Death toll from country’s summer initiation season rises to 41

By Thapelo Molefe

The death toll from the country’s summer initiation season has risen to 41, highlighting the deadly risks young men face in the name of cultural tradition. 

Across the Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, and Western Cape, families are grappling with tragedy, while authorities scramble to enforce safety and accountability in a practice steeped in secrecy and long-standing cultural significance.

Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Velenkosini Hlabisa said that most fatalities result from dehydration, often compounded by misinformation passed down to initiates.

“Many boys are told not to drink water to ‘heal faster.’ This is false and dangerous. If a young man goes without water for weeks, he cannot survive,” he said on Tuesday.

The minister painted a stark picture of the realities at some initiation schools, describing cases in which young men returned with severe injuries or amputations due to unregistered and incompetent traditional surgeons.