Indecent Exposure at the Reed Dance
Jubilee Centre September 10th, 2007
How sad that thousands of young African girls clad in short beaded skirts and wearing nothing to cover their upper bodies should be exposed to our President Mr. Levy Mwanawasa SC. and his wife in the name of tradition. Mr. Mwanawasa, accompanied by his daughter, was the chief guest of honor at the Swaziland Umhlanga Reed Dance. When his host, King Mswati requested that his daughter to participate in the ceremony, Mr. Mwanawasa told him that, “It would be against my tradition to see my daughter in the way the girls in the reed dance look.”
Earlier in his visit President Mwanawasa avoided visiting the Taiwanese pavilion at the Swaziland Trade Fair. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Pande explained to the journalists that this was consistent with Zambia’s observation of one China policy. In the same way that the President was advised not to visit the Taiwanese pavilion because of Zambia’s one China policy, somebody should have advised the President to avoid the reed dance because of our tradition.
The President shared a wonderful Zambian tradition to his counterpart King Mswati that suggests that it is not right for a daughter to present herself in a manner that is not modest before her father. An old African proverb says “It takes a village to raise a child.” The message hear is clear: In a village a daughter of another man is also my daughter. Therefore, if a young girl in a village indecently exposes herself it will be the responsibility of adults in the village not to look but to seek to protect, teach, love and guide her in the way of modesty.
The initial reason for this tradition was to encourage young women (14-22 years) to abstain from sexual activities and preserve their virginity until they were matured enough to get married. But how do you preserve these young girls when you expose them almost naked to thousands of “greedy wolves” who are ready to pounce on them on the slightest chance?
The reed dance, we submit, is no longer a traditional activity. It has been taken over by selfish and greedy people to abuse young and vulnerable girls for commercial purposes. While for obvious reasons, certainly we should keep those things that are good, honest, virtuous and sustaining in the reed dance: Those things that give us hope and meaning. We also ought to stand up against those things that are infecting the reed dance in the name of tradition ceremonies-rampant promiscuity and moral relativism.
Who are we calling to stand up and fight off collective abuse of the girl child? The solutions are not political. Politicians are part of the problems. They dined and danced as they watched the hopeless and helpless children show off their bodies. It will not come from the Post who had these weak children on their front page in the hope that the newspaper will sell more copies because of such pictures. The solution will come from the church. King Mswati need to know that there is a God in heaven who loves the girl child and wants to see her grow up loving Jesus in a secure environment and full of healthy self-esteem and dignity. Will you be that voice for that girl child that next year so that she will not be paraded indecently to be looked at lustfully, as if she were an animal in the game park?
Lawrence Temfwe
I thought you were talking about traditions. I f that is the case, this is it and it should be kept to last.
Let the Swazi people enjoy their life as they have inherited from their ancestors. To tell the truth the way the girls in the reed dance dress is even better the way our mothers dressed befor the white men came to africa. so guys, let tradition take its part, in swaziland.