The death toll from the tragic ibhoma fire near Qumbu on Sunday morning has risen to three.
Eastern Cape Traditional Affairs MEC Fikile Xasa said a third victim died early yesterday morning from the burn wounds he sustained when an ibhoma caught fire at an initiation school.
Xasa said there was more tragedy as the initiation season entered its second week, when an initiate in East London and another in the Ngqeleni area died over the weekend in separate incidents.
Meanwhile, health officials, police and traditional leaders made a shocking discovery during a raid in Scenery Park, East London, on Sunday afternoon.
They raided three sites and found five underage initiates at the first, and 13 at the second.
According to the law, boys can only go to initiation schools when they are 18 or older. They also have to bring papers from a clinic or a doctor proving they’re healthy. At the schools raided in Scenery Park, only one initiate was legally circumcised!
Traditional affairs department spokesman Mamnkeli Ngam said: “Parents told us their kids went there illegally. They must go and open a case against the iingcibi who circumcised their kids without their permission. If parents fail to open a case against these iingcibi, the government will deal with the parents. We also ask parents to assist us by interrogating these boys, because they won’t give us the real names of the iingcibi. They give us clan names or nicknames.”
Ngam said a number of abakhwetha were not referred to hospital when they should have been.
“We ask parents to work with the government because the battle cannot be won without their help.”
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