LETTER | Initiation decision not in the boys’ interests

It is irritating to hear on the radio that we will be allowed to take our boys to circumcision school during the  December summer season, yet the same media platform  informed us that no boys will be circumcised in 2020 due  to the coronavirus pandemic.

The latest decision has been was taken by the house of traditional leaders  without consultation  with their subjects in places such as Mdantsane. Bearing in mind that there are a lot of preparations that need to be done before boys go the mountains, I doubt if we still have enough time left to do so before the season begins.

Who is going to carry the costs of testing our boys before they go to the mountains? How will they be expected to use  sanitisers at ebhomeni (initiate huts) while it is common knowledge that  there will  always  be fire to keep the boys warm? 

How are the initiates expected to put on masks while they are undergoing the ritual?  I think this decision needs to be reviewed — or invite parents from the communities that are directly involved.

Initiates have been dying for years before this coronavirus and surely under the current conditions more of them are likely to die.

I always question why people from townships are taken for granted when it comes to our African rituals.

I am wondering if those who have taken the latest risky decision have the boys’ interests at heart.

Covid-19 figures are on the rise again and the risk of a  second wave is real, so where is the logic in sending boys to the mountains?

May those in authority reconsider this decision and stop it. Boys can still go to the mountains next year when conditions are better.

— Mzwandile Mqotyana, via e-mail