Cape Town - In what was a major victory for the preservation of African cultures and practices, the Western Cape High Court ordered the Stellenbosch Municipality to allow Basotho and Bahlubi initiation forums access to the Ida’s Valley site.
The municipality had informed the forums in October that they would not be permitted entry to the site this year, saying the area had been flagged as a fire risk.
The matter which was first reported to the Office of the Public Protector ended up at the Western Cape High Court on an urgent basis.
The forums argued that they were barred from the site without being consulted, impacting 140 initiates who have registered for this year’s initiation season.
They told the court that the only communication they received was a WhatsApp message from an official.
“No formal communication had been sent to us despite repeated requests to obtain such communication.
The only communication we received was a WhatsApp message from an official of the Municipality (that they) will not grant us access to hold the initiation at Ida’s Valley.
“Despite the municipality’s decision on November 25, 2022 the initiation process at Ida’s Valley began while waiting for the court process. It was only the following morning that we were confronted by members of the Stellenbosch Metro Police who sought to evict us from the camp ... we informed them that the matter was already pending in court and that they had no right to evict us without a court order. It was only through the intervention of the SAPS that the metro police could not evacuate us by force,” the court papers read.
They highlighted a recent incident where caregivers who were rushing to tend to an initiate who had fallen ill were denied access to the site.
The court last week ordered the municipality to grant unrestricted access to the caregivers and parents of the initiates to the site.
The municipality was also ordered to pay the cost of the application.
Stellenbosch Municipality spokesperson, Stuart Grobbelaar, said the municipality was studying the court order.
“We have allowed access to the school as per the court order. The municipality received the court order on Friday and we are currently studying the order and reviewing our options. We will be releasing a full statement on the matter on Monday,” Grobbelaar said.
Head of Communication for the Basotho and Bahlubi initiation forums task team, Tsholo Mokobe, said they were happy with the court’s decision.
“We hope in the new year the municipality will be open to constructive dialogue on this matter so as to avoid using the courts to settle issues.
As it is the culture, it is not going away and the site under discussion will always be requested for initiation purposes. The families are grateful to the work that the task team has done. As we took time from our daily lives to ensure the culture is respected and continues.
“The families of the children are of the view that the conduct of the Municipality of Stellenbosch was race-charged,” he said.
At least seven initiates have died in the Eastern Cape since the start of the summer initiation season last month.
The Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (Contralesa) has expressed concern and called for a crackdown on bogus initiation schools.
Cape Times