CAPE TOWN, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's Parliament on Friday called for an immediate probe into the deaths of 21 boys who died as a result of botched circumcision.
The National House of Traditional Leaders (NHTL) must investigate the deaths of the initiates and come up with new solutions on how to continue with the tradition of initiation in the changing climatic and weather conditions to ensure that not a single life is lost in the future, Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs said.
Parliament has learnt with sadness the deaths of the 21 boys at initiation schools in the Eastern Cape province during the current summer initiation season, Committee Chairperson Faith Muthambi said.
"The heart breaking deaths happen at a time when families are preparing to be together for the festive season. We are extending our heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of these boys," Muthambi said.
All the 21 boys have died because of dehydration, according to Muthambi. Earlier reports put the death toll at 23.
Muthambi condemned the deaths "in the strongest terms".
"This could have been avoided if traditional practices such as water restrictions to initiates before and after the initiation can be reviewed from time to time to ensure that if they threaten the lives of the initiates in the fast changing weather conditions, they are discontinued," said Muthambi.
Muthambi said his committee will invite the leadership of the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa to come to Parliament in the new year with the purpose of finding solutions to the problems of the tradition of initiation.
The Eastern Cape province has been a hotbed of illegal initiation, where most circumcision-related deaths are reported every year.
Circumcision is viewed as a sacred practice in African cultures, marking a male's transition from child to adulthood. According to the tradition, young males have to be circumcized as the passage to manhood.
Dozens of boys die and many more are hospitalized annually in South Africa as a result of botched circumcision.
Every year, the government launches crackdowns on illegal initiation to ensure zero deaths, but to no avail.
