Two more circumcision deaths were reported in the Eastern Cape on Thursday as provincial health authorities continue their battle against illegal initiation schools.
The deaths — one at Barkly East, the other at Maclear — brought the total to seven in the past three weeks, health department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said.
He said police are hunting for the iincibi, or traditional surgeons, responsible for the circumcision schools that the youths attended.
News of the deaths came as police on Thursday arrested an unregistered incibi after closing down two illegal circumcision schools in the Port St John’s area of the Transkei.
Kupelo said the 29-year-old man will appear in the town’s magistrates court on Friday, and that the state will oppose bail.
He said the man is the sole surgeon operating in the entire Port St Johns area.
”We believe that by arresting him we’ll stop that in the area,” he said.
No traditional surgeon at Port St Johns has registered with health authorities, as required by the province’s Application of Health Standards in Traditional Circumcision Act, which means there could be no legal circumcision in the area.
The arrest brings the number of iincibi and traditional nurses taken into custody this year to 30.
Kupelo said that earlier on Thursday, health authorities and police, backed by a chartered helicopter, made their way with difficulty into remote valleys outside the Wild Coast town to locate the two illegal schools.
When they arrived, the initiates fled into the forest, but five of them were flushed out by the helicopter and taken to a hospital at Port St Johns.
Kupelo said the team will continue working in the area this week and next week to locate more schools.
The Act was passed in 2001 to help stem the tide of casualties of young men who die or are maimed after botched circumcisions. The law says only recognised traditional practitioners may perform the operation, and they must have the permission of a medical officer.
At the time, it was bitterly opposed by traditional leaders, who saw it as interference with custom. — Sapa