An angry father removed his child from an initiation school, because the boy was circumcised without his permission. "Why must they circumcise him, as I did not order them to do so? I have taken him home before they could perform all the rituals and I am not even going to pay a single cent," fumed the annoyed parent, Nelson Netili (55) of Dzimauli – Mukondeni, in the Mutale area.

Netili said he was surprised when he came back home last week Wednesday to find representatives from the local initiation school waiting for him at his house. "They told me that my boy, Murendeni (15) was at the initiation school and he had already been circumcised. They said he came alone (u shavhela) and then demanded R690 for the boy’s circumcision and I told them that what they were talking was news to me. How can I pay such huge amount of money, while I am unemployed? I cannot even afford to pay school fees for my boy. They will never get the money, come rain or come sunshine! How can they just circumcise him when he arrived at the initiation school instead of keeping him until they contacted me to know whether I was giving permission or not? They immediately went back and I told them that I would be coming to take the boy. They have disturbed my plans, because I had already booked the boy to be circumcised by a western doctor."

He added that he was also summoned before the local tribal authority, but he did not change his stance.

A staunch Christian, Netili said he did not waste any time, but instead, he rushed to Mutale SAPS to register a case of kidnapping against the owner of the initiation school. "The police then accompanied me to the initiation school and I took my boy while everyone was looking on in disbelief. I then took the boy to Donald Fraser Hospital for a checkup, but he was fine. He is now recuperating at home. I am glad that I have won this battle and I believe it will be a lesson to other community members. We have in the past witnessed instances of this nature where children were circumcised without the permission of the parents. I initially told myself that I was going to win this battle because I knew I was right from the onset."

The boy, who is doing Grade 8 at the local Ratshilumela High School, says he is feeling much better and he has left everything behind to concentrate on his future.

Insp Tshilidzi Nyambeni of the Mutale SAPS confirmed that Netili had opened a case of kidnapping against the owner of the initiation school and agreed that police had accompanied him to fetch the child at the initiation school.

The chairperson of the Limpopo Initiation Schools Task Team, Khosi Vusani Netshimbupfe, said he was aware of the incident. "Attendance of the initiation school is a voluntary initiative and no one is forced to get circumcised. We work according to the constitution of the country and laws of the initiation schools."

Netshimbupfe added that there were 232 initiation schools in Limpopo, although some of them closed early because of rains and extremely cold weather. He said three deaths were reported, one at Vhembe, another one at Mopani and one in Waterberg.