South African Mayor Dudu Mazibuko defends her decision to award a Virginity Scholarship to 16 young women from Kwazulu- Natal province. The Maiden Bursary Award or the Virginity Scholarship will be granted by the mayor to 16 young women from a university in the Uthukela district.
BBC news reported that according to Mayor Dudu Mazibuko, the bursary only aims to reduce the risk of sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies among young women in the district. The mayor also added that the 16 young women would only have to provide proof that they are still virgins.
Maiden Bursary Award will only be given after the chosen 16 young women graduates at the university. The only main requirement to qualify for the Bursary is to undergo a manual virginity test after every holiday they spend at home. The test will be done usually on a grass mat by an elderly woman in the community.
On a South African radio station 702, Mayor Dudu Mazibuko had also said that the Bursary is just a way for them to show gratitude to the young women for remaining a virgin until the day they would graduate. She also added that the bursary can be renewed only if the women could produce a certificate that indicates their virginity.
However, the said sholarship had sparked a lot of outrage of disapproval among rights group in South Africa among which is the Commission on Gender and Equality which stated that the bursary promotes stereotyping because girls are only given an award based on virginity and not on capabilities. The People Opposing Women's Abuse's Palesa Mpapa was reported to have stated that the condition is like controlling over a woman's sexuality and is not even a procedure for educational success.
Another representative of the group from South Africa, Idumeleng Muloko, also stated that the condition is violating the rights of young wiomen and it will not even stop the spread of HIV in the country.
Among the countries in the world, South Africa is highly affected by HIV or Human Immunodeficiency Virus. The rate of the women with HIV is more high than the men who has the virus. Young women who are newly infected by the virus range from 14 to 24 are four times greater than the men in the same ages.
