Police shut down bogus initiation school, owner (51) arrested
Mamelodi East police have successfully shut down a bogus initiation school and arrested a 51-year-old man on charges of Contravention of the Customary Initiation Act earlier this week.
Police spokesperson Constable Penelope Khulong said during the arrest last Saturday, 10 boys aged between 11 and 17 were at the school.
She said the initiates were given medical attention and then taken to their families.
Khulong said the arrest came after a parent had complained that her son had been accepted into an initiation school without her completing a consent form.
The complaint was submitted to the Gauteng Provincial Initiation Coordinating Committee (PICC) under the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA).
Khulong said a representative of CoGTA received information, and the representatives of the PICC located the school in Mamelodi East.
She said the delegation discovered that the school is not on the official list of approved winter initiation schools in the province as published by the CoGTA.
She said the suspect could not produce the relevant documentation that is required for the school to operate.
'The PICC representatives informed the suspect that the initiation school was operating illegally and took the complainant's son home,' she said.
Khulong said that because of the seriousness of the incident, the PICC representatives reported the matter to Mamelodi East police, who apprehended the suspect on May 21.
She said the rescued initiates were given medical attention.
Mamelodi East police station commander Brigadier Terence Naidoo applauded the collaborative effort between the CoGTA and police.
Naidoo highlighted that this is a period in which different communities around the country observe their customary practices through initiation.
He said as much as culture is sacred and different practices are respected, they should still be conducted within the bounds of the law and also put the well-being of initiates first.
He indicated that the arrest sends a stern warning to all schools that police will stop at nothing to protect lives in the communities.
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