Male Circumcision in South Africa: The Rite of Passage into Death-hood?

Abstract

The cultural practice of male circumcision and the initiation of boys as a rite of passage into manhood are important and respected amongst several South African tribes. This has, however, turned into a death trap for some of the initiates. In this article the focus was on the AmaXhosa in the Eastern Cape (who refer to it as ulwaluko), the Basotho in the Free State (who refer to it as koma), and in Limpopo, the Vatsonga (who refer to it as ngoma), the Bapedi (who refer to it as koma), as well as the VhaVenḓa (who refer to it as murundu). Since the turn of the century, the practice of circumcision has become associated with death because the number of casualties accumulates with each initiation season. The challenges faced by these initiation practices and the impact on the initiates’ human rights are highlighted. The state’s intervention via Provincial Acts and the Customary Initiation Act was examined with a view to determining whether these interventions have prospects of enabling the preservation of this important rite of passage while, at the same time, providing the adequate protection of the fundamental human rights of boys who go through the practice of initiation. This article adopted an ethnographic approach.