Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Deputy Minister, Prince Zolile Burns-Ncamashe, has assured citizens that government will leave no stone unturned in dealing with criminal elements that have infiltrated initiation schools.
“All those criminal elements that continue to vulgarise and criminalise this old age tradition that is intended to give life to young people, but we end up experiencing casualties and fatalities, our law enforcement agencies will find them and deal with them decisively,” he said on Friday.
The Deputy Minister was speaking during the launch of the Customary Initiation Act awareness campaign, held under the theme, ‘Preserving lives, Promoting Customs’.
The national chairperson of the National Initiation Oversight Committee (NIOC), Ikosi Vimbi Mahlangu and the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL) Chair, Professor David Luka Mosoma, accompanied Burns-Ncamashe to Friday's event.
The primary objective of this campaign is to promote awareness, education and compliance with the Customary Initiation Act, which was officially enacted into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2021.
This was followed by the establishment of the NIOC last year, which is tasked with monitoring the implementation of the Act, promoting compliance and guiding the Provincial Initiation Coordinating Committees (PICCs).
However, the launch, according to Burns-Ncamashe, comes at a time when the customary initiation practice is facing challenges and the need for its dignity and integrity to be restored.
“Customary initiation is one of the many facets of our cultures that shapes and moulds us as a people and gives us a sense of identity.
“It is a deeply rooted cultural practice in South Africa, representing a significant rite of passage signalling a transition to adulthood.”
However, customary initiation practice, especially male initiation, has been marred by incidents of young men losing their lives, abuse, injuries and penis amputations after botched circumcisions.
“We have also seen those with ill intentions entering this space and opening illegal customary initiation schools for commercialisation of the practice and committing many unlawful activities in the name of the customary initiation practice,” the Deputy Minister said.
At the provincial level, the Deputy Minister said, the basic needs of initiates must be protected, along with a developed curriculum, to safeguard the health and safety of all initiates.
“With the upcoming awareness campaigns, the NIOC seeks to promote compliance with the Customary Initiation Act by everyone who participates in the practice of customary initiation.”
COGTA has urged all stakeholders involved in this tradition to support the NIOC.
“The road ahead will be long and challenging, but it is a road that we must walk together and with determination, leaving no one behind.
“We need to change the public narrative that ‘customary initiation practice is a practice that kills’,” said Burns-Ncamashe.
Source: South African Government News Agency