Officials blamed for ignoring sick initiates

THE Community Development Foundation of South Africa (Codefsa), a non-governmental organisation that rescues troubled initiates in the Eastern Cape, has blamed the government for failing to save sick initiates.

Codefsa director Nkululeko Nxesi said this as the number of circumcision related deaths this winter rose to 24 as of yesterday afternoon.

Nxesi came down hard on the government, saying officials were failing to save initiates who are in need of help. "It must be stressed that some of the officials with the monitoring teams leave initiates behind even though they see that they are ill and in need of their help. This is happening, we cannot run away from truth. If they do this with all the resources they have, who can help the dying initiates?" - Bongani Fuzile