Initiation is a time honoured African custom where a boy enters initiation school to be taught endurance and the basic societal roles a man is to play, however, it is also a time of worry for many because of the health risks involved with this rite of passage to manhood. Already the death toll for the current initiation season stands at 41 according to the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA). Why is it, that virtually every year teenage boys die or are mutilated during the initiation. To discuss this matter further, Bongiwe Zwane spoke to the minister of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Velenkosi Hlabisa.