Ramaphosa demands initiate safety priority
As 20,000 Eastern Cape youths prepare for the mountains to undergo winter initiation, provincial authorities, acting with strong support from President Cyril Ramaphosa, have promised aggressive policing of rogue circumcision schools and bogus surgeons.
Ramaphosa has demanded that safety during the rite must be a priority.
The deaths and injuries that have plagued the performing of the ritual for years motivated a desperate and furious statement on Wednesday from the elders. They lashed out at those responsible for the tragedies arising from what should be a tough but ultimately joyous ritual of manhood.
In 2018, 44 initiates died, 23 in summer and 21 in winter.
In 2017, 14 died; in 2016, 11; in 2015, 28; in 2014, 37; and in 2013, 37, all in winter.
In a blunt comment at a meeting of 50 government leaders and NGOs involved in the issue, Eastern Cape House of Traditional Leaders CEO Pastor Mzi Nkantsu railed: “We are in crisis situation, a disaster, that needs all members of the society, especially fathers, taking the lead.”
“There is a dire lack of patriotism, vigilance and general participation of parents, as well as of strong leadership among some traditional leaders.
“Their silence is deafening and this directly and indirectly leads to the deaths of their sons as they let bogus traditional initiation practitioners dice with their children’s lives.”
The team urged fathers, uncles and traditional leaders to be in the forefront of ensuring the safety of young men.
The Eastern Cape government officially launched the opening of the initiation season on Wednesday but there are fears that some schools were already operating.
Nkantsu and Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa provincial secretary Mkhanyiseli Dudumayo, who also chairs the OR Tambo Initiation Forum, said hundreds of initiates had died and others had penile amputations over the years.
Nkantsu told the meeting: “If in the past years you implemented safe strategies with almost the same results, it means there is a challenge.
“Whose child must now die before all parents and traditional leaders stand up to make this their own responsibility, ensuring the safety of their sons? This rite is a societal matter that requires all stakeholders to pull together for the safety of the initiates.”
Their silence is deafening and this directly and indirectly leads to the deaths of their sons