South African mayor awards scholarships to virgin women

JOHANNESBURG – A South African mayor has awarded college scholarships to 16 young women for remaining virgins to encourage others to be “pure and focus on school,” her spokesman said Sunday.

The scholarship was introduced this year and has been awarded to young women from the Uthukela district in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province.

The young women who applied for the scholarships voluntarily stayed virgins and agreed to have regular virginity tests to keep their funding, Uthukela Mayor Dudu Mazibuko told South African talk radio station 702.

The grants will be renewed “as long as the child can produce a certificate that she is still a virgin,” she said. The scholarships focus on young women because they are more vulnerable to exploitation, teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, she said.

“I think the intentions of the mayor are great but what we don’t agree with is giving bursaries for virginity,” said Mfanozelwe Shozi, chairman for the Commission for Gender Equality. “There is an issue around discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, virginity and even against boys. This is going too far.”