Parliament, Friday, 8 July 2022 – The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) today concluded its oversight visits to initiation schools in the Eastern Cape Province.
The committee began its oversight visit on Monday, 4 July 2022 in the Alfred Nzo District Municipality and the OR Tambo District Municipality and concluded it in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality.
As the custodian of the Customary Initiation Act, the committee felt it necessary to conduct oversight visits to initiation schools during this winter initiation season to ascertain how the legislation is implemented and complied with in the Eastern Cape. The committee convened meetings with the National Initiation Oversight Committee (NIOC), the Provincial Initiation Coordinating Committee (PICC), District Initiation Forums and the Local Initiation Coordinating Committees to get an accurate picture of compliance with and implementation of the Act.
The committee has observed that the number of initiation-related fatalities has decreased from 40 initiates who died in December 2021 to nine confirmed deaths this winter season so far. During the oversight visits to the various initiation schools, the committee noted a general lack of compliance with the Act, which has led to illegal initiation schools being higher in number than legal initiation schools.
The committee discovered there was non-compliance with the Act for several reasons, including a lack of awareness, a lack of harmonisation of the Act and the existing provincial initiation legislation of 2016, and the admission of underage boys to initiation schools. There also seems to be a general lack of parental involvement in the custom, which encourages further non-compliance with the Act. The NIOC has committed to establishing a dedicated team to monitor parents and their actions, particularly during the first two weeks of the initiation season.
Another factor that contributes to the non-compliance with the Act is that the PICC is constituted of MECs who are unavailable for meetings due to competing priorities. The NIOC has resolved to revise the composition of the PICC to ensure it consists of relevant personnel who will be available to execute its mandate.
The committee has also heard the traditional leaders who report that they are unable to fulfill their oversight responsibility on this custom due to a lack of resources. This includes a lack of transportation to visit these areas, professional nurses to attend to sick initiates and adequate funding for traditional leaders to execute their duties.
A proposal was made that seasonal special courts should be established to deal exclusively with initiation cases to ensure that initiation-related cases are prioritised. There was also a call for the Traditional Courts Bill to be finalised so that it can assist with the establishment of these seasonal special initiation courts. The committee will refer this matter to the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development, which is the custodian of the Traditional Courts Bill.
The committee is still waiting for the detailed report from the province, which will include the number of illegal initiation schools versus legal initiation schools, the number of initiation-related deaths and causes, and the number of cases opened, arrests and prosecutions.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON COOPERATIVE GOVERNANCE AND TRADITIONAL AFFAIRS, MR FIKILE XASA.
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