“Ukuthwala: Stolen Innocence” (watch below) is a 2011 documentary produced by the World AIDS campaign and directed by Fiona Summers and Damien Steward. The documentary focuses on ukuthwala, a practice where girls and women often are abducted and forced into marriage. Historian Elizabeth Thornberry notes that “men who have committed these abductions defend them as …
Category: Opinion
Permanent link to this article: https://www.customcontested.co.za/documentary-ukuthwala-raises-important-questions/
Dec 01 2014
The river runs dry: Gender equality in South Africa
In 1789 France’s Ancien Regime, its monarchy and traditions, were swept away by the tide of the French Revolution – only for these laws and customs to reappear some years later. Struck by this, Alexis de Tocqueville remarked that it was as if a river had plunged underground and resurfaced a distance away, the river …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.customcontested.co.za/river-runs-dry-gender-equality-south-africa/
Nov 28 2014
Jezile Appeal Highlights Difficult Questions About Ukuthwala and Violence*
Are rape and force legitimate parts of custom? When a man raises ukuthwala as a defence to rape, assault and trafficking, what consideration should these assertions be given? The answers to these questions are not simple, and are dependant on what one’s view or definition of culture is. It is for this reason that the …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.customcontested.co.za/jezile-appeal-highlights-difficult-questions-ukuthwala-violence/
Nov 20 2014
Moves to empower chiefs bad for democracy*
Does the African National Congress (ANC) now feel more comfortable with chiefs and princes than with the people? After losing 10 percentage points in Gauteng in May’s election, the ANC vowed to reconnect with the black middle class. But there are signs that it may feel that traditional leaders are a better bet. Campaigners for rural …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.customcontested.co.za/moves-empower-chiefs-bad-democracy/
Nov 18 2014
South Africa’s Mining Boom: Double Dispossession for the Rural Poor
Dispossession is once again sweeping KwaZulu-Natal. As always in South Africa, it is the poorest of the poor who bear the brunt. As always they are black and mainly rural. The dispossessor this time is not the colonial or apartheid government. It is the Ingonyama Trust Board, acting in the name of King Goodwill Zwelithini. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.customcontested.co.za/south-africas-mining-boom-double-dispossession-rural-poor/
Copyright
Unless otherwise stated, you are free to use, share and copy original content on this site as long as both www.customcontested.co.za and the article's author are attributed. For further information see our copyright notice.