Doctors choose traditional route to initiation schools
CHIEFS PLEASED BY TREND
LIMPOPO traditional leaders believe medical doctors who have embraced their culture by going to the mountain raised their hopes that boys will go to initiation schools in their numbers come next season.
This is after three medicos graduated from an initiation school in Mpepule village in Bolobedu.
The doctors were among the 610 initiates who had undergone the traditional passage to manhood in the area. A prominent Gauteng businessman was also among them.
Limpopo House of Traditional Leaders chairman Kgoshi Malesela Dikgale said they hoped more people would take a leaf out of what the practitioners of Western medicine had done and follow in their footsteps.
“We are encouraged by the fact that our schools are being visited by prominent people, including doctors. This motivates us to do more in ensuring the safety of initiates,” said Dikgale.
Dr Benneth Gumede, who graduated at Kgoshi Moloko Tshwale’s school that ended on July 16, said he did not regret his decision.
“As an African man I felt there was something missing in me. I plan to encourage fellow doctors who have not been initiated to take the bold step like I did,” said the 31-year-old Giyani-based doctor.
Gumede, who hails from Dwarsloop township near Bushbuckridge, said he had conducted research about initiation schools that take good care of initiates, and acquaintances recommended Kgoshi Tshwale.
Tshwale’s school admits initiates from several villages in the area, and there has never been any deaths in his four seasons of operation. He has successfully initiated 3 071 men since 2007.