Alex Matlala
LIMPOPO – AN ELDERLY pastor in Tzaneen was allegedly abducted, maimed and forced to drink the blood of a wild animal in a koma school last week.
The incident allegedly took place at Rasemane Koma School in Mokomotjie outside Lenyenye near Tzaneen.
The 62-year-old pastor, who wished to remain anonymous, is also a prominent businessman, a financial advisor, a former teacher and a renowned public speaker, had allegedly gone to a mountain to pray when a group of boys, some as young as 15 years old, allegedly abducted him to the school.
“When I got there, they forced me to drink a concoction that looked and tasted like the blood of some unknown animal before performing their ritual koma cult. They said the blood would make me fearless and become a real man,” the pastor alleged earlier this week.
“They told me to produce my ID and I gave them my bible. They said by ID they meant that I should show them my private parts. When I refused, they pushed me to the ground and forced me to undress before they cut my private parts with blunt razors. They told me they were giving me a mark because I had been circumcised in hospital before,” said the pastor.
The pastor said the incident was reported to the police by his worried wife, and they went to the school to rescue him. He said he did not want to open a case against the koma school principal because it would be unbiblical.
“But I can stand upright and speak out because the conduct of the school was unheard of, unethical, unprofessional, unholy and inhumane,” said the pastor.
Head of the House of Traditional Leaders in Limpopo, chief Malesela Dikgale, earlier this week said what had allegedly happened to the pastor was in contravention with the laws of the house to abduct people to koma schools without their consent. Dikgale said the house could withdraw the permit of the koma school from operating in the future.
“We have learnt with concern that most of our koma schools have now turned this cultural rite of passage to manhood into money-making machines. We have also received concerns that most of the principals of such schools had resorted to recruiting vulnerable young boys into their establishments. This is wrong and we condemn the practise in the strongest possible terms,” he said.
“According to law, children below the age of 18 must first get permits from their parents to go to the mountain. The same children must first undergo a medical checkup by a doctor to ensure they are fit to go to such schools. All koma school principals must get permits and must be traditional leaders to conduct koma schools,” he said.
Dikgale said a total of 26 initiates had so far died in the country with Limpopo having had two deaths.
