Deadline looms for initiation schools

REPORTS that some 30 initiates in Limpopo died during the initiation period last year, have been vehemently denied by Limpopo House of Traditional Leaders chairperson, Solomon Dikgale.

Dikgale said there were no fatalities in the province for this period. He was speaking at a press conference held at the department of cooperative governance, human settlements and traditional affairs (Coghsta) on Monday.

Dikgale went on to explain that the 30 initiates who died fell under Mpumalanga and were under the Amatebele king’s care and control.

He said Limpopo was being implicated because the leaders of the initiation school where the fatalities occurred, lived in Limpopo.

“The area where the incidents occurred are on the border of the two provinces,” he explained.

“We are proud to announce that our schools were death-free last year,” he said.

This year, initiation schools are scheduled to commence on June 20 and end on July 18. The closing date for submission of applications to conduct initiation schools for 2014 is February 28.

Dikgale said the House of Traditional Leaders would conduct a workshop for all senior traditional leaders who qualified for initiation school permits.

The purpose of the workshop would be to brief and prepare initiation school stakeholders on precautionary measures to be followed in order to ensure a smooth process during the initiation period.

The training workshop is scheduled for March 18.

“We also call upon parents to verify the legitimacy of initiation schools they intend to send their children to with their traditional authorities.

There will be zero tolerance of people who want to take chances by running initiation schools without permits.

“No traditional surgeon or any other person is allowed to perform rituals in an initiation school without a certificate of fitness issued for that purpose by a registered medical practitioner authorised by the premier or an authorised officer,” he explained.

He further said no traditional nurse or any other person was allowed to look after initiates in an initiation school without a certificate of attendance of training.

No child under the age of 12 years is allowed to be admitted to an initiation school and no person is allowed to abduct another for the purpose of taking the abducted person to an initiation school, Dikgale warned.

“In an effort to prevent the unnecessary loss of lives, we request parents to send their children to the initiation schools that will be approved after February 28,” he said.

Female traditional leader, Mapitsi Rahlagane, said there were no problems experienced at any of the initiation schools for girls.