President urges traditional leaders to improve customary initiation

“It cannot be that every year, we sit here and say the same thing about more needing to be done but the death toll continues to rise,” said President Ramaphosa.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on traditional leaders to claim back customary initiation from the hands of unscrupulous people, who have infiltrated the practice.

“Customary initiation is a rite of passage for our young people to manhood and adulthood. But it has become increasingly infiltrated by unscrupulous people and many young men are being maimed or losing their lives.

“It cannot be that every year, we sit here and say the same thing about more needing to be done but the death toll continues to rise,” said President Ramaphosa.

The President made the call when he addressed the opening of the National House of Traditional Leaders (NHTL) in Parliament on Tuesday.

He urged traditional leaders, as custodians of culture, to take this cultural practice back into their hands and improve it accordingly.

“We further call on you to work with the South African Police Service to ensure those who are involved in these unscrupulous practices are arrested and charged. This includes forceful abductions to initiation schools,” he said.

Once it becomes law, President Ramaphosa said the Customary Initiation Bill, which is currently before the National Council of Provinces, should serve as a critical empowering law to regulate the practice of customary initiation.

“Ultimately, we should all play our role to ensure that, as they say in isiXhosa, ‘Mabaye bephila, babuye bephila’ (they must go alive and come back alive),” he said.

District Development Model

The President also called on traditional leaders to support the government’s District Development Model, which aims to ensure that the delivery of services is properly planned and managed.

Through this model, the government intends to do away with wastage, duplication, and mismanagement.

“We are aiming to ensure that the delivery of services is properly planned and managed, considers community needs and is properly budgeted for.

“Through this model, we want to make sure that economic development and employment opportunities [do not only happen in] Gauteng, or [Western Cape] or Durban, but also in Mount Ayliff, in Tshilangoma, in Babanango, in Christiana and in Philippolis,” said the President.

The District Development Model is being implemented in three districts, with plans to roll it out to all 44 districts and eight metros.

As part of implementing the District Development Model, 1 000 young people have been enrolled from the three pilot sites of OR Tambo, eThekwini and Waterberg.

These young people will be equipped with agricultural and life skills, after which they will receive practical support as they embark on relevant farming projects.

President Ramaphosa urged traditional leaders to support these young people on their return by, among others, facilitating their access to productive land.

Investment in the villages

With the country on an investment drive, the President highlighted the importance of investment reaching across the country. 

“The investment that is coming into our country must not just be concentrated in the metros but also in the municipalities where our people need work, where they need facilities and where they need services.

“Our rural areas mustn’t be places that young people leave, only to return when they retire. This trend must be reversed, especially if we are going to resolve one of our biggest challenges, of land access and ownership,” he said. 

(With Inputs from South African Government Press Release)