Hundreds of initiates in Mpumalanga have returned home from initiation school.
Over 600 initiates have safely returned home after spending two months in the mountain in KwaMhlanga, Mpumalanga.
The BaPedi Bakwa Mashilo Royal House welcomed the first initiates since 2020.
Initiation schools were suspended during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
No fatalities were reported in at this initiation school.
This is due to the cooperation between the Ingoma holder and the provincial health department which made sure that all participants were in good health before they were admitted to the initiation school as per the Mpumalanga Ingoma Bill.
There was jubilation as the initiates returned home safely after spending two months in the mountain.
They left home as boys and returned as men. One of the initiates, a 15-year-old, says he’s excited to be counted among the men.
“The feeling of knowing what is happening before becoming a man from a boy to be a new man. It’s a nice feeling for me and my family, I learnt a lot of stuff in my own tradition.”
The house of the BaPedi Bakwa Mashilo gives credit to all those involved in this process. Kgosi Speedy Mashilo says that the cultural practice assists in curbing social ills by educating the young boys.
“All the men that go through this process must know that they must respect women as their mothers who have carried us over nine months. This is what is important. We are quite happy some of our boys went there smoking some of them were taking nyaope, now they are off. We have indicated that some of them must go back to school as schools are opening and others must go look for employment.”
Although the cultural practice is performed by traditional doctors, medical doctors are roped in to assist as per the Mpumalanga Ingoma Bill of 2007. The Chairperson of Doctors in Mpumalanga Dr Vusi Masombuka says they screen initiates before undertaking the process.
“When initiates come to the initiation school, we want him to come with his medication that he is taking at home. If he is taking treatment for TB, treatment for HIV let him bring it along. We don’t want the kids to default at the initiation school because a kid at home is still a kid at the initiation school, that’s what we want.”
At least 10 initiates have died in different areas of Mpumalanga since the start of the current initiation season.
