The death of eight initiates in the Eastern Cape, since the beginning of the initiation season on June 17, could have been prevented if all actors involved – communities, traditional leaders, traditional health practitioners and government – had worked together to implement measures that protect young men throughout the initiation process, says the South African National Council’s Civil Society Forum (SANAC CSF).
CSF says all stakeholders involved in implementing such measures are failing communities and young men, due to their lack of coordination, leadership, and proactive collective action.
“It is tragic and frustrating that each year we wait to hear how many initiates have died; it is not a question of whether there will be deaths, but it is about how many,” Ntando Yola, chairperson of the CSF Men’s Sector, said.
“The sad part is that there are plans in place but there are always challenges in implementation.”
The CSF Men’s Sector successfully called for the suspension of the December 2019 initiation season in the affected regions, following the untimely deaths of 32 initiates, at the backdrop of nearly 700 deaths from botched circumcision in the last decade in South Africa.
“Once again, we call on the cultural, religious and linguistic communities (CRL) to suspend initiation in the affected areas with immediate effect,” Yola added.
“The proud heritage of an old age African practice is being systematically undermined by the continuous unnecessary loss of lives of African males, particularly in an era where there are readily available modern technologies that allow for secure shelter, adequate hydration and safe circumcisions with minimal adverse events, let alone deaths.”
The Traditional Health Practitioners Act 22 of 2007 recognises the role of Traditional Health Practitioners in South Africa to serve and protect the interests of members of the public who use their services, and the Traditional Circumcision Act 6 of 2001 regulates the traditional circumcision practice and sets health standards to be followed by the traditional attendants; however leadership, coordination and implementation remain a serious challenge.
“We call on all relevant sectors, especially traditional leaders and traditional health practitioners, led by the Men’s Sector, to work together to implement multisectoral, multistakeholders and intersectional plans to address this scourge and ensure that the deaths of youth at initiation schools do not happen again,” said Solly Nduku, CSF deputy chairperson.
