In a bizarre turn of events, a 19-year-old who illegally circumcised 21 boys was captured and circumcised himself as it turned out he had not undergone the rite yet.
The Nqanda A villager is one of the bogus traditional surgeons who illegally circumcised about 40 boys this month in Libode and Ngqeleni.
Some of the fake traditional surgeons are teenagers who were illegally circumcised themselves as recently as June and December.
The fake traditional surgeons illegally circumcise boys without their parents or guardians’ permission in order to feed their drug addiction, traditional leaders say.
Traditional leaders got permission from the 19-year-old’s father to circumcise him.
He is currently at a legitimate initiation school.
Nqanda A village headwoman Nkosazana Ntombomzi Malahle said this was not the first time that the teen had illegally circumcised teenagers.
“This time, the men decided to check [if he was circumcised] after they established some discrepancies in the circumcision procedure with many boys, who are now half-circumcised.
“They established that he was uncircumcised.
“They wasted no time and circumcised him there and then.
“It is a disgrace that some of the young men were circumcised by an uncircumcised boy.
“We hope that he will now come from the initiation school a changed person,” Malahle said.
It could not be established whether the youngster would face any charges after graduating from the school.
Nyandeni traditional initiation chair Nkosi Landela Gwadiso, Nkosi Jongusapho Bokleni and co-operative governance & traditional affairs MEC Fikile Xasa expressed shock about reports of illegal initiates when it was not even initiation season.
The March and September school holidays are not used for the rite as they are too short for the wounds to heal properly.
Gwadiso said the victims were aged between 13 and 16 and the incidents were reported at KwaMbiza, Nqanda and Masameni villages.
Malahle, who is also the Contralesa Women’s League provincial chair, said in her village alone there were 26 young boys, one of them with mental problems, who had been illegally circumcised.
“The disappointment is that in all those 26 illegal circumcisions, not a single parent has opened a case,” said an angry Malahle.
Through his spokesperson, Mamkeli Ngam, Xasa said some of the initiates were admitted at hospitals with “septic circumcisions, multiple wounds, swollen knees, dehydration, loss of energy and gangrenous thumb fingers”.
Malahle said in March this year there were another four underage boys who were illegally circumcised..