Parents in Ntsweletsoku village, near Zeerust in the North West are frantically searching for their children who went missing, last week. They believe that people who run illegal initiation schools in the village might have kidnapped them.
About eight young men are still missing while three others were found yesterday.
Fourteen illegal initiation schools where shut down by the Provincial Initiation Coordinating Committee in three districts, and 67 young men were rescued. The affected parents say people lured their children to the initiation schools.
“There is a boy who went to initiation school but did not complete. He has been communicating with the boys and misleading them. This initiation school is illegal and that is why we suspect that my twins are in that school,” says a parent.
Another parent says, “I went to fetch my child from the veld and took him to the hospital. After being examined, my child was found to be ok, although he is complaining about chest pains because he ran a lot. They also do not eat enough. The place where they stay is not in a good condition.”
Meanwhile, the government says they have closed a number of illegal initiation schools since last week.
“The schools that we have closed are about 14 and we have opened cases against the owners. We also managed to rescue about 67 initiates and took them to the nearest registered initiation schools, based on the agreement that we have we their parents,” says Deputy Chairperson of the Provincial Initiation Coordinating Committee, Andries Stemmer.
He says when they arrived, they found that the initiation schools are being run by men who are about 21 years of age and some of them do not even have experience.
“This is why we have to close those schools and charge the owners with contravention,” adds Stemmer.
VIDEO| Two suspects to appear in court for alleged kidnapping and running an illegal initiation school
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