Kimberley residents threaten to burn down alleged initiation school

Angry residents have threatened to burn down an alleged initiation school structure that has been erected near their shacks in Lerato Park in Kimberley, Northern Cape.

The residents say since the construction of the structure they have been living in fear of naked initiates who are roaming the area.

They accuse their councilor and the Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Department of allowing a bogus initiation school in their area without consultation.

“People are recognised when they are burning something. So that something must happen so that they must move from here to a private place. If you go to Lesotho, a South African cannot do something like this,” laments one angry resident.

Another one says, “The councilor must come and consult with the community before he implements this. He said he is coloured, he is not going to involve himself with this.”

“People come to my place always to knock at my door saying people are walking around naked. I even saw it. I saw the guys they were here naked,” the residents complain.

The school principal Mohanoe Masilo has refuted residents’ allegations. He says the structure is not an initiation school but a council office for boys.

“I refuse to admit that the boys walk around naked. This is not an initiation school. It’s a council for boys people do not understand. I am adamant I have not established an initiation school yet.”