Secrecy is fundamental to the initiation custom, the public hearing on initiation schools heard on Wednesday.
The South African Human Rights Commission’s (SAHRC) Free State office manager, Mothusi Lepheana, who spoke in his personal capacity, said secrecy is needed to preserve the ”copyright” of the initiation process.
”The success of any business is dependent on secrecy,” said Lepheana, who grew up in the Eastern Cape’s Matatiele area where initiation is practised. ”The initiation school is both a secret place and a sacred place.”
Successful schools are managed by the community, not individuals, he said.
”An initiation school becomes a business of that community and it is the responsibility of that community … If you mess up, it means all the men of that community are involved.”
Lepheana said Eastern Cape officials apply the initiation law with respect for the custom.
Participants at the hearing agreed there is a difference between initiation and circumcision, and that the laws generally focus on circumcision.
The three-day hearing, which ended on Wednesday, was the last of three held in October. They are aimed at producing policy recommendations to reduce the death and injury rate of initiates, usually a result of botched circumcisions.
Participants agreed that the commercialisation of the custom causes problems.
”Unemployment has caused the weakening of these structures,” said Prince Zukisile Makaula, an Eastern Cape delegate to the National House of Traditional Leaders (NHTL), saying that the desire to make money has led to a drop in standards.
Delegates emphasised the need to retain the custom.
”That was so important to me; I wish that could be shared by all men,” said Lepheana, comparing his initiation to his time at university.
”It is the only thing I have in a fast-changing South Africa,” said another delegate, who agreed on the need for regulation.
Nobody would discuss the details of the practice, due to the secrecy requirements, and nobody admitted to participating in problematic initiation schools.
The hearings are being run by the SAHRC, NHTL and the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities. — Sapa