Unless the relevant stakeholders and the municipal leadership take a stance that they will be actively involved in the traditional circumcision processes, there will be no end in sight to the challenges, including deaths in droves, facing the age-old custom.
O.R. Tambo Deputy Executive Mayor, Tandekile Sabisa, speaking during the municipal policy workshop on 21 November, said the district was facing a number of challenges, including murder and rape.
“The challenges in O.R. Tambo are overwhelming us. Whilst we face the challenges related to traditional circumcision, we are facing challenges of diseases, we are facing challenges of murder. When you look at all these challenges and compare with other districts – O.R. Tambo comes top,” Sabisa said.
“If you talk about children who allegedly rape, children getting pregnant whilst of school-going age, and even when you talk about poverty – O.R. Tambo is number one,” Sabisa said. “But the problem then becomes what we are doing as the leadership. What are we doing to solve these challenges? Yes, we see service delivery; it is a challenge we face. Taking services to the people is still our focus. But the effort is not sufficient for the other challenges we are facing,” he said.
Sabisa changed his focus to the initiate death toll in the district since 2016 to date. The statistics show combined deaths of the winter and summer initiation seasons each year, except for 2024, when seven initiates died during the winter initiation season.
The total of 149 deaths was recorded as:
• 22 deaths in 2016
• 17 deaths in 2017
• 15 deaths in 2018
• 9 deaths in 2019
• 3 deaths in 2020
• 20 deaths in 2021
• 21 deaths in 2022
• 21 deaths in 2023
• 14 deaths in 2024
Whilst no deaths have been recorded for the current initiation season, Sabisa said there were signs of more problems looming. He said families should not allow young boys to go to initiation schools due to peer pressure from friends who are older than them, emphasising that 18 was the age to go to initiation.
ALSO READ: Western Cape Strengthens Safety Measures for Summer Initiation Season
“Families must agree on when a boy goes to initiation school, and proper processes must be followed. Traditional nurses must be trained with certifications. There are untrained traditional nurses practising as we speak. This has become a lucrative business because there is substantial money involved. Looking at how things are, we are not going to win this fight unless the leadership takes a stance to be part of the traditional circumcision process,” Sabisa said.
ALSO READ: Five initiates die from illegal schools
