Speaker, on behalf of the ACDP, I wish to convey our condolences to the families and relatives of the initiates who lost their lives while attending initiation schools. We were both shocked and saddened by the news about the deaths of about 36 initiates in Mpumalanga and Limpopo. What is surprising, though, is that to date no one has taken responsibility for these deaths and no arrests have been made.
The ACDP believes that human life is precious and has to be protected at all times. While we support the observance and the practice of different cultures in our country, we believe they should neither be harmful nor a threat to the security of any person.
The ACDP supports the position put forward by the SA Medical Association that to avoid unnecessary deaths during initiations the physical part of circumcision should be done by someone who is trained, while the teaching part is done by the traditional leaders.
Government must introduce minimum requirements to govern initiation schools that should apply to all provinces that run such schools. These requirements should include the following: Firstly, there should be a database of all initiation schools that are registered, including the names of those who run them.
Secondly, there must be known sanctions and penalties that will be imposed on anyone running an unregistered initiation school. Thirdly, the chiefs and indunas [headmen] should be directly involved in the running of these schools as they are the custodians of the tradition.
Fourthly, initiation schools should allow initiates to drink enough water, have enough food and continue with their medication if they are on medication.
Finally, it should be a criminal offence to take a child to any initiation school without the knowledge of their parents, who should have the right to choose reputable schools on behalf of their children.
The ACDP hopes that government will do all it can, including applying our recommendations, to ensure that these unfortunate and unnecessary deaths during future initiations are prevented from taking place, or at least, minimised. Thank you.