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The Speaker of the National Assembly has agreed to Chief Whip Dr Mathole Motshekga’s request that Parliament conduct a debate on the tragic deaths of initiates in Mpumalanga. The NA programming committee this morning scheduled the debate for 29 May 2013 at 14h00.

The Chief Whip wrote to the Speaker earlier this week requesting that the House conduct a snap debate in line with chapter 8 of the Rules of the National Assembly on the death of 27 initiates in the Mpumalanga province. We understand that the death toll is now at 29, with further deaths reported in the Limpopo province. Chapter 8 of the rules provides for snap debates on matters of public importance. Said Dr Motshekga in his letter to the Speaker: “I hold a view that this tragedy is a matter of public importance and warrants that this Parliament pronounces itself in a form of a debate as provided for by section 103 of the National Assembly Rules.”

We are shocked and saddened by the death of these young people in the areas of Kwaggafontein, Middleburg, Verena, KwaMhlanga, Belfast, Siyabuswa and Sekhukhune in Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces during the initiation and circumcision rituals. Initiation schools are supposed to prepare young men for manhood and not to serve as death camps. We are dismayed by the blatant abuse of our cultural and traditional practices by individuals who have turned them into lucrative business enterprises with no regard for human life . The preliminary investigation suggesting that negligence was behind these unnecessary deaths is disturbing.

We strongly condemn such irresponsible and reckless actions and call on Police to leave no stone unturned in ensuring that perpetrators face the full might of the law.

We join the families and friends of these children in mourning the devastating loss of these children.