Mpumalanga Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Speedy Mashilo says police have launched an investigation into the initiate’s death in eMalahleni.
It is alleged that the boy was lured to an initiation school in Verena.
Last month, his family requested that he be transferred to another initiation school, which was closer to home in Klarinet.
Mashilo has confirmed the boy’s death. “Yes, I did receive the information about the unfortunate situation in eMalahleni yesterday, where a child of 13 years of age unfortunately passed on, after complaining about some cramps. We’ve since directed our police, including the health departments, to investigate and get us a post-mortem to establish what the cause of the death is. After that, we’ll take the matter from there.”
The boy’s grandmother, Bongiwe Nkosi, says the initiation instructor informed them that the teen had a runny stomach.
She says the boy was taken to a clinic where he was certified dead.
“They said the child had a runny stomach around 4 am. We took him to the clinic, and when we got there around 8 o’clock, we found out that he was already dead. The nurses said it looked like the child was already dead when they got him to the clinic. I want my child. They say I must just accept it because what happened was inevitable.”
