The National House of Traditional and Khoisan Leaders has implored government to avail funds to support campaigns aimed at reducing the growing number of initiates deaths during the approaching winter customary initiation season.
The Eastern Cape has been at the forefront with the highest number of initiates’ deaths in the country, mostly due to dehydration and torture amongst others. The province’s summer initiation season ended in a catastrophic note, with at least 27 initiates losing their lives at various initiation schools, which is lower than the 34 deaths recorded during the same season in the province last year. Speaking to Motlhaping Modise on You FM Newshour, the Chairperson of the National Initiation Oversight Committee (NIOC) Inkosi Vimbi Mahlangu, expressed concern that this sacred cultural practice, which marks the transition to adulthood, has faced challenges in the past due to unregulated initiation schools and related fatalities despite the government enacting the Customary Initiation Act, 2021, to ensure safer practices.
“It is not only the responsibility of the government but also of parents to initiate, communities and everyone else to ensure that children are taken to legal initiation schools. Our great grandfathers used to run initiation schools, but we never heard of deaths at the schools compared to today, when our children are dying in numbers. It is because parents have surrendered this sacred practice to young people, who are now exploiting it to make business out of it,” said Mahlangu.
He has called on the government to also avail financial assistance to ensure the safety of initiates at various initiation schools across the country.
“We need resources, especially money, to help us engage and inform more people about the Customary Initiation Act which must be followed to the letter to ensure the safety of our children. If there’s no financial support, the Provincial Initiation Coordinating Committee (PICC) can’t afford transport to go all over the provinces to raise awareness around the safety of Initiates and adherence to the Act,” explained Mahlangu.
Meanwhile, the PICC has already discovered several illegal initiation schools in the province, despite efforts made to ensure compliance with the Customary Initiation Act. According to PICC Chairperson Kgosi Godfrey Gasebone, four criminal cases were filed with the SAPS against initiation principals who acted outside of the legal framework and established illegal initiation schools, predominantly in Krumkuil village, in the Moretele Local Municipality.
“Investigations have discovered that these schools operated with expired permits provided by the Gauteng PICC. The schools also had underage initiates, many of whom are still attending school,” said Kgosi Gasebone.
