Female circumcision law shock

2004-05-24 16:39

Johannesburg - Most South African provinces do not have legislation that explicitly outlaws female circumcision, the Congress of Traditional Leaders of SA (Contralesa) said on Monday.

Contralesa national organiser Inkosi Mwelo Nonkonyana said most provinces needed to revisit some of their legislation to ensure that it was in line with the Children's Bill, which deemed female circumcision unconstitutional.

"This state of affairs is unacceptable as the national legislation outlines clearly that all children, boys and girls, should not be subjected to harmful social and cultural practices."

"The bill prohibits the circumcision of female children, while every male child is granted the right to refuse to be initiated or be circumcised under unhygienic conditions."

Nonkonyana was addressing delegates at a traditional initiation conference in Johannesburg. The two-day event, which started on Monday, was organised by the National House of Traditional Leaders of SA.

He said it appeared as if there was little motivation for provinces to collect specific information, in a systematic way, on circumcision.

"An important factor in this regard is the fact that circumcision is not coded in the International Code of Disease. Instead, what is recorded at public hospitals relates to the infection and septicaemia resulting from botched circumcisions."

Nonkonyana said it was unclear why the Northern Cape and the Western Cape had not promulgated any legislation on circumcision.

The two provinces do not collect information on the traditional custom.

There were no statistics on the number of cases of patients admitted to state hospitals after botched circumcisions in the Western Cape.

"It appears as if other health related issues such as tuberculosis and trauma are of greater priority to the province, (in) compar(ison) to traditional initiation," he said.

- SAPA