Deaths of initiates’ in Mpumalanga rises to four

The number of deaths from initiation schools in the KwaNdebele region in Mpumalanga has risen to four.

It stood at two when the week started‚ according to a report in The Times newspaper yesterday.

Traditional authorities and the government revealed the death toll at a media briefing this afternoon in KwaMhlanga.

“By this time‚ we have lost four initiates‚” said MEC for heath in Mpumalanga‚ Gillion Mashego. “We'd like to pass our condolences to the families.”

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Mashego said post mortems had already been conducted on three of the bodies. But the results would not be released to the public‚ he maintained.

“There are certain things that we cannot discuss with women based on our culture‚” said Mashego.

Three of the four died in legal schools‚ and one perished in an illegal school.

The current initiation season started more than a week ago‚ with thousands of boys going to the mountains.

They will undergo this sacred rite of passage for two months.

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The 2013 season claimed 31 lives. Mashego was confident that the death toll would not be as high this year.

He said by this time in 2013‚ 22 initiates had already lost their lives.

“We're not comparing losses‚ but we're saying our team is doing its best to avoid loss of life.”

Kgosi Lameck Mokoena‚ chairman of the House of Traditional Leaders in Mpumalanga‚ said one life lost in initiation schools was one too many.

“This year as Mpumalanga we wanted zero deaths. But unfortunately the unfortunate thing has happened‚” said Mokoena.

“If we discover that some of the deaths were due to negligence‚ we're not going to smile. We'll make sure that the law takes its course.”

Mokoena said there were currently no initiates admitted to hospital. He revealed six had been admitted to the Middelburg Hospital‚ but had since been discharged.

He added that traditional authorities continued to shut down any illegal schools they uncovered.

TMG Digital/SowetanLIVE