CONTRALESA chair Kgoshi Mokoena says this year s deaths are an embarrassment for the congress, and that extraordinary measures will be needed to curb future losses.
The death toll for this year’s summer initiation season has risen to 31, eight more than the 23 recorded during the entire season last year and there are still three weeks to go.
Eastern Cape leaders have expressed shock as the initiation death toll ballooned to 12 after the fatal shooting of two initiates, who were brothers, in Ngqamakhwe on Monday. The first death in the initiation season was that of a 20-year-old, who was allegedly killed by a group of men in a Lusikisiki village.
Twenty people have been arrested in the Eastern Cape for numerous cases related to unlawful circumcision of young men during the traditional 2023 winter initiation season.This is a script that has become all too familiar every year.