Question NW556 to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs

Reply:

(a)The Department is not considering amending existing legislation before the upcoming 2025 winter initiation season, as it will not be possible to do so within such a short timeframe. However, the Department intends to start the review of the Customary Initiation Act in 2026. As a preparatory process for the legislative review, the Department will request various role players submit their proposed amendments to the Customary Initiation Act during the 2025/2026 financial year.

It should, however, be noted that section 33(1)(a) and (c) of the existing legislation (Customary Initiation Act of 2021) already provides for criminal offences/stricter penalties for those running illegal initiation schools and/or neglecting medical protocols during each initiation season, which must be enforced in the upcoming winter initiation season. In this regard, section 33(1) of the Act provides, among others, that:-

“Any person who—

1. holds a non-registered initiation school (illegal school) or is involved in any initiation practices at such non-registered initiation school; or
2. accepts an initiate at an initiation school or is involved in any initiation practices at such initiation school without having received the required medical certificate or consent contemplated in sections 28(1) and (3).

is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 15 years or to both a fine and such imprisonment”.

Furthermore, section 33(9) of the Act further provides that “if any initiation activity was declared not to be illegal as contemplated in the proviso to section 15(1)(i), but found to be illegal following the investigation by the SAPS, the principal who made the declaration and any other person who authorised, arranged or supervised such illegal activity may be prosecuted in terms of the provisions of the relevant law”.

To ensure that medical protocols are adhered to, section 3(1)(a) of the Act prescribes that a traditional surgeon can only participate in initiation practices if such surgeon is registered and has been provided with, among others, medical certificates of initiates. Furthermore, the Act provides that in the case of initiation where male circumcision forms part of the initiation process— a registered male traditional surgeon may only perform such circumcision under the supervision of a medical practitioner who has also been initiated.

The Act, in section 23(2)(b), also requires traditional surgeons to observe due care and diligence and maintain appropriate health and hygienic standards as provided for in the General Regulations Regarding Children.

2 (a) No, the Department will not allocate specific funding for the training of traditional surgeons due to the following reasons: -

Provincial Initiation Coordinating Committees (PICCs) are the legal authorities in provinces charged with training traditional surgeons.

In this regard, section 15(3) of the Act prescribes that “a PICC must arrange for the training of traditional surgeons, in collaboration with the provincial department responsible for health or any other relevant department, arrange for their training on any matter which would enable them to perform their responsibilities, duties, roles and functions in respect of initiation in general and as contemplated in this Act”.

As the law mandates, a PICC is established by the Premier of the Province concerned. For the PICC to perform its statutory functions, including, among others, the training of traditional surgeons, sections 17(1) and (2) of the Act provides that the administrative and financial support to a PICC and its technical support team, including the conditions and requirements relevant to such support, must be provided by the provincial departments as determined by the Premier after consultation with the relevant MECs. I have written to all the Premiers to request that they comply with this legislative provision and provide financial support to the PICCs to enable them to perform their statutory functions, including training traditional surgeons.

b) No. The Department will not allocate specific funding for improved training of medical support teams. Medical support teams are employees of the Department of Health; therefore, the Department of Health is the competent authority for their training.

c) No. The Department will not provide funding for emergency response services due to the following reasons: -

As noted above, the PICCs are the legal authorities in provinces charged with various responsibilities for customary initiation. Section 16(1)(a) of the Act requires a PICC to establish its Technical Support Team, which consists of Emergency Services within the particular area of the province concerned. As stated above, the provincial departments must provide administrative and financial support to a PICC and its technical support team, including the conditions and requirements relevant to such support, as determined by the Premier after consultation with the relevant MECs.

The Act further prescribes that the heads of the provincial departments must, after consultation with each other, designate officials from their respective departments to provide specified administrative support to the PICC or its Technical Support Team for the period indicated in such designation, including providing financial support for emergency response services for customary initiation practices.