The Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Rights Commission (CRL) believes a commission of inquiry to look into the escalating deaths of initiates, will find solutions into how the custom can be protected.

The newly sworn-in commissioners held a media briefing in Braamfontein, Johannesburg today to outline some of the issues they will be focusing on.

Twent eight initiates died in the Eastern Cape over this past summer initiation period.

The Commission’s Deputy Chairperson, George Mahlangu elaborates, “From the CRL’s perspective, what we would like to bring is to ensure that the victims of amputations, their voices are heard. To ensure that the mothers that have lost their children, their voices are heard. This is very important in order to understand the magnitude and the gravity of a parent who has raised a child for 18 years and they lose them in a space of a month, whilst they are practising their culture. But we also want to ensure that we find solutions as to how we protect this custom.”