Eastern Cape initiate dies during summer initiation

An initiate participating in the 2022 summer initiation season has passed away in the Eastern Cape.

Parliamentarians have sent their condolences after the death in Mdantsane in the Eastern Cape.

This initiation season got underway earlier in November. Traditional initiation practices have come under scrutiny in Parliament after increasing numbers of deaths in initiates. Last season alone saw at least 36 initiates die in the Eastern Cape.

Parliament’s traditional affairs portfolio committee said it was concerned about the fatality even after it engaged extensively with all parties responsible for initiation in the Eastern Cape.

In July, Members of Parliament (MPs) met with the National Initiation Oversight Committee, the Provincial Initiation Coordinating Committee, the National House of Traditional Leaders, the provincial Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, and law enforcement agencies to ensure there were practical measures in place to prevent the scale of initiative deaths seen in the country over the years.

One of the committee’s main concerns was the general lack of compliance with the Customary Initiation Act and the mushrooming of illegal initiation schools that outnumbered the legal schools, as well as the admission of underage boys.

The CRL Rights Commission previously revealed that at least 700 initiates died in the Eastern Cape in under a decade.

MPs plan a follow-up oversight visit early in December.

-EWN

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