2009/10/15
TRADITIONAL leaders have apologised to a teenager forced to undergo traditional circumcision after he took the matter to court, where it was ruled unconstitutional yesterday.
Bhisho High Court judge Yusuf Ebrahim ruled that circumcision without consent was illegal and went against an individual’s constitutional rights.
He made the ruling during the unprecedented court battle between a father and his son.
The son claimed to have been been forced to undergo traditional circumcision against his religious beliefs.
Bonani Yamani, a second year microbiology student at the University of the Free State, was forcefully circumcised after he was abducted by his father Lindile Yamani and 10 other men at his KwaMasele village near King William’s Town on March 3, 2007 .
This was three months after he had returned from East London’s Frere Hospital, where he had been surgically circumcised in November 2006 .
Yamani refused to go with the men, telling them that he had already been circumcised, but the men mocked the circumcision and took him to the bush were they circumcised him again.
Yesterday Ebrahim said that forced circumcision was against the Constitution and it was unfair for anyone to be discriminated against based on their religious beliefs.
Following an apology from Eastern Cape Contralesa, Yamani gave his consent for a settlement and withdrew his complaint .
The chairperson of Eastern Cape Contralesa, Nkosi Ngubo Mgcotyelwa, apologised to Yamani for remarks made by his predecessor, Chief Mwelo Nonkonyana, that people such as Yamani, who refused traditional circumcision, should be ostracised by the community. — thanduxoloj@dispatch.co.za
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