EC govt calls for winter-only initiation schools
Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane says initiation schools should only open during the winter season.
This follows the deaths of 21 boys over the traditional summer initiation season.
The premier led a delegation of government health officials and traditional leaders on a visit to initiation schools in an attempt to deal with the soaring death rates in the province.
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Spokesperson Mvusiwekhaya Sicwetsha says communities need to accept that winter schools will assist in lowering initiation school deaths.
“The decision that government has taken together with traditional leaders is to stop initiation in summer in the coastal areas.
“The climate conditions make it almost impossible for some of these boys to undergo initiation in summer.
“The premier is of the view that the ongoing carnage in these initiation schools can be stopped by four people: the families of these young boys, the communities where these young boys come from, the traditional leadership responsible for the villages and the fourth one would be the boys themselves,” says Mabuyane.
The government, together with traditional leaders, will legislate the conducting of initiation schools in winter only, should communities not cooperate.
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