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Spotlight on initiations
07/08/2008 09:26 - (SA)
Cape Town - Initiation practices have been in the news again this year, with a number of deaths reported due to illegal initiation schools performing circumcisions.
In July, the DA called on the government to do more to stop illegal initiations schools from operating, after 100 initiates were removed from a school near Pretoria due to questionable practices there.
To find out more about initiations and to help shed some light as to why so many boys die each year, News24 spoke to Abram Sithole, CEO of the National House of Traditional Leaders.
News24: We often hear of "initiation season" - what time of year is initiation ceremonies traditionally performed?
Initiations are done in winter. However, there are places like the Free State where winter is extremely cold; they are done in summer during festive seasons.
News24: Are there different kinds of initiations depending on a person's culture
or language?
Initiation is a right of passage. It is done in accordance with the requirements of the said culture. It cannot be a "one size fits all" practice.
News24: What are the most common initiation rituals in South Africa?
All boys (teenagers) undergo initiation process in those communities that still practice the culture. There are those communities who practice initiation to girls. The age group is the same.
News24: What are the basic practices of initiation rituals?
The basic practices of initiation are to teach the initiates behaviors, conduct, responsibility, accountability, respect, protect the family (boys) and with girls (teach the family and unite it) and culture of that traditional community. They are expected to behave in a responsible manner when they come from the School.
News24: What is the spiritual significance of an initiation ritual?
There is no spiritual linkage that must be fulfilled in the Initiation except that culture shall have been taught. The most important thing in the initiation is the feeling of belonging, sharing and being part of the bigger community family. You are able to identify yourself with a certain regiment that you were initiated with. All the initiates are given a certain name that identifies them from the others who were initiated before them.
News24: How old do you need to be to be an initiate?
A person should be a teenager, from the age of 16 up to any other age if you did not attend initiation at teenager age group. You can be 60 years old and still can attend initiation, because some are forced by ancestors to attend initiation school if they did not attend during their teenager years.
News24: Who can perform initiation ceremonies? Is there a qualification? Is it a
calling?
Traditional Leaders are the custodians of initiation ceremonies; they give permission to people to hold initiation ceremonies. The ceremonies are held as per the specifications issued by the Traditional Leader concerned.
A qualification is to have been initiated and have actively participated in the management of the schools for at least a number of them, then a permission might be given to you as long as there are communities who will support the request. Holding an initiation school is a must for a person who believes in their culture, it is something that you grow up with that you will attend the initiation school and thereafter you will take your siblings and your children through that process.
News24: Do you think initiation ceremonies and rituals are still relevant to
South African cultures in the 21st Century?
Yes, very relevant. South Africa is facing serious moral decay because most people have forgotten about their cultures and traditional practices. The initiation promotes seniority within the family and the community. In terms of the practice, your seniors cannot just be treated in a derogatory or unjust manner.
A person who has not undergone initiation school often behaves in a way that does not necessarily show respect to the seniors; he will speak and respond as he wishes. But a person who is from the school will immediately consider his behavior when his seniors arrives or when he is with his seniors.
News24: Is virginity testing a form of female initiation or is this a different practice?
No. Virginity testing is not a right of passage; it is a culture that determines the conduct of a female person. In our culture, you do not indulge in sexual activities prior to marriage or before being authorized by your elders.
Virginity inspection is a form of confirming that the lady has not as yet indulge in sexual activities without being authorised. It must be remembered that in the olden days when a person pursued his love of a girl or a lady, he would first go and ask for a permission to propose love to that particular girl or a lady and she would also inform the elder (head girl) that she loves the boy before she could accept the proposal.
All these steps were properly monitored and every girl or a boy who did not do this was punished accordingly. Virginity inspection is a culture to confirm that proper conduct and behavior of a girl on sexual related matters. A girl is inspected on annual basis or as and when the elders so deem it fit.
With initiation, a person has only one right of passage not on annual basis.
News24: What is the significance of circumcision in initiation?
It is important that we understand initiation as a right of passage and not circumcision. One can attend initiation without being circumcised. The circumcision has a health matter of prevention of diseases.
In the olden days, our Traditional Healers who are mostly in charge of the initiation schools informed our leaders that some of the diseases were carried by the foreskin and that it has to be removed in order to prevent such. The circumcision then became part of the initiation. But initiation was and is still a stand alone ritual which does not depend on a person having being circumcised but the knowledge that you get when attending such.
News24: Can you explain a bit more about why we hear of so many deaths from
initiation procedures. Is it only from so-called "botched circumcisions"?
Death can happened to anybody at any time even when not attending initiation school. Some of the deaths are as a result of "botched circumcisions" and ill-management of the school. There are rules and procedures that traditional leaders lay down for everybody to follow. There are people who are charged by the Traditional Leader to oversee the schools and report regularly.
The biggest cause of initiation deaths are those that are illegal; most of the people who run initiation schools without permission do not follow the rules but look at the school as a source of income and as a mechanism to make money.
They will not follow any rules because they are not registered with the Traditional Leader and have not being accredited to hold such. Many deaths happen with those who have no authority to run initiation schools - there are no guidelines and we have no recourse for them not following them.
News24: What is the Government doing to help curb dangerous initiation practices?
The government has laid down policies and legislation to curb such. It further ensures that professional doctors visit all the initiates. This happens only to the legal initiation schools because they are known. The law enforcements agencies will do their work when a person dies during the initiation school irrespective of whether the school is legal or not - proper postmortem must be conducted to ascertain the course of death and thereafter proper law processes takes place.
In general, it is important to remember that traditional leaders are the custodians of culture and tradition and it is based on this factor that anything that is cultural must be sanctioned by a traditional leader before it can be done.
Nobody has a right to conduct initiation if he/she has not been authorised by the Traditional Leader. The good example is that of Mpumalanga Province within the Ndebele Nation. The Kings take full responsibility of the Ingoma (initiation); nobody can hold initiation in an area of jurisdiction of any of the Ndebele community without getting a written permission with conditions attached to the holding of the Initiation school.
The initiation school must have a name of a regiment and it is only the King who can give such within the Ndebele community hence very few if any death occurs in this community during the initiation period.
Mr Sithole, thank you for chatting to News24
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