Chairperson of the House, Honourable Members of the House of Traditional Leaders,
Esteemed Traditional Leaders of our province,
Executive Mayors and Mayors of municipalities,
Honourable Councilors,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen.
Good evening.
Tomorrow, the 7th September 2012, the Premier of the province, Mr Cassel Mathale will be officially opening the first session of the fourth Provincial House of Traditional Leaders at Homu Traditional Council. It is indeed an honour for me to be addressing you on the eve of such an important day. As you know, we share with traditional leaders a fundamental responsibility of improving the lives of our people.
What is well documented is that traditional leaders have sacrificed much in their fight to lead us where we stand in our own country today. And if I were to go down memory lane and reflect on the participation of traditional leaders in the struggle against apartheid and colonialism, we will spend the whole night here and leave from this Dinner to the main event tomorrow.
The role that traditional leaders played in the struggle for freedom cannot be overemphasised. Among them is the iconic Chief Albert Luthuli who went on to win in 1960 the Nobel Peace Prize for his sterling revolutionary work for the liberation of our masses. From the moment of colonial occupation, traditional leaders have been at the forefront of the struggle against dispossession, subjugation, oppression and discrimination. It is traditional leaders who were very central in the creation of the African National Congress in 1912 and have been prominent among the leaders of the different formations of liberation movement.
It is for this reason that the African National Congress’ (ANC) recognition of traditional leadership is unwavering and supported in all fronts.
Programme director
These were difficult years to say the least, but traditional leaders have been taking up the cause of their people, speaking out boldly against the sheer injustices that have been perpetrated against the communities they lead. These gallant efforts by our forebears in advancing the course of struggle and liberation of our people must be appreciated by all of us.
The system of traditional leadership predates colonial period because it was a legitimate organ of governance that was practised by African societies with no influence from the European culture. Leaders such as Sekhukhune, Makhado and Nghunghunyane, Maleboho and Mokopane fought valiantly against the many colonial attempts to subjugate them, occupy their land and eradicate their system of governance and authority. They indeed played a monumental role.
In recognising the role played by the traditional leadership, this democratic government established the House of Traditional Leaders which is guaranteed by the Supreme law of the land, the Constitution. It is this House that has an official mandate to ensure preservation of ethos, values and norms of our African traditions and culture. We must through this House ensure that we influence government policies to conform with and not leave out our traditional and cultural values. We must be relentless in maintaining and promoting moral regeneration amongst communities which was destroyed by the apartheid system of colonialism.
Programme director,
The official opening of the House tomorrow, says to all of us that we must celebrate the triumph of our forebears. It should also say to us that colonialism and apartheid are gone but their legacies remain. We should know that our enemies are no longer colonialism and apartheid but unemployment, poverty and economic inequality among other things. Without fear or favour, we must put all our hands to the pump in confronting these scourges that daily torment our people.
The opening of the House tomorrow further says to all of us that we must continue to mobilise our communities around social developmental agenda of government and society at large. The daunting task of providing free basic services can only be completed through partnerships and cooperation with all stakeholders including traditional leaders. We believe these partnerships will immensely contribute towards the credibility and integrity of our planning processes.
The question and a challenge for us all, is to continuously influence the Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) of municipalities. Traditional leaders should continue to ensure that their authorities do participate in both the planning and development of IDPs in municipalities affecting their areas of jurisdiction.
This is the only way in which we can jointly succeed in pushing back the frontiers of poverty in rural areas. We want to take this opportunity to thank those traditional leaders in our province who are actively participating in the governance of their municipal areas, either as elected public representatives or as traditional leaders of the people.
As government continues its delivery of services to our people, traditional leaders do play a meaningful contribution, in for example, the identification of beneficiaries for free basic services and social grants. By beneficiaries we mean deserving beneficiaries with compelling cases whose conditions cannot be postponed for another day.
This will go a long way as all our programmes are geared towards social upliftment of our people and pushing back the frontiers of poverty and underdevelopment. We need to work together on this important aspect. We must never condone wrong things to be done to our people in front of our eyes such as the identification of wrong people who must benefit from government services.
We implore our traditional leaders to be supportive of development initiatives in their areas, and not be perceived as stumbling blocks of development especially by refusing to allocate land for infrastructure development. Our role is to support the initiatives of all tiers of government.
If for instance, a municipality requires land for development to build houses, establish shopping complexes and other infrastructural developments that will create employment and eradicate poverty in communities, we must allocate land with no strings attached.Our people will benefit through job creation in those localities and there shall be houses, water and electricity provided through such developments. If we do so, our people will celebrate your existence knowing that our leadership is hard at work to create a better life for all.
Programme director,
Throughout the country, we are one province that works well with our Traditional Leaders. At the very foundation of all our achievements is the unprecedented cordial and collaborative relationship that has developed between government and the traditional leadership in this province.
There is no doubt in my mind that you will bear testimony to this statement. Our intention is to sustain this relationship and even elevate it to another level for the benefit of the people we all serve. We will do so because we value and celebrate our rich culture and historically rooted traditions because they define our identities.
The province has over the years been plagued by a myriad of traditional leadership disputes and we have since moved swiftly to address that. The Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims in the province known as the Kgatla Commission has been appointed and fully functional. It has been successfully established and has begun its work in earnest with briefings having taken place in the five districts of our province.
The establishment of this Commission will go a long way in resolving all the traditional leadership disputes and claims which are over 500 involving headmen and senior traditional leaders that arise from time to time in our province. The Commission will also serve as a window of opportunity for the institution of traditional leadership to continue with its journey of traditional and cultural refinement.
We have a firm belief that by the end of 2015 all registered disputes and claims shall have been amicably resolved. We encourage and call upon those who are affected to cooperate and complement the work of the Commission. In addition to what the Commission is doing, I as the MEC in consultation with the House of Traditional Leaders will formulate a discussion document with regard to the creation of headmen/women positions.
Regarding the issue of kingship in Limpopo, the department has already established a task team that will determine the needs of kings in this province. As I speak the task team has already done 90% of the work. We envisage that this work will be completed in the not so distant future. The province just had another successful season of initiation schools where 314 approved schools conducted initiations all over the province.
We had 35 621 boys enrolling for this year and 4 441 girls took part in the initiation schools for girls throughout the province. The Initiation Schools Task Team worked relentlessly during this period to ensure that safety and health standards were enforced and followed to the letter.
We thank the House of Traditional Leaders and especially the Task Team members on Initiation schools, Hosi Chauke SE, Kgosi Sekororo, Kgosikgadi Shai, Kgosikgadi Rahlagane, Khosi Netsianda, Kgosi Ledwaba, Kgosi Madihlaba and Kgosi Lebogo. We applaud the good work done and we shall constantly bank on your cooperation and support in ensuring that these schools continue to maintain their customary significance and integrity. We believe that your unwavering support as traditional leaders will go a long way in dealing with the challenges which we have always been encountering related to this practice. Unlike other provinces, we have reported five death cases of which only one was reported to have died from initiation school related complications.
May their souls rest in peace! I would like to emphasise the necessity of compliance with the procedures that should be followed before anyone can open an initiation school. If we do this, the problem of illegal initiation schools will be a thing of the past. We condemn in the strongest terms possible the conducting of initiation schools without permits as required by the relevant legislation.
Such illegal initiation schools were conducted by one, Biza Mahlangu, who is subject of Kgosi Mahlangu, claiming that he is a recognised Senior Traditional Leader. This type of practice will not be allowed under any circumstances to happen again in future. Programme director We are happy to announce that the salaries of Traditional Leaders including Headmen and Headwomen that have been stagnant for a very long time, making them victims of inflation, have been adjusted accordingly.
Their remuneration has been improved in such a way that they are now putting not only bread but also butter on their tables. In conclusion, we welcome today's High Court ruling confirming Toni Mphephu Ramabulana as the King of the Vhavenda people. We are looking forward to working with the King to deliver services to our people in that part of our province.
Let us understand transformation to mean breaking out from individualism to collective reflection and action. In essence, it requires a leap of faith to understand that at the end, genuine change will be beneficial to everyone. I hope that unity in action to advance the ideals of the Freedom Charter in pursuit of a better life for all shall remain a central task that we commit ourselves to achieve in our lifetime.
Once more we still reaffirm our commitment as a department that there shall be housing security and comfort for all, as enshrined within the Freedom Charter. As always, our Government will continue to rely on your wise counsel on matters of traditional leadership, custom, heritage and language as you are the rightful custodians of these values. May strength, wisdom and unity prevail so that we can fulfil our promise of delivering quality services to our people.
I thank you!
