Another 33 brutalised boys were taken away from initiation schools to hospitals on Tuesday, bringing the total number of hospitalised initiates to 51, East Rand police said on Wednesday.
Police representative Anneline Prinsloo said 19 of the children were at Heidelberg Hospital, six were at Vereeniging Hospital, 16 were taken to Natalspruit Hospital and 10 were at the Far East Rand hospital.
On the condition of the boys, Prinsloo said: ”They have been diagnosed with pneumonia, lung infections, bronchitis, two of them are very seriously dehydrated, and infections were reported in the genital area and where the boys had been beaten”.
On Tuesday police reported that five boys had died in the mountains outside Heidelberg following initiation practices that included unhygienic circumcisions and severe beatings.
Four boys died on Monday night at an initiation school on Nooitgedacht farm near Heidelberg, another 18 were taken to hospital on Tuesday and four teachers were arrested.
The dead boys had been badly beaten. Two of them had infected circumcision wounds and all of them were left to face an icy winter night with almost no clothing or cover.
It was estimated that mountain temperatures on Monday night had dropped to minus 10 degrees celsius.
The group of Sotho boys were from Orange Grove, north-eastern Johannesburg, and had been in the Ratanda area near Heidelberg since the beginning of June.
The body of a fifth boy, who died that same night on his way to hospital after escaping from an initiation school, was found in the Ratanda area.
Prinsloo said it was not yet clear which initiation school the boy had run away from.
The other 33 boys who were taken to hospital on Tuesday came from another initiation school in the area, which police also closed down after questioning its teachers.
The New National Party (NNP) has expressed shock at the incident.
”The NNP is of the opinion that all provincial governments should institute legislation regarding circumcision at initiation schools… It is very important to use the right technique and adequate hygiene otherwise the boys will die of excessive bleeding, infection or will even be infected by the HIV virus,” the NNP said. – Sapa