Authorities to close illegal initiation schools following deaths
The three teenagers died this week just four days after the traditional initiation season started.
CAPE TOWN - The Eastern Cape Traditional Affairs Department is to come down hard on illegal initiation schools following the death of three initiates in the province.
The three teenagers died this week just four days after the traditional initiation season started.
The department's Mamnkeli Ngam says a number of unregistered schools have been shut down in the Port St Johns area.
"Part of the mandate of our monitoring schools is close unregistered initiation schools as a matter of urgency."
Nine others initiates were hospitalised last week due to botched circumcisions.
Earlier this month, the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs said new regulations proposed to govern initiation schools could see the use of modern medical practice to minimise injuries while women would also play a greater role.
Sixty thousand young boys undergo traditional circumcision across the country every season.
Over the past few years, interventions by the health department have seen the number of fatalities decrease.
Government said the proposal is aimed at streamlining standard medical practice with cultural norms.
