SAHRC needs to investigate bursary based on virginity testing

25 January 2016

I will be writing to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) requesting that an investigation be instituted into the Mayor of UThukela District Municipality, Dudu Mazibuko, for her role in the alleged establishment of the “Maiden Bursary Award.”

The draconian program is an affront to the right to privacy and dignity of young women as it mandates virginity testing for any woman who wishes to be a bursary holder under the program, precluding those who are not virgins. 

The program prescribes that young women must not only be virgins in order to qualify for the bursary, but must remain virgins in order not to booted from the program. To this end, the young women have to undergo virginity testing at each holiday break. This is an abuse of state power and needs to be investigated to determine whether it is constitutionally sound.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) contends that this invasive practice strips young women of their dignity, freedom of privacy and choice, and instills in them a fear of being ostracised and embarrassed for their personal choices, or unfortunate circumstances such as rape. 

Mazibuko has attempted to justify the program by stating that young women are the ones heavily relying on SASSA grants after being left to raise children on their own and “are not interested in taking responsibility”. The Mayor stated that the bursary would encourage women to remain “pure”, deter them from premarital sex, and help them focus on their education, as well as keep them from contracting and passing on STI’s to their children. 

The Mayor however failed to address the question of how young women who were victims of rape, incest and sexual abuse would be catered for under this bursary scheme. Given the alarmingly high incidence of sexual violence against women and children in the country, this is a gross oversight.

While the DA respects that virginity testing may be part of certain cultural practices, it is inexplicable that a government department can subject young girls to such an invasive practice under duress because they are desperate to obtain bursaries and accessing opportunities. 

 Governments’ responsibility is to educate communities about sexual health matters – not to intimidate them into complying with practices that compromise their right to dignity.

Issued by Nomsa Tarabella-Marchesi, DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Women, Youth, Children and People with Disabilities, 25 January 2016