Cape Town - Traditional leaders have expressed deep disappointment following the deaths of 33 initiates during the initiation season across the country, even though the figure was down from last season, and hospitalisation of more than 200.
The initiation season came to an end last weekend.
There were 46 deaths during the previous season, according to the National House of Traditional Leaders.
The deputy chairperson of the house, Sipho Mahlangu, said more than 20 people were arrested for operating illegal initiation schools.
He said there were about 1 100 young men in illegal schools, while there were 6 444 initiates in legal schools.
“Things did not go according to what we wanted. We wanted zero tolerance, but that’s not the case. We are very disappointed with the Eastern Cape, where there were 28 deaths this season,” he said.
There were improvements in other areas, while the OR Tambo District Municipality (Mthatha) accounted for most of the deaths.
“We have realised that people are not scared of the law. Traditional leaders from all provinces will meet with the minister of justice at the end of July in Pretoria.
“We will discuss if we can come up with strict legislation that will focus on illegal schools. We had cases where many boys under 18 years were rescued from such schools.
“We will also reflect on how things went this season. After the meeting, we will have a clear programme for the December initiation season and we will also identify which areas we need to focus on,” he said.
Mahlangu said traditional leaders were also concerned about the prosecution rate of people who had been arrested in illegal schools.
“Some of the boys were severely assaulted. Sometimes it is very difficult to prosecute the perpetrators because community members do not want to come and testify in court. Despite the campaigns we did before the initiation season, you still find parents that do not come forward with information,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Royal House of amaXhosa has called for an urgent imbizo with local chiefs and kings to discuss ways to prevent deaths in initiation schools in December.
“It will be the first time we will be holding such a meeting. Various stakeholders from our communities and government will be taking part. The king of the amaXhosa has called for this meeting,” said Prince Xhanti Sigcawu of the Royal House of amaXhosa.
Sigcawu called for stricter prosecution for those who declared themselves to be traditional surgeons while they in fact did not know how to perform the dangerous and risky procedure.
“The legislation is a bit soft to those false traditional surgeons. It is unacceptable that every time the initiation season opens, children die. The parents need to play a role in this because it is the parents who send their children to these illegal initiation schools,” Sigcawu said.
Cape Times