On 22nd December 2007, twenty-five year old Buntu Majalaza went to the “bush” to be initiated into adulthood.
Two weeks later the UCT graduate was dead from septicaemia – the result of a botched circumcision. Buntu is one of the more recent casualties of an ancient ritual which, when practised without adequate hygiene, can have fatal consequences.
In the last ten years over 300 young men have reportedly died from complications after circumcision. If this number of deaths had occurred among women, there would be an international outcry. But a deafening silence prevails over the mutilation and deaths of young men whose rite of passage into adulthood can become an agonising journey from which they do not return. And official statistics of mutilations and deaths expose only a fragment of the truth because initiation remains a rite shrouded in secrecy.
Now traditional leaders and government, particularly in the Eastern Cape, have taken steps to improve conditions for initiates. These include the mandatory registration of initiation schools, traditional surgeons and nurses, as well as legislation prohibiting circumcision on males under the age of 18. Yet despite the decrease in mortality figures, deaths and injuries from illegal circumcision are still rife. For example, two weeks ago four deaths of initiates were reported in the Eastern Cape and six young initiates were rescued from an illegal circumcision in the Libode District, not far from Mthatha. And in the Western Cape , where there are no laws regulating this practise, initiation schools can be established – literally – as money-making, backyard operations where young men are butchered with impunity.
This controversial documentary was produced by award winning journalist Hazel Friedman and will be screened on Tuesday 22 April, on SABC3 at 21H30.
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