At least 42 traditional surgeons have been arrested in the Eastern Cape since the provincial government introduced legislation on circumcision in 2001, Minister of Provincial and Local Government Sydney Mufamadi said on Monday.
He said of the 42, 18 have been convicted of crimes linked to initiation circumcisions gone wrong.
”The arrests are a clear indication that the government is serious about addressing wrong elements who taint the significance of this traditional practice.”
Mufamadi was addressing delegates, among them Minister of Arts and Culture Pallo Jordan, at a traditional initiation school conference in Johannesburg.
The two-day function, which started on Monday, was organised by the National House of Traditional Leaders (NHTL).
The Eastern Cape is the province with the highest number of deaths of prospective initiates in the June and December circumcision season.
The Northern Cape and Free State have also enacted legislation to deal with the observation of health standards at initiation schools.
Mufamadi said the Eastern Cape health department is actively trying to curb the violations of health standards contained in the Traditional Circumcision Act of 2001.
Since the legislation was instituted, 20 Pondoland initiation schools have been closed and about 150 boys rescued from these institutions were referred to hospitals.
There has been a 70% decline in incidents of unlawful initiations in 2001 in the province, Mufamadi said.
He said the conference offered an opportunity not only to take stock of the success or failure of measures introduced to address initiation fatalities, but also to determine whether current practice conforms with tradition.
”The government feels compelled by the horrific incidents that often occur in initiation schools to continually insist on the search for practical solutions,” Mufamadi said.
”Apart from deaths themselves, some victims have suffered the loss of reproductive organs and yet others have suffered from preventable infections.”
NHTL chairperson Inkosi Mpiyezintombi Mzimela said it was crucial the conference dealt with the relevance and challenges of circumcision in the present times.
”Time and again young men who undergo initiation come to serious injury and in some cases there are fatalities,” he said.
”We cannot allow this to go on. We are talking about young boys who will be future leaders.”
Mzimela said traditional leaders, the custodians of indigenous cultures and customs, have to be proactive.
”The conference has to culminate in concrete proposals to be reflected in a document that will form the basis of a policy that will ensure that due care will at all times be taken during initiation.” — Sapa