N Madlala-Routledge on behalf of M Mabuyakhulu: Launch of Kwamgaye
Traditional Administrative Centre

14 January 2006

Programme Director;
The Honourable Mayor of uGu District Municipality. Cllr S Cele;
The Honourable Mayor of uMzumbe Municipality, Cllr SM Zuma;
Ubukhosi BakwaChiliza, NesiZwe sonke;
Members of Parliament present;
Councillors present;
Izinduna present;
The Head of Department: Local Government and Traditional Affairs, Ms Gabi
Gumbi-Masilela;
Municipal Managers present;
Senior Managers present;
Officials from all spheres of government present;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies and gentlemen;
All protocol observed.

I would like to extend sincere and humble apologies on behalf of the MEC for
Local Government, Housing and Traditional Affairs, the Honourable Mike
Mabuyakhulu. He would have loved to be here today, but due to other pressing
engagements, he asked that I represent him. MEC Mabuyakhulu gave me this speech
to deliver to you on his behalf.

This being our first project launch and visit to this area in the new year,
kindly allow me to wish uBukhosi BakwaChiliza, Nesizwe sonke, a successful new
year filled with blessings. It is indeed appropriate that we begin the New Year
by launching an ambitious but groundbreaking initiative to restore the dignity
of our traditional leaders and improve the lives of our people in rural areas
like here KwaMgaye.

We meet here today just days after the passing away of one of our esteemed
progressive traditional leaders in the country, Inkosi Sigcau. I am sure we all
join the government of KwaZulu-Natal, in wishing the family strength during
this difficult period.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are indeed delighted to be among the people of
KwaMgaye today, to celebrate development by officially launching a ground
breaking programme to build traditional administrative centres (TACs) for
amakhosi that will offer variety of key essential services closer to
communities. This initiative is yet another example of our government’s
determination to develop our rural communities and to ensure that services
reach all our people. Our vision for Rural Development Programme is premised
upon, among other things, ensuring that we deliver projects that restore the
dignity of our traditional leaders.

Our government fully recognises the role of traditional leaders, including
the developmental role that many of our traditional leaders have been playing
since time immemorial. The system of apartheid undermined the existence of our
traditional system of governance and in places where it was recognised it was
only on the basis of extending their machinery and control. Our democratic
government took a position that the institution of traditional leadership must
play an important and meaningful role as part of the democratic system of
governance and contribute to the betterment of the lives of the people. To this
end government has finalised all the important policy positions regarding the
role and place of the institution of traditional leaders within a democratic
dispensation.

As government we see traditional leaders as partners in an effort to better
the condition that many of our rural communities live in. The concept of
building TACs for amakhosi, as we are doing here in KwaMgaye today, is borne
out of this principle. The reality is that many of our people especially those
in rural areas were deprived of access to information, basic services and
lacked infrastructure. This brought high levels of poverty and underdevelopment
among our rural communities. All of us, elected representatives and traditional
leaders, have the responsibility to turn this situation around and restore the
dignity of our people that was eroded by apartheid.

Through this programme being launched today, we hope to bring a better life
to our people in rural areas which are a cornerstone of our government policy.
From today what was known as traditional courts will be transformed into
expanded TACs, which aim to bring essential and vital government services
closer to communities.

Today we are announcing a R30 million programme over a three years period to
construct TACs that will also be linked to functional Multi-Purpose Community
Centres (MPCCs), in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal. This money will help build a
total of more than 10 modern TACs in other amakhosi areas in this financial
year. Like MPCCs the TAC is a one-stop facility that provides a hub of
activities that ensures a package of services required for a better life for
our communities, especially the poor.

The KwaMgaye TAC, which we are launching today will be constructed at a cost
of R1,5 million. The TAC programme entails the transformation of tribal courts
into centres of government activity. You will recall that in the past,
Amakhosi’s role was limited to resolving traditional disputes in the old tribal
courts. As a result, communities were often apprehensive about going to these
places.

The new TAC will serve as a primary vehicle for the implementation of
development communication and information. These new centres go beyond just
incorporating a tribal court and being an administrative seat for Inkosi and
his council. It will also offer communities access to government services and
expose people to information and communication technologies (ICTs) that they
can utilise to improve their lives. Parastatals and the business community will
be able to utilise these centres to empower communities.

A range of government services, including mobile clinic, pension points,
transport forums, communication and advice centres, social welfare, voting
stations, skills training, youth and women empowerment, home affairs to mention
but a few. In this way, communities are encouraged to go to these places and
improve the quality of their lives.

Through this programme of TACs we are ensuring that traditional leaders and
their councils perform their duties in modern centres befitting of their
status. We are also investing in community infrastructure, in line with our
Provincial priorities.

These TACs will serve as springboards for sustainable development of our
rural communities. The TACs are pursuant to our government objectives to
entrench participative democracy in all the spheres of our people’s lives,
irrespective of geographical location. Through the construction of these
centres we are trying as government to ensure that, as our people did in the
past, they become their own liberators from hunger, poverty, disease, ignorance
and underdevelopment.

Central also to this programme is the desire to employ labour-intensive
construction methods, as part of Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). As you
know, job creation and poverty alleviation are the cornerstone of government
policy. We are happy that during the construction period our women and the
youth will get job opportunities. They will also be trained on skills. This is
a good investment and a contribution to building a better life for our
communities.

Our target is to ensure that there is equity in the construction of TACs for
all amakhosi in the province. Although this may take a long time to achieve, it
is however our wish that each and every Inkosi in this province must have a
functional TAC. In KwaZulu-Natal, the provincial government has taken a
position to link the TAC to the multi-purpose community centre (MPCC) in order
to increase centres that render services closer to communities.

I wish to urge other government departments to make use of these facilities
so that we can jointly respond to the needs of our beloved citizens, in line
with citizens’ Charter launched by the Premier in November 2005.

Through the construction of TACs, the role of Amakhosi is enhanced as they
are increasingly becoming development agents. This is in line with what is
envisaged by the new Traditional Leadership and Governance Act, passed by the
Government recently.

The new Act provides a window of opportunity that provides a framework for a
synergistic partnership between traditional leaders and the democratically
elected organs of the state. We must resist attempts that seek to pose the two
structures as competitive and antagonistic. Progressive minded South Africans
will understand that the developmental challenges ahead of us can only be met
by a functional developmental state, supported by all social formations like
ward committees and the institution of traditional Leadership. The goal of
uniting all our people to achieve a better life for all is more important to
this government than anything else.

The fundamental purpose of constructing TACs is to improve the lives of our
rural communities who are subjects of amakhosi. Today we are witnessing the
fruits of our people’s struggle to be a better nation, to be a nation without
poverty, hunger and underdevelopment. As government we will continue to improve
the lives of our communities that were conveniently forgotten by the previous
dispensation. We will continue to ensure through the construction of TACs and
MPCCs that our rural areas are not relegated to backwaters of development and
information technology. Our department will continue to provide all the
necessary support to ensure that these centres function effectively and develop
our communities.

We want to take this opportunity to congratulate the Mgaye Traditional
Community for this facility that will positively contribute to changing life
for the better. It is my understanding that through the experience and
expertise of IDT, this structure will be built from April 2006 and be ready for
occupation at the end of the year. We hope to be invited back to this community
when the structure is up and running.

Without any doubt the construction of the TAC here will turn this KwaMgaye
community into a vibrant success. This is a beginning of a new future.

We congratulate the people of KwaMgaye whose lives will be fundamentally
improved through the construction of this centre.

I thank you.

Issued by: Ministry of Health
14 January 2006