The Zulu practice of Ukweshwama is violent and inhumane. For those who haven’t been keeping up with the comments around this practice this is what happens: Witnesses to the ritual describe the scene where a bull is released into a group of men, whose duty it then is to slay the animal. However, this is not a simple quick wrist flip slitting of the throat, but instead is a drawn-out activity which causes the animal a great deal of trauma and suffering. The scene described involves many men attempting to break the neck of the bull by pulling on its horns, trying to tie the penis of the bull in a knot, pulling out the animal’s tongue and stuffing its mouth with sand.
The difficulty in critiquing culture is that it is presented to us as something immutable and a-historical, and thus it appears as if there is nothing we can do to change it. The practice I am describing is described as part of a ritual that transfers power from the bull to the men involved in its slaughter. It is also believed to create unity among the 40 or so men involved in the attack, and thus create unity in the kingdom over all. This sounds like a scary piece of patriarchal rhetoric if I’ve ever heard one, and one that we should be more worried about in South Africa in particular. There is no need for men to show that they are men through violence. There is no need for group acts of violence to become the foundation by which we build a nation’s unity. There can be other ways — there are other ways.
Culture is not immune to change. Those who present it as such are obviously trying to protect a very particular set of interests. This applies to all instances where violence, murder, massacre, abuse etc are explained using any culture as an explanation. It is never an explanation. We make up our culture by the multitude of individual and shared acts that we participate in every day. In being part of a culture we should not lose our ability to distinguish between right and wrong, but should find that our culture reinforces our decisions.
When things are justified in the name of culture the lines between wrong and right seem to blur as those who would be critical step back for fear of being branded as unsupportive of South Africa’s diverse cultural heritage. The South African Constitution protects culture and tradition out of respect for these differences. The decision to use a human rights-based framework has in some cases come up against difficulty as the notion of what an abuse of rights is, seems far from decided upon. Nevertheless, this does not mean that we should do nothing.
Welcome to the rainbow nation in South Africa. All the people always shouting racism, racism, this practice of Ukweshwama is what it is all about. We have different cultures in SA, African, Western, Indian and Christian all with their different rituals, traditions and beliefs. At the bottom of it all and determining the beliefs, values and behaviour is the different world-views.
We need to take cognizance of this fundamental difference and stop looking at the colour of a person’s skin who comes from a different culture with a different world-view.
It is not just a transfer of power in the practice of Ukweshwama, but the values and beliefs that surround it. To say compromises can be made is an oversimplification. Sure, you can change some things on the behavioural level but sometimes it leaves a traumatic mark spiritually.
I think one should let it happen so that a TV camnera can film it. Once it is displayed around the world and the world condemns the practice then Zulu’s will question the practice themselves as no culture wants to be seen as backward and barbaric.
Imagine our image just before the soccer world cup, if this goes ahead at the stadiums.
We black africans tend to get upset when aspects of our cultures are criticized by white or other folks. This probably has to do with a long history of white people treating us like sub-humans. However we must learn to accept the fact that there are aspects of our culture (as with other cultures) that are not necessary and in some instances, simply wrong. Criticism doesn’t always have to come from within. Sometimes someone standing on the outside has a more objective view.
” Did you know that in African indigenous cultures it is taboo to take your parents to a nursing home? ”
May I ask why there are so many aged black people in the old age homes ? Could it be that the culture is no longer sustainable in 2009 which children all at work, living modern suburban lives instead of rural village ubuntu ?
Has it adapted to modern living ?
The Gogo’s, as far as I have learned, are taking care of their grandchildren, alone, surviving on old age pensions. Is that a NEW culture ?
Let us face reality people.
I agree. It is patronising to implicitly assume that other cultures cannot comply to moral practices.
White people must just stop telling us Africans what to do, it’s our culture and that’s the way it is! I’m a proud Zulu and there is nothing cruel about slaughtering a bull. and this does not make me a murderer or a rapist!
Dear Jenniffer and Animal Rights Crew.
Did any of the animals at gave you the mandate to represent their unhappines about what you term cruelty to them? What pushes you to want to represent them? Are you by any chance planning to protest against the way the lion kill its prey in the future? Or ask the court to put a law that prevents/controls carnivores from killing a prey anytime they wish to?
In this day and age there are lots of people poorer than your pets, living below breadline while you (particularly you white people) are busy feeding useless animals like dogs/cats/ and pet birds in your homes, eating more than R20 a meal… while there are poor kids somewhere hungrier and colder than your well-fed pet.
This has everything to do with your obsession in meddling/interfering/fiddling with nature/life/culture/other human beings is really getting out of hand.You always research anything that is not yours, discover something already existing in other human beings lives, want to remedy/redefine everything you feel uncomfortable with…including other people’s way of life. Now isnt that obsession with control over the world using petty excuses like protecting animals from human culture? The next thing you will want to control the temperature of the sun.
You (Whites) are the cause of many bad effects nature is experiencing currently misplaced curiosity and unwelcome interventions.You just lack roots people and that is your biggest shortfall.
@Pieter – not a fan of the fox hunt either. Thanks for asking.
@Mdu – no it isn’t. But gee, do only white people have pets? I never knew, that’s an amazing anthro study. Anyone? Michael Francis?
@Noholoza – if you look @ Victor’s comments earlier yes people do criticise others for putting people in old age home.
@Feanor – i agree
@eish – is it because I’m white or becuase I’m a lady that you don’t think I should have an opinion? Either way, you’re wrong. Because I can or do have one. It is really poor form to think that only those within a culture can critique it. It is often those within who cannot see the problem.
@Black coffee: the difference is in this ritual MANY men overwhelm and hurt an animal to feel like men. In an abbatoir animals are killed for food.
@Khumbuza – how can I engage more constructively? I think animal abuse is wrong, full stop.
@ It is barbaric to kill animals for human consumption-pure and simple. That is true whether you are African, European or Asian.
It does not matter if you pray for the animal to go to heaven if you’re going to bury parts of its carcass in your stomach.
Put yourself in the animal’s shoes; would it matter to you if someone said grace before shooting you or if they did is as painlessly as possible? FACT IS: the moment that the life-force leaves the body (during the process of death) is the most painful ever.It doesn’t matter how brutal or rellatively painless your killer thinks of your death.
old,female: interesting how you find black cultures abhorrent and in need of re-thinking. What about the brutal “initialiton” rituals in priamrily white schools where (mainly) white students flog other (mostly white) students until they bleed and then ask them to rub salt or vinegar on theior wounds? How sophisticated.
Or better still what about the rituals where a white man was accused of eating the flesh of small children? Is that a decent thing to do? WHAT ABOUT THE MANY WHITE SATANISTS WHO KILL ANIMALS GRUESOMELY AND DRINK THEIR BLOOD? Is that okay?
The practice of violence is prevalent in every culture, look at the Crusades for instance. I agree with Jen, there is no need for men to prove their worth as men through violence, as this only engenders the notion that issues must be dealt with through violence rather than reason.
However, Ian Shaw has a point, on every TV channel one turns to violence is ubiquitous. I know of one pre-school where the teachers had to ask the parents not to let their 5 year old children watch WWF Raw in the evenings because they would re-enact the violent wrestling on each other the next day, without, obviously, the knowledge of the carefully rehearsed and manipulated act that the actual wrestlers have. The violence one witnesses on TV is more harmful to society than the ritual slaughtering of animals in a culture.
The Zulu practice of Ukweshwama is at least a part of the culture and belief system of the amaZulu’s and as such it is steeped in the memory of the culture and their history, which is a violent and successful one
. This is not the defining practice of the amaZulu, and its prevalence within the culture is waning. Any form of slaughter is barbaric and inhumane. I feel that in this practice at least the men and the spectators are aware of the power and the strength of the bull and the skill that is required in order to attain its power. In this way there is at least efficacy in the ritual and a reason for the slaughter. It is not done for sport (at least that was not its original intention and one must hope that this is not what has become of the practice).
Cultural practices should be allowed to evolve with the culture and the society in which they live and participate, the fact that it is a practice that is dying out already indicates that it is not a favoured Zulu tradition of proving manlihood anymore and as such it is unlikely that one need draw any more attention to it.
We need to be spending our energy on education and attempting to censure the violence that our children are exposed to on TV, because that is why our country is riddled with hate, rape, murder, etc. these ritual acts are not what has caused the rot in our society.
You make some valid points Jen. It is sometimes forgotten that there is no single understanding of the term “customary law”. Customary Law adapts over time and the most striking feature of nearly all customary laws is the fact that, in their own form at least, they are unwritten. Although the legitimacy of custom depends on its age, customary law is always up to date, because, ancient though it may seem, no custom is ever older than the memory of the oldest living person (TW Bennett). This is noted by Suttner when he states “although old traditional law may be of greater relevance to the conservative peasant in the reserves, courts may have to recognize the creation of “new custom” in the urban areas and amongst the younger generation who often revolt against the vast restraints which the traditional law imposes on their personal lives.” Systems of custom therefore have the ability to allow forgotten rules to sink into oblivion, while simultaneously accepting new rules to take their place. Thus interestingly this issue could be addressed. South Africa’s new constitutional dispensation has provided the occasion for instituting a series of major legal changes (eg: the Bhe, Shilubana cases etc.) All laws should articulate constitutional values, but within the framework of their own cultural values. This might be one of those laws that could potentialy be changed/updated to be in line with our Constitution?
I live in KZN and although I try not to criticise those with different cultures too much, the one thing about this that does ‘p’ me off is that my taxes go to support this king. I’ve never heard or seen him do anything for the general public (all races included). Instead, his traditions and culture are practised solely for the benefit of Zulus, so why are my taxes supporting this cultural ceremony when I so disagree with it? I believe I have as much right to criticise this as I have to bitch about fraud and corruption in government. And that has nothing to do with being disrespectful of Zulu people.
@Jennifer – I will write about the keeping of pets so stay tuned to my blog there are interesting things that can be said about that.
@Phillipa –
” interesting how you find black cultures abhorrent and in need of re-thinking.”
You distort “that culture is not written in stone and can adapt” with a superficial interpretation.
I have 4 ancestral generations, my 3 generations of White AFRICANs so can write as an AFRICAN. Can you ?
I quote Xhosa circumcision rites with respect, and understanding of its stature for a Madoda.
You are ignorant to accuse me of finding Black culture “abhorrent !” You insult my intelligence and respect for “my nation.”
I grew up in the EC, know how revered this ritual is for a Makwetha. A boy to be initiated into manhood; accepted as such by clan and tribe. Do you ?
They are adapting their age old tradition to modern standards. Bravery in painful, unadulterated circumcision, is their pride – yet – they are willing to adapt. That earns my respect and pride.
This ‘Harvest of the first fruits’ has world coverage and is damaging to our image as a modern, civilised society. Its dividing our nation further.
Umkeshwana is not “a black” culture – its a ZULU culture ritual.
Educate yourself in African Cultures.
So what that many men kill a bull in this ritual, while only a few do it at an abbatoir? At the end of the day the animal is dead. How is this any different from bull-fighting in Spain? The hypocrisy of som whites can be astounding.
The thing that I find most interesting in all this banter is that people take a racial slur on it. The race card is the only defence so many people have for what is no longer accepted practice. How does anyone know what colour the writer is and in any event what does it matter?
The culture debate is a fascinating one. I am reminded of the Hermann Goering quote: ‘When I hear the word culture, I reach for my Browning!’ In his case, the restraints of old European ‘high culture’ were the frustration. However although a paradoxical quote from a distinctly uncultured individual (with expensive tastes in art however) I think the point that culture should not be sacrosanct is a good one. Can you imagine how bizarre it would be if those of European culture argued that ‘our culture is to fill rugby stadiums with people dressed in brown uniforms singing the Horst Wessel song and saluting a crooked Hindu cross whilst decrying people of Semitic faiths – but it’s our culture, so don’t mess with it’. Of course it’s ridiculous. Of course people from all cultures have a right to comment on other cultures.
Some really stupid comments from a lot of respondents here.
In South Africa animals are killed for food in a quick and humane way at slaughterhouses.
The torturing and mutilating of a blinded defenceless cow for an hour or so by bloodthirsty men so is barbaric and cruel to the extreme and contravenes the animal cruelty act in South Africa.
This Culture practice in this instance is downright illegal.
It has nothing to do with culture. The issue at stake is the barbaric cruelty. Yes the Spaniards and the Chinese are also cruel but let Spain and China concern themselves about that. We as South Africans should protest as loud as we can about this insane cruelty and all other forms or cruelty in South Africa. All the other silly comparisons that some respondents are making here are simply stupid. American wrestling is done by choice and not forced onto defenceless men (or animals.)