Issue date: 10 July 2013
The Men’s Sector of the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) registers with grave concern that about 60 traditional initiates are reported to have died in Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape. The sector puts it to South Africa that this is proof that the country and people who are supposed to be custodians of culture have lost control of this old and once respected tradition.
The proud heritage of an age old African practice is being undermined by communities and families themselves. Some families are using initiation schools as dumping grounds to discipline boys. In addition, some traditional initiation school operators run such schools not in the interest of responsibly promoting and supporting a proud African tradition, but in the interest of a selfish need to generate money.
Issues surrounding the tradition remain sensitive, but they cannot be at the expense of the avoidable deaths of young innocent boys. It is no longer secret that boys are being tortured in some of these schools. We know that there are boys who can’t take it anymore and when they start to complain they get tortured.
FACTS:
- Most initiation schools are not under supervision of community elders.
- Most initiation schools are being used as dumping grounds to discipline boys.
- The secrecy is all about pain and suffering that boys must go through, not teachings of manhood.
- Most boys go to initiation schools without parents’ approval and the school operators fail to follow up with parents or guardians.
- Some parents put pressure on these boys to get circumcised before age, due to their own personal reasons.
“Some years ago, I was part of the initiation process and I personally experienced suffering”, says Mbulelo Dyasi, Secretary-General of the SANAC Men’s Sector. “I was brutally tortured by the traditional nurse, simply because I was always questioning his teaching and the use of drugs in our space. Even today young people are subjected to the very same treatment”, Dyasi adds.
Advocacy for national act or policy to govern circumsion and initiation schools
In the past two years the Men’s Sector and its affiliate members (organisations working with men and boys in South Africa) have advocated for Traditional Circumsion Act/policy to protect children from illegal initiation schools and to make sure that the practice occurs in a safer environment for the boy child. We undertake to intensify this call going forward.
As the Men’s Sector we call for the following:
- The immediate closure of all illegal initiation schools in South Africa.
- The authority of initiation schools must be given back to the hHouse of tTraditional lLeaders and all traditional nurses and traditional surgeons must be registered under traditional authorities in addition to being registered with the Department of Health.
- Torturing of boys must be investigated by the South African Human Rights Commission and the South African Police Service.
The deaths of these young men in Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape, plus the admission of about 300 in several hospitals in the Eastern Cape will not be in vain as we vow to take action to ensure that a tragedy of this nature will never happen again. This criminality and the use of tradition to cause death and injury must stop before it’s too late.
The Men’s Sector sends its deepest condolences to the families and friends of those who have lost a loved one. May the souls of the dear departed ones rest in peace.
Statement issued by
Mbulelo Dyasi (Rev)
SANAC Men’s Sector Secretary General and Brothers for Life Ambassador
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