STEELPARK. A 57-year-old man, operating an illegal initiation school near Steelpark in Vereeniging has been arrested.

The man from Boipatong cannot be named as he still has to plead. He was arrested at his home, in Boipatong in the early hours today, 4 January. A young man who was found at the school, who is the son of the suspect, was taken to hospital be treated following the arrest.

The Chairperson of the Sedibeng District Initiation and Traditional Surgeon Committee, Spinnare Mofokeng told Sedibeng Ster that together with the Police and Public Safety Committee they were searching for the twelve boys who were apparently kidnapped from their various homes and forcefully taken to illegal inition schools in the area.

As they searched further, they came across the school in Steelpark but there was only one boy and his father, and ‘teacher’ at the school, was not around. He was traced to his home in Boipatong. Mofokeng explained that according to Section 5 of the Initiation Schools Act, the owner was supposed to be in posession of proper documents to operate. He said above all, no initiation school are supposed to operate in the region. This was since the beginning of the Covid – 19.

The suspect will soon make an appearance at the Vereeniging Magistrate’s court.