South Africa: Arrests called for after circumcision deaths

Health officials in South Africa reacting to the deaths of two boys after illegal traditional circumcisions called on the public today to arrest those responsible for the dangerous operations.

They were the first deaths in this year’s annual December circumcision season. Last year 21 boys died while undergoing month-long rites of manhood.

“We are not encouraging vigilantism but urge the public to arrest those illegal surgeons and hand them over to the police,” Eastern Cape health department spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said, according to the South African Press Association.

Kupelo said one of the boys died Friday in Umtata Hospital, a day after another died in the Lusikisiki area after botched circumcision operations.

Last year five men running traditional initiation schools in the Easter Cape were charged with culpable homicide after 21 boys died from a variety of causes, including infections from botched circumcisions, dehydration and pneumonia.

All the boys were taking part in initiation schools, where they live in huts in the bush for a month during the cold South African winter and undergo the centuries-old rites of manhood.

The schools usually culminate in the boys’ circumcision, completing their transition into adulthood.