2015-09-27 Eyewitness News (South Africa) - "EC authorities meet to curb initiation deaths"

Excerpt:

CAPE TOWN - Authorities in the Eastern Cape will today start a two-day summit aimed at curbing initiation deaths.

Officials rescued 23 initiates, some as young as 13-years-old from illegal schools in several villages near Mthatha earlier this week.

It is off season and normally young people don't go for circumcision until the school holidays.

During the winter season more than 30 young boys died, most of them from the Eastern Cape while undergoing the rite of passage.
...
Two months ago 158 children were rescued from an illegal school near Tzaneen after community members reported suspicious activity.

Government said it is looking to clamp down on illegal schools by possibly introducing new legislation.

Archived URL: https://archive.is/7Wb8F

2015-09-24 South African Broadcasting Corporation - "Initiation school leaders urged to meet health requirements"

Excerpt:

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on initiation school members to be approved by community leaders. He was addressing hundreds of people at the National Heritage Day celebrations at the Ramokgopa Stadium, in Limpopo on Saturday.

He made the plea after the recent spate of deaths of young males due to botched circumcisions. Ramaphosa says that initiation school leaders must also meet health requirements.

URL: http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/088e250049f72af49640dfa53d9712f0/Initiation-school-leaders-urged-to-meet-health-requirements-20150924

2015-09-23 Daily Monitor - Editorial: Check forced circumcision

Excerpt:

We reported last week about the forced circumcision of 25 pupils from Oderai Primary School in Soroti Sub-county, Soroti District in eastern Uganda. The exercise, which targeted pupils of 11 and 15 years, is said to have been facilitated by a non-governmental organisation.

The exercise was a traumatic one for the pupils some of whom had adverse reactions to the circumcision. According to their parents, one pupil disappeared while another refused to return to school.

The Ministry of Education should intervene in this matter to establish how the school administration managed to overstep their mandate to the extent of sanctioning such a life-changing medical procedure on underage individuals without their parents’ consent.

In fact, the entire district administration should be investigated because the school head claimed she released the pupils due to the involvement of district medical workers.
The official claim is that the district workers were merely doing their duty as per a government programme sanctioned by the district. However, if there are complications arising from this exercise, ultimately it is the parents who will bear the cost of medical bills and emotional trauma.
...
The hurried way in which the circumcision of the Soroti pupils was done raises questions about the objectives of those who carried it out. Is this a district wide exercise that they intended to carry out in other schools? Authorities in the ministries of Health and Education should come out and pronounce themselves clearly on this exercise.

URL: http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/Editorial/Check-forced-circumcision/-/689360/2881298/-/rjd7hbz/-/index.html

2015-09-16 Daily Monitor (Uganda) - Baby loses penis during circumcision

Cite as: Basiime & Atuhaire (2015)  Baby loses penis during circumcision Daily Monitor 16 September 2015 Full-text available at http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Baby-loses-penis-during-circumcision/-/688334/2871830/-/9w2t1t/-/index.html Accessed: 28 October 2015. Archived by Bodily Autonomy Watch at http://bodilyautonomywatch.blogspot.com/2015/09/2015-09-16-daily-monitor-uganda-baby.html
 
Excerpt:

Kabarole. A six-months-old baby in Fort Portal has lost his penis during circumcision, a procedure his mother claims she never authorised.
Ms Rosette Katushabe, a resident of Rwengoma village in Fort Portal municipality, says her baby was on September 2 circumcised by a sheikh without her consent.
...
Previous cases
In 2013, a 44-year-old lost his penis to a botched male medical circumcision procedure in a private clinic in Kawempe Division, Kampala. The man said the circumcision was free, but he had to pay shs20,000 for the drugs. He said he woke up three hours after the procedure to find his penis stiff and was removed days later at Mulago hospital when it darkened and began peeling off.

Archived URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20151028042614/http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Baby-loses-penis-during-circumcision/-/688334/2871830/-/9w2t1t/-/index.html