Hands Off Our Initiates: No More Death

A very sensitive subject, this one, if you are a Black South African whose cultures dictate that we must be initiated.

As a Xhosa man who has spent over a decade kwaNdebele and exposed to many other cultures, I have also been exposed to the processes followed by many, with regards to the question of initiation of young boys to men.

It is not acceptable, first and foremost, to expose the activities of these Initiation Camps to those who have not been there and who have not completed the processes, but now that notion is relegated to being a cover-up and nonsensical. By the same token, it is not acceptable to keep activities taking place there a secret if our brothers suffer unjustified deaths.

For many years I have heard my peers from Mpumalanga claiming how safe their processes were and how it is always "you, the Xhosas" who always kill the young men there and expose the secrets of manhood to undeserving eyes. I have heard on many an occasion of how careless the Xhosa men are with young men who seek initiation but I have always refused to take this notion, for I believe that the characters of a few should not be associated with the many.

I am disappointed and angered at hearing of the 23 initiates whose lives were (reportedly) lost during their quest to manhood, yet I will always support our way, the Black Man's way, of earning the title of man. I am not supporting government's tactics- bringing women in these camps, bringing White doctors and other people whose knowledge of our traditions and cultures is prejudiced by the media and anti-African elements to the initiation camps- of interventions. I think it is disrespectful and and perpetuates stereotypes.

The government should empower the Royal Houses to continue with the work they had begun from the ancient of times, way before the Westerner brought forth his ways. I am not saying this will bring an end to the deaths of my brothers, and I am certainly not saying the White systems should have any space there. The incidents that are being reported are dread indeed but there is a way to rid our systems of these elements, as it was in the beginning.

Lisiko lethu eli yaye asinakulityeshela ngenxa yezihelegu ezibangelwa kukungakhathali kwabantu abathile.