Five boys have died in the Eastern Cape since last week, the start of the circumcision period in that province, the provincial health department said on Saturday.
The fifth body was picked up by the police at an initiation school late on Saturday, said Sizwe Kupelo, departmental spokesperson.
”Young boys are dying like flies,” Kupelo said, adding that 13 boys as young as 13 years have been circumcised in the area of Libode.
”The department would like to urge communities, especially in the Transkei, to report illegal schools operating in their areas.
”We are also pleading with the so-called traditional surgeons to stop circumcising young boys without permission,” he said.
Already five traditional surgeons have been arrested for allegedly conducting unlawful circumcisions.
On Thursday, 30 initiates were rescued from an illegal initiation school in Qumbu.
All underage schoolboys from the Zilandana village, they all had gangrene and septic cuts from circumcisions.
Their initiation school was demolished.
Kupelo said the health department had placed 400 officials on standby to monitor the initiation season.
They would be travelling around the Transkei and acting on tip-offs from the community. — Sapa