Uncircumcised schoolboy’s nightmare

Mom tells traditional leaders how peers poke fun at her son

THE mother of an uncircumcised 17-yearold Grade 9 boy has told a chilling story of how her son has been discriminated against and humiliated at school for four years by circumcised schoolmates.

They call him a “boy”, yet some of tormentors are younger than he.

Peer pressure among young boys at schools has been identified as a contributing factors in the many illegal initiation cases in Mpondoland.

This resulted in two boys undergoing the rite without informing their parents, and boys as young as 10 undergoing the rite.

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Youths have died from septicaemia complications and some have taken their own lives as traditional leaders battle to bring the male initiation rite under their control.

“My son always come back to school wrecked and in tears.

“He says he is taunted. They call him all the bad names and reduce him to nothing but a dog, simply because he is not circumcised.

“This has put a strain on both of us. Some of those putting pressure on him and humiliating him are 12 years old and are in Grade 2 but they have been circumcised,” said Fezeka Simango, 35.

The dangers of peer pressure and the tragedy of initiation deaths, were raised during a safety awareness outreach campaign by the Eastern Cape House of Traditional Leaders, SAPS, government departments and the Community Development Foundation of South Africa held at Ntsimbini Village last week.

Villagers painted a grim picture of boys at a tender age going to the mountains where they were injured or died, while others come back still behaving like the young children they are, and not men.

Most of boys in Ntsimbini go to the bush when they are 14 or younger in contravention of the law, which states that boys must be 18 or older.

Pressure on young boys in primary and secondary schools is so extreme that the circumcision age restriction is practically non-existent.

In June last year, about 40 underage school boys underwent the rite and behaved so anti-socially at school, including showing up a month into the school term, that they were dismissed from school.

They were only reinstated following intervention from the authorities and after parents committed themselves to ensuring good behaviour.

Simango, an unemployed single mom, said until now her son had agreed to wait until he was 18 before going to initiation school.

“But this year it looks as if the pressure is too much for him. He cannot take it any longer and may succumb [and do it], said Simango.

ECHTL chairman Nkosi Ngangomhlaba Matanzima and Contralesa provincial chairman Nkosi Thanduxolo Jezile lashed out at parents and traditional leaders for failing to show leadership around traditional initiation, leaving youngsters to take control. “Peer pressure is so deadly. “The community, parents and traditional leaders, and the education department must come on board deal with rising peer pressure in school,” said Matanzima.

He said he was touched by Fizeke Simango’s story. —