Two youths were killed in Limpopo on Friday after they were circumcised — bringing the number of circumcision deaths to at least 17 in four provinces in the last five weeks.
At least 12 deaths were reported in the Eastern Cape, three in Limpopo and one each in Gauteng and North West since the winter ”circumcision season” started.
The Limpopo government’s head of the provincial task team on initiation, Chief Vusani Netshimbepfe, said the youths died at Mapila village near Mokopane and at Bolobedo outside Tzaneen.
Netshimbepfe said another youth died in Mbahe village outside Thohoyandou on Thursday.
”On behalf of government, we send our condolences to the families of the victims.”
He said the provincial government had conducted workshops to registered traditional surgeons, teaching them how to conduct circumcisions.
”All traditional surgeons are trained before the [initiation] school comes to being.”
The provincial government had sent its officials to investigate the deaths.
In the Eastern Cape, 12 initiates had died and more than 20 illegal traditional surgeons arrested in the last five weeks.
The province’s health department spokesperson, Sizwe Kupelo, said nearly 100 youths had been hospitalised and 350 rescued from ”fly-by-night schools” in the province.
”The problem is that there are these bogus traditional surgeons who continue to break the law.”
He said the public and some of the affected youths were also to blame for some of the incidents.
”For instance, some boys circumcise themselves … some ask anyone who claims to be a traditional surgeon to circumcise them,” he said.
Other under-age boys lied about their age and told surgeons they were 18.
”Some parents are not cooperating with the department. We appealed to them to alert us of these [illegal initiation] schools. But in some cases they only call us when the situation is critical and at [that] stage there is nothing that doctors can do to save the initiates.”
A number of youths had had their genitals amputated due to circumcision complications.
”Some had parts of their penises cut-off during circumcision.”
The department had allocated R4-million and 40 4X4 vehicles, and deployed 400 officials to monitor the situation.
In Gauteng, a 15-year-old boy died at an initiation school between De Deur and Orange Farm last month. He was found dead by fellow circumcision initiates at a mountain.
The boy was among nine others who were circumcised by an illegal surgeon.
A 24-year-old man died from circumcision complications at a North West hospital this week.
His death led to the closure of two initiation schools in Verdwaal and Bodibe villages, near Lichtenburg in the North West after police found that the schools were not registered.
Inspector Carina Fourie said 19 other initiates from the schools were also taken to hospital for medical attention to their penises.
The two men who ran the initiation schools were arrested and fined R300 for contravening the Circumcision Act.
Circumcision — where the foreskin of the penis is removed — is regarded across many cultures globally as an important rite of passage. The procedure itself is conducted in many ways ranging from a ceremony in the bush to an elective surgical procedure in a medical facility. — Sapa