By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The death toll of young initiates this initiation season in the Eastern Cape has increased to 34.
The Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL Rights Commission) has recommended that specialised courts must be established to deal with initiates’ deaths in the Eastern Cape.
The commission also wants government to shut down all illegal initiation schools in the province immediately as the death toll increases.
Commission Chairperson, David Mosoma, briefed the media following a meeting with the Eastern Cape MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Xolile Nqatha, and community leaders this week.
The recommendations come after meetings the commission held with different stakeholders in the province on Tuesday.
He said hotspots of the deaths and botched circumcisions are in the Alfred Nzo district municipality and OR Tambo.
Mosoma said the CRL Rights Commission was not satisfied by the excuse given by Eastern Cape officials that the change in leadership at municipalities, due to last month’s municipal elections, had a negative impact on the kind of support given to other districts in the province and local initiation forums.
“The commission is not convinced that it provides justification for the deaths of the initiates in the province and more should be done to prevent the loss of lives,” he said.
While the majority of deaths occurred in illegal initiation schools, Mosoma said some of the young initiates died due to abuse and neglect, with a majority of cases still awaiting post-mortem results.
Mosoma said the deaths of young initiates in the Eastern Cape were gradually becoming a provincial crisis.
“The State Security Agency must be deployed to track and identify illegal schools in far-flung bush areas including homes to give early warning signs about the impending deaths that may occur and that an illegal act has been committed,” added Mosoma.
The CRL Commission also urged traditional leaders to be hands-on to avert the deaths and ensure partakers return home unharmed.