Cultural Affairs and Sport MEC Anroux Marais has hailed the officials involved in closing four customary initiation schools in Nyanga, Gugulethu, Philippi and Khayelitsha.
The four schools allegedly did not follow the Customary Initiation Act, which stipulates that all customary initiation schools must register with the relevant provincial department and sets out how these registrations must take place.
Marais confirmed that officials from her office, accompanied by members of the provincial initiation co-ordination committee, lodged criminal complaints against the initiation schools.
“As the act requires, officials from the Western Cape Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport visited each of the sites and served them with notices that they had two calendar days to close. Unfortunately, despite receiving these notices, the four schools did not do so. The inaction by the four schools triggered the criminal charges in terms of the Customary Initiation Act. The Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport, in collaboration with its partners in the Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness and several municipalities, held two separate training and information sessions in October and early November 2023 for cultural practitioners involved with customary initiation schools. These sessions were not attended by the four schools concerned,” the department said.
Marais said their role was to ensure that young men return from this important rite of passage alive and healthy, while all the important and relevant cultural values were upheld and honoured.
“We applaud the officials involved in closing these schools for their diligence. The Western Cape is a province of respect for the law. We care about our boys and young men. We will continue to enforce the law very firmly in the interests of our initiates. In our quest to have no deaths of Western Cape young men this initiation season, no illegal customary initiation schools will be allowed to operate,” she said.
Cape Times