Welkom - An illegal initiation school owner and his assistant have been arrested in Welkom after an initiate died in their care, Free State police said on Wednesday.
Six other initiates were taken to hospital for treatment after police followed up on a complaint about the school.
“The police rushed to the scene and found an unknown man lying under a tree covered with a blanket. The emergency personnel were contacted to the scene. Upon their arrival they tried to help the victim but it was already too late,” police spokesman Stephen Thakeng said.
The man, 34, was declared dead on the scene by paramedics.
The two men who were arrested were charged with murder and “failure to comply with the Act of the Initiation Schools”, Thakeng said.
They were expected to appear in court on Friday.
African News Agency