By Baldwin Ndaba
He managed to survive Heidelberg's "hill of death" once, but Papa Mbovane, 19, did not make it the second time.
He died of excessive internal bleeding at Heidelberg Hospital on Monday, after vomiting up blood and pieces of flesh.
Mbovane, of Ratanda, is the sixth teenager to die after attending initiation bush camps at Nooitgedacht farm outside Heidelberg.
| 'Mbovane is the sixth teenager to die' |
It is not known if his fatal injuries were the result of his first or second stay at the camp.
Mbovane was rescued from the camps last Tuesday, along with 50 others. He and others had been beaten by their initiation school teachers for failing to sing properly.
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However, Papa, his brother Abednego Mbovane and his stepbrother Paki Dlamini were returned to the initiation camp on Wednesday, the day after they were discharged from hospital.
His sister Paulina Mbovane, 38, said the family were told by the inyanga who performed the circumcision that if the boys did not complete the ritual, they would go mad.
"We did not want our brothers to suffer this fate," she said. "But on Saturday the inyanga sent word that our child was sick in the bushes.
| Unsuitable due to the lack of sanitation and water |
"We then organised a car to fetch Papa. We brought him home on Saturday. But he was unable to sleep that night and complained that he was seeing visions of a man and a woman trying to shove a hot stick into his anus," Paulina said.
"He was vomiting blood and pieces of flesh. We took him to hospital on Sunday."
When Paulina, accompanied by her cousin Sophie Mofokeng and Papa's girlfriend Thobeka Maqungu, went to the hospital to visit him on Monday afternoon, they were shocked when they pulled back his bed sheet to find him dead.
Sobbing hysterically, the women said: "He would be alive if he had not gone back to the initiation school".
Just 15 minutes earlier, The Star team had taken pictures of the badly beaten Papa.
Now fears are mounting that the same fate awaits his brothers.
Abednego was in a weak state when he was returned to the camp. Paki had also been badly beaten.
The family have demanded that the inyanga return the two boys, but she was not home on Monday.
Dr Corne Momberg, chief executive officer of Heidelberg Hospital, said the preliminary cause of Papa's death was excessive internal bleeding. "His haemoglobin was very low due to internal injuries sustained during a serious beating." Momberg confirmed that Papa had vomited blood and bits of flesh.
The Gauteng health ministry last week announced the closure of three initiation schools on the farm but did not take any steps to ensure that this took place. All the schools were still operating on Monday.
Provincial director of health Thandi Chaane on Monday said a decision on the schools would be taken after a meeting between various departments in the province. She could not say when this meeting would take place.
In another scare, a boy who claimed to have escaped from a third initiation school in the area on Sunday informed police that he had run away after waking up to find that a boy sleeping next to him had died during the night.
Annaline Prinsloo, police spokesperson for the East Rand, said the boy's complaint had been taken seriously, and search-and-rescue teams had been dispatched.
They found 16 initiates in the area, two with septic wounds and two others with pneumonia.
According to the boy who fled, there should have been 17 initiates there, so a search was launched.
On Monday, the Nooitgedacht hills were combed by detectives on foot and by dog unit members, and air surveillance was done from a police helicopter. Prinsloo said members of the water wing dived into two quarries, but nothing was found, "So we have called off the search".
Sthembiso Ngobeni, a junior leader at the school owned by inyanga Matheka Mosia, denied reports of a death at his camp. He confirmed that one of the boys escaped.
The boy, who cannot be named for his own security, is now under police protection.
The camp was visited on Monday by Heidelberg Town Council mayor Busi Modisakeng and district council mayor Peter Skosana. They found the conditions at the camp unsuitable due to the lack of sanitation and water.
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