EASTERN CAPE - DEATH TOLL NOW AT 6 FOR WINTER INITIATION SCHOOLS ACROSS THE PROVINCE

The death toll among initiates since the start of the winter initiation season in the Eastern Cape has now risen to six.

This is despite a series of initiation awareness campaigns that have been conducted among all stakeholders.

Hundreds of young boys below the age of 18 have been rescued in the Pondoland area recently and some of them have been hospitalised.

It has become common in the Eastern Cape for young boys die while undergoing the circumcision ritual.

Last year, more than 50 initiates died while many others lost their manhood.

Botched circumcisions, dehydration, assaults, and other factors related to circumcision contribute to the high death rate in this region.

Eastern Cape Local Government and Traditional Affairs Spokesperson, Mamkeli Ngam, says it is shocking that a few days after the beginning of the winter initiation season, six deaths have been registered.

Ngam says 84 initiation schools have been operating illegally in the province, adding that they have also picked up that drug and alcohol abuse is becoming common in the initiation schools.

Meanwhile, police had to use rubber bullets to rescue fifteen initiates in Bizana.

It is believed that a group of older men were preventing police from rescuing the boys from an illegal initiation school.

VIA - sabc.co.za