Q&A with chair of the Eastern Cape House of Traditional Leaders Mpumalanga Gwadiso on deaths at initiation schools

Nine initiates have died in the Eastern Cape since the start of the summer initiation season last month. Chris Barron asked Mpumalanga Gwadiso, chair of the Eastern Cape House of Traditional Leaders ...

Will these initiation rituals ever be safe?

Anything that has got a human factor you can never 100% say it’s going to be safe.

Don’t parents who put their boys in your care as the custodians of this ritual have a right to trust that they won’t die?

The boys can never be in our care; they’re in the care of the parent. We are just assisting in terms of them being able to do their rituals. The parent is responsible for the safety of the child. The parent should choose credible traditional nurses and credible traditional surgeons.

So, as custodians of this ritual, what is your role in terms of its practice?

As traditional leaders, together with government, we are seized by training those so that they are equipped in terms of health standards.

So why are so many supposedly fit and healthy initiates dying year in and year out?

You can’t say they are fit and healthy ...

Aren’t they supposed to be screened before being allowed to undergo initiation?

Let me finish. You can’t say they are fit and healthy unless you do a health examination, which is what they avoid.

Isn’t health screening compulsory?

Hence you find illegal schools. But also, they don’t adhere to what it is said they must do, like drinking water and all that. You find that when they get to the initiation schools they have stopped drinking water and they are dry already. Hence they die of dehydration.

What about the trained nurses you talk about?

The drinking of water is among those aspects they are trained on. Hence we have monitoring teams to check if this is adhered to. Of course, the Eastern Cape is vast, you cannot be everywhere at the same time. You find schools that are hidden in the forests ...

Why are parents still sending their boys to illegal schools?

Because it’s an old tradition that you must be circumcised. The ritual has got a meaning for the parents.

Why not to properly monitored legal schools?

We are asking ourselves that, because we tell them every day.

Why are there still so many illegal schools?

That is why we have legislation that is governing that. It’s a vehicle to try and mitigate so that there’s an end to these illegal schools.

So why aren’t we seeing it?

I don’t know how you would see it.

By counting the number of dead and maimed boys?

I’m not sure if there will ever be an initiate who does not die if he doesn’t drink water.

Is there anything that you, as the custodians of this traditional ritual, should be doing better to minimise the risks?

We need more resources in terms of monitoring and advocacy. The problem is the scarcity of money to conduct this monitoring and advocacy. There are few teams in a big area that is not easily manageable.

Are you saying that unless you get more money, the answer to my first question is “no”?

The answer to that question is “no”. We can try, but we are going to be struggling.