Botched circumcision claims six lives in S. Africa

Botched circumcision has claimed at least six lives in South Africa since the summer initiation season began three weeks ago, authorities said on Tuesday.

All the deaths were reported in Eastern Cape Province which keeps the highest death rate of botched circumcision.

The ages of the deceased range between 16 and 20 years of age, the Eastern Cape Department of Cooperative and Traditional Affairs said.

The department attributed the causes of deaths to dehydration, septicemia, and self-imposed and illegal circumcisions.

No amputations have been reported thus far.

This came despite a pledge by the government to ensure a zero-death initiation season. The government has vowed to take tougher actions against botched circumcisions which kill many youths every year.

The department has dispatched Traditional Initiation Monitoring Teams to monitor initiation throughout the province to mitigate risks during the initiation season.

So far the monitoring teams have visited more than 5, 000 initiates in both legal and illegal initiation schools in the province. Those initiates in illegal schools have been integrated to the legal ones and discharged the necessary medical attention, the department said.

In Buffalo City Metro, one man has been arrested for illegal circumcision after parents reported the matter to the local police station. Three other quack doctors are still at large.

Circumcision is a major and sacred stage in the African culture which sees the transition from child to adulthood. According to the tradition, young males have to be circumcised as the passage to adulthood.

In 2015, during winter and summer Initiation seasons, approximately 101 initiates lost their lives (most in the Eastern Cape) and in the last 10 years there has been an estimated 1,000 penile amputations. Enditem