49 initiates are dead and 165 cases have been opened.
A group of AmaBhaca traditional initiation graduates (amakrwala): Picture: Gallo Images/ Lulamile Feni)
Nearly 50 young men have died during South Africa’s 2026 winter initiation season, as illegal schools proliferate and some traditional leaders block health workers from entering camps, a preliminary government report to Parliament reveals.
The Department of Traditional Affairs (DTA) tells the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) that 49 initiates died between May and July, 165 criminal cases were opened and 47 arrests made, with Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape again the worst-hit provinces.
‘Preliminary, but the numbers already alarm’
The presentation, presented in parliament yesterday, cautions that the figures are preliminary because Mpumalanga’s season was still running and some Provincial Initiation Coordination Committees (PICCs) had not yet submitted signed-off reports.
Even so, the report says the death toll has jumped from 25 in the 2025 winter season to 49 this year – an increase of 24 deaths, or 96%.
Mpumalanga recorded the highest number of deaths at 19, while the Eastern Cape followed with 14.
The report notes that 16 of Mpumalanga’s 19 deaths occurred in Nkangala District, mostly under the Ndzundza Mabhoko Traditional Council.
Illegal schools and blocked access to care
Officials counted 115 illegal initiation schools in the 2026 winter season, up from 59 closed in 2025, with 42 shut down this year.
The Eastern Cape had 24 illegal schools, Limpopo 18, Mpumalanga 8 and North West 10; Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Cape and the Western Cape reported none.
The report links some of the deaths to schools that blocked access to health workers and officials.
In Mpumalanga, it says principals in Nkangala District obstructed doctors, nurses, paramedics and inspectors from doing their lawful duties, in breach of section 30 of the Customary Initiation Act.
“Therefore, in Mpumalanga, the deaths may be attributed to contravention of section 30 of the Customary Initiation Act by principals of the initiation schools, i.e., denying initiates access to health care, medical intervention and assistance,” the report states.
Most deaths in legal schools, but illegal camps still deadly
The biggest death tolls came from legal and illegal schools combined, but the legal schools were not free of tragedy. The report says 39 deaths happened in legal schools and 10 in illegal schools.
In the Eastern Cape, OR Tambo District remains the worst-hit area, with seven deaths, followed by Amathole with three, Alfred Nzo with two, and Buffalo City Metro and Chris Hani with one each.
In the Western Cape, two brothers died, one after a suspected asthma attack following his brother’s death, though postmortem results were still pending.
Arrests, rescues and a call for tougher enforcement
Police opened 165 criminal cases and made 47 arrests during the season, but no prosecutions were reported in the preliminary presentation.
The report also lists 181 rescues, 149 injuries, 18 hospitalisations, 16 assaults and 15 abductions.
Ministerial and stakeholder meetings on 26 July have already agreed to tighten enforcement before the summer season.
The DTA says the Ministry convened a meeting with the Ministers of Police, Justice and Constitutional Development, premiers, MECs, the National Initiation Oversight Committee (NIOC), PICCs, the National and Provincial Houses of Traditional and Khoi-San Leaders and the CRL Rights Commission.
“The meeting further agreed on interventions to strengthen law enforcement and consequence management for both illegal and legal initiation schools, in preparation for the 2026 summer initiation season,” the report says.
For ordinary families, though, the headline remains painfully simple: young men went to initiation schools seeking manhood, and too many never came home.
