INITIATION in any form is wrong – which is precisely why it has been outlawed – and yet the practice continues undercover and undetected until someone is brave enough to pierce the veil of silence or the level of violence meted out is so severe that it can no longer be covered up.

In the case of the boys and the bus bench at St David’s Marist Brothers College in Inanda, Joburg, the story was thrust into the public realm after a parent tipped off LeadSA activist and Primedia Broadcasting chief executive Terry Volkwyn.

To their credit, the school’s governing body wasted no time taking full responsibility for what had happened and launched a high level investigation into the allegations.

There is an understandable tendency for some people – including childhood and education experts – to write off initiation in its milder forms as youthful exuberance and harmless stupidity.

The reality, though, is that it’s really just the thin edge of the wedge. Mild initiation can graduate to fully-fledged assault or death. Sexual violence, of any sort, can never be condoned, not in a country with an egregious record such as ours.

Our children are our leaders of tomorrow.

The guilty must be identified and properly punished, if we are to stop the cycle of abuse.