The 2025 summer initiation season has concluded, leaving a trail of tragedy.
National statistics released by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) have confirmed that 50 initiates lost their lives across the country during this sacred rite of passage.
This season, which saw more than 85 000 initiates participate, has been marked by significant challenges, particularly regarding the prevalence of illegal initiation schools and unsafe practices.
Casualties
While 99% of the 25 279 initiation schools operating this season were legal, they were responsible for 36 of the 50 reported deaths. The remaining 14 deaths occurred at the 151 identified illegal schools.
The Eastern Cape also recorded the highest number of fatalities with 24 deaths, followed by the Free State with 17, Gauteng and North West with four, and one death in the Western Cape caused by an asthmatic attack.
KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Northern Cape recorded zero initiation casualties during the season.
Zwelini Mkhize, chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Cogta, questioned how it was possible for so many deaths to occur in legal schools.
“What is it that we are failing to do?” asked Mkhize.
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Acting Chief Director of the Eastern Cape House of Traditional Leaders, Vuyo Stofile, said the reason is that parents intervene in customary practices.
He said that Inkhankatha, who are traditional masses that oversee initiates, aren’t in full control.
“What we have picked up, even in legal schools, there’s a lot of neglect.
“There are parents who are instructing the traditional masses not to provide initiates with water. We need to apply the same pressure to legal schools as we do to illegal ones,” he said.
In response to the report, Inkosi Buthelezi, Minister of Public Service and Administration, pushed for criteria to be established so that legal schools engaging in this practice can be denounced for their status.
“The deaths are just rampant. What does it take for legal schools to be called illegal?” he asked.
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Illegal schools
The Eastern Cape hosted 119 of the country’s 151 illegal schools. The province struggled with enforcement, having closed only 18 of those 119 institutions.
Stofile explained that the logistical and cultural complexities of relocating initiates hinder efforts to close illegal schools.
He noted that customary laws also prohibit moving initiates between different clans.
“The challenge is that when you close the initiation school, you have to take the initiates to another initiation school. But customarily, you cannot take initiates to another initiation school of a different clan.”
Stofile further argued that the state requires dedicated funding to bypass these cultural barriers through the use of neutral rescue centres.
“What we did was that we took 30 rescued initiates to a rescue centre 120km away…we are making the appeal that amongst the resources that we are pleading for are funds to establish and manage rescue centres so that we can be able to close the schools,’” he said.
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The North West performed well in its enforcement efforts, closing three of its five identified illegal schools, the report said.
Cogta minister, Velenkosini Hlabisa, described the situation as a “stark and painful reminder” of the work required to protect initiates.
Deaths were preventable
Investigations by the department have revealed that many of these tragic deaths were preventable.
Caregivers often encourage dehydration by spreading misinformation that initiates should avoid water during healing, leading to frequent deaths.
“By law, initiates have the right to be given water,” said Reshoketswe Mogaladi, Deputy Director General of the Department of Traditional Affairs.
As well as negligent medical practices and the use of unqualified surgeons at unregistered initiation sites.
Cogta believes that weak law enforcement is also a contribution.
“Low rate of reporting cases, arrests and prosecutions, which if addressed may serve as an effective deterrent to perpetrators,” it said.
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Authorities opened 103 cases but secured only 53 arrests, involving both parents and initiation school operators. By mid-February 2026, the state had achieved zero final prosecutions.
Stofile attributed the deaths to undetermined causes, meaning authorities have not yet ruled out murder or homicide.
Cogta points this to a reluctance within communities to report illegal practices and a lack of resources for Provincial Initiation Coordinating Committees (PICCs) to effectively monitor schools, especially in remote areas.
Response
To address the crisis, the department is implementing stricter regulations and proposing that local courts prosecute initiation-related offences more swiftly.
The state emphasised that parents bear the legal and moral responsibility to enrol their children only in registered, compliant institutions.
During a virtual keynote address at this week’s Eastern Cape Traditional Leaders’ Summit in East London, Deputy President Paul Mashatile reaffirmed the government’s commitment to traditional leaders, describing them as a vital pillar of governance and social cohesion in rural communities.
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