Johannesburg - The Film and Publication Board (FPB) has ruled that a website has the right to publish graphic images of botched traditional circumcisions, the City Press newspaper reported on Sunday.
The FPB ruled that the website, ulwaluko.co.za, run by Dutch doctor, Dingeman Rijken was a “bona fide scientific publication with great educative value”.
The FPB stipulated that the website - which shows photographs of the penises of initiates who are suffering from deformities, wounds, infections and amputations after undergoing botched traditional circumcisions - must place an age restriction warning that its contents are only suitable for those over the age of 13.
The Community Development Foundation of SA initially lodged the complaint, suggesting the images were pornographic and that they broke doctor and patient confidentiality.
However, Rijken said he had obtained informed consent for each photograph.
He said he had been working at the Holy Cross Hospital in Falstaff in the Eastern Cape in March 2012, when he became shocked at cases of botched circumcisions sent to him.
“I felt I had no other choice than to lift the veil of secrecy,” he said. - Sapa