MISC NOTES
Desmond Tutu
As I write, there is great concern about the health of Desmond Tutu who is receiving treatment in hospital for long-standing prostate cancer. As General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches, Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, and he was Archbishop of Cape Town, the leading position in the Anglican Church, from 1986 to 1996. He is in the ranks of Nelson Mandela, as a tireless and effective fighter for human rights, particularly in the dark days of apartheid, and he has not been afraid to criticise the post 1994 government.
Traditional initiation rituals
Every year, thousands of young African male teenagers go “into the bush” for 2 to 4 weeks for elaborate ceremonies to mark their entrance to manhood, a central part of the ritual being circumcision. Government does try to regulate these rituals, but there are many unregistered initiation schools, with 150 being shutdown this year alone. Many operators are unskilled, and work with unhygienic equipment, leading (this year alone) to 32 deaths and 150 hospitalised, mainly among the Xhosa in the Eastern Cape. Government officials regard this as a delicate matter, not wishing to interfere too harshly in “traditional matters”. (ANC has overwhelming support among the less educated rural population, who are more wedded to “tradition”). No wonder that a book on circumcision has been called The Unkindest Cut.
Homo Naledi
I was delighted to find South Africa in the international headlines, for a very positive reason; the discovery of a new, hominid ancestor, at “The Cradle of Mankind “ (40 km north of Johannesburg) aroused worldwide interest and not only among palaeontologists. The elaborate ritual burials have caused much speculation
