Children's Bill: Inconsistent
The NCOP has approved the first section of the Children’s Bill and after reading the article it seems like another bill that will be passed without proper thought going through it.
The bill does a number of things (like set up a national sex offenders database) designed to protect children. It also has banned circumcision for boys under the age of 16 unless done for medical or religous reasons. Note that cultural justification is not included. That is if you have your child circumcised because it is a long cultural tradition you can go to jail, but if you do it because the Bible/Koran/Flying Spaghetti Monster said so then that’s okay. Not the most consistent law is it?
How traditional cultural circumcision amongst the Xhosa/Zulu will be affected by this I can’t say. I suspect that 16 year age limit will allow it to carry on as per normal. This will also be a very hard law to enforce. Xhosa/Zulu initiation camps usually take place in rural areas (or in bushland close to urban areas) and I can’t see the police running from hut to hut checking ID documents of initiates.
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