The recent icy weather has added another danger to the many already faced by circumcision initiates Khadija Magardie Police in the Free State town of Bethlehem have opened a murder docket after three boys attending a circumcision school at nearby Frisgewag farm died of exposure. Temperatures in the area have plummeted during the recent spell of cold weather that has hit the country. Nine other boys from the same school had to be taken to Bethlehem provincial hospital to be treated for exposure and severe frostbite, and police have expressed concern that there may be more cases, as many circumcision schools are not adequately prepared for the cold weather. Boys sent to circumcision schools have to spend up to six weeks in the bush or in caves dressed in nothing but a blanket, as part of a ritual that marks their passage to manhood. The boys are sometimes not allowed to drink anything during the initial part of the initiation, causing dehydration that can be fatal in very hot or very cold conditions. When police received reports that three initiates attending the school had died, they were also told that a fourth boy was seriously ill – but he died before an ambulance arrived at the school. Autopsies done on the four boys, all scholars from Bethlehem aged from 15 to 18, indicated that they had died from exposure. With temperatures continuing to plummet, there has been concern that initiation schools are not providing adequate shelter for the boys, and that despite knowledge of the hazards of being exposed to the elements during the current cold spell, parents will continue to send their children to the schools. The nine boys who were treated for severe frostbite were returned to the school – with the consent of their parents – after being discharged from hospital. Police did, however, arrange to provide shelter for the initiates.
The principal of the school agreed to move the boys from the mountainous area where the school is located to an empty house on the farm and will carry on until the school is scheduled to finish, at the weekend.
The provincial South African Police Service communications officer, Sergeant Loraine Kalp, declined to give further details relating to the four murder dockets, saying investigations were at a sensitive stage. She also declined to give the name of the principal of the circumcision school.
Every year, dozens of boys around the country are admitted to hospitals with circumcision-related medical complications, ranging from severe dehydration to septic wounds that result from the use of unhygienic instruments. The rising number of deaths at circumcision schools has prompted health authorities to introduce new methods, such as the so-called Tara Clamp, to prevent infections and even deaths from botched circumcisions.
There is still relative silence surrounding plans by the government to introduce legislation that will impose heavy fines, and even prison sentences, on traditional doctors and health authorities who do not conform to strict protocol relating to the performing of circumcisions.
The draft Bill, drawn up under the 1927 Black Administration Act, was due to be handed to the presidency in March this year, but to date nothing has been forthcoming.