CONTRALESA WANTS JAIL TERM FOR ‘SURGEON’

Man sentenced to R8k or 2 years in prison for circumcising 15-year-old

Traditional leaders and government responded differently after illegal traditional surgeon Lelethu Zilibele, 34, was sentenced to R8,000 or two years in jail for illegally circumcising a boy of 15 in Ezigodweni near Needs Camp, East London.

Speaking at the East London magistrate’s court after the judgment on Wednesday, Eastern Cape cooperative governance and traditional affairs MEC Fikile Xasa said he would like to study the ruling “to extract lessons out of it and see what is best that can be communicated” to the community.

“It does send a message that we expect as government. It’s a good new year present for us. When we count 23 boys who have died, everybody thinks we’re mad. We are very thankful to the family for taking up this matter to break this pressure from society that [says] people must not talk about this cultural thing.”

Traditional leaders want Zilibele to go to jail.

Contralesa and EC House of Tradional Leaders chair Chief Mwelo Nonkonyana said: “We would have preferred imprisonment, which would have sent a clear message.

“I will consult the National Prosecuting Authority [NPA] and the prosecutor and see if we can appeal the sentence.”

Zilibele, who said he only had R500 on him, was led away to prison. He also received a threeyear jail sentence, suspended for five years on condition he did not commit the same offence during that period.

At least 23 initiates were confirmed dead during the summer initiation period.

Zilibele’s case started in February 2018 and he finally pleading not guilty in July.

Magistrate Anne-Marie Elliot ruled that Zilibele had contravened the Circumcision Act of 2001.

In handing down sentencing, Eliiot said Zilibele’s circumstances had to be taken into consideration.

Mitigating factors included Zilibele’s submission that he was a father of two minor children, who relied on his salary of R4,000 and social grant payouts of R400 per child.

Pleading to the court for a lenient sentence, Zilibele said he wanted to pay the R8,000 and vowed not to repeat his crime.

Pressed by prosecutor Lerato Phakisi-Nqinileyo, Zilibele told the court he had been an illegal surgeon since 2006 and had circumcised up to 20 initiates the last time he performed circumcisions.

He admitted that he had circumcised Hlomla Payiya without the permission of the parents.

Giving evidence Chief Stanley Makinana, the Buffalo City initiation forum chair, said in illegally circumcising Hlomla, Zilibele had disrespected the Payiya family. He stressed that traditional leaders regularly condemned illegal surgeons.

He added that it was a common occurrence that at times there was no record of who had circumcised some boys.

He put it on record that some boys would return from initiation with medical problems and the health department would have to intervene.

Speaking on the sidelines of court, Hlomla’s father, Andile Payiya, told the Dispatch that the incident had traumatised the family.

“This has affected us financially and Hlomla mentally. I had intentions for my child. I wanted him to go through

ulwaluko when he was ready mentally. Now they have initiated him when he was still a child. He may be tall enough, but he wasn’t ready,” Payiya said. “Now he’s exposed to a lot of things. He thinks he is a man and has started smoking marijuana and cigarettes.

“He doesn’t sleep in the house because he thinks he’s a man. He started having an attitude, but I managed to call him to order and he listens.”

Xasa urged parents of boys initiated by rogue surgeon Mshiyelwa Ndoda, otherwise known as “MaChicken” or “Mtshayina”, to come forward and help the government bring him to justice. Ndoda is on the run for circumcising boys as young as 10 in Port St Johns.

He may be tall enough, but he wasn’t ready. Now he thinks he is a man