Deaths among Eastern Cape initiates by those taking their own lives, by shooting, fire and suffocation, have sparked fear in families and provincial authorities.
None of these deaths is related to circumcision complications or negligence by those caring for the young men.
Nkosi Gwazinamba Matanzima, the Eastern Cape’s provincial initiation co-ordinating committee chair, said four initiates had reportedly died shortly after suffering from shortness of breath and a fifth had taken his own life.
Another died when his grass lodge caught fire.
“The four ‘breathless’ deaths were suspected to be related to drugs,” Matanzima said.
“Each season we are faced with a new phenomenon of deaths among initiates. This season we have initiates dying mysteriously. Four initiates in different places died minutes after suffering severe shortness of breath. The initiates’ deaths happened so fast there was no time for them to be taken to a health facility.
Though we haven’t received postmortem reports in any of these four cases, doctors who are part of the traditional initiation monitoring team assume the deaths were triggered by a history of excessive drug use which suddenly stopped.
— Nkosi Gwazinamba Matanzima
“Though we haven’t received postmortem reports in any of these four cases, doctors who are part of the traditional initiation monitoring team assume the deaths were triggered by a history of excessive drug use which suddenly stopped. Most of those who died are from other provinces.”
Matanzima said candidates’ medical screenings did not include drug tests.
“We now want all boys to be tested for drugs before going for initiation. Symptoms of drug withdrawals show up only when they are already in initiation schools so we would like to have some sort of rehabilitation to suppress them.”
The instance of an initiate taking his own life was a 21-year-old who died at Hlophekazi village in the Gqaga administrative area in Ngcobo on December 11 after being circumcised on December 7. He ran away from the initiation school and was found hanging inside his home at about 3am on December 11.
In the 2023 summer season, a 20-year-old initiate was found hanging in a tree in Mbolompo outside Mthatha.
In the 2018 summer season, a 17-year-old initiate died after hanging himself from a tree in Maluti-a-Phofung.
The fire victim was an 18-year-old who died in Ndakana village near Stutterheim on November 30. He was allegedly by himself when the hut caught fire at 11pm after the traditional nurse left at 9pm.
In June 2023, three initiates died when their initiation hut burnt down in Mdantsane.
In the 2024 winter season, an initiate succumbed to injuries after his hut caught fire in Qumbu.
“It looks now as if suicide is becoming a common issue and fire incidents are becoming a frequent problem,” Matanzima said.
The committee was still upset about three shooting incidents in which seven people died at initiation schools in previous seasons.
In the 2023 summer season, three initiates and a traditional nurse were shot dead.
Three Busakwe brothers — initiates Awonke, 19, and Anele, 20, and their older brother and traditional nurse, Sakhe, 25 — were shot dead at Mntla village near Ngqamakhwe.
The fourth initiate was killed in Gqeberha.
In the 2020 summer initiation season, three initiates — Sakhe Nkwenkwezi, 20, Elihle Thathi, 20, and Solulele Bululu, 19 — were shot dead in their initiation hut in Jojweni village in Tsomo on January 1 2021.
“We are also still haunted by fatal shootings in Ngqamakhwe, Gqeberha and Tsomo. “These are not associated with traditional initiations, they are foreign. A special investigation must be launched into the cause.”
Matanzima feared the death toll of 17 this season would continue to rise until mid-January.
“More boys are still going for initiation, it’s far from over.”
The “always problematic” OR Tambo district had the highest number of deaths.
Of the 17 deaths in the Eastern Cape, 15 happened between November 8 and December 12. Two others were reported on Sunday. The breakdown per district is as follows:
- OR Tambo — 6;
- Chris Hani — 5;
- Alfred Nzo — 2;
- Amathole — 2;
- Nelson Mandela Bay — 1; and
- Joe Gqabi — 1.
Matanzima said: “Of six deaths in OR Tambo, only one was a legal initiate. Both deaths in Alfred Nzo were illegal initiates.”
No deaths have been reported in Buffalo City.
The youngest death was that of a 17-year-old and the oldest was 30.
In the 2023 summer season 35 initiates died, while 14 died in that year’s winter season.
Parliament's co-operative governance and traditional affairs portfolio committee chair Zweli Mkhize and MEC Zolile Williams spoke out against illegal circumcision, saying most of the 17 deaths this season had been illegal initiates.
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