The House of Traditional Leaders has closed the June initiation season in compliance with the alert level 4 lockdown announced on Sunday night.

Eastern Cape House of Traditional Leaders chair Nkosi Langa Mavuso announced on Monday that all plans to send boys to the bush should be cancelled with immediate effect.

He said in a statement that the country had moved to alert level 4 and this needed to be complied with in an effort to stem the spread of the third wave of Covid-19 infections.

Mavuso said parents should ensure that boys who had not yet graduated should not take part in any initiation ceremonies.

“Parents are expected to comply with Section 19 of the Disaster Management Regulations without fail or resistance,” he said.

“Imigidi [initiations] can be organised at a later stage when the current conditions necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic have improved.”

Co-operative governance and traditional affairs MEC Xolile Nqatha welcomed the presidential announcement of stricter regulations and called on all those involved in the practice of initiation and traditional circumcisions to co-operate with the temporary cancellation.

“The third wave is raging and we must all work together to ensure no mushrooming of new amabhuma [initiation huts] in our areas,” he said.

“Our law enforcement agencies stand ready to deal with any deviations from the regulations, including closing down illegal amabhuma.”

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