The scholarship was introduced this year and has been awarded to young women from the Uthukela district in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province, mayoral spokesman Jabulani Mkhonza said. Each year the mayor's office awards scholarships to more than 100 promising² high school and university students from the area, he said.

 

The young women who applied³ for the scholarships voluntarily stayed virgins and agreed to have regular virginity tests to keep their funding, Uthukela Mayor Dudu Mazibuko told South African talk radio station 702.

 

"To us, it's just to say thank you for keeping yourself and you can still keep yourself for the next three years until you get your degree or certificate," Mazibuko said.

 

The grants will be renewed "as long as the child can produce a certificate that she is still a virgin," she said. The scholarships focus on young women because they are more vulnerable to exploitation, teenage pregnancy⁴ and sexually transmitted diseases, she said.

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