The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs will from next week solicit input from South Africans on the Customary Initiation Bill.

The committee will undertake public hearings throughout the country on the Bill, starting in Port Elizabeth on Monday. The public hearings are intended to put meaning into Parliament’s the constitutional obligation to ensure public participation in legislation-making.

The Customary Initiation Bill is intended to, among other things:

• Provide for the effective regulation of customary initiation practices;
• Provide for the establishment of a National Initiation Oversight Committee (NIOC) and Provincial Initiation Coordinating Committees (PICCs) and their functions;
• Delineate responsibilities, roles and functions of various role players involved in initiation practices or its governance aspects; and
• Provide for effective regulation of initiation schools.