Initiation schools plead for parents to be responsible

INITIATION school surgeon, Scotch Malesela of Mokopane, called on parents to provide medical reports for their sons before sending them to initiation schools.

Malesela said he believed that the deaths of boys who died at these initiation schools every year could be laid before the feet of their parents.

He said if parents provided initiation schools with medical reports beforehand, these tragedies could be avoided.

“Some boys suffer from asthma and parents who don’t inform initiation schools of this type of trouble, put their sons in danger.

“An asthmatic patient needs to bring his medicine with him to the initiation school,” he said.

He said he started his first initiation school in 2011 at Zebediela with the help of local farmer, Nic Oberholzer, who provided fresh water and food.

Limpopo House of Traditional Leaders chairperson, Chief Solomon Dikgale, said initiation schools will commence on June 20 and end on July 18.

Dikgale explained that, to avoid unnecessary hardship and injury, the Limpopo House of Traditional Leaders offered workshops for traditional surgeons in March.

Initiation school regulations:

• A letter from the traditional council of the area where the initiation school will take place, a certificate of fitness of the traditional surgeon issued by a medical doctor, copy of proclamation or title deed confirming authority or jurisdiction in the area and an environmental report compiled by an environmental practitioner must accompany all applications for initiation school permits.

• No person shall open an initiation school without a valid permit issued in terms of Section 2 (1) of the Northern Province Circumcision Schools Act No. 6 of 1996.

• No traditional surgeon or any other person is not 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 to do so.

• No person below the age of 12 may be admitted to an initiation school.

• No person is allowed to abduct another for the purpose of taking the abducted person to an initiation school in terms of Section 9(1) of Initiation Schools Regulations of 2003.

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