{"id":33804,"date":"2023-09-18T11:28:10","date_gmt":"2023-09-18T11:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fokothi-students-missing-after-initiation-ritual"},"modified":"2023-09-18T12:05:49","modified_gmt":"2023-09-18T12:05:49","slug":"fokothi-students-missing-after-initiation-ritual","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fokothi-students-missing-after-initiation-ritual","title":{"rendered":"Fokothi students missing after initiation ritual"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>TWO Lerotholi Polytechnic students are missing after attending a ritual in the Mohokare river, school authorities said on Monday. The students have been missing since last Thursday.<\/p>\n

Lerotholi Polytechnic, also known as Fokothi, has become notorious for the deaths of first-year students who are forced to participate in induction rituals by fellow students.<\/p>\n

The initiation rituals involve forcing first year students to carry out risky tasks and enduring pain or harm to test their feistiness. The first-year students are sometimes forced to consume copious amounts of drugs and alcohol.<\/p>\n

At least six students have reportedly died as a direct result of the forced \u201cinitiations\u201d over the years. In 2018, the body of 21-year-old Rethabile Mosito was discovered at the institution\u2019s football pitch in the early hours of 21 July the same year.<\/p>\n

He was the sixth student to die since 2009 as a result of the students\u2019 initiation culture. On Monday, the school announced that two students had gone missing after attending a \u201chazing\u201d ritual.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was brought to the attention of the management on Sunday 21 February 2021 that two Lerotholi Polytechnic students have been missing from Thursday 18 February 2021,\u201d the school\u2019s Monday circular said.<\/p>\n

The school said preliminary investigations had revealed that the duo was part of the group of students who attended a \u201chazing ritual\u201d in the Mohokare river on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cFamilies of the missing students have been informed about their disappearance and the cases have been reported to the police,\u201d the school said.<\/p>\n

The school said the police were now investigating the disappearance. Police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Mpiti Mopeli said they were yet to find any leads.<\/p>\n

Due to the trend of students going missing and others dying at the institution, Snr Supt Mopeli said the police have previously visited the school during its orientation ceremonies to advise students against participating in the hazing rituals.<\/p>\n

He said in the past when police officers have guarded the river to deter students from conducting their rituals, the activities have been taken to other locations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have tried advising the students against participating in hazing rituals.<\/p>\n

We have also left our contact details for students so that they can report such activities but we have never received any reports. It is therefore, difficult to control,\u201d Snr Supt Mopeli said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. TWO Lerotholi Polytechnic students are missing after attending a ritual in the Mohokare river, school authorities said on Monday. The students have been missing since last Thursday. Lerotholi Polytechnic, also known as Fokothi, has become notorious for the deaths of first-year students who are forced to participate in induction rituals by fellow […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":33802,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[233,246,245,271],"class_list":["post-33804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho","tag-school"],"yoast_head":"\nFokothi students missing after initiation ritual - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"TWO Lerotholi Polytechnic students are missing after attending a ritual in the Mohokare river, school authorities said o ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fokothi-students-missing-after-initiation-ritual\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fokothi students missing after initiation ritual\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"TWO Lerotholi Polytechnic students are missing after attending a ritual in the Mohokare river, school authorities said o ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fokothi-students-missing-after-initiation-ritual\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-09-18T11:28:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-09-18T12:05:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/09\/sm_1695026035.896575.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"471\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"240\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fokothi-students-missing-after-initiation-ritual#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fokothi-students-missing-after-initiation-ritual\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Fokothi students missing after initiation ritual\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-18T11:28:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-18T12:05:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fokothi-students-missing-after-initiation-ritual\"},\"wordCount\":394,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fokothi-students-missing-after-initiation-ritual#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/09\/sm_1695026035.896575.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\",\"School\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fokothi-students-missing-after-initiation-ritual#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fokothi-students-missing-after-initiation-ritual\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fokothi-students-missing-after-initiation-ritual\",\"name\":\"Fokothi students missing after initiation ritual - 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