SEBOKENG – Dozens of boys set to be initiated wore red blankets and covered their faces in tree branches, singing their way to the house of an initiation chief on a Friday afternoon as the sun glowed with Goldish rays.
Dozens of former initiates, now men, accompanied the boys to support them for the journey of manhood that lies ahead.
The boys, marched to the initiation chiefs’ home from kgotla (a place where the initiates gathered before leaving for their camps), a couple of kilometers away.
Residents ululated and some looked in awe as the dozens of men walked through Zone 10 and 11.
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Speaking to Sedibeng Ster, Pheello ‘Fire’ Mollo founder of Tau Diarora working together with the initiation chief to oversee the safety of the initiates said “today is a big day, the boys are going to mountains to undertake their journey of manhood. We commencing the process as you see now. We are having 13 boys for now, however others will join soon as they done with their exams”.
“We promising families of these boys that they will see them all when they come back as men. We fully geared up and ready,” he added.
Samuel Zondo (75) an initiation chief said he started initiation in the Vaal back in 1960 said he was ready to initiate the boys.
“I have all my documents in order and I made sure all boys coming to my initiation school are permitted by their parents and they undertook all the necessary processes,” he said.
“I have never left a body in the mountain all these years and I will continue to come back with all the initiates. I am very much ready and exited to begin the journey with this group,” she added.
An initiate who spoke to the paper in anonymity said he was nervous but ready to be a man.
“This is my culture and tradition; I can never run away from it. Yes, I am nervous because I don’t know what lies ahead, but I am ready to undertake this journey and come back a man,” he said.
Certain rituals were performed at the Chiefs home as the boys prepared to take the first step to manhood.
