Human Rights Commission to hold Seminar on Cultural Initiations

The South African Human Rights Commission will be holding a seminar on Initiation schools on 25 March 2004 at the SAHRC’S head Office at Princess of Wales Terrace, Parktown, Johannesburg starting at 09H30 finishing at 16H30.

Cultural Initiation is a practice which forms an integral part in the lives of some South African ethnic groups such as AmaXhosa, Bapedi, Batswana, VaTsonga, Amandebele and VhaVenda. It has been practiced from time immemorial and is still been practiced today irrespective of the vast changes and dangers embedded within this practice.

Our Constitution recognize the right to practice one’s culture and participate in cultural activities provided that this is exercised within the parameters of the bill of rights. Our media has been full of reports of initiates enduring physical abuse and losing their lives in these schools. This has resulted in calls from various sectors of our society calling for its abolition with the traditional leaders coming out strongly against this view. In an effort to deal with the dangers and curb the loss of lives of initiates, various provinces came up with legislation regulating this institution.  Despite these commendable measures, reports of initiates dying at these schools are still prevalent in these provinces. It is in this spirit that a seminar on these schools is necessary.

The purpose of this seminar is to establish whether the practice is being exercised within the constraints of our Constitution, its relevance in the context of our dispensation, the role that the traditional leaders and the Constitutional Institutions such as South African Human Rights Commission, Commission for Gender Equality and the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities may play in curbing these dangers. It is also intended to establish whether the legislative measures from the various provinces are effective enough to regulate this practice.