YCLSA Press Statement May 21, 2013
YCLSA appalled by initiation school’s deaths, calls for action The Young Communist League of South Africa [uFasimba] appalled by the increasing death toll of initiates in Mpumalanga and other parts of the country and called for immediate action by the South African Police Services and the Department of Health to deal with fly-by-night initiation schools. “This is becoming unacceptable and mindless that young people die in the hands of initiation schools, sometimes for a quick-buck and in the name of culture”, said YCLSA National Secretary Buti Manamela. He said that there are crooks out there who are cashing in on the lives of young people and must be arrested, prosecuted and made an example of. “They are an insult to our culture and practices” Manamela said. Manamela called for action by SAPS to immediately arrest those who head initiation schools that led to this mindless and barbaric deaths. “The cultural pressure exerted on young men to go through this rite of passage in order to be real men has sometimes resulted into unacceptable deaths with those who are responsible not being brought to book” said Manamela. Manamela called for an integrated approach between health institutions and cultural practitioners to ensure that no more lives are lost. “We want to have a situation wherein heads of initiation schools are given proper training on circumcision and medical support (and supplies) by the health department so that we protect the lives of initiates. Alternatively, we should have the initiates circumcised in hospitals and go through the initiation immediately after in the mountains” Manamela said. He also condemned statements attributed to the Health MEC in Mpumalanga who said that she cannot comment on the issue because she is a woman, and supported the call by NEHAWU for her immediate resignation so that a man or woman capable of the job and committed to prevent lives is appointed. Issued by the YCLSA National Office For more information Please contact: Khaya Xaba YCLSA National Spokesperson Cell: 071 115 4619 @chedetachment @butimanamela @YCLSA Sent from my iPhone -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
