Daily Sun (June 12 2013) - WHEN a foetus was discovered in a village dump the question was: Whose unborn baby was it? The local induna decided he would use an old method of finding out when a girl was suspected of being pregnan t. SQUEEZE THE BREAST AND SEE IF MILK COMES OUT!
More than 200 women from Enqoleni Village, outside Eshowe, KZN, lined up for the boob squeezing. And it worked. The truth was squeezed out of an 18-year-old girl and she was exposed as the mother of the foetus! A case of concealment of birth has now been opened with the local cops.
Village women aged 40 and younger - and some girls as young as 10 - were summoned by induna Abednigo Zungu to the school hall for the Breast Test last Saturday. With men relegated to the sidelines, the women - all of whom willingly took part - had their breasts examined by the village gogos. They were also looking for tell-tale black marks around the nipples.
Said one young girl: "It was embarrassing, but we wanted to know who aborted their baby and dumped it. "The induna said we should do this and our parents agreed. He said that it was better to know the person rather than have all the young women in the area become suspects in this evil."
Nomzamo Ngema (30) said she and her daughter co-operated because they wanted to know the truth. "We had to drag our daughters there and go ourselves to be tested," she said. Thembani Mkhize (40) said she tried to ignore the call because her daughters were still young. "I stayed at home but the induna came to fetch us, saying we older women were also needed for testing," said Thembani.
The unborn baby was discovered by three children playing in a nearby cave last week. Their uncle, Mzamo Biyela (31) said the kids thought it was a plastic doll. Biyela had said: "It wasn't a doll. It was a five-month-old unborn baby."
The villagers said Induna Zungu was forced to resort to the old way because cops were doing nothing about village shame. Zungu told Daily Sun: "There are many options available to avoid pregnancy." He said the 18-year old girl later confessed to aborting the baby, saying she feared her father would disown her.
"We are now taking her to the police. But the family will also have to slaughter to cleanse the area after the shame," said Zungu. Police Captain Thulani Zwane confirmed that a case of concealment of birth was opened at Eshowe SAPS for investigation.
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