"Police don’t [act] because in many cases they don’t want to be seen to be going against dominant cultural practices, but also because they don’t see this as something which is urgent. So consequently they think after the outcry it will go away.”
In Gasa’s view, police inaction on the matters of both ukuthwala abductions and circumcision deaths often comes down to a belief that these issues “fall into a cultural sphere which falls beyond their scope of influence”.


“Education is the only way that things will change,” Hamman-Doucakis says. She points to organisations in the Eastern Cape that carry out workshops with parents about the provisions of the Children’s Act, and suggests that this type of intervention is essential.
Gasa says it comes down to the state. “The state is a custodian of minors where parents have proven not to be capable,” she says. “The state and its institutions have a responsibility to ensure all children are protected.”