Incidents besmirch ancient rite
Custodians to probe woman’s killing, sex in hut
AWOMAN who was killed, allegedly by initiates, in Berlin’s Mncotsho village on Christmas Eve, will be laid to rest today.
Nolulamo “Lulu” Faku, 59, died from injuries after she was struck with knobkieries and sticks. She was found outside an initiates’ hut at 10pm.
For traditional reasons, women are forbidden at initiation schools.
Yesterday the House of Traditional Leaders advised initiates against using violence when confronted by women and said initiates should instead run for help.
Three of the initiates accused of the killing are in jail after they were arrested and charged with murder. They will appear in the Mdantsane Magistrate’s Court for a formal bail application on January 11.
Two initiates are under age and have since been released into the custody of their parents. Charges against them have not yet been finalised.
Chief Stanley Makinana, who is the appointed Eastern Cape House of Traditional Leaders warden of Mncotsho Village and custodian of the circumcision ritual in the Buffalo City Metro, said: “This is a disgrace to this ancient rite.
“We will have a meeting tomorrow at the East London City Hall in light of this incident.
“Our hearts go out to the family of the slain woman. May they find healing.”
He said the custodians of the rite would brainstorm ideas on how to educate initiates.
Chief of the Ndlambe and ruler of the six great houses of Ndlambe, Andile “Mhlanganisi” Makinana, said the killing had shocked the entire nation.
“We would like to urge the police to speed up the investigation because we are having sleepless nights about this ongoing investigation due to a lot of sketchy details and rumours.
“We would like to get closure.” ● Buffalo City Metro has also been rocked by a sex spree inside an initiation hut at Duncan Village.
Andile Makinana, Contralesa’s Buffalo City chairman Nkosi Mthuthuzeli Makinana and Buffalo City Metro Traditional Initiation Forum chairman Stanley Makinana have all strongly condemned the killing of Faku and the sex in the hut incidents which they say have tainted the age-old and sacred custom of ulwaluko.
“It is beyond anyone’s imagination that an initiates’ hut was rented out for a male to have night-long sex with his female partner.
“Sex is not allowed in any initiation school even between males,” said Stanley.
Mthuthuzeli said a man was found with a woman inside an initiation hut in Duncan Village near East London. The man had apparently had intercourse in front of initiates who rented the hut out to him in exchange for alcohol.
Stanley said the forum and councillor in the area planned more drastic steps against the man who had sex in the initiation hut.
“He cannot simply get way with it so easily. He has to account for insulting the custom of ulwaluko. He insulted all the monarchs and traditional leaders of communities who practise the custom. He has to be named and shamed and also fined heavily,” said Stanley.
Referring to the Faku slaying, Mthuthuzeli said: “If the woman was indeed found at an initiation school, the simplest thing was to not to harm her but apprehend her and call elderly men who could have dealt better with that situation.”
Meanwhile, the initiation death toll in the Eastern Cape has risen to 17. The latest two deaths were in the Amathole municipal area.
Almost all initiates have already graduated. —