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A decade after losing their teenage grandson following a botched traditional circumcision, the Dlanaye family have turned their grief into a campaign for safer initiation, warning that illegal initiation schools continue to claim young lives across the Eastern Cape.
Their appeal comes as the province has already recorded four initiation deaths since the start of the current winter season.
For Archbishop Sipho Dlanaye and his family, the statistics are painfully personal.
In December 2015, 16-year-old Minentle Dlanaye left home in Ntsonyini village near Libode to undergo ulwaluko. The family had agreed he would only attend initiation school when he turned 18, but peer pressure led him to go two years early without their knowledge.
He attended an illegal initiation school where he had not undergone the mandatory medical screening, had no parental consent and was attended to by unregistered traditional practitioners.
Instead of returning home as a celebrated initiate, Minentle came back with life-changing injuries. He suffered a botched circumcision, severe burns and infections before eventually losing his penis after months of hospital treatment.
The family kept his condition private in an attempt to shield him from stigma.
But after nearly 10 months of physical and emotional suffering, Minentle took his own life in March 2016 at his grandparents’ home in Mchoncho village near Libode.
“We were supposed to celebrate him becoming a man,” said Dlanaye, a retired police colonel and founder of the Zion Methodist Church.
“Instead, we buried him. I am begging parents and our boys: do not gamble with a child’s life. Go only to registered, legal initiation schools with accredited traditional surgeons and nurses. A man is not made if he does not survive.”
He said boys should never suffer in silence.
“Our boy told us he was fine, then two days later he was gone. Parents must visit initiation schools, ask questions and know who is looking after their children. Your child’s life is worth more than secrecy.”
His wife, Lithemba Dlanaye, a nurse at St Barnabas Hospital near Port St Johns, said she had treated numerous initiates with severe complications during her career.
“We do not send our children to initiation school to die,” she said.
“Ulwaluko is a beautiful custom that has existed for centuries, but it has been damaged by deaths, injuries and illegal circumcisions. We have admitted boys as young as 11 with complications, and some have died after losing their manhood. No mother should experience what we went through.”
Provincial health records show the crisis has persisted for years.
Last summer alone, 48 initiates died nationally, including 28 in the Eastern Cape. The province also recorded 12 deaths during the 2025 winter season, seven of them in OR Tambo district.
Nyandeni Municipality remains one of the province’s hotspots for illegal initiation schools.
The family’s campaign has also been strengthened by another recent tragedy.
In May, 18-year-old Mdantsane matric pupil Zusakhe Mrara died by suicide after allegedly enduring months of ridicule following complications during his traditional initiation. He had been hospitalised after the 2025 summer initiation season.
Minentle’s uncle, Mzuyanda Dlanaye, said the psychological impact of botched initiations was often overlooked.
“I still have flashes of finding Minentle. I am warning boys becoming men this winter: be careful who you trust with your body. Parents must not choose an initiation school simply because it is cheaper or closer.”
Despite repeated deaths, successful prosecutions remain rare.
Determined to prevent more deaths, the Dlanaye family have begun visiting communities, churches and schools to educate parents and boys about the dangers of illegal initiation schools and the importance of complying with the law.
Eastern Cape Provincial Initiation Co-ordinating Committee chair Nkosi Gwazinamba Matanzima and OR Tambo traditional initiation forum district chair Nkosi Zwelithobile Lutuka applauded the initiative by the Dlanaye family.
“We need families like the Dlanayes to break the silence,” Lutuka said.
“Only by working together — health professionals, traditional leaders and communities — can we preserve the dignity of ulwaluko while protecting our sons.”
Matanzima said the campaign reinforced the message that the custom itself was not the problem.
“The rite does not kill; negligence does. There is no honour in a tradition that ends in a funeral. Parents and communities must join the fight against illegal initiation schools and criminal operators.”
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