Six men forced into initiation in Jane Furse

Chairperson of the House of Traditional Leaders Malesela Dikgale has strongly condemned the abduction of six men from a village near Jane Furse village in Sekhukhune to an initiation school.
Dikgale yesterday (Wednesday) told Polokwane Observer that the tendency for abductions has escalated since beginning of the Koma season and warned that the abductors would face the full might of law.
“We’ve already had six cases reported to us where men aged between 30 and 33 were abducted to initiation school by fellow community members. In the process others were badly beaten by community members after they refused to go.
“We plead with community members to desist from such behaviour and let people be. We also urge people and parents to report such incidents to the nearest Police station because the safety of young men and boys is not the sole responsibility of Government but a societal responsibility,” Dikgale said.
This year’s initiation season commenced on 17 June and is expected to end on 18 July.
“We received a total of 376 applications to run initiation schools. Of the applications received 325 initiation schools were approved and 51 disapproved,” Dikgale informed.
Of the approved schools 89 are in Capricorn, 53 in Mopani, 118 in Sekhukhune, 44 in Waterberg and 21 in Vhembe.
Dikgale also added that despite the incident all was going well and no cases of death had been reported thus far.

Story: Herbert Rachuene
>>herbert@mailbox.co.za