Incensed villagers circumcised a bogus 'healer' who illegally carried out the operation on 21 teenage boys in South Africa.

The man was confronted after they learned he had not undergone the procedure, which is considered a rite of passage in many societies.

It was not the first time he had been outed as uncircumcised, according to Nkozazana Malable from Nqanda village in the Eastern Cape.

Villagers then took matters into their own hands and forcibly removed his foreskin.

A rural area of South Africa's Eastern Cape, where hundreds of boys have died after being circumcised

Male circumcision is one of the most commonly performed procedures in Africa and some 30,000 boys undergo the traditional initiation into manhood every year.

Youths typically spend weeks living in temporary shelters with minimal sleep, food and water ahead of the ceremony.

But hundreds of those who have the operation die following complications or botched attempts by unqualified doctors.

In the Eastern Cape and Limpopo provinces at least 419 boys have died since 2008 and more than 456,000 initiates have been hospitalised with complications.