An Eastern Cape magistrate has sentenced four illegal traditional initiation practitioners to sentences ranging from between four and 15 years for causing the death of a young initiate.
The 15-year jail term is one of the heaviest sentences imposed in respect of traditional initiation offences in the province since laws regulating the rite were enacted in 1996.
The Mbizana regional court imposed the sentence on unregistered traditional surgeon Yongama Mdludla, 21, after he pleaded guilty to culpable homicide and contravening the Customary Initiation Act 02 of 2021.
Two of his co-accused, Yamkela Bentswana, 27, and Mihlali Khiphi, 24, were sentenced to eight years for their roles in the death of a 17-year-old initiate, Mvuyisi Dingile, in November 2023.
Mvuyisi is one of 35 initiates who died during the 2023 summer initiation season in the Eastern Cape. In total, 52 initiates died in the province last year.
NPA spokesperson Luxolo Tyali said Mdludla was the “principal” of an illegal initiation school in Mfuleni village, in the Mbizana district.
“He accepted six boys without medical certificates, as required by the Act, including the deceased.
“After they were circumcised by the non-registered traditional surgeon, Bentswana and Khiphi then came to assist Mdludla to look after the initiates and acting as traditional nurses,” Tyali said.
He said Mvuyisi started to hallucinate at night.
“All three accused started to assault him with hands and sticks until he died at the initiation school.
“The cause of death, according to the postmortem, was severe assault,” Tyali said.
A day before the sentencing of Mdludla, Bentswana and Khiphi, the court sentenced a registered surgeon, Luthando Madikizela, 33, to eight years in prison for contravening the same provision of the Act. Four years of his eight-year sentence was suspended for four years.
“Madikizela also pleaded guilty, accepting that as a registered traditional surgeon he was approached by the principal of an illegal initiation school, Mdudla, who requested him to circumcise four underaged boys, and he agreed and proceeded to circumcise the young boys,” Tyali said.
Arguing for an appropriate sentence, senior public prosecutor Nkululeko Mathenjwa said the death of initiates at the hands of reckless or bogus traditional surgeons and nurses had reached epidemic proportions and called for harsh sentences to serve as a deterrent.
Magistrate Zanekhaya Gxarisa agreed.
Eastern Cape Director of Public Prosecutions Barry Madolo commended all involved in the successful prosecution, saying the sentences were a clear indication that the courts were taking traditional circumcision-related cases seriously.
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