Summer initiation season claims five lives in Eastern Cape

Just a few weeks into the summer initiation season, at least five Eastern Cape initiates have died, three reportedly due to dehydration and one who died when his hut caught fire in Stutterheim.

The deaths were reported by premier Oscar Mabuyane on Wednesday while addressing the South African Local Government Association’s provincial assembly in East London.

Giving more details, co-operative governance and traditional affairs MEC Zolile Williams said a fifth initiate in Lusikisiki had died in his sleep after suffering from hallucinations, two days after he was circumcised.

Williams also said 18 people had been arrested for the illegal initiation of boys who had not undergone the necessary health screenings before going to the mountain.

Some of the schools where the boys died were illegal initiation schools, with traditional surgeons and nurses among those arrested. 

Williams said: “The five deaths are concentrated in the Amathole district. We have two deaths of initiates in Dutywa and in Stutterheim.

“In OR Tambo district we have another two deaths in Lusikisiki and Flagstaff. We have a fifth one this morning [Wednesday] but I did not locate where it came from.

“The cause of death in most of these cases is related to dehydration and once it is an illegal initiation you know another problem is [the initiate] was not screened.

“This means those families, those traditional surgeons and amakhankhatha who continue to circumcise children who have not undergone the circumcision process are driving those children to their deaths because most of the time you are not aware of the health status of the individual.

“We continue to discourage circumcision of initiates who have not undergone the screening processes.”

Williams urged parents to continue to ensure that initiates were circumcised by qualified surgeons. He said his department had trained more than 300 surgeons in preparation for this circumcision season.

“We are not getting parents to use these trained surgeons and therefore if, as a parent, you don’t do that it means you are killing your child.”

Williams encouraged the communities of circumcised men to assist and motivate initiates.

“One initiate burnt to death. The initiate was left alone, made a fire and slept, only for the hut to burn down,” he said. “Those who have been arrested are the traditional surgeons and assistants who have circumcised children without screening reports or without the parents’ permission.”

Williams and Eastern Cape House of Traditional and Khoi-San Leaders chair Nkosi Mpumalanga Gwadiso said monitoring teams were working hard to ensure safety in initiation schools and those breaking the law were arrested.

“We will continue to stamp the authority of the state on any form of lawlessness for the safe passage of children to adulthood. Watch this space,” he said.

Gwadiso raised concerns about the increasingly violent imiguyo [boys’ pre-initiation ceremonies] activities.

The Eastern Cape has seen incidents where young boys attack each other during imiguyo. At least six deaths related to imiguyo and boys’ factional fights were reported. Almost all the dead were high school pupils.

“In these celebrations, boys are always armed. We banned imiguyo but they continue to happen unabated,” Gwadiso said.

The Amathole Local House of Traditional Leaders’ Nkosi Xhanti Sigcawu said: “We have been asking communities to stop imiguyo activities. These events are killing our children.”

Khula Community Development director and children’s rights activist Petros Majola said: “Whose child must die [before] community leaders ban imiguyo once and for all? This has been going on for a long time and it should be regarded as a crime to conduct imiguyo.”

Meanwhile, the provincial initiation co-ordinating committee’s Nkosi Gwazinamba Matanzima has rejected reports of extortion in traditional initiation schools in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro.

“These allegations have no basis. No cases have been opened against anyone,” he said.

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