those still practising it should be sentenced to a life in prison," she said.

KwaZulu-Natal legislature speaker Peggy Nkonyeni said the government was against traditions that made women and children inferior citizens.

She singled out ukungenwa (where a widow is forced to marry her late husband's brother.

"How can members of your family decide that because your husband has died, his brother, who you have no feelings for, should now be your husband?

"We discourage such practices," said Nkonyeni.

Indoni founder Nomcebo Mthembu said while her's was the first cultural school in the country, they had branches in all the provinces.

"She said each province had its own camp where 200 children were admitted.

"The aim of these camps is to teach young people about their culture and traditions.

"While this is happening at national level, we want to take it further by teaching young Africans about their unique traditions," she said.

Comments

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Fri May 24 20:22:26 SAST 2013 ::

Jul 10, 2012

Mporoz

Hi

Can I have one of these,
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Jul 10, 2012

Bumnandibungaphansikwesdwaba

BANTU BASE MSINGA NIYAPHOXA, NISABUYA KUPHI NESITAYELA SOKUTHWALA, MINA OYOTHWALA INGANE YAMI NOMA YAKITHI, NGITOMPHULELA NGEGALA EKHANDA UMUNTU
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Jul 10, 2012

Budapat

taller lady lekker gepak, wonder why sowetan is hiding the boobs, IT'S SOMEONE'S CULTURE TO WALK HALF NAKED maaaan!!
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Jul 10, 2012

masende

NGAZE NGAQHANYELWA TJO,THAT LADY ON THE LEFT I THINK SHE IS EXTREMLY WARM
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Jul 10, 2012

Knan

Mazolo ba ja difese maan

Look at that fine structure sa ngwana o ko right, imagine her out of that skirt, ijoweeeeee.....

Um moving to Natal
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Jul 10, 2012

Mellow

So you're happy dancing half naked in front of men but you dont want to be forced to marry them? Can they teach you more about self-esteem and saying NO to cow-dung, if you have to do reed dance for whatever crazy reasons why arent you doing it for women if its really for reasons such as checking purity and fertility and all other crappy reasons you normally comeup with?!
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Jul 10, 2012

TheRealHumanIsBlack

Actually divorce in arranged marriages is very low due to the fact that there are no expectations like the current marriages we see mo mzansi!
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Jul 10, 2012

BaleliM

so it is ok to do Reed dance and entice the imagination of the men and when they want what they see it is so backward of them and it descriminates women?
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Jul 10, 2012

CheeseBoy

only reason I clicked on the article is to see those curves

otherwise dum.b article.
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Jul 10, 2012

masende

@MELLOW
MIND UR LANGUAGE CC,THIS IS WHAT I EAT BACK @ HOME UKHILIMU
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