Kwaggafontein, Mpumalanga - Fifty-six – that is the number of days that young men around Mpumalanga have been at initiation schools around the province since May 8.
Thirty – the number of initiates who have died at the schools since the initiation season started.
Seven – the number of schools where the deaths occurred.
Zero – the number of arrests so far.
These are the figures emanating from the 2013 Mpumalanga initiation season, that was embroiled in tragedy and controversy when 30 initiates died from withdrawal symptoms from drug abuse, dehydration, no proper supervision by care-givers and pneumonia-related illnesses.
The province’s initiation season started on May 8 and will end next week on July 9, but the police, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the House of Traditional Leaders in the province could not say whether anyone would be held accountable for the deaths by the time the initiation season ends.
Police said they had not arrested anyone because they were waiting for a directive from the NPA to do so.
Meanwhile, the NPA said it wanted a detailed report from the medical examiner to ascertain who could be held accountable for the deaths.
On the other hand, the chairman of the House of Traditional Leaders in Mpumalanga, Kgosi Mathibela Mokoena, said they were frustrated that although people had died, no one had been arrested.
Mpumalanga police spokesman Colonel Leonard Hlathi said that of the 30 cases, 28 were for murder and the other two were inquests. Police had given the dockets to the NPA, which had told them they had to find a way to enforce the arrests that could lead to a successful prosecution.
Hlathi said police had completed all investigations and had given the 28 dockets to the NPA.
A frustrated Mokoena said they had tried their best to bring about the arrest of the suspects but that their efforts had proved fruitless.
Mokoena said they had investigated the deaths of the initiates and later gave police eight names of people they suspected to be accountable for what happened.
“The deaths happened at seven schools, and two weeks ago we submitted the identities of eight people who must be held accountable, but no one has been arrested. The police said they gave the names to the NPA. We have done our part by submitting the names, there’s nothing further that we can do,” Mokoena said.
The NPA’s Medupi Simasiku said yesterday that his office had received only six dockets, not 28 as stated by Hlathi.
He said they could not tell the police to arrest anyone without getting expert opinion on the causes of death, as they could not have a situation where people were arrested and later released due to lack of evidence.
“Please take note that in deaths arising from an alleged circumcision process, the cause of death is very important to determine whether criminal liability attaches to anyone involved in such.
“We can’t press charges without being sure of all the facts; we need to cover all the details. We are not dragging our feet, we need to make sure (of everything) because most people won’t talk as the death happened at an initiation school,” Simasiku said.
The Star