Watch as The Citizen follows a young boy while he undergoes the traditional Ndebele initiation ceremony of Ingoma.
Mxolisi Skosana looks back after leaving his maternal grandparents home after the initiation process he and his friend Siyabonga took part in, 19 April 2022, Manyanga, near Groblersdal, Limpopo. Picture: Jacques Nelles
and went for a medical check-up to ensure his physical fitness, as part of the requirements of the male initiation guidelines. Noticing the teenager’s agitation, his uncles decide to put him at ease by helping him recite chants that form the basis of the passage to join the band of menfolk as part of his clan’s customs.His uncles’ occasional nods and pats on his back as he chants after them indicate they are impressed with his grasp of their teachings and that he is ready for the induction.
Mxolisi Skosana looks back after leaving his maternal grandparents home after the initiation process he and his friend Siyabonga took part in, 19 April 2022, Manyanga, near Groblersdal, Limpopo. Picture: Jacques Nelles A week earlier, The Citizen team joined Mxolisi and his fellow initiate Siyabonga, 16, as they travelled about 100Km to Manyanga in Limpopo to inform his maternal grandparents that he is going for initiation.
It is now a week later, and late in the afternoon. Almost all his village’s boys have been collected by their individual groups, and the singing has subsided but Mxolisi’s group has still not come for him, further adding to the boy’s anxiety.An hour later, the silence broken is by a faint singing coming closer and Mxolisi, who had been resting from intense chanting, springs to his feet and peeps over his kraal.
The people of Machiding village have lined up along their dusty street; bursting into cries of joy and relief as young men from initiation, wearing nothing except for covering their loins, slowly parade at sunrise. In April, days after the boys had departed for the rite passage, police reported the deaths of 10 initiates in the custom central to lives of many black South Africans, especially Xhosa, Ndebele and Pedi people in Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga and Limpopo.
He says those who were at school must go back and the same applies to those who are working, as nothing has changed other than that it is now expected of them to be more responsible. The last time this regiment went for the initiation was in 1963 and the first ever regiment of aMaphogo, amalinga amafu kaNyabela usoSenzani underwent the sacred rite of passage in 1835.This cohort was supposed to perfom the ritual last year but was disturbed by the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, with the next AmaPhogo expected to be inducted in 2081.
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