Women should have a voice in ulwaluko (circumcision) as it could be a matter of life or death to their male children, says Rhodes University visiting professor and Judge of Appeal Nambitha Dambuza.
Busting the taboo that made it disrespectful for women and uncircumcised men to discuss the rite of passage from boy to manhood, Dambuza said during a public lecture in the law faculty at Rhodes that the custom was not – and never had been static.
“It must change. It has already done so and must again.”
Every year dozens of initiates die or suffer genital mutilation, assault, malnourishment and dehydration during the biannual initiation rite at initiation schools across the province.
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