Initiate toll now 16 as teen succumbs

The initiation death toll has risen to 16 after the death of an initiate who was severely assaulted, allegedly by his traditional nurse.

The initiate – admitted to hospital after the July 1 assault in King William’s Town – succumbed to his injuries on Friday.

This is the second initiate to die in Buffalo City Metro this season after one died in Mdantsane last month.

Cooperative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) spokesman Mamkeli Ngam said: “It is alleged that the initiate was severely assaulted by someone believed to be a traditional nurse.

“The initiate was allegedly assaulted after he could not immediately understand the lingo taught at the initiation school.”

King William’s Town police spokeswoman Captain Siphokazi Mawisa confirmed they had made an arrest.

“A 19-year-old male was arrested following a case of murder that was reported on Friday at the King William’s Town police station,” she said, adding that the initiate’s name was still being withheld because not all of his relatives had been notified of his death.

BCM traditional initiation forum chairman Prince Stanley Makinana expressed shock over the initiate’s death.

“The initiate was 17 and therefore an illegal initiate.

“He was vomiting blood and his body was full of sjambok marks. This should be strongly condemned. We cannot have our sons assaulted and killed.”

The initiate, believed to have been in Grade 11 at a BCM high school, was about to graduate from the initiation school when he was assaulted.

Ngam said in the Nyandeni area alone 15 cases, including murder and illegal circumcision, had been opened and five people had been arrested.

Deaths in the Mpondoland areas due to illegal circumcision of boys, some as young as 12, were rife, he said.