The time for promises is over: DA calls for parliamentary inquiry into initiation deaths

11 July 2014 

Note to Editors: This address was delivered by Nqaba Bhanga MP, DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, on an oversight visit to Magaxi Initiation School in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, July 11 2014

At the age of 19 I underwent the sacred ceremony of initiation in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. 

My experience was one of elation as I finally became a man.

During this time we never experienced the fear of death as our young men are today, and our leaders led us by example. The many great life lessons I learnt during the process I still cherish today. 

The responsibility was carried by both the leaders, the young men and their families to maintain the proper tradition and to ensure the process was safe, clean and medically acceptable.

It is an important rite of passage for young boys embarking on a journey of manhood. 

It is imperative that government acts decisively and swiftly in mitigating deaths that happen at initiation schools. 

Considering the now 31 recent deaths of our young men across the country, this school is a beacon of hope and proves that traditional circumcision can be practiced in a safe and law abiding manner. 

Magaxi Initiation School has been practicing safe initiations for over a decade. The school complies with all health and safety standards and has been working in cooperation with the police to clamp down on illegal schools in the community and to prevent drugs from entering school grounds. 

We must emulate this example in every community and we must work tirelessly to bring an end to this national crisis. 

Last year, in the face of this crisis, the ANC in the National Assembly proposed a debate of public importance on initiation deaths. We welcomed this move, and the debate which followed, as a real step in identifying the reasons for the crisis and making it clear that there was to be decisive action by government.

One year later, even after President Zuma himself participated in this debate, these promises have not materialised into real action.

The time for promises is over, Mr President. We must start to deliver on ensuring the safety of our children.

Indeed, despite initiation related deaths occurring on a regular and annual basis, the Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, has yet to gazette and process regulations in terms of section 43(3) of the National Health Act of 2003.

This is an 11 year wait for government to enforce Section 43(3) of the Act which allows for the Minister to provide conditions under which initiation ceremonies should be carried out. 

Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Minister, Pravin Gordhan, and Health Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, must provide parliament with an explanation for these regulations and when they can be expected to be gazetted.

Last year COGTA proposed to draft a policy on initiations, but it has been almost over a year and nothing has come of it. National legislation as recommended by the CRL Rights Commission in 2010 regulating initiation practices is also long overdue. 

South Africa needs a full investigation into what is going wrong and what government needs to do to ensure the safety of all of our children. Our executive needs to be held to account so that they know they cannot drag their feet for a day longer.

It is for this reason that I can announce that the DA will be requesting a special parliamentary inquiry into initiation deaths, that should encompass both COGTA and the Portfolio Committee on Health.

This inquiry must use its power to summon the National Police Commissioner, Riah Phiyega, and Minister of Police, Nkosinathi Nhleko, to get an urgent explanation as to why there have been so few arrests despite the consistently high number of deaths during initiation season. We also must be presented with a plan as to how and when all illegal schools will be shut down.

Saving lives must be our top priority and our Parliament must now use its power of oversight to do everything in its power to put an end to this killing spree.

Where we govern, the DA in the Western Cape is committed to ensuring that we provide training and support to make initiation and initiation schools a much safer place.

The Western Cape Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport (DCAS) provides medical and logistical support to all recognised initiation committees while simultaneously working with cultural communities to protect the wellbeing of initiates.

We recommend that COGTA learn from the Western Cape's framework and incorporate this into the proposed national policy.

This must include:

The forming of partnerships with the relevant Initiation Forums, Municipalities and provincial departments such as Health which work towards protecting the custom of initiation as well as safeguarding the medical well being of all initiates.

Providing first aid training and kits for traditional healers and surgeons;

Providing bibs to nurses who assist during the ceremonies;

Providing districts with the services of a doctor (on call) for circumcision camps;

Encouraging local authorities to have clean running water points at circumcision camps; and

Engaging traditional healers and surgeons through their local forums about the ritual and its medical implications.

Traditional initiation ceremonies remain an integral part of our society. Parliament must now make sure that our young men can celebrate this important period in their lives with the full knowledge that their lives are safe.

The DA will continue to do everything possible to make sure that this is reality and that not one more life is lost during initiation ceremonies. 

Issued by the DA, July 11 2014

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