MYSTERY surrounds how 33 boys from one village, some as young as 10, ended up being circumcised at two Eastern Cape health facilities.
The health department has denied any knowledge of the matter, and said it would investigate how the Mt Ayliff boys came to be circumcised over the weekend.
It is unclear which department, if any, authorised the circumcisions although the community insists the officials said they were government employees.
Residents were led to believe the mass medical circumcisions were a health department programme to curb the spread of HIV/Aids, although parents and boys claim very little information was given.
The boys, aged between 10 and 16, from Sugarbush Village near Mount Ayliff, were taken by purported officials to nearby health facilities where doctors performed the circumcisions. The Dispatch has established that at least 18 boys were taken to Rhode Clinic and another 15 to Mount Ayliff Hospital on Friday or Saturday.
Their mothers agreed to it because they thought it was a programme run by government and therefore legitimate.
Nophumzile Jona, 46, from Sugarbush Village, said she and the other mothers were given forms to sign by teachers at Luxwesa Junior Secondary School on Wednesday last week. Her son, 12, was very excited about the idea “so I agreed”.
The community believed the school’s life orientation teacher, Xoliswa Mkhumbeni, had given out the consent forms.
But when asked about this Mkhumbeni said health officials who had visited the school to talk about circumcision and how it could prevent disease had handed out the forms. She said the officials had told the boys to have them signed and returned with a copy of a parent’s ID.
She said parents could not plead ignorance because they were called in and addressed by the same health officials.
“What they said is that they noticed there were a lot of children from the school going to Rhode Clinic asking for this ,” she said.
“I wish health would address the community transparently and not via the school. These children are under a lot of peer pressure.”
Jona’s son, who was circumcised on Saturday, was in visible pain. “If I knew what I was letting myself in for I promise you I would have declined on the spot. The pain is just unbearable,” said the Grade 7 pupil.
Provincial health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said neither the district manager nor the director of circumcision-related matters at the department were aware of it.
He did not rule out the possibility of an NGO being involved. “This matter will have to be investigated,” he said.
Kupelo said as much as the department was promoting male medical circumcision it was approached with sensitivity to the culture. “You can’t just walk into a school and impose. There are processes that have to be followed, policy must be followed,” Kupelo said, adding that MEC Sicelo Gqobana would have known in advance were it a health department programme.
The village’s sub-headman Feli Magocoba, who reports to the local chief, questioned the wisdom of circumcising 10-year-olds and appealed for a lifestyle change instead. Magocoba said he did not mind the medical route as it was free and safe, while too many young men had died at the hands of bogus traditional surgeons.
The consent forms were also handed out at Arthur Ngunga Senior Secondary School, in Mt Ayliff. Florence Mbena said she gave consent for her two grandchildren because they were tired of being teased by other circumcised young men.
“They call us amakhwenkwe and chase us out of the toilets at school. I decided that this was enough. Hopefully I will get respect from them now,” said one of the two 16-year-olds.
Villager Nkosinathi Quvani, 62, said he would never let his son be medically circumcised, preferring the ritual.
Other men in the village agreed. “We should be focusing on promoting condom usage and abstinence among young people,” said Nkosibonile Mpongwana.
Young men in the area that had undergone traditional circumcision said while they were not against medical circumcision, they would not see those that followed this route as real men.
“When you go to the mountain you come back a better person. You are taught how to conduct yourself and all the other stuff. These guys who go to hospital won’t have that knowledge and therefore it will be difficult to relate to them,” said one young man, who refused to give his name.
The Health Department launched a national campaign in December on World Aids Day to medically circumcise a million men in 12 months and four million by 2016.
The winter initiation season begins in June, and last year 40 initiate deaths were reported during this season.
33 boys duped into ‘manhood’
The health department has denied any knowledge of the matter, and said it would investigate how the Mt Ayliff boys came to be circumcised over the weekend.
It is unclear which department, if any, authorised the circumcisions although the community insists the officials said they were government employees.
Residents were led to believe the mass medical circumcisions were a health department programme to curb the spread of HIV/Aids, although parents and boys claim very little information was given.
The boys, aged between 10 and 16, from Sugarbush Village near Mount Ayliff, were taken by purported officials to nearby health facilities where doctors performed the circumcisions. The Dispatch has established that at least 18 boys were taken to Rhode Clinic and another 15 to Mount Ayliff Hospital on Friday or Saturday.
Their mothers agreed to it because they thought it was a programme run by government and therefore legitimate.
Nophumzile Jona, 46, from Sugarbush Village, said she and the other mothers were given forms to sign by teachers at Luxwesa Junior Secondary School on Wednesday last week. Her son, 12, was very excited about the idea “so I agreed”.
The community believed the school’s life orientation teacher, Xoliswa Mkhumbeni, had given out the consent forms.
But when asked about this Mkhumbeni said health officials who had visited the school to talk about circumcision and how it could prevent disease had handed out the forms. She said the officials had told the boys to have them signed and returned with a copy of a parent’s ID.
She said parents could not plead ignorance because they were called in and addressed by the same health officials.
“What they said is that they noticed there were a lot of children from the school going to Rhode Clinic asking for this ,” she said.
“I wish health would address the community transparently and not via the school. These children are under a lot of peer pressure.”
Jona’s son, who was circumcised on Saturday, was in visible pain. “If I knew what I was letting myself in for I promise you I would have declined on the spot. The pain is just unbearable,” said the Grade 7 pupil.
Provincial health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said neither the district manager nor the director of circumcision-related matters at the department were aware of it.
He did not rule out the possibility of an NGO being involved. “This matter will have to be investigated,” he said.
Kupelo said as much as the department was promoting male medical circumcision it was approached with sensitivity to the culture. “You can’t just walk into a school and impose. There are processes that have to be followed, policy must be followed,” Kupelo said, adding that MEC Sicelo Gqobana would have known in advance were it a health department programme.
The village’s sub-headman Feli Magocoba, who reports to the local chief, questioned the wisdom of circumcising 10-year-olds and appealed for a lifestyle change instead. Magocoba said he did not mind the medical route as it was free and safe, while too many young men had died at the hands of bogus traditional surgeons.
The consent forms were also handed out at Arthur Ngunga Senior Secondary School, in Mt Ayliff. Florence Mbena said she gave consent for her two grandchildren because they were tired of being teased by other circumcised young men.
“They call us amakhwenkwe and chase us out of the toilets at school. I decided that this was enough. Hopefully I will get respect from them now,” said one of the two 16-year-olds.
Villager Nkosinathi Quvani, 62, said he would never let his son be medically circumcised, preferring the ritual.
Other men in the village agreed. “We should be focusing on promoting condom usage and abstinence among young people,” said Nkosibonile Mpongwana.
Young men in the area that had undergone traditional circumcision said while they were not against medical circumcision, they would not see those that followed this route as real men.
“When you go to the mountain you come back a better person. You are taught how to conduct yourself and all the other stuff. These guys who go to hospital won’t have that knowledge and therefore it will be difficult to relate to them,” said one young man, who refused to give his name.
The Health Department launched a national campaign in December on World Aids Day to medically circumcise a million men in 12 months and four million by 2016.
The winter initiation season begins in June, and last year 40 initiate deaths were reported during this season.
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