Forum concerned over poor initiation support

OR Tambo district claims PSJ officials not helping to curb deaths

CONCERN was expressed yesterday by O R Tambo district traditional initiation forum members that some local municipal leaders were not helping to curb initiation deaths.

The region has become known as a hot spot for initiation deaths in the province.

O R Tambo traditional initiation forum chairman Chief Gcobani Tyali said they were faced with a big problem in Port St Johns (PSJ), where municipal officials were promoting forms of circumcision other than traditional initiation.

“As a result, that municipality is withholding resources to assist in fighting deaths and monitoring traditional initiation,” he said.

Tyali said they had attempted to engage municipal officials on the matter but nothing had materialised.

“We cannot have people holding public platforms but taking sides on matters like this while they know the problem facing this district.”

Efforts to get comment from PSJ municipal officials late yesterday on Tyali’s allegations were unsuccessful.

Tyali was presenting the district’s summer traditional initiation evaluation to senior Eastern Cape House of Traditional Leadership managers led by CEO Mzi Nkantsu.

Executive members in attendance included Chief Mnoneleli Ranuga and Ntandoyesizwe Ndamase.

Other forum members in attendance were police, government officials, traditional leaders and traditional surgeons and nurses.

Tyali accused the PSJ municipality of not providing a vehicle or staff to join traditional initiation monitoring teams over the past summer season.

“Circumcision is one’s choice, of course, but we cannot have people in higher offices in the government taking sides,” he said.

Giving statistics from the past season, Tyali said about 6 000 initiates had undergone the rite in the region, and five had died.

However, there is still some debate over the accuracy of the number as some have suggested one of the deaths was not an initiate.

Tyali said a further four initiates had to undergo partial penile amputations.

The highest number of initiates in the region were from the King Sabata Dalindyebo municipal area at 3 051.

Of that number, five were found to have been illegally circumcised.

In Nyandeni, which includes Port St Johns, 412 of the 811 initiates were illegal initiates.

“Of all these areas, Nyandeni is the most disappointing. As you can see, more than half are illegal initiates,” Tyali said.

He said 16 cases of assault had been opened but only six arrests had been made.

Nkantsu said the situation in O R Tambo was improving and the numbers of deaths declining, as were the number of illegal initiation schools.

He said that they would be holding district evaluation sessions in Chris Hani and Joe Gqabi today. —