Every year, hundreds of Eastern Cape boys, some as young as nine, are mutilated, beaten and even murdered in the name of a tradition that has gone horribly wrong.
We have reported that this season alone 359 initiates have had to be hospitalised, 13 have lost their manhood and 39 have died. There are probably considerably more youngsters whose death or mutilation did not get counted in the official toll.
The butchering of our young men happens in June and December.
Some say the tradition is about a rite of passage into adulthood. Like many rites into manhood, it is supposed to be a tradition involving learning, bonding and affirmation.
But it is a lucrative time for traditional surgeons and those that assist them.
Initiation schools spring up all over the province as June approaches. Some are run by thugs who have no interest in the education or affirmation of our youth and care little about how the tradition allows them to make any sort of transition into adulthood.
Instead the boys are treated brutally. Some who are too young or some who do not wish to go to an initiation school are simply kidnapped. In the hands of unskilled traditional surgeons who care little about the non-clinical settings they choose the boys are sometimes starved and deprived of liquids.
Once septicaemia sets in, not much can be done. Some are lucky enough to make it to hospitals – others simply die in the bush or, as happened in one recent case, their bodies are dumped at their family’s front door.
There have been repeated calls for more effective regulation of the traditional surgeons who carry out the procedure as well as of the initiation schools themselves.
Twice a year, politicians shake their heads at the biannual horror. Discussions are held at national and provincial level. Traditional leaders are drawn into these meetings. There is talk of clampdowns. Appeals to the police are made and a few desultory arrests are made. Then nothing happens – until the butchering begins again.
Rhodes University’s honorary poetry Professor Chris Mann says it is a rite of passage in urgent need of reform. He correctly points out that initiation into responsible manhood requires more than a brief society ritual in adolescence. It requires “years of home-enhanced education, love and careful discipline by male and female parents alike, within a caring family where intergenerational skills development and learning takes place”.
Reform is not simply about regulating traditional surgeons and initiation schools. It requires ongoing health education and support from political and traditional leaders. Reform will also depend on action by all stakeholders, including government, parents, police and clan leaders. We need to have the courage to challenge the horror of what is happening in the name of tradition.
Article Source: Daily Dispatch
Picture Source: Sapa, M&G.