Free State health Member of the Executive CommitteeOuma Motsumi-Tshopo tabled an Initiation School Bill in the provincial legislature on Thursday in a bid to ensure the safety and hygienic treatments of initiates.
The Bill requires traditional surgeons to meet a range of requirements when holding an initiation school and performing circumcisions.
These included written approval and consent from provincial and local authorities, as well as from parents, guardians and initiates older than 18 years.
Inspectors of initiation schools would be appointed by the provincial department of health to ensure hygienic conditions and adequate shelter.
The Bill prescribed a minimum age of 16 years for initiates. All prospective initiates had to obtain a medical report of good health not older than 90 days.
The initiation period was not to exceed three months, during which nobody other than the traditional surgeon or a medical practitioner were to treat initiates.
District medical officers might refuse the use of surgical instruments a traditional surgeon intended to use. These officers were to keep records and statistics of circumcisions in their area and report it to the provincial department, the Bill read.
The traditional surgeons were to keep registers showing when initiates were accepted, when circumcisions were done and when initiates completed their stay at the school.
Penalties prescribed by the Bill ranged from fines to prison sentences of six months to 10 years.
Injuries and even deaths related to botched circumcision attempts and assaults in initiation schools are reported annually in the Free State and elsewhere. – Sapa