Hon Speaker, hon members of the House, this morning as I was driving to work I listened to a debate on SAFM about the incidents in Diepsloot. The guests for the debate were arguing whether we are dealing with xenophobia, crime, desperation or just incidental argument hijacked by criminal elements. One of the guests insisted that if anybody was to deal with the problem, then a diagnosis must be arrived at first, before embarking on any solution.
In other words, what are we dealing with there? I believe that this question is very pertinent here in this House this afternoon. What actually are we dealing with here? Since the tragic deaths of initiates in Mpumalanga, there obviously has been outrage from many quarters and society at large. This led to a perception that certain African cultures are under attack, at best, at least under deep societal scrutiny.
Is this really what we are dealing with, or is it just a matter of culture and tradition? I don't think so. I wish to state unequivocally that we are mostly dealing with commercial interests here. We are mostly dealing with individuals who have decided to hijack certain African cultures to amass wealth for themselves; make huge amounts of money ... [Applause.] ... in as short a time as possible, hiding under the cloak of culture and tradition. It is entrepreneurship gone wrong, because there are no tenders involved. It is not "tenderpreneurship" but "culturepreneurship", which is equally unacceptable to me.
Hon Speaker, I will tell you why I am arguing in this manner. The issue of traditional initiation, as has been clearly indicated by the Chief Whip of the Majority Party here, is as old as the mountains themselves. It was never meant to kill or, at least, throughout the ages it never led to death on such a massive scale. It used to be conducted with utmost care under strict traditional laws and customs and also under the very watchful eyes of kings and senior traditional leaders. I wish to repeat that: strict cultural laws and customs, which were strictly adhered to.
No king or traditional leader would have liked to be associated with death at their initiation school, because this was viewed as a sign of weakness on the part of the throne. It would mean that he did not have a strong matwetwe [traditional healer], whose job was to strengthen the initiation school and protect the initiates from any harm, external or internal.
Hence, in my language there is a saying: "Dijo di fedile, go ?et?e t?a kgo?i le ngaka." [There is no more food. The little that remains is spared for the king and the healer only.] These were the two most important people in the village, especially during war and traditional ceremonies, like initiations. I'm quite aware that there are slight variations in cultures with regard to what I have just outlined, but the principle among many cultures in South Africa is more or less the same. But over the years, this centuries-old culture has been slowly corrupted and eroded to give way to commercial interests. Then, mutilations and deaths started rising, year in and year out, until we reached this point, which, if not stopped, might constitute a form of crisis.
Let me examine where the departure from culture started. Firstly, the type of people who were traditionally and culturally authorised to declare and launch initiation schools started changing. Any mahlalela [lazy person] who did not want to go to work might decide to earn a living by starting to sing that they could usurp the power of senior traditional leaders and launch their own traditional programme, citing freedom of cultural expression as a weapon.
Underlying this is the amount of money that is being charged to each initiate. In the past it was never about money; it was the service of the king or the senior traditional leader to their subjects.
Secondly, at least from the area where I come from in Sekhukhune, not every Tom, Dick and Harry could ever qualify to be a traditional surgeon and perform the circumcision itself and control the inevitable bleeding and nurse the wounds. Traditionally, in a very wide geographic area encompassing many villages under different traditional leaders, there used to be only one, at the most two very highly trained and regarded surgeons. In my language these surgeons are called thipana. Thipa, by the way, means a knife. This one person would travel from one initiation school to the other, performing this very intricate service and applying skill with the utmost care.
Now, every mahlalela believes he can become thipane at any time he chooses. Unfortunately, sometimes they get away with this. This is getting away with blue murder.
Thirdly, the age at which initiation was done has changed. Initially this tradition was to initiate a boy into manhood. After it was performed, usually the boy is transformed into manhood and ready to get married. Now, why are these children who are being initiated expected to become men overnight? What are they being made ready for? There are lots of children who are being allowed to go there, and I believe this is wrong.
I remember when I was still practising in Sekhukhuneland how an 11-year-old boy was brought by his mother to my practice. He was wearing a suit with a matching hat. After examining him I administered an injection. He broke down and cried like a baby. Of course, any boy will cry when you administer an injection. The mother started laughing. She said: "Hawu! You are crying, but you have been refusing when I send you to do chores for me ever since you came back from initiation. Ever since, you have been reminding me that you are no longer going to be sent around by me because you are now a man."
Now, how can a man cry like this because of an injection? Of course, the boy then remembered that he was supposed to be a man and he suddenly stopped crying and grudgingly declared that, of course, he was still a man. [Laughter.]
What happened to the issue of age here? It must be restricted and people must only go there when they are mature enough. Then they can stand the pressures and the gruelling situation that they face there. [Applause.]
Fourthly, the provision of good nutritious food for somebody going through such a rigorous process was also swallowed by commercial interests. There is no longer a guarantee of good food, and this is wrong. Because of all these problems in the Eastern Cape, Limpopo, North West, the Free State and Mpumalanga, the government and various Houses of Traditional Leaders in these provinces started to come together over a decade ago to solve this problem. It is not that it was just left unattended to.
Various pieces of legislation were promulgated with the help of authentic traditional leaders to control and protect this tradition. I know that Limpopo has an Act. North West has an Act. The Eastern Cape has an Act, and the Free State as well. Unfortunately, Mpumalanga still has a draft Bill, which has not yet been finalised into an Act.
Please note that I mention the provinces where this initiation is part of tradition and the customs. The ones conducted in most of Gauteng, with the exception of former Motsweleng, are really "culturepreneurships". They have nothing to do with tradition.
What would these various laws entail? To understand what these laws were promulgated for, you need to understand contemporary problems that initiates are now encountering, which ultimately lead to death. And I will have to deal with them, Speaker. First and foremost, there is a problem of haemorrhage, massive bleeding, that can lead to immediate death through what is medically known as hypovolemic shock.
Hon Speaker, I'm sorry. I need to mention this. Please bear with me and members of the House for your deep understanding. You see, the organ we are talking about here is very highly vascularised. It has to be vascularised because one of the most important functions that it was designed for depends on high vascularisation to accommodate huge volumes of blood that flow there during one of its functions. So, it can really bleed, and it needs training, skill and experience if you have to deal with it surgically.
Secondly, there is infection leading to what is called septicemic shock, which can also lead to immediate death. Many of you will understand infection. Septicemia is when the infection gets into the bloodstream and travels to all the parts of the body. In essence, it means poisoning of the whole body through micro-organisms.
It is easier to get septicemia from this organ we are talking about here than from a finger or a toe because of its proximity to the main pelvic blood vessels, which convey blood from the lower extremities to the heart.
The third problem is dehydration. Initiates are usually denied water to try and avoid this massive bleeding I have mentioned. Denying somebody water under such gruelling conditions can lead to acute renal failure, because when the kidneys don't get enough blood and water flowing to them, they shut down, leading to acute renal failure, which can lead to multiple organ failure and immediate death. It may also lead to venous thrombosis, which may lead to pulmonary embolism and sudden death.
Fourthly, there is hypothermia. Being exposed to very low temperatures under such extreme circumstances can be fatal. Fifthly, strangulation of the glans through lack of technique can also lead to amputation.
Sixthly, under severe conditions of food restriction, there can be hypoglycaemia, which is the direct opposite of high blood sugar. By the way, hypoglycaemia, or low blood sugar, is immediately more fatal than high blood sugar, which may still give you a chance to get to a hospital. Actually, 20 of the initiates in Mpumalanga died from the two conditions that I have mentioned. They died from hypovolemic shock and hypoglycaemia. As I have just mentioned, all the laws then were enacted to control, minimise, regulate or eradicate all these complications that I have just mentioned.
The National Health Act passed in 2003 also tried to regulate this, but the regulations are still being promulgated. Hon Speaker, there is also the Children's Act, No 38 of 2005, which was passed by this Parliament in a document prepared by Prof Julia Sloth-Nielsen, professor in the law faculty at the University of Cape Town. In trying to review all these laws, which were passed by Parliament, to the Law Commission, she says:
Based on the responses the Commission received to the Discussion Paper, the final Report of the SA Law Reform Commission, SALRC, recommended that harmful or potentially harmful cultural practices be prohibited, that male circumcision be regulated, that female genital mutilation be prohibited, that an educative and criminal law approach to virginity testing be adopted, and expansion of the grounds for refugee status to include the threat of female genital mutilation ...
So, there are ample laws. She was just throwing that in in the Children's Act. This has been discussed as early as 2005. There are traditional leaders who try their best to comply. Unfortunately, as I said, there are those who engage in criminal activities. For instance, the Act in Limpopo specifically stipulates that no initiation can be conducted before schools close for the winter vacation. This is in view of the importance attached to education in this era and time. It is hence very wrong for a traditional leader to ignore that in the name of culture. It should not be allowed, and such a leader must be brought to book.
I wish to mention the role that was played by the leadership of the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa, Contralesa, and other traditional leaders around the country in dealing with that problem. One of their main demands, enacted in the various laws in the various provinces, was that before you conducted an initiation you needed to apply to Co- operative Governance and Traditional Affairs and be given permission to do so. It is outrageous, then, that in Mpumalanga out of the 134 schools that were known to authorities, 96 were being conducted outside the law. This is where the deaths took place. The secretary of Contralesa, Kgosi Setlamorago Thobejane, who is also a member of this House, has worked with us in health in his own village. This led to many traditional leaders in Limpopo following these examples, whereby we send doctors and health workers to work with them.
In 2011, we put this into operation and helped 1 848 initiates and none died. In 2012, in his village, we helped 1 308 initiates and none died. Throughout the whole of Limpopo last year, using this method, we helped 35 621 initiates and, unfortunately, two died because the department was engaged very late. Since December 2012, we have been working with Mr Nkululeko Nxesi, an activist from the Eastern Cape, to conduct workshops with traditional leaders from the Eastern Cape in order to prepare for this year's initiation ceremonies.
We believe everything will go well. We are funding him and we are prepared to fund anybody else. So, we actually know what we need to do. The House of Traditional Leaders and Cogta must take the lead.
We in Health will come in in a supportive role, as we did in Limpopo and as we are doing in the Eastern Cape, to save lives and limbs. So, I wish to thank Minister Baloyi for calling an indaba this Friday for all stakeholders in order to put an end to this tragic chapter.
I don't agree with those who say we need a commission here. We don't need any commission. The issues are very clear. The laws are there. Those who flouted those laws must be brought to book and be arrested without fear or favour, regardless of their social, cultural and traditional standing. [Applause.] That is what needs to be done here. Thank you. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.