Four youths killed when lightning struck an initiation school in the Mqanduli area of Transkei last week were buried on Thursday in an emotional ceremony attended by hundreds of people.
Seven other would-be initiates were injured in the third fatal lighting strike at an initiation school in the region in three years.
Eastern Cape health department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo, who attended the Gengqe village ceremony, said his provincial minister, Monwabisi Goqwana, urged in a graveside speech that communities return to the traditional custom of holding initiations only in winter.
Not only is there less of a lightning risk, but there is also less danger of dehydration, a complaint that has put many youths in hospital since the start of the summer initiation season.
Other dignitaries at the funeral included Deputy Minister of Minerals and Energy Lulu Xingwana; the mayor of the King Sabata Dalindyebo municipality, Dr De la Rey Mkatshwa; Contralesa’s Chief Mwelo Nkonyana; and traditional leaders.
The four — candidate initiates Sbusiso Khunyalele and Fezile Kwelihashe, and their attendants Xolisa Phokoshe and Phila Fuzile — were buried side by side under a single memorial stone on the site of the initiation school where they met their deaths.
The site is directly below a power line.
Kupelo said three men from the village were praised at the funeral for their role in rescuing survivors from huts set alight by the lightning.
He said the total number of initiation-related deaths in the Eastern Cape this season now stands at 18.
Just less than 100 youths have been admitted to various hospitals, mainly for treatment of septicaemia or dehydration. — Sapa