The Eastern Cape House of Traditional Leaders says the lack of government funding and support for culture and tradition is part of the reason for the deaths of initiates each season.
Provincial Chairperson, Nkosi Mwelo Nonkonyana was commenting today on the 17 initiates who have died in the Eastern Cape so far this winter season.
He said since the establishment of the House of Traditional Leaders in 1996, they have operated without government funding, despite traditional leadership legislation mandating that parliament set aside funds for traditional authorities.
Nkosi Nonkonyana said last year, out of frustration, they took legal action against the government and the case is still pending.
He also said they had noted an uptick in parents resorting to “Western” circumcision methods, saying the fears of parents about the traditional custom were partly the result of what he said was the “government’s negligence” and lack of acknowledgment of the custom, tradition and the rites of passage of young men.”
“There has been a promotion of medical circumcision [by the government], the Department of Health one year received funding of R20 million – while we have never received a single million.”
Nonkonyana said medical circumcision was a taboo, expressing concern for the African custom.
“Medically circumcised ‘boys’ are not regarded as men [in African culture], they eat with boys and they know they will never be recognised as men.”
The Eastern Cape Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs has refuted the claims of lack of government involvement in the cultural and traditional affairs of young men.
MEC Zolile Williams’s spokesperson, Pheelo Oliphant said on Thursday that the MEC had been visiting families who lost their sons in Mbizana this season.
He also emphasized that currently, COGTA had deployed a multi-disciplinary team to all provinces to monitor the processes of initiation “from the budget of the government.”
