Many initiates continue to die and only a few are held accountable
by Mthuthuzeli Ntseku
Cape Town - Despite numerous government interventions in the rite of passage initiation custom, many initiates continue to die and only a few people are held accountable for these deaths.
As the summer initiation season ends today, in the Eastern Cape alone, 29 young initiates have died while going through the passage, and Icamagu Institute national chairperson Onke Cetywayo, blamed this on a number of factors.
Cetywayo said that while a few arrests were made, this was not “reflective of the number of lives that were lost”.
He said the well-being of initiates was a collective responsibility of the custodians of the customs, and not of any individual.
“In trying to fix the problem of initiate deaths, we shy away from the core of the problem but rather deal with the face value of it, and by so doing compromise the custom,” he said.
Cetywayo said the commercialisation of the custom – by illegal and inexperienced surgeons and carers – and parents not measuring up to their responsibilities had a role in the number of these deaths.
Upon visiting initiation schools in Ngcobo and Komani in the Eastern Cape, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said the government was considering “complementing or replacing” traditional circumcision rites with a medical equivalent.
Mkhize said the national government had been engaging with the provincial government and traditional leaders on the issue of male medical circumcision, but because rural communities were not convinced by the practice, there was still a lot of work to be done.
“We need to intervene immediately, and male medical circumcision looks to be the answer,” said Mkhize.
However, Eastern Cape House of Traditional Leaders chairperson Inkosi Mwelo Nonkonyane, who is also Contralesa chairperson, said this would compromise the essence of the custom.
“We are fundamentally opposed to any suggestion that the traditional male circumcision will be substituted by medical circumcision.
“We will never support that. We are happy to work with the Health Department to address health issues around initiation, but for them to take over is not something we can consider,” Nonkonyane said.
He said the deaths were caused by criminals who wanted to enrich themselves at the expense of the lives of the young people, which “we as traditional leaders are fighting”.
The Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities said these deaths were “clearly a violation of the sanctity of human life”.
“The commission has observed with dismay that in given instances, the cultural practice of initiation robs families and communities of young people who either die or suffer genital amputation,” it said.
The commission appealed to all traditional leaders to address the causes of death of initiates in their care at all the initiation schools and law enforcement agencies to bring to book those responsible for the loss of lives.
mthuthuzeli.ntseku@inl.co.za
Cape Argus