ANC MP Mandla Mandela has been asked to clearly state in the National Assembly that the age of consent for sexual intercourse is 16, three gender rights organisations said on Thursday.
This came after Mandela made comments in July last year regarding the practice of Ukuthwala, the Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre, the Commission for Gender Equality and the Rural Women's Movement said in a statement.
Ukuthwala is a practice where women, some as a young as 14-years-old, are abducted and forcefully married to older men.
Mandela is a grandson of former president Nelson Mandela.
According to the organisations, Mandela said the process of Ukuthwala had nothing to do with age and depended on whether the girl underwent the intonjane initiation, as arranged by her family.
"That is how culture works," he was quoted as saying at a rural development and land reform Parliamentary portfolio committee meeting. [News24]
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