The commercialisation of traditional initiation customs by those who use the sacred rite for lucrative business opportunities has been pinpointed as a factor in the deaths and injuries of hundreds of initiates in the Eastern Cape.
This is according to the Chris Hani district municipality, which convened a two-day traditional Initiation indaba in Cala last Wednesday and Thursday to address the custom’s challenges.
Speaker Jongumzi Cengani said the indaba not only led the charge in reducing the rampant commercialisation of the custom, but also worked towards regulated and standardised prices for circumcision and initiation.
“It sought to enhance accountability and early reporting by traditional surgeons and nurses, strengthen bush tracking strategies, ensure allocation of adequate resources to curb fatalities and normalise fees charged by traditional surgeons and nurses.
“Ruthless profiteering from the ritual has been exposed as the dark underside of the custom, hence stakeholders embarked on a process to regulate prices,” Cengani said.
“There are no regulations for standardised prices.
“Some charge exorbitant prices while others charge very low prices.”
Some surgeons charge R1,500 for a circumcision, while others charge as little as R650.
Some traditional nurses charge R1,200 to look after initiates while others charge only R750.
The costs of an inclusive package — where a boy is circumcised and kept in the custody of the surgeon and looked after by a traditional nurse for three weeks, can be as much as R3,000.
“This is not a business, but a sacred custom that we pride ourselves on,” Cengani said.
“This involves the lives of future leaders of the country and we cannot allow people to dice with their lives.
“This custom mustn’t be allowed to be turned into a quick cash scheme.”
The indaba resolved on proposed fees;
- R1,500 for a surgeon to perform a circumcision;
- R1,200 for a traditional nurse to attend to an initiate for a minimum of 21 days; and
- R3,000 for an initiation school’s all-inclusive package.
“These are just proposals,” Cengani said.
“Now we will embark on public consultation before a final determination on the pricing is made.
“Initiation is a societal matter and the participation of everyone involved is pivotal.”
Enoch Mgijima traditional surgeons forum chair Msimelelo Papiyana, 39, who has been a traditional surgeon since 2009, and Thulani Ndamase, 38, a traditional nurse since 2010, said the indaba had restored the dignity of traditional initiation practitioners.
“We heard that some greedy traditional surgeons were even charging almost R2,000 for performing a circumcision procedure.
“The amount is almost four times higher than what some of us are charging,” Papiyana said.
Papiyana charges R700 and a bottle of the brandy to perform a circumcision.
“My father, who was a traditional surgeon in the 1990s, charged only R5 and in the early 2000s was charging R100,” Papiyana said.
If the standard price of performing a circumcision procedure is endorsed by the public, Papiyana will have to increase his fee from R700 to R1,500.
Ndamase, who charges R750 for nursing, will have his fee increased by R450 to R1,200.
The district has boasted of zero deaths and zero amputations during the last summer and winter seasons and will ensure that the record remains.
Western Thembuland King Siyambonga Dalimvula Matanzima attended the indaba.
“Rogue practitioners were raking in instant riches while treating the safety and health of initiates with callous indifference,” he said.
“We are in the right direction of standardising prices and avoiding commercialisation.”
The king has demanded the district maintains its death-free status quo.
“The custom of ulwaluko does not kill.
“Only criminal elements that are infiltrating it are causing us big problems including loss of life,” Matanzima said.
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