During the furore surrounding the revival of the Nguni ritual of barehanded bull-killing during the annual feast of Ukweshwama, the Sunday Times columnist, Fred Khumalo, branded the custom reprehensible and he declared: "African culture? Not in my name."
He argued that, as with the practice of bullfighting in Spain, or fox hunting in the United Kingdom, about which similar debates go on in those countries, the defensive resort to culture in order to justify these customs and practices slows the progress of any society which claims to be compassionate, equal and committed to doing no harm. "Why", he asked, "for example, was the animal not rather humanely slaughtered with a single stab of a spear in order to spare it unnecessary pain?"
Khumalo outlined his position thus:
Negligible beliefs, customs, traditions, all get conflated under the shapeless umbrella called culture. Culture is something bigger than that; something more potent; something more intelligent. Culture is forward- looking; culture is dynamic, just like humanity.
In her book, Laying Ghosts to Rest, which has already been quoted once in this House today, Dr Mamphela Ramphele refers to what she calls "the ghost of ethnic chauvinism", which she argues must be named and laid to rest in order for South Africa to embark on the road to true transformation, which, crucially, includes the realisation of equal rights for women and the protection of children.
Dr Ramphele, referencing Prof Thandabantu Nhlapo, identifies a series of provisions of customary law that need urgent review, amongst them, the levirate marriage - in which the continuation of the deceased husband's marriage is done through a brother of a male relative; polygamy; child betrothal and forced marriages and lobola or bohadi.
In April of 2009, the late Minister in the Presidency, Dr Manto Tshabalala- Msimang, visited a village in the O R Tambo District Municipality in the Eastern Cape, where the practice of ukuthwala, the child betrothal and forced marriage of girls as young as 12 years old, carried out by abducting them, had reached such epic proportions that girls were dropping out of school at the rate of 20 per month in order to be married off to men often old enough to be their fathers. The Minister condemned the practice, describing ukuthwala as a form of violence against women, and acknowledged that -
Patriarchy and patriarchal attitudes still persist in South African society and at times manifest themselves in negative and harmful ways against women and girls.
But, in its report to the Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth, Children, and People with Disabilities in August of that same year, the SA Police Service, SAPS, was still at pains to emphasise the need to, "uphold the law whilst retaining respect for culture and tradition" when dealing with the criminal matter of child abduction in this context.
So, again, the ghost of ethnic chauvinism was compelling the police to treat the abuse of women and children's rights with kid gloves, all in the name of this nebulous idea of "culture".
If I may quote Dr Ramphele once more:
These weighty matters need to be resolved to enable us to align customary practices with the precepts of our Constitution.
Before this can happen in earnest, we must work hard to remove the stigma attached to criticising African cultural practices. We must take the sting out of that meaningless phrase, "It is my culture". I thank you. [Applause.]