Hon Speaker, our condolences go to the families who have lost their loved ones through this very tragic incident. The participation of these young men in these initiation schools should have marked the transition from boyhood to manhood, but instead it had yet another very tragic end.
Initiation schools by their very nature are intended to serve as a service to our society as traditional leaders prepare young boys for adulthood and use the opportunity to mentor young men to become responsible sons and fathers.
It is tragic that every year, without fail, we hear of so many young men who lose their lives through sheer negligence whilst in the care of irresponsible community leaders. The exploitation of young men and their families is becoming more and more prevalent and some criminals have turned this honourable practice into a money-making racket. Not only is this criminal, but it is also a shame and an attack on the integrity of this age- old and honourable cultural practice.
The recent incident in Mpumalanga, for example, where these young men lost their lives under very tragic circumstances, is yet another reminder that we are failing in providing the necessary support and not adequately attending to the risks that young men face, especially in rural areas.
Almost every death recorded at initiation schools happens as a result of inadequate health care or negligence. The only solutions, therefore, are to increase the reach of adequate training, making more medically trained personnel available to assist initiation schools, and the stricter enforcement of the rules on unregistered initiation schools where leaders exploit this tradition for personal gain.
Traditional leaders must also own this cultural practice and play a much more active role in ensuring that these schools and male circumcision are conducted in a manner that does not put the lives of young children at risk. Fathers must also play a more active role in our society and take their responsibilities much more seriously.
This is an important and honourable tradition which must be protected at all costs. We must do whatever it takes to rescue this cultural practice from the hands of criminals.
Although young men can access free circumcision at public hospitals, there is still much work to be done to make the service more accessible. We must recognise that hundreds of thousands of men have received this service, at no cost whatsoever, at many of our public institutions. We would have had many more deaths on our hands if this was not the case.
We must urgently address the long waiting lists at many hospitals across the country. The waiting list in a Limpopo hospital, for example, runs into several months, with up to 2 000 people on the waiting list for circumcision. I also note that at the same time there have been several deaths which have occurred in the Limpopo province.
This poses a massive problem and contributes towards the desperation of young men who want to make the transition to adulthood. If we do not take urgent and decisive action to stem this exploitation in our country and provide adequate medically trained personnel, we should not react with shock in this House as we do today. Thank you very much. [Applause.]