The winter initiation season has begun with many young men looking forward to this rite of passage. But in South Africa the practice has been marred by reports of illegal initiation schools, deaths due to botched circumcisions, abductions and unqualified traditional surgeons. In an effort to curb these challenges, the department for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs has called on parents to be involved from beginning to end and to use legal registered initiation schools. This week in the Eastern Cape there is an ongoing investigation into an initiation school after a group of boys were illegally circumcised. Traditional leaders and health officials accompanied by parents, raided the school whose children were circumcised without their consent. Meanwhile in Limpopo, Traditional leaders call for harsher punishment for those running illegal initiations schools.

On the Forum@8 we ask how can we better manage initiation schools