South African million girls in public accept virgin testing Photos circulating

　Any event featuring Jacob Zuma, virginity tests and more than 25,000 bare-breasted maidens dancing for a polygamous king is unlikely to pass entirely without incident. And so it proved with this year's Zulu reed dance in South Africa。

　　Girls participating in the annual uMkhosi WoMhlanga are required to have their genitalia inspected to certify they are virgins. The centuries-old practice has been condemned by gender rights groups but defended by Zulus as means of combating teenage pregnancy and HIV。

　　Zuma and King Goodwill Zwelithini, who has five wives, were among guests at the ceremony in Nongoma, KwaZulu-Natal Province, last weekend。

Zwelithini, 62, condemned "rogue" virginity testers and expressed dismay at seeing pictures of the tests turn up on the internet, South Africa's Mercury newspaper reported. "I was shocked when I received these pictures on my website," the Zulu monarch was quoted as saying. “I have no doubt these pictures are going to be used to attack this solemn culture of ours. This is a very important tradition and culture and needs to be conducted with dignity and respect without abusing and violating the dignity and privacy of the maidens."
The Mercury said there were fears that the event, in which thousands of mostly adolescent girls parade bare-breasted wearing traditional beaded skirts, had become a target for pornography syndicates。