IT HAS been three weeks since the return of initiates from the mountain.
Limpopo hosted more than 450 circumcision schools and no casualties were reported at any of them.
However, the situation was very different in other provinces, especially in the Eastern Cape, where many boys lost their lives.
This has angered those who have been working for years. They have blamed the ever increasing death toll on illegal schools and unqualified surgeons.
Well-known Limpopo surgeon Mashudu Tshikororo, who has hosted countless successful initiation schools, spoke out against bogus surgeons.
He said they were harming the image of initiation by not running the schools properly.
The 60-year-old from Makwarela extension in Vhembe, who learned the trade from his father, said long jail sentences could put off bogus surgeons.
“Children are dying unnecessarily as a result of greedy individuals who know nothing about the tradition.
“Many parents are now afraid to entrust us with their children because of the many deaths in some areas.
“Something needs to be done before our forefathers’ tradition is phased out for good.”
Tshikororo, who is a retired Correctional Services official, said he believed people who ran fake schools should be punished heavily.
“Give them harsh sentences. Our culture must not be derailed and captured by greedy individuals.”
Limpopo House of Traditional Leaders chairman, Kgoshi Malesela Dikgale, said there were rules in place that schools had to follow.
“This is bearing fruit as all the schools are running smoothly,” he said.
Get help with this initiation app from Daily Sun and Code for Africa: click here for English, and here for Xhosa.
