Initiation school programme underway

More than 20 000 initiates from the province are currently participating in the 2019 Koma programme at various initiation schools.
The programme commenced on 15 June and is expected to end on 14 July.
Chairperson of Limpopo House of Traditional Leaders, Malesela Dikgale said they were hoping for an incident free season. “We will be working with various law enforcement agencies and the Department of Health to ensure the smooth running of the programme. We have not received notice of any incidents and cases thus far. Admission for this season closes tomorrow (Friday). We now stand at 20 000 initiates that have already been admitted at the various initiation schools.”

He expected the figure to increase after finalising the admission process. “There are no illegal schools this year and no complaints have been received of initiates being forced to undergo the process. We normally receive such reports in the first week of the programme. We are satisfied that all initiates are participating of their own accord. We don’t want isolated incidents to taint our programme. We will be working closely with the community members and traditional authorities to ensure that the 2019 season is a success. We had a successful season last year, there were no death cases and we are hoping for another clean season,” Dikgale said.

Story: Herbert Rachuene
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