Ukuthwala is the South African term for bride kidnapping, the practice of a man abducting a young girl and forcing her into marriage, often without the consent of her parents.
[5] In most nations, bride kidnapping is considered a sex crime because of the implied element of rape, rather than a valid form of marriage.
Raptio was assumed to be a historical practice, hence the Latin term, but the 21st century has seen a resurgence of war rape, some of which has elements of bride kidnapping; for example, women and girls abducted by Boko Haram in Nigeria, the Lord Resistance Army in Uganda and ISIS in the Middle East have been taken as wives by their abductors.
[2] The act of ukuthwala traditionally required the culprit to pay one or more head of cattle to the father or legal guardian of the girl.
[10] The practice received negative publicity, with media reporting in 2009 that more than 20 Eastern Cape girls are forced to drop out of school every month because of ukuthwala.
[13] The practice of ukuthwalwa has been apologised as a mock abduction or an irregular proposal intended to achieve a traditional law marriage.