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MORE than 300 grannies danced naked in the Mtlumuvi River to perform an ancient ritual that jeers at impotent men and is believed to kill rodents that destroy crops.

The Ncelencele dance took place along a stretch of the river between Dumfries and Edinburgh in Bushbuckridge, Limpopo, last week on Friday, April 1.

But it wasn't an April Fool's Day joke.

"The rats destroyed our crops and we can only get rid of them by stripping naked and singing songs related to men's weaknesses in bed," said dance leader Ralitha Mhlongo (71).
   The women got permission to perform the ceremony from indunas Mungoni Malamule and Nghwanazi Ubisi of Edinburgh and Dumfries respectively.

"Ncelencele has been around since time immemorial, and although we live in more modern times, we allowed the grannies to do as they wished," explained Ubisi this week.

Mhlongo describes the rituals as magic and wouldn't go into detail, other than to say that about 100 women found dead rats in the fields, which were then thrown into the river.

The grannies then danced, swam and sang among the rats.

Unfortunately, the ritual wasn't enough and the rats continued to destroy crops.

Ubisi suspects that maybe the grannies did not follow the rituals correctly.

"Our ancestors were clever, although not clever enough to leave us all their secrets," he explained.

Spokes person for the provincial agriculture department, Khathutshelo Sadiki, could not help but laugh when told about the Ncelencele dance.

"Well, people hold different beliefs, but the department has a scientific way of dealing with problems such as rats," he said.

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