Pictures of Ritual Circumcision Injuries & Fatalities

nnv01 · #1 ● 07-20-2014, 01:22 PM

Every single initiation season the media writes about complications accompanying the ritual of Traditional Circumcision and Initiation into Manhood. The magnitude of these complications is horrific, from 1995 until today 888 young men have lost their lives in the mountains and hills of the Eastern Cape. Many others were mutilated or even lost their manhood.

Winter 2012.
"Groups of young boys with white faces were brought out of a secret dark world into glaring hospital lights. Sunken eyes from dehydration, flaky skin from malnourishment, bagged eyes from sleep deprivation. Frequently you would smell the rotting when they were walking past. I spend many hours cleaning their wounds, struggling to insert urinary catheters in their botched penises, battling to explain 17-year-olds that they had lost their manhood." Dingeman Rijken, Dutch Doctor

Poor aseptic practices lead to transmission of diseases such as HIV and hepatitis B. One single traditional spear is commonly used to circumcise all initiates without intermediate sterilization. Washing the foreskin (and applying an antiseptic) prior to the procedure reduces the wound infection risk, however this is rarely practiced.

Usually the traditional surgeon will either pull the foreskin or stretch it over his thumb after which he severs it. Often the foreskin is ‘chopped’ rather then excised, resulting in a higher number of surgical complications. This is further aggravated by alcohol and substance abuse by the traditional surgeon during the procedure.

Surgical complications are excessive bleeding, ragged and/or asymmetrical circumcision wounds, excessive removal of skin (leaving large wounds that are prone to infection), and failure to remove the foreskin entirely.

These selected photographs were taken in various health institutions in the Eastern Cape during 2012 and 2013. They illustrate the magnitude of the problem faced by medical practitioners during the initiation.

The ritual was traditionally regarded as a teaching institution to prepare boys for the responsibilities of manhood. However excessive emphasis is now placed on circumcision and physical ordeal, with much of the educational aspect being diminished.

South African prosecutors have filed charges against 23 people, including Doctors and Surgeons, in the deaths of 31 young men in the Mpumalanga province. Most victims were between 10-15 years old.