The president of the Vhembe Traditional Healers Association Mbilivhili Neluvhola, said he was aware of an incident that involved a mentally challenged man being held against his will at an initiation school.

The man had to be rescued by the police after he was allegedly forcefully abducted by the owner of an initiation school in Tshimbupfe in the Vuwani area last Wednesday.

On June 19 the 32-year-old man apparently went to the initiation school to visit some of the young boys who were to be initiated. Upon his arrival, he was reportedly asked about the rules of the initiation school, which he could not recall as he is mentally challenged. He was then held against his will.

Three days later, the man seemingly managed to escape and returned home. Subsequent to this, a group of men broke into his home, where the man at the time hid under his bed. His wife, who is also said to be mentally challenged, could not tell the men where he was, upon which the men started assaulting her.

The man then emerged from under the bed, after which he was also assaulted before being taken back to the initiation school.

The man’s uncle, Pastor Lawrence Muhali, opened a case with the police shortly afterwards. He said the man had already been circumcised in 1992 at Ha-Mudavula.

After reporting the incident, the police went to the initiation school, where they found the man. He was returned to his family, who then took him to Tshilidzini Hospital for a check-up.

Muhali alleged that the leader of the school had demanded money for the man in exchange for his freedom.

Neluvhola said attendance of the initiation school is voluntary and no one is forced to get circumcised. ”We work according to the Constitution of the country and laws of the initiation schools.”

He warned that those who continued to take boys to initiation schools against their will would face the law.

Provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo confirmed that they had opened a case of kidnapping, assault and malicious damaged to property against the owner of the initiation school.

No one has been arrested, and the police are still investigating the incident.