Better than a wife
TO EXPRESS their gratitude to the visiting boss of South Africa's state broadcaster, traditional Venda chiefs have--according to the Sowetan, a popular daily newspaper--lavished three gifts on Hlaudi Motsoeneng: a cow, a calf, and a beautiful wife. The broadcasting supremo is pictured with his arm around a bare-breasted young maiden, said to be his choice from several on offer, as they surveyed the cattle.
Venda elders deny the woman was a gift, as does the woman herself. But the Sowetan insists that its report was accurate; the South African Broadcasting Corporation appeared to confirm that its boss was indeed offered a wife.
Under some traditions in South Africa, women are still treated as chattels. One practice is known as ukuthwala, whereby a young girl is abducted and taken to the family home of a man, usually a lot older than herself, who wants to marry her.
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