His Majesty Vulikhaya Sigcawu, aah Vulikhaya! aah Vulikhaya! aah Vulikhaya!

Members of the Royal Family

Representatives of the Provincial House of Traditional and KhoiSan Leaders

Nkosi Khawulela, Chairperson of the Amathole Initiation Forum

Mnquma and Mbhashe Initiation Forum

Fellow Traditional Leaders

Rev Quluba

Ms. Tengile, Amathole South African Youth Council

Mr Ncana, Right to Care

Traditional Surgeons

Traditional Nurses

Honored Guests

Members of the Media

Programme Director: Nkosi Jolilanga Tyali

Mandibulele, elithuba ndiphiwelona ngu Kumkani, aah Vulikhaya! aah Vulikhaya! aah Vulikhaya!

I am greatly encouraged at this significant event as organized by His Majesty, the Launch of the 2023, Winter Initiation Season. This is certainly a start in the right direction, as Ulwaluko, is to be led by Traditional Leaders. This winter initiation season, our message is clear, we value our tradition, in the same way that we value the lives of our boys, as we pursue the “Zero Deaths Campaign”.

Isibhengezo sokokuba “Mabaye Bephila, Babuye Bephila” this call by His Majesty, is characterized by recognizing the importance of cultural and traditional practices. Siyazi sonke apha ukuba Ulwaluko, is an age-old tradition, it’s a mystical, secretive ritual that occurs away from the eyes of the public. It is a cultural rite of passage, initiation illustrates the transition from boyhood to manhood. It is a process during which good moral values are instilled in boys as they graduate to be responsible men in the community.

There are two initiation seasons in the Eastern Cape for this noble tradition each year, the winter initiation takes place from May to July and the summer season is from November to January. This gives us a perfect opportunity to plan and ensure the state of readiness for each season, that is the motivation we have gathered here today, to symbolize the Kingdom readiness to commerce with the Winter Season.

Fellow Traditional Leaders, I am pleased that this launch as a call by the His Majesty, is to promote safe and incident free initiation. My plea is that lets us be the eyes and the voices to ensure that we report illegal schools and the people who are operating those schools, as they are compromising the good work that government and traditional leaders are doing.

Programme Director:

The Amakhankatha continue to play the most essential responsibility of nursing the initiates as well as teaching, coaching them while they are in the initiation process. In recent years the initiation practice has been branded by negative reporting of increasing number of fatalities among the initiates, drug abuse and inhuman behavior involving the newly emerged men. It has become evident that a practice that was once regarded as instilling good moral values has suddenly become tainted by instances of moral decline, as a result of our culture being hijacked by the criminal syndicates.

This negative posture is now changing as government we would do all that we could to protect initiation, it is important that communities must work together traditional leaders and government institution to prevent the deaths of initiates. The winter initiation season is expected to start with hundreds of young men who are expected to undergo the customary rite of passage. This year our call is that we should make headlines with positive stories not of botched initiation or some young men being badly injured, and in some cases they die.

I wish to call on initiation schools, parents, community and police to work together to ensure the safety of initiates and to report illegal initiation schools, I wish to emphasize on that point. Illegal schools are our serious problem and these criminal elements should be apprehended to protect our culture.

Our appeal is that in instances where young boys have been abducted, and circumcised illegally or have been abused, by being refused water and the required care, parents must without any shadow of doubt run to the nearest police station and open cases against any perpetrators of illegal activities during this period.

The government has recently passed the Customary Initiation Act, which became effective in September 2021. The Act provides for the establishment of a National Initiation Oversight Committee, which the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in October 2021. This is an eleven-member committee that is expected to, among other things, monitor the implementation of the Act and promote compliance with its provisions by all role players involved in initiation practices and initiation schools.

The Customary Initiation Act also provides for the establishment of Provincial Initiation Coordinating Committees (PICC). The Eastern Cape Province was the first to establish such a committee, which the Premier published through the notice in the Provincial Gazette. The Eastern Cape’s PICC is active and functional.

Fellow Traditional Leaders

The important process that we have to undertake as a collective is planned District engagements with the South African Police Service, as well as the National Prosecution Authority, with the intention to ensure that police officers and prosecutors are familiar with the legislative provision.

The main purpose of the Act is to protect lives, prevent all forms of abuse that initiates may be subjected to as a results of initiation practices, and regulate initiation by providing for acceptable norms and standards. Our as government together with traditional leaders will continue to strengthen the regulatory environment and promote safe initiation practices. The department is in the process of developing the Customary Initiation Regulations, to address the challenges of commercialization of the customary initiation practice, which contributes to illegal initiation school.

A maximum sentence as recommended in the Act should be imposed against people who deliberately break the law and operate illegal schools for self-financial enrichment, jail is their permanent residence, that is where they belong for life. This is a promise that the rule of law would be fully enforced without fear or favour.

IN CONCLUSION

I would hereby like to wish all the young men the province well as they undertake their journey to manhood over the next coming weeks. There are measures that have been put in place to ensure that caregivers can safely guide the young men in their care through this process, safely. We commend the work to be done by the team monitoring teams to keep track of all the registered sites and to be available to assist should there be any challenges.

It would be a misfortune that we don’t acknowledge the role played by Imbhumba Yamakhosikazi Akomkhulu, during this season that includes some of the following:

• The preservation of our tradition, culture and heritage.
• Social Cohesion within the Traditional Institution.
• Creating awareness on Safe initiation practice.
• Addressing Substance abuse and related social ills.
• Skilling of rural woman and youth and fighting poverty.
• A voice against gender violence and child abuse.

For now let me pause their role here, as we know it goes beyond the areas I have mentioned. I am proud of the way that this tradition is maintained in the Kingdom and I hope that we will continue to work together to ensure the safety of our young men during this time. My best wishes go to each and every young man undertaking this journey during the winter season.

For all of us we have a clear mandate that is working together to ensure a safer initiation practice.

-Enkosi-