We are only halfway through ulwaluko — the traditional Xhosa initiation season — in the Eastern Cape and already we know of at least 27 young men who have lost their lives while attending initiation school.
That is 27 families who would have been looking forward to welcoming back men who had left home as boys mid-November.
Families who are now, instead of looking forward to the festive season and preparing a celebration, preparing funerals.
Earlier this week, premier Oscar Mabuyane and provincial co-ordinating committee chair Nkosi Langa Mavuso called the deaths a crisis.
“This shows that the Eastern Cape is faced with another pandemic other than that of Covid-19 and gender-based violence,” Mavuso, who is also acting chair of the Eastern Cape House of Traditional Leaders, said.
“It’s a crisis. We are in big trouble. This is shocking.”
The deaths at initiation schools, tragically, are not a new phenomenon and continue despite interventions over the years by various role players.
The 27 deaths this summer season — November 12 to January 12 — are a huge jump from the 14 initiates who lost their lives during the entire 2020 summer initiation.
In one of the latest incidents, a 28-year-old initiate drowned in Mthatha after he was allegedly forced by his traditional nurses (ikhankatha) to cross a swelling river during the heavy rains that hit the OR Tambo district and other parts of the province.
“We cannot continue counting bodies of dead initiates in each and every season and then assume that everything is right,” Mavuso said.
And we agree.
No custom can ever be more sacred than a life.
And while we are not advocating for initiation schools to be scrapped, it has never been more clear that something needs to be done to address the safety of those who attend so they may be reunited with their families.
Those responsible for monitoring initiation schools need to ensure they are up to scratch.
Communities, too, have a role to play: Boycott initiation schools that do not adhere to regulations.
It is only when we condemn these rogue schools that they will start acting to ensure no initiate ever dies again.
HeraldLIVE
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