second sitting of the Third Democratic Mpumalanga Provincial House of
Traditional Leaders, Nelspruit
10 March 2006
Honourable chairperson of the House,
Esteemed majesties, the kings and chiefs of our people,
Impiyezintombi Mzimela, National Chairperson,
Honourable members of the House,
Bayete! Zingonyama naMakhosi aseMpumalanga
Once again we are privileged to stand before you, to join this august body
as it commences yet another year of work to take our province forward, the
second sitting of the Third Democratic Mpumalanga Provincial House of
Traditional Leaders.
Chairperson, allow me on behalf of government, to salute all our chiefs for
the valuable work and co-operation they continue to display in the quest to
improve the lot of the previously marginalised and neglected rural communities
of our province.
Honourable Members, on this occasion last year, we joined this province in
mourning the untimely passing on of the King of AmaNdebele wakwa Ndzundza, King
Mayisha III, a week before. Almost in challenge to the timeless wisdom that
lightning does not strike twice in one place, we again within a month mourned
yet another death in the Ndzundza Royal family, with the death of Prince
Senzangakhona James Mahlangu, the Chief of isigodlo sakwa Ndzundza Mabusa, who
was himself once the Director of Traditional Affairs in the Premierâs office in
the province.
To convey our words of sympathy to the constituency of traditional
leadership in the province from this platform, we must pay tribute to his life
by recognising that he was among the trail blazers of patriotic leadership
among our traditional leaders to hail from this region in the contemporary
period. His legacy within AmaNdebele wakwa Ndzundza must live on.
May I also take this opportunity to convey our sincere sympathies to the
Royal family of Chief KW Mahlangu. Chairperson, it could not be that our quest
to reconstruct the memory of who the people of this region are, we would
succeed without foregrounding our traditional communities and the leadership
that is gathered here today. This leadership and communities profile not only
our cultural diversity as a province, but most importantly our history,
pre-colonial and the resistance to colonialisation.
This history is our collective story, both the colonised and the colonisersâ
descendants, and must be told without accentuating sentiments about which side
of this story we come from. To do so will be missing the point. As Professor
Peter Delius argues in the researched heritage report, while it is true that
the relationships between the Boers and African Chiefdoms were deeply
conflictual and often violent, it is not the complete story. There is evidence
in abundance of profound patterns of inter-dependence which many historians
have shied from.
To understand our heritage in perspective also means that we must highlight
that, âBoers depended on Africans for their understanding of the problems and
possibilities of local environments and traded with them for much of their
grain supplies. White hunters relied heavily on black hunters in order to
exploit game in disease ridden regions. Some Boers, faced with the perennial
human hazards of death and disease, turned to African herbalists and diviners
for help and some probably also sought to harness the malevolent power of
witchcraft for their own ends. In the early years of settlement communities
such as the Buys Volk, which were shaped by inter-marriage and thorough going
forms of cultural fusion, were a critical component of frontier settler
society. Their existence also reminds us that diverse forms of inter-racial
sexual relationships, ranging from the coercive to the consensual, formed
important undercurrents in this worldâ.
Honourable Chairperson, our traditional leaders and communities are renowned
for being the repository of the lingering memory of the glorious story of
valour in the resistance wars to colonialism, including the very last of these
wars, the âBambata Rebellionâ, whose centenary we celebrate this year.
However, as Professor Peter Delius explains, there is also a more complex
dimension to this history, which is that, âBoer military power was always
buttressed by Black clients and allies and in several instances they were
unable to prevail without calling on the military capacity of powerful African
Kingdoms (they were allied to). This fact points to a further reality, which
was that race was far from being the determining factor in patterns of
political alliance. Boers made alliances with some African societies against
others. (The fact of the divided resistance to colonialisation by African
Kingdoms is a common theme in our history.) Equally important, the history of
the region shows that African leaders saw white settlers as simply one of a
number of threats that they had to counter, and quite often regarded other
African societies as more serious rivals and a greater source of danger to
them.â
Chairperson, honourable members, we raise these observations here, indeed to
sponsor a lively debate around our heritage, because it is only from the
interrogation of this factual history that the challenge of nation-building can
be abetted. It is only from a common understanding of our journey through
history, that we can appreciate why we must be united in our diversity.
As government, we are committed to continue forging closer developmental
relations with you as traditional leaders, your institutions and your people in
order to ensure that the people in your areas also have the possibility to
participate in the processes of socio-economic development to which we are all
committed.
We are all agreed that government, at whatever level, is there to serve the
needs and aspirations of our people. All of us, you as leaders by birthright
and ourselves as elected representatives should regard ourselves as âservantsâ
charged with looking after the welfare and best interests of the people who
have placed their trust in us.
We are sure that you are quite aware of the high premium that this
government places on the institution of traditional leadership and the high
regard that we have for your contribution to society. We do so because of our
conviction that as traditional leaders you have a critical role to play in our
integrated rural development programme.
Chairperson, it is for this reason that we are excited by the continuing
work of the Commission of Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims. This
Commission, which deals with disputes that have torn apart many royal families
for many years, must once and for all settle disputes of lineage and
succession. The commission has already visited the Nkangala Region to deal with
the issue of a Kingship. We are awaiting the commissionâs decision on the
matter. Let me call upon the communities and royal families to give all the
necessary support to members of the commission.
Chairperson, Honourable Members, on the 14 December 2005, I assented to the
Mpumalanga Traditional Leadership and Governance Bill, 2005, and the Mpumalanga
Provincial House and Local Houses of Traditional Leaders Bill, 2005. I wish to
take this opportunity to thank all those who participated in the process
towards the enactment of these Bills, in particular Members of this House.
These two pieces of legislation will cement the rehabilitation and
transformation of the institution of traditional leadership, and also round off
the evolution of the new system of local government in those areas where
traditional communities still exist.
Honourable members, after broad consultation it has been agreed that these
two acts be brought into operation on the 1 April 2006, to allow for work
around challenges which were not sufficiently provided for, including among
others, procedures to be followed in electing the other 40% of members of
traditional councils who must come from ordinary residents, as stipulated by
law. This national intervention was thought to be necessary to also allow other
provinces to benefit from the KwaZulu-Natal pilot. Quite evidently there is now
an appreciation of a need for the MEC to promulgate regulations that will
provide guidelines on several challenges pertaining to the rolling out of these
Acts.
As a result of this intervention by the Department of Provincial and Local
Government (DPLG), it has been agreed that all provinces must have the proposed
Traditional Councils in place by the end of July 2006, and the Traditional
Local Houses in place by the end of September 2006.
In order to ensure that the Traditional Councils are capacitated to
successfully execute their new duties and functions, capacity building
programmes will be rolled out from April 2006. The Department of Local
Government and Housing has set aside an amount of R1 million for this
purpose.
An amount of R2.3 million has been earmarked for logistical support to
traditional councils for the performance of their duties. R6.7 million has been
set aside for salaries and benefits of traditional leaders, and a budget for
infrastructure such as offices is still being negotiated.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Department of Local Government and Housing has
started with public hearings on the Ingoma Bill. Let me appeal to the aMakhosi
to encourage their communities to attend these hearings and make inputs.
Chairperson, the Mpumalanga House of Traditional Leaders is the only one in
the country that has a committee that deals specifically with issues of women,
youth and children. Your participation in the sixteen days of activism of no
violence against women and children campaign, is laudable. Let us remember that
we cannot honestly say our democracy is complete if we still abuse our spouses
and our children and if we do not give the necessary support to our youth. The
future that we are building now is not ours but belongs to our children.
Moral Regeneration
Traditional Leaders should continue playing a role in the moral regeneration
movement. We cannot afford to have a community that is degenerating in morals,
especially amongst our youth. We have a responsibility as parents and as
leaders to make sure that we do not fail our children by not guiding them
through the turbulence of their youthful lives. We have to politely teach them
about the importance of respect, especially self-respect and the respect of
others. We cannot abdicate our responsibilities as leaders and as parents.
Chairperson, as Government we have always contended that the bulk of
responsibility for the delivery of services must reside at the level of local
government. It is this sphere of government, which is the closest to our
communities on the ground and, thus has the duty to deliver such services that
directly affect the citizenry in their daily lives.
Water, electricity, roads, sanitation and refuse removal are services that
can make an immediate and positive impact on the lives of our people. This is
why local government is so important and all of us have a duty to support the
relevant structures in performing their functions. Government is determined to
make local government work better.
We have identified a number of municipalities that need intense, hands-on
support, which is why we assembled and deployed high-calibre teams to work with
municipalities to tackle the problems they face. As Government we will ensure
more resources and trained personnel are provided for local government. Audits
are being conducted of the skills that each municipality needs, and a programme
will be introduced to train councillors and staff, and to employ more competent
managers and technicians.
I need to add that in the past five years local governments have achieved
much in rolling back decades of neglect. The results of last weekâs elections,
is a clear indication that the people have chosen to be an active part in
governmentâs plan to make local government work better for all South Africans.
Because of the experience government has gained, and because of our
achievements, we have been able to set practical and realisable targets in
meeting the basic needs of our people. We stand by our commitment to ensure
that no community will still be using the bucket system for sanitation by 2007;
that all communities will have access to clean water and decent sanitation by
2010; and that all houses will have access to electricity by 2012. That is a
promise we will keep.
It is important that we all become agents of change and adopt the principled
position that we shall serve the people. In our discussions we must frankly and
honestly talk about the enormous progress we have achieved over the last 11
years. But we must also acknowledge that we will still have to do a great deal
of work before we succeed to eradicate poverty, unemployment, homelessness,
disease, ignorance, crime and under-development in our communities.
On behalf of the government and people of Mpumalanga I wish you a fruitful
session and declare the Second Sitting of the Third Democratic Mpumalanga House
of Traditional Leaders open.
I thank you.
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Mpumalanga Provincial Government
10 March 2006
