The Culture, Arts and Traditional Affairs (CATA) Department in the North West says it prides itself with having returned home all the two thousand initiates who took part in this year’s summer initiation period.
The department says only two deaths were recorded during both winter and summer initiation seasons.
Traditional songs by initiates, showcasing the age-old cultural practice, filled the atmosphere at Witpan, outside Lichtenburg, when ninety seven young men graduated from an initiation school. They are part of the 6 000 initiates, who went to traditional school, this year.
Over 4 000 initiates graduated in winter season and only two deaths were reported, while this summer 2 000 initiates graduated and no fatalities were reported. Culture and Traditional Affairs spokesperson, Daddy Seboletswe, attributed their success to visibility and the presence of all the social partners during the initiation programme.
“We are very satisfied with the initiation schools that are run properly at this stage because the Department of CATA and the Department of Health, SAPS, they are 100 per cent behind the initiation which is our culture of course , which we want to preserve without putting anybody in danger,” says spokesperson Daddy Seboletswe.
Fifty-six-year old Joseph Siele is the principal of an initiation school. He began working in the cultural school four years ago and no deaths were reported under his watch. He says his passion in the school is to teach young men about their culture. Seile says working together with the community makes his school to succeed.
“I make sure that I take care of my students by ensuring that they come back healthy and I work together with the parent of the initiates to agree that they go to the cultural school, besides the working relationship with their parents is very satisfying.”
In Ganyesa, over 400 initiates graduated on Thursday, including females and a local traditional leader. Chairperson of the Traditional School Committee in the North West’s House of Traditional Leaders Kgosi Gustav Shole says most of the initiation schools are governed by legislation.
“Ever since we had a committee that makes sure that all the schools abide by the law, the schools are complying with the law that is why as you can see that we’ve got incident free schools and we managed to close the schools that are not complying.”
The province expects numbers of initiates to grow next year.
