The Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) has launched a 2016 winter initiation campaign – Zero deaths: Together ensuring the safe passage of our boys to manhood.
The Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) has launched a 2016 winter initiation campaign – Zero deaths: Together ensuring the safe passage of our boys to manhood.
And the South African Police Service (SAPS) in the Eastern Cape Province has put in place an operational plan to boost the capacity of the Initiation Monitoring Teams throughout the province.
Addressing the Initiation Planning Meeting at the Zwelitsha SAPS Headquarters this week, Provincial Commissioner Lt General Celiwe Binta said the plan will be implemented through the SAPS Clusters “to ensure visibility and effective monitoring support on the ground".
The planning meeting was attended by Cluster Commanders, officials from crime detection and intelligence services as well as officials from Cogta.
“We have received reports that there are scoundrels out there who are a hindrance to the safe passage of our boys to manhood. Our plan will include crime detection and arrest that should lead to successful prosecutions. Our support seeks to guarantee zero deaths from this season going forward. We do not want to disappoint our political and traditional leaders, provincially and nationally,” said Commissioner Binta.
She added that SAPS members will be integrated in the monitoring teams as station levels and be part of safety road shows: "In that process we will observe and respect the rituals and traditions of the different areas."
The meeting heard that dehydration was one of the main causes of initiate deaths, hence the need to encourage traditional nurses and other key role players in the initiation schools to make water available to the initiates according to the prescribed quantities.
SAPS will activate its Joint Operations Centre in Zwelitsha as part of monitoring the initiation season, mitigating risks and deploying resources appropriately to save lives.
Cogta, in partnership with the House of Traditional Leaders, Department of Health and SAPS will launch the winter initiation season this week. The event will include the parading of vehicles to be used for monitoring initiation schools as well as screening of boys by the department of Health in preparation for the season.
The launch has been preceded by province wide-awareness sessions and stakeholder meetings to mobilise support for effective monitoring to register zero deaths this time around. The province was criss-crossed by officials to establish traditional initiation forums in all areas identified as hotspots in the practice of the ritual.
Cogta MEC Fikile Xasa said from this winter season onwards, no initiate must die in the initiation schools. He said the initiation ritual is an age-old tradition that does not kill and should be preserved as such by all stakeholders.
“The rite of passage to manhood is a matter for parents, families and various communities of the province. We intervene because our children are dying and we need more hands to stop these deaths. Masiphathisane,” said MEC Xasa.
