Initiation principle pays R50 for each teen abducted

By Tarryn Le Chat
13 October 2006

Young people were often hired as agents to abduct peers and take them to initiation schools, police revealed during public hearings this week on circumcision rites in the Free State.

The Cape Argus reported that the heads of the schools pay R50 for every kidnapped child.

Police were able to rescue twenty-two kidnapped children, unfortunately, they were unsuccessful in their attempts to arrest the principal.

According to the report, police have; however, arrested offenders responsible for deaths in initiation schools, there were difficulties in convicting them due to a lack of co-operation between the police and the Department of Justice.

Public hearings were set up to focus on the deaths and injuries of initiates at these schools.