Thousands of maidens are expected to descend on King Goodwill Zwelithini's Royal Palace in northern KwaZulu-Natal next weekend as the annual Reed Dance Festival gets underway.

Vukani Mbhele, spokesperson for the provincial department of arts, culture and tourism said last year 25 000 people had participated and a similar crowd was expected this year.

"The ceremony is aimed at encouraging maidens to abstain from sexual activity for as long as possible until they are old enough to make informed decisions," Mbhele said. Virginity tests are also taken on maidens.

The Reed Dance event came under the spotlight last month when Zwelithini expressed concern that the event may lose its credibility if maidens continued showing up "half-naked".

The king said many maidens attend the festival with their buttocks not properly covered.

"Traditionally, there is something which is used to cover their buttocks called umuntsha. If they do not have that, I kindly suggest that they buy sarongs to cover up," he told the Mercury newspaper.

The king said he did not want any maiden to come to the reed ceremony this year without their waistlines being covered.

"There are times when maidens have to sing and dance and we end up seeing certain private body parts that we're not supposed to see," the king said.

The event takes places between the 12 and 14 September.

Sapa