NEWS of a noteworthy address to the National Assembly by ANC chief whip Mathole Motshekga on the tragic deaths in the current initiation season reaches us here at the Mahogany Ridge.
Motshekga had called for a debate on what is obviously a persistent catastrophe. In 2010, for example, it was reported that 145 youths had died as a result of complications due to botched circumcision procedures in the 2009 and 2010 seasons, and that a further 1 200 were hospitalised. This season's toll now stands at 36 fatalities.
"Initiation schools are supposed to prepare young men for manhood and not to serve as death camps," Motshekga explained. "We are dismayed by the blatant abuse of our cultural and traditional practices by individuals who have turned them into lucrative business enterprises with no regard for human life."
More dismaying, I'd suggest, was the charge from the office of Mabhoko III, the Ndebele king, that witchcraft was responsible for the deaths of 28 initiates in Mpumalanga.
Mabhoko appears to be in trouble as a number of illegal initiation schools have been operating in the province with his approval. With an "unusually high" number of fatalities, it would then seem that blaming meddlesome supernatural forces for the mess was naturally the way to go.
Not everyone's buying this rubbish. The health minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, addressing Wednesday's debate, has instead blamed "culture-preneurship" for the deaths: "I wish to state unequivocally, we are mostly dealing with commercial interests here . . . with individuals who have decided to hijack certain African cultures to amass wealth, make huge amounts of money in as short a time as possible, under the cloak of culture and tradition."