NGUNJANA VILLAGE, SOUTH AFRICA JUNE 20: (SOUTH AFRICA OUT) Initiates are smeared with white clay on their face and are covered in red and white blankets on June 20, 2014 in Ngunjana Village, South Africa. The winter circumcision season is under way in the Eastern Cape and elsewhere in the country. Traditional surgeons and health authorities are working together as much as possible to limit injuries and deaths. (Leon Sadiki/City Press/Gallo Images/Getty Images)
Parents from Emalahleni in Mpumalanga and the surrounding areas are furious after their sons were allegedly abducted and taken to initiation schools without their consent.
So far, more than 52 young men and boys have been forcefully taken to a mountain, where they are being kept hostage as their parents were refused access to them.
The men who did this openly admit to having started the initiation process without permission from the youths’ parents.
The local chief is looking to investigate.
Meanwhile, Mpumalanga department of co-operative governance and traditional affairs spokesperson Lindiwe Msibi denied the allegation of kidnapping.
Mpumalanga police spokesperson Brigadier Selvy Mohlala did not respond to the questions from the Mail & Guardian.
Last month a 20-year-old man went missing. His father, Simon Rantho, and community members launched a search and after two weeks, they found the man at the local initiation school.
When he and a group of other parents arrived at the initiation school, the owners opened the gates. Rantho saw his son sitting by a makeshift shelter. His son told him he had already been circumcised.
(Leon Sadiki/City Press/Gallo Images/Getty Images)
“He told me I was too late.”
Rantho saw other boys who were struggling to walk and others looked lethargic.
“They couldn’t move some of them. They looked so unwell and unhealthy.”
The father told the Mail & Guardian that he was planning on taking his son to Limpopo next year to be initiated through the Sepedi culture.
He is worried that the young man was taken to the mountain without the correct cultural rituals being performed.
Rantho could not remove his son without the help of the chief and the police. If he did he believes his son would be cursed, a sentiment carried by many of his community’s members.
“When I asked why they initiated my son without my permission they produced forms and said I must sign. This is painful because now I have to pay the R4 500 initiation fee and also prepare for the celebration party when he returns and I am not ready.”
According to Rantho the authorities failed to prevent his son from being initiated against his will.
“The chief advised me to go to the police station and the police also sent me from pillar to post until I gave up,” said an angry Rantho.
Three years ago 21 boys from Etwatwa, Ekurhuleni, who were forcefully taken to the initiation school were rescued by the police. While in 2015, 23 boys, who were abducted and taken to an initiation school in Sebokeng were rescued by the police. Before the school was closed one of the kidnapped boys, Mpho Mothupi, died during the initiation process. The 22-year-old owner of the school in question is still on the run.
It is against the law to force or coerce anyone into attending an initiation school or undergoing any initiation practices. No person may attend an initiation school unless all the relevant consent forms are received.
In a video clip seen by the M&G, angry parents from Emalahleni are seen confronting Robert Majaji Mbuyane chairperson of the Provincial Initiation Coordinating Committee (PICC). This is a government committee aimed at ensuring initiation schools follow guidelines and operate in a safe environment.
An initiate at an initiation school in Libode on July 12, 2013, in Mthatha, South Africa. A number of initiates have been reported dead and many hospitalised during the initiation season. (Photo by Leon Sadiki/City Press/Gallo Images/Getty Images)
Mbuyane told the parents that, “what happened was a mistake”.
He failed to respond to the angry questions. Parents can be hard asking him if he is aware that it is a crime to initiate a boy child without parents’ consent. He can be heard trying to defend the school owners by saying the owners made a mistake.
“Our investigation shows us that he had the consent forms but his mistake was that he did not take them to the parents to sign on time.”
The initiation school owner, Tebogo Mokoena, is heard in the same clip saying he instructed the young men to give the forms to their parents.
“Please give me a chance to fix the matter. I gave the forms to some of the parents to sign but they never brought them back. Yes, I also delayed giving some of the parents the forms.”
Mokena agreed that he initiated the children before their parents signed consent forms.
He said this in the presence of the IPCC chairperson.
Department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs spokesperson Msibi defended Mbuyane, saying that all allegations received of abductions during the weekend of 13-15 May were investigated.
“The PICC discovered that there are no abductions at this stage. All the alleged schools were visited and none of the boys could indicate that they were taken to the school against their will,” she said.
“The PICC together with some parents who complained and laid charges with the Vosman Police station in Emalahleni only found 12 boys who were still held or rather waiting to be taken to the mountains, at a traditional leader’s place. The parents identified their children and indicated that they do not want their children to attend that particular school but prefer another one.”
According to her, the boys were interviewed and indicated that they wanted to go to the mountain on their own without telling their parents.
Meanwhile, another parent also from Emalahleni and who is afraid that her son may be hurt if she speaks out, told the M&G that she has not been able to sleep at night with worry.
Her 15-year-old son was one of the 52 boys who were abducted on the street and transported by a minibus to the initiation school in question.
The unemployed mother said she was not ready to take her son to the initiation school this year.
“Things that happen in this area are bad, they took my child without my knowledge and came late to tell me that I must sign a consent form.”
Initiates are welcomed back by their friends and families on January 4, 2015 in Orange Farm, South Africa. Fifteen graduates were welcomed home from an initiation school in the Vaal area. They all returned home safe and unharmed. (Lucky Maibi/Daily Sun/Gallo Images/Getty Images)
A local traditional leader in Emalahleni, Nsizwa Mahlangu from the Ndzundza Urban Regional Council, said kidnappings could be eradicated.
“There are laws that govern this practice but some initiation school owners do not follow these laws because they know that no harsh action will be taken against them. For example, recently I received many calls from community members informing me that their children were forcefully taken to the schools. I phoned the police and we managed to rescue about 17 boys who were kept in a house waiting to be transported to the schools. We saved the children but no arrests were made.”
Mahlangu said police promised the parents that they would also rescue other children.
“Many cases were opened against two initiation school owners, but they have not been arrested. As I am talking to you now more than 52 children are being initiated without the consent of their parents.”
President of the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa Chief Mathupha Mokoena has called on the initiation school owners to immediately release the initiates if they don’t have permission to initiate them.
“This is a dangerous situation because parents should take their children to a doctor before registering them at an initiation school. So, if they were just taken from the street their lives are in danger.”
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