‘They must get there alive and return alive’

The Ndlunkulu Cultural Community Foundation, which oversees the traditional Xhosa manhood ritual across greater Khayelitsha, says all 110 of its initiates made it safely through the rite that includes circumcision.

Declaring the summer intake for the ceremony, or ulwaluko, a success, the foundation's chairman, Charles Pama, says they are now preparing for the winter intake of initiates.

While initiates from the greater Khayelitsha area had returned safely from the ceremony, the Eastern Cape had recorded 33 deaths from botched circumcisions and "violent actions in the bush", he said.

Mr Pama said their Eastern Cape counterparts had asked for help to prevent further deaths in future.

“Our motto is ‘they must get there alive and return alive’, and we delivered on that mandate. We were very strict with our surgeons and traditional nurses. We made sure that visits were guarded and that alcohol was not brought into the camp."

Cultural Affairs and Sport MEC Anroux Marais commended all the initiation schools that had complied with the law and submitted applications to the Western Cape Provincial Initiation Coordinating Committee (WCPICC).

This past summer season, according to her department, some 1500 initiates from initiation schools in the Cape Metro, Cape Winelands, Central Karoo, Garden Route, Overberg and West Coast districts completed the rites of passage with three deaths recorded in Villiersdorp and Franschhoek.

"While we worked with our partners to provide all the training and support we could muster, the fact is that three precious Western Cape lives were lost. I convey my deepest empathy to the families and loved ones of the departed. Following each of the three deaths, criminal charges were laid with the police, and those cases are continuing,“ Ms Marais said.

“We also closed down several illegal initiation sites and laid criminal charges against those running these illegal initiation schools.

“In the run-up to the winter initiation season, we will ensure even stricter compliance with the law and will follow a pro-active, zero-tolerance policy against everybody and anybody who endanger the lives of our people in the Western Cape by flouting the laws governing initiation.”

The WCPICC has urged all initiation schools and forums to submit their applications early for the winter initiation season and to work with its monitors to prevent initiate deaths.