Fourteen initiates – including the unidentified body of one found near a river in Ngcobo – have so far died in the Eastern Cape.
About 50 initiates have been admitted to hospitals. Three have had partial penile amputations.
Cooperative governance and traditional affairs spokesman Mamnkeli Ngam said assault continues to play a role in the death of initiates.
“We urge families and parents to continue monitoring.”
He said three initiates had been severely assaulted at an initiation school on Monday.
One initiate, 20-year-old Thando Nyameko of Lugxogxo village of Tabase near Mthatha, died while two others were badly hurt.
Ngam blamed the assault on the lack of family and community monitoring.
He also lashed out at young men who have turned initiation schools into crime havens.
“Only traditional nurses are supposed to be there and elderly local men who come to do monitoring.”
The following deaths have been recorded: three in Ngcobo, one in Cofimvaba (Ncorha), one in Lusikisiki, one in Mbizana, two in Matatiele, one in Gxulu village in Ngqeleni, one in Tabase in Mthatha, one in Butterworth, two in Mdantsane and one in Burgersdorp.
Most of the initiates died of dehydration while septicaemia, assault, asthma and lung infection, drowning, paraffin poisoning and other factors also contributed to the death toll.
Health department provincial spokesman Sizwe Kupelo raised concern at the high number of initiates admitted to hospitals, especially in Ngcobo.
Of the 50 admitted, 31 are at All Saints Hospital in Ngcobo. The rest are split between Mthatha General, St Elizabeth in Lusikisiki and Settlers in Grahamstown.
“Three were admitted after assaults and one died in Mbizana as a result. Three others had partial penile amputations,” said Kupelo.
Ngcobo was one of the areas that had hardly any deaths before. The three deaths have angered Contralesa provincial chairman and Ngcobo traditional leader Chief Daluxolo Jezile and mayor Lamla Jiyose.
“I don’t know where it went wrong, we hardly have any deaths. Those responsible must be brought to book,” said Jezile.
He confirmed that the unidentified body of an initiate was found on Xuka River near Qotha village, Ngcobo.
“We suspected that he had drowned and was washed away by the heavy streams following heavy rains.
“Nobody has come forward to identify and claim the body,” he said.
Jezile and Jiyose on Monday summoned all traditional initiation surgeons, nurses, traditional leaders, municipal councillors and initiation forum members to discuss and find immediate solutions on what Jezile has termed a “crisis in Ngcobo”.
Tomorrow, monitoring teams would be meeting to reconcile what they have discovered since the season started on November 23 and remains open.
Shock as 14 initiates die, 50 hospitalised
About 50 initiates have been admitted to hospitals. Three have had partial penile amputations.
Cooperative governance and traditional affairs spokesman Mamnkeli Ngam said assault continues to play a role in the death of initiates.
“We urge families and parents to continue monitoring.”
He said three initiates had been severely assaulted at an initiation school on Monday.
One initiate, 20-year-old Thando Nyameko of Lugxogxo village of Tabase near Mthatha, died while two others were badly hurt.
Ngam blamed the assault on the lack of family and community monitoring.
He also lashed out at young men who have turned initiation schools into crime havens.
“Only traditional nurses are supposed to be there and elderly local men who come to do monitoring.”
The following deaths have been recorded: three in Ngcobo, one in Cofimvaba (Ncorha), one in Lusikisiki, one in Mbizana, two in Matatiele, one in Gxulu village in Ngqeleni, one in Tabase in Mthatha, one in Butterworth, two in Mdantsane and one in Burgersdorp.
Most of the initiates died of dehydration while septicaemia, assault, asthma and lung infection, drowning, paraffin poisoning and other factors also contributed to the death toll.
Health department provincial spokesman Sizwe Kupelo raised concern at the high number of initiates admitted to hospitals, especially in Ngcobo.
Of the 50 admitted, 31 are at All Saints Hospital in Ngcobo. The rest are split between Mthatha General, St Elizabeth in Lusikisiki and Settlers in Grahamstown.
“Three were admitted after assaults and one died in Mbizana as a result. Three others had partial penile amputations,” said Kupelo.
Ngcobo was one of the areas that had hardly any deaths before. The three deaths have angered Contralesa provincial chairman and Ngcobo traditional leader Chief Daluxolo Jezile and mayor Lamla Jiyose.
“I don’t know where it went wrong, we hardly have any deaths. Those responsible must be brought to book,” said Jezile.
He confirmed that the unidentified body of an initiate was found on Xuka River near Qotha village, Ngcobo.
“We suspected that he had drowned and was washed away by the heavy streams following heavy rains.
“Nobody has come forward to identify and claim the body,” he said.
Jezile and Jiyose on Monday summoned all traditional initiation surgeons, nurses, traditional leaders, municipal councillors and initiation forum members to discuss and find immediate solutions on what Jezile has termed a “crisis in Ngcobo”.
Tomorrow, monitoring teams would be meeting to reconcile what they have discovered since the season started on November 23 and remains open.
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