Nude women paid
Bongani Hans
POLICE have said that a group of women who appeared in a \ideo parading naked in a busy
Durban shopping mall should be charged with public indecency .The cellphone video is
circulating widely among members of the public, especially in Durban.Police spokesperson
Lieutenant-Colonel Vincent Zwane said a Durban traditional healer, Nkosinathi Gumede,
cannot be charged with public indecency — only for enticing the women by giving them R500
each for committing public indecency or as an accomplice.
"So far we have heard rumours that Gumede paid each of the women R500 to model naked.
No one has come to us to lay charges of public indecency," said Zwane.The video, a copy of
which The Witness holds, was allegedly recorded in 2008 and is said to be popular in the
Durban area.It shows the women taking off all their clothes, including their underwear, in
front of the busy main entrance of the Workshop shopping centre.
Scores of people at a nearby taxi rank also saw the incident. Gumede, who is known for
pushing a concoction called udumo to HIV and Aids sufferers, is shown on the \ideo giving
out bundles of banknotes to the women as they walk around in the nude. Gumede, who was
wearing a blue suit and dancing in excitement, is also heard making remarks through a
loudhailcr about the shape of the women's bodies.
A bystander recorded the video footage on a cellphone, but a \ideo cameraman standing next
to Gumede is also seen capturing the scene. Said Zwane, "According to information we have,
Gumede did not force the women to take off their clothes. They did it voluntarily. "So the
charges of public indecency should be laid against the women. "We cannot have direct
charges against Gumede, which is why I say we can either charge him with enticement or for
being an accomplice.
"But in order for us to do that we need someone who felt offended by the incident to come
forward and lay the charges," said Zwane.Ndabezitha Zibiya, a spokesperson for Premier Dr
Zweli Mkhize, said the premier's office is waiting for the Office of the Status of Women in
the premier's office to submit a report about the incident.
"Once we get that report we will be able to act. But the matter should be investigated. We
have KZN gender machinery' that involves police in the fight against abuse of women,"'
said Sibiya. Gumede told The Witness yesterday he did not mean to offend the women. "I
was preaching to women about abstinence from sex when I made remarks that there were no
virgins among them.
"One nurse reacted by taking off all her clothes to prove that she was still a virgin. Other
women did the same. I gave each of them R500 to show appreciation to them for taking
care of their bodies,'' said Gumede.
Nude women paid
Date: 22 December 2010 Publication: THE WITNESS
Page Number: 2 Author: Bongani Hans
Language: English
Categories: Kwa-Zulu Natal