A homecoming party (Umgidi) was forced to be cut short after a family in East London found out that their son was allegedly gang-raped at the initiation school by other men.
The Grade 10 pupil who lives in Buffalo Flats was taken to hospital.
Police spokesperson warrant officer, Majola Nkohli said the police are investigating a case of rape.
The teenager’s aunt said she heard about the alleged violation on Sunday from her nephew.
He underwent the rite to manhood on 19 June.
The family gathered to welcome the young man back home on Sunday.
“We could see he was not well,” said the aunt.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”We took him to hospital thinking he was sick. When nurses raised flags that there was something wrong with him, he said he had been raped.”[/perfectpullquote]
The aunt said they took him to Empilweni Clinic but he was transferred to Cecilia Makhiwane Hospital and admitted in the early hours of Monday.
“It was him and a schoolmate in that initiation school. He said he had not told us sooner because those men had threatened to kill him,” said the aunt.
According to the family six men raped their son but the teenager has given them only two names of the perpetrators so far.
The aunt said that her nephew was traumatised and in pain.
“We opened a case on Monday, but no one has been arrested yet.”
Children’s rights activist, Petros Majola called for speedy arrests.
“What is worse in this scenario is that one who has been mentioned by this boy is a relative. How did he think of doing this?”
Majola called for the arrests of the traditional surgeon and nurses who were caring for the 16-year-old teenager at the school.
Eastern Cape co-operative governance and traditional affairs spokesperson, Mamkeli Ngam said they have received the news.
“Our monitoring teams working with the SAPS are following up on the matter,” he said.
