The Community Development Foundation of South Africa (CODEFSA) has called on the South African government to enact legislation setting a minimum sentence of at least 20 years for those found guilty of crimes committed in the name of traditional initiation.
Every year, dozens of boys die from botched circumcisions and beatings, mostly at unregistered initiation schools in South Africa.
CODEFSA, a non-profit organisation working to curb the deaths of initiates in the Eastern Cape, welcomed the conviction and sentencing of six men this week in connection with the death of Lungile Nqwaba, a young man who died at an initiation school in Mount Ayliff in 2014.
CODEFSA said in a statement, however, that it believes a minimum sentence of 20 years would have been a suitable sentence for these criminals who killed an initiate.
Five of the men, including the principal and owner of the initiation school at which Nqwaba died, were sentenced to five years imprisonment on Monday. A sixth man will spend six years behind bars.
CODEFSA said it was seeking legal advice on whether it could appeal and have the sentence overturned.
