News24 | ‘It’s giving me sleepless nights’: Cogta MEC cut up by deaths of initiates, and calls out parents

Sithandiwe Velaphi

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Eastern Cape Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Zolile Williams. (Sithandiwe Velaphi/News24)

The Eastern Cape Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) MEC Zolile Williams says the deaths of initiates in the province were giving him “sleepless nights” and called on parents to stop sending their boys to illegal initiation schools.

Parents who fail to ensure proper medical screening of their boys before undergoing circumcision needed to be blamed for the deaths, he added.

Williams said 33 initiates, below the age of 18, were rescued at an illegal initiation school in Umzimvubu last week. He said a traditional surgeon from the school was arrested by police for operating without valid documents.

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