The leadership of KwaZulu-Natal alliance structures has vowed to vigorously defend infringements of the rights and cultures of any clan.
It was reacting to the ongoing court case to stop the bare-handed killing of a bull during the first fruits festival on Saturday.
A bull is killed during the Ukweshwama ceremony as a symbolic way of thanking God for the first crops of the season.
The courts were not the best place to resolve the matter, which should instead be dealt with by ”mutual agreements” outside the courts, the alliance’s leadership said in a statement issued after a meeting on Tuesday.
Calling the culture ”barbaric” was the ”deepest insult” to the Zulu nation and to other people’s culture in general, it said.
It called on all its structures, general membership and the KwaZulu-Natal community to attend the Ukweshwama ceremony in their numbers and ”defend this age-old tradition”.
The African National Congress’s committee on cultural and religious affairs described the court action as ”premature” and said it did not augur well for the ”harmonious co-existence of diverse cultural, traditional and religious practices”.
”… The commission is gravely concerned at the approach and the tone taken by those opposed to some of the cultural and traditional practices our people are practising,” commission chairperson Mathole Motshekga in a statement.
”The matter of cultures and practices of our people is a subject that is sacrosanct and sensitive and needs to be dealt with carefully and appropriately.”
Parliament should have been approached before the courts, he said.
Animal Rights Africa (ARA) has brought legal action against Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini, KwaZulu-Natal premier Zweli Mkhize and three government departments, arguing that the ritual killing of the bull is cruel and protracted.
It said earlier on Wednesday that it was ”heartened” at the Pietermaritzburg High Court’s decision to postpone until Friday a ruling on the ritual killing of the bull.
While it had hoped for a decision on the matter on Tuesday, the delay indicated that the court was ”giving serious consideration to the cruelty aspects of the killing”, ARA spokesperson Steve Smit said in a statement.
Judge Nic van der Reyden said on Tuesday that it was difficult for him to rule on the matter, as the ritual went to the heart of Zulu tradition.
He likened the halting of the tradition to ordering Catholics to stop taking Holy Communion.
The ritual was not carried out by crazy people and needed to be looked at in its proper context, he said.
”This has been done for years. It is done by the Zulus who constitute the biggest population in this country. There are about 10-million Zulus in this country,” he said.
Many young Xhosa men died every year during circumcision rituals, but the ritual was not stopped because it was important to the Xhosas.
His understanding was that in killing the bull, the Zulus believed they were transferring power to their king.
”If I rule that the bull should not be killed it means that the power will not be transferred to the king.
”Let’s say the king is struck by lightning after the ruling, people will say it is because I have interrupted their ritual,” said Van der Reyden.
He suggested that the ritual be video-taped, studied to determine whether the killing was indeed cruel, then referred to Parliament.
However, the ARA rejected the proposal, arguing that several attempts to discuss the matter with the government had failed.
Smit said on Wednesday that the ARA was optimistic that its application would succeed, but that should this not be the case, it would be guided by its counsel on the legal options available to it.
”Whatever the outcome, we know we have helped to move the discussion on inclusive justice and the recognition of animal rights,” he said. — Sapa