The mountain school season from across the Waterberg has come to a close with the vast majority of initiates returning home safely, bar the death of one in Modimolle in recent weeks.
Of the 398 initiation schools’ applications from across the province, a total 52 initiates — 26 males and 26 females — were drawn from the Waterberg region.
All in all, the Limpopo House of Traditional Leaders has declared the 2019 initiation season as “successful”, even though there were a few deaths reported in different parts of the province,
with Modimolle suffering one casualty.
The House of Traditional Leaders chairperson, Kgoshi Malesela Dikgale, told The BEAT in an interview it has been successful, even if it was also hectic.
“We are happy that the initiates are back home as graduates, and their parents are also happy to have them back,” Dikgale said.
He singled out the issue of the age limit as one of the challenges.
“We are trying to enforce it (age limit restrictions) but it still remains a challenge. We only see it during the graduation ceremonies, because our monitors are not able to pick it up during
monitoring,” he added.
The death of an initiate in the Modimolle area had the provincial media abuzz in recent weeks.
Dikgale further said that a total of 24 males and 11 female initiation schools, in different parts of the broader Limpopo province, are scheduled to round off operations by Sunday 14 July.
The Department of Education has declared Tuesday 9 July as the official opening for schools in the formal education sector.
The House of Traditional Leader had, ahead of the initiation season, assisted the mountain schools by conducting a workshop for senior traditional leaders and traditional surgeons.
Permits were issued in this regard.
The House of Traditional Leaders, working in tandem with the provincial Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs, extended its collective gratitude towards parents who supported the grogramme throughout.
— The BEAT
