A GROUP of rural women who made international headlines when they staged a naked protest last November are praying they won’t have to take their clothes off again to ensure they can grow their crops. The group of 28 women marched naked along the main road of Schoemansdal in Mpumalanga last year to protest against losing their land to cattle farmers. The crop growers say they need to plant their mealie crops soon if they are to feed their families over the coming year. “We are crossing our fingers that the cattle farmers will not disturb us in October when we begin sowing our crops. I pray we don’t have to go naked again,” said Solomon Mabuza, one of the crop growers, this week. Mabuza said the crop growers were fed up with the empty promises of government officials and NGOs who had promised in the past year to help them sort out who owned the land. The 28 women spent a week in jail after their naked protest. They were charged with public indecency and staging a march without permission. The community bailed them out, at R500 each, and the case was later thrown out of court. – African Eye News Service