Govt shuts down 17 illegal initiation schools in Gauteng

This was announced by Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister, Obed Bapela, on Tuesday. He was speaking on the mountain in Meadowlands in Soweto, where local residents burnt down one of the closed illegal schools on Saturday.

Bapela said the initiates rescued in Medowlands, whose total number was not immediately clear, were kidnapped by unknown people from Orange Farm in the south of Johannesburg and taken to the school. He said the kidnappers subsequently went to the initiate’s parents to ask for money for payment for the ritual.

“If children want to go to these schools, they must do so willingly,” said Bapela.

“I am a supporter of culture but I am not a supporter of death. The children were stolen from Orange Farm and it shows these people were making money. They were kidnapped and assaulted and there will be (criminal) cases. We don’t run schools but we say let the law run them.”

Gauteng chairperson for the Congress of Traditional Leaders of SA (Contralesa), Prince Manene Tabane, said the government has rescued 111 boys from illegal initiation schools since the start of this winter.

“There are those who commercialise this practice but I still believe we have structures in place to deal with the problem,” he said. He was part of a team of government officials that went to the mountain in Meadowlands with Bapela.

Meadowlands resident Sipho Kapara said some of the initiates would run away to the nearby homes and ask for food. He said most of them bore signs of malnutrition.

“We don’t want this kind of a thing in our community but I am glad the government has intervened,” he said.