Nemato councillors spell out laws governing traditional rite for boys
EMATO residents gathered at Jauka Hall last week for a seminar which clarified the Customary Male Initiation Practice Act to those in attendance.
Leading the seminar were Ward 9 councillor Mbuleli Njibana, Ward 6 councillor Mkhulisi Raco and Nolonwabo Mani. Njibana said they were conducting the seminar under the council speaker’s authority.
He started off proceedings by highlighting the seemingly poor attendance.
“People did not come as expected but that does not stop us from disseminating information,” he said.
Njibana said the Act set out the procedures to be followed before and during the circumcision period.
It further highlighted the consequences of failing to uphold protocols.
Most importantly, the law further highlights the role of all parties involved, such as parents, the Department of Health and the community at large.
Any boy going to the bush is
Nexpected to do a medical check-up as a first step. “A boy must go to hospital with the parents for a medical examination and if he is in a good condition for circumcision, he must then fill in the circumcision form which is found in any public hospital,” Njibana said.
The boy’s parents and a nurse, who normally distributes these forms, are expected to sign it. According to Njibana, this move was introduced in a bid to minimise fatalities during initiations.
“Government found out that some of the boys had not died as a result of the ritual, but due to diseases which they already had before circumcision,” he said.
He said that it had been discovered that some boys concealed these existing illnesses when they were in the bush. He further highlighted that some of the boys who had to take medicine, usually left it at home when they went to the bush, which might be the cause of the high circumcision death rate.
The Act also gave community members autonomy in terms of choosing elderly men from the community, who would constitute an initiation working committee which then monitored the health of circumcised boys.
“One of the most important things about this act is that it permits [traditional surgeon] with five years or more experience to perform circumcision,” Njibana said.
The Act also regulates the prices charged by the traditional surgeon performing the circumcisions. Njibana said in both Nemato and Bathurst, traditional surgeons had been charging random prices. To prevent this irregular charge, the law sets the standardised cost for a circumcision at R300 plus one bottle of Commando brandy. The brandy is optional for the traditional surgeon, who can be given R120 instead, if he did not want the alcohol.
Raco ended the seminar by pointing out the consequences to those failing to comply with the Act. He said if a boy was found to have been circumcised without official papers, it might result in a fine of R20000 to the guilty party – be it a nurse or traditional surgeon.
If a circumcised boy is found to have received forms in an illegal manner, the official responsible could incur a fine of R5 000 and three months imprisonment. He made it clear that this law only applied to traditional circumcision.