The impact of COVID-19 and government mitigation regulations on attending customary initiation schools in South Africa

Abstract

Initiations in South Africa ordinarily take place in June and December every year. However, initiations were suspended in March 2020 when South Africa went on national lockdown necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic. The ban on initiations was only applicable at alert level two and five. At alert level one, the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (“COGTA”) issued a statement stating that initiations would remain suspended in an attempt to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and to save the lives of initiates. However, the Eastern Cape Province was an exception because initiation conductors made submissions to COGTA that they would comply with all health protocol measures. This paper evaluates the South African government’s legislative and regulatory response to the Covid-19 pandemic – especially in the context of customary practices such as initiation. In order to undertake an evaluation of the government’s legislative and regulatory response to the pandemic, the paper considers the following aspects: (1) which measures were put in place to regulate initiation schools; (2) were the measures due to governmental regulation or did initiation school conductors simply recognise the need to prevent the spread of Covid-19 by shutting down initiation schools; and (3) more importantly, what are the constitutional implications (if any) of the government’s legislative and regulatory response to the Covid-19 pandemic in terms of prohibiting initiation. The paper concludes that the government adopted far-reaching measures to prevent the spread of the Covid-19. These measures involved a restriction on the right to participate in cultural initiation. However, in a national state of disaster such as has been the case with the Covid-19, these measures are justifiable limitations of the right to enjoy cultural initiation.