The Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities wants to protect and preserve ukuthwala in its original form - with two consenting adults.
Chairman Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva said the traditional custom should not be confused with abduction, rape and forced marriage of young girls.
She said: "Why is it that when criminal activities occur in rural areas they are considered to be part of culture, but when they happen in urban places, they are prosecuted?"
A report on the custom was released in Johannesburg yesterday. A commission conducted hearings into ukuthwala in July following media reports that girls as young as 12 were being abducted and raped under the pretext of the custom.
About 200 people including survivors, took part in hearings.
Nosakele Stuma, 54, who was 14 when she was abducted in Eastern Cape by a man 35 years older, called for the practice to be abolished.
She said: "My mother's family did not have enough money to send me to school and decided to marry me off to a man I didn't know, let alone love. I was forced to cook, clean, and wash after the same person who repeatedly forced himself on me. Ukuthwala caused me pain. I'm still in pain."
Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package. 
