TRADITIONAL leaders have had enough of initiates dying in the mountains.
Angry Eastern Cape Contralesa chairman Mwelo Nonkonyana said they would blacklist traditional surgeons at schools where boys have died.
Nonkonyana and Corporate Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Fikile Xasa visited a successful ibhoma (a place where initiates stay) in Silverton kasi in Mthatha yesterday.
He said it was about time traditional leaders were given back the power to curb initiates’ deaths.
He said the circumcision custom should produce men, not bodies.
“What we see now is the wrath of our ancestors,” he said.
“The OR Tambo region has the highest number of deaths, and there are loopholes we need to address because people in our communities think they can do as please.
“We want to have a register in all communities so that no parent should take his child to a school that has had a death.”
Mthatha police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Mzukisi Fatyela and Xasa said 59 cases of unlawful circumcisions were opened this summer season.
A total of 19 iingcibi and amakhankatha were arrested.
Xasa said they were pleased that the justice cluster was implementing the law.
The King Sabata Dalindyebo Municipality topped all municipalities in the province, with six of the 19 deaths.
At least 31 initiates died last summer.
