AN 11-year-old pupil was dragged into a school toilet at break time and brutally circumcised by four older boys as he screamed in agony.

The shocking incident has rocked South Africa after three stronger pupils pinned the victim down while the fourth forcibly removed his shorts.

Horrific looking blades used in circumcision often illegally which can lead to gangrene and sepsis and death often used by untrained "surgeons".The common tools used for circumcisions in tribal initiation Credit: wvi.org Sinqobile Primary School where an 11-year-old pupil was brutally circumcised against his will at breaktime by four older and stronger pupils in South AfricaThe brutal attack happened at Sinqobile Primary School, 30 miles north of Pretoria Credit: sinqobileprimary.co.za

Then the elder boy tied a ribbon tight around his penis and produced a sharp blade and without anesthetic sliced off the pupil’s foreskin.

The distraught boy was warned not to tell anybody what happened and left to sit in the cubicle and try and stop the horrific bleeding.

The Grade 5 pupil who was brutalised at Sinqobile Primary School in Soshanguve township 30 miles north of Pretoria limped back home.

South African Police said he was too terrified of violent threats by the older boys to tell his teacher or his mother and suffered in silence.

Several days later his mother, aged 40, noticed her son was walking in a “strange way” but he told her it was “fashionable new way of walking”.

In the morning her son who was still in agony could not get out of bed for school and finally he told her “something happened” at his school.

The distraught mother, from Tshwane, who refused to be named to protect her son’s identity, said: “He wouldn’t tell me what had happened.”

“He then showed me his swollen private parts and I rushed him to the doctor and it was then that we learned 4 pupils had circumcised him.

“He said the other boys pinned him down in the school toilets during break and tied a red ribbon round his penis and cut off his foreskin.

“My son said they were Grade 7 pupils and threatened to beat him up if he dared tell anyone. I have now opened a criminal case” she said.

The mother refused to allow her son to go back to school but the police persuaded him to go back to pick out the four boys at an identity parade.

Police spokeswoman Captain Tintswalo Sibeko said: “A case of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm is being fully investigated.

“Our Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit are investigating and no arrests have been made at this stage” she said.

Gauteng Department of Education spokesman Onwabile Lubhelwana said that the school had not reported any similar circumcision attacks.

He said: “This matter is under investigation by the South African Police Service and the outcome will determine the action we take”.

Deputy school principal George Mahlungu said: “We are perplexed by what happened.”

“This school is a place where a child should be safe”.

The school has 2050 pupils aged seven to 15 and has an excellent record but the mother says her son is now too traumatised to return to lessons.

The doctor revealed to the distraught mother that the circumcision procedure was done in the same fashion as tribal initiation schools.

He said there were no stiches after the foreskin was removed but said that a full diagnosis can’t be given until the swelling goes down.

Social media lit up with news of the horrific attack on the boy with Patricia Mogotlane writing: “It’s attempted murder.”

“This poor boy could have bled to death”.

Sibusiso Sindane said: “The older boys should face the full might of the law and be charged as adults.” “

“Circumcision can only be done by experienced people not schoolboys and with the consent of the boy and his parents”.

South African tribal initiation schools hit the headlines earlier this week when it was revealed 43 boys died after being circumcised in a recent ceremony.

Some of the gruesome circumcision tools that police recovered from illegal initiation schools that have been used on teenagers.

A freshly sharpened traditional circumcision tool awaits a teenage initiate about to have his foreskin removed in the traditional annual ceremony in South AfricaTools used in the Ulwaluko, a traditional initiation ceremony, are commonly rusty and crudely made Credit: Jamie Pyatt News Ltd Sign detailing the vision, mission, rules, and regulations of Sinqobile Primary School.The wounded boy was too terrified to speak up to his teachers and mother about the attack Credit: Facebook

They include eye-watering rusty spears, scissors, razor blades and crudely made cutting tools inflicting life-ending injuries on some boys and mutilation.

Thousands of boys endure the traditional initiation ceremony known as Ulwaluko twice a year in summer and winter schools in South Africa.

But there are illegal schools that use untrained “surgeons” to carry out brutal and unsafe circumcisions which lead to gangrene, sepsis and death.

In 2025 some 93 boys died in agony and there were 11 amputations for some boys who survived and in this year’s first ceremony in July 43 more boys died.

The Government legally license most initiation schools which use fully trained medical experts with approved medical care which are far safer for the initiates.

This year South African police clamped down on the illegal schools often run by criminals shutting down 42 of them with 40 arrests and rescuing 180 boys.

The twice yearly Ulwaluko ceremonies mark the passage of a rite of boys to manhood allowing them to sit in on tribal meetings and to marry.

The 11-year-old attacked at school was circumcised in the traditional method used at initiation schools but it is not know what tool was used to maim him.

There is no suggestion any of the tools shown here were used on the terrified primary school boy but they are examples of illegal tools recovered by police.