Customary Initiation Act, 2021 (Act No. 2 of 2021)Chapter 5 : General Provisions33. Offences |
| (1) | Any person who— |
| (a) | holds a non-registered initiation school or is involved in any initiation practices at such non-registered initiation school; |
| (b) | accepts at any initiation school, whether registered or not, an initiate who is under the age of 16; or |
| (c) | accepts an initiate at an initiation school or is involved in any initiation practices at such initiation school without having received the required medical certificate or consent contemplated in section 28(1) and (3), is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding 15 years or to both a fine and such imprisonment. |
| (2) | A person who forces any person to attend an initiation school or who forges any consent or consent form as contemplated in section 28 or obtains such consent by means of duress, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding 10 years or to both a fine and such imprisonment. |
| (3) | Any traditional surgeon who is not registered, whether in accordance with the provisions of section 41 of this Act or in terms of the Traditional Health Practitioners Act, but performs duties at an initiation school, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years or to both a fine and such imprisonment, or to any relevant fine or imprisonment as may be provided for in terms of the Traditional Health Practitioners Act. |
| (4) | Any— |
| (a) | principal, care-giver, traditional health practitioner or, subject to subsection (3), traditional surgeon, including any substitute contemplated in section 15(11), who does not meet any requirements provided for in this Act or determined in terms of this Act, or falsely pretends to meet such requirements; or |
| (b) | principal who contravenes section 27(2), is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding three years or to both a fine and such imprisonment. |
| (5) | Any person who is involved in any initiation practices or any of the structures provided for in this Act and fails to disclose the information referred to in section 2(5)(a) and (b), is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding three years or to both a fine and such imprisonment. |
| (6) | Any alleged offences relating to— |
| (a) | the death of an initiate; |
| (b) | the abduction or kidnapping of an initiate; |
| (c) | male or female circumcision, genital mutilation or virginity testing as part of initiation practices; |
| (d) | the abuse of initiates; |
| (e) | the use, possession, supply or manufacturing of liquor or drugs or dealing in liquor or drugs by an initiate or any other person involved in initiation; or |
| (f) | the involvement of a medical practitioner at an initiation school, must be dealt with in terms of the offence clauses provided for in the Criminal Procedure Act, the Children’s Act, the Health Professions Act, the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act or the Liquor Act, as the case may be. |
| (7) | Subject to subsection (6), if any principal, care-giver or traditional surgeon does not arrange medical attention for an initiate as contemplated in section 21(5) or 23(3), such principal, care-giver or traditional surgeon is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding three years, or to both a fine and such imprisonment. |
| (8) | If— |
| (a) | any principal does not comply with the provisions of section 21(9) and (10), section 26(4) or section 29(3)(c); |
| (b) | any parents or legal or customary guardian of an initiate fails to disclose the information contemplated in section 22(1)(d), (e) or (f); or |
| (c) | any traditional surgeon fails to comply with the provisions of section 23(1)(b), such principal, parents, legal or customary guardian, or traditional surgeon, as the case may be, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year or to both a fine and such imprisonment. |
| (9) | If any initiation activity was declared not to be illegal as contemplated in the proviso to section 15(1)(i), but found to be illegal following the investigation by the SAPS, the principal who made the declaration and any other person who authorised, arranged or supervised such illegal activity may be prosecuted in terms of the provisions of the relevant law. |
| (10) | A PICC must, in respect of any principal, care-giver, traditional surgeon or any other person involved in initiation who has been convicted of an offence as contemplated in this section, enter the details of such conviction in the database referred to in section 15(2). |