Your Majesties and Royal Highnesses
MEC for Local Government and Housing
Chairperson of the National House of Traditional Leaders, Khosi PF Kutama
Members of the National House of Traditional Leaders
Chairperson, Kgosi Makgeru, Deputy Chairperson Khosi Netshimbupfe and Executive members of the Provincial House of Traditional Leaders
Chairpersons and members of the Local Houses of Traditional Leaders
Former members of the house
Executive mayor and mayors
MPs and MPLs
Councillors
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
We stand under the shadow of the great warrior King Sekhukhune the leader of our people and one of the bravest fighters to ever emerge from this province. It was here on the hills and plains of this wonderful land that King Sekhukhune marshalled his forces against the oppressor white colonialists who wanted to rob him of his land and deprive his people of their wealth.
Spurred on by the love of their country and the desire for freedom, the great people of Sekhukhune land resisted every attempt by the regime to balkanise their land by every means. Their actions served to influence similar revolts which took place in other parts of the country such as in Zululand, Pondoland, Thembuland and in Zeerust.
We pay tribute to them and their great warrior King Sekhukhune and many other warrior kings/queens who played a sterling role in our liberation. We equally salute King Makhado, King Malebogo, King Makgoba, King Nghungunyane Queen Mantatise, and Queen Modjadji. As a result of their contribution, the bonds that bind us have become stronger than the narrow ethnic differences which set us apart.
Programme director
It is a befitting tribute to the great warrior kings of our country that this house meets here today on 26 June a day on which the Freedom Charter was born, 54 years ago. Inspired by the vision of the Freedom Charter, we are proud today that we have in place a dispensation that accommodates all national cultures and languages. Government has guaranteed the role of traditional leadership institution in the Constitution and continues to work hard to see it succeeds. Traditional leaders are now part of the great chain of leadership that makes this country work.
Whatever this government succeeds in doing, we know that we can only succeed because traditional leaders have had a role to play in our success. It is for this reason that we want to thank all you for the role you have played during the recent April 22nd elections. The leadership role which you displayed by encouraging your subjects to vote, is highly valued by the leadership of this government. We believe you will continue to be the guiding light to the masses of our people who deserve nothing more than good leadership and wise counsel, especially during this time in our country.
Honourable chairperson, since the publishing of the White Paper on traditional leadership and governance framework in 2003, we have taken drastic steps to promote the institution of traditional leadership and make certain that it forms an integral part of government. Our view is that the institution not only has a place in our democracy, but that it has the potential to contribute towards the restoration of the moral fibre of society.
In line with the government’s priority on rural development, we believe that your institution is best located to play a role in the fight against poverty, hunger, homelessness and illiteracy. We have established national, provincial and local houses of traditional leaders because we want to see you play an active role in tackling all of the abovementioned challenges.
We have put in place a statutory commission on traditional leadership claims and disputes to ensure that claims of traditional leadership and disputes are handled with legitimacy and attended to as speedily and effectively as possible. The days of apartheid governors determining who should be a traditional leader have come to pass. We are happy so far, that the commission has already initiated due processes of ensuring that there are no discrepancies in the appointment of traditional leaders. The commission is also working hard to ensure that traditional leaders are accorded their rightful status based on tradition and custom. We want to move away from the days when the title of a king was reserved only for the king of England. Africans have always been led by their kings and queens from time immemorial. There is no reason why we cannot continue to have them as long as our customs and tradition allow.
However, traditional leadership cannot be reduced to an exclusive domain for men, without women having a role to play. In today’s society, like it has been in the past, there are women who are rightful heirs to their thrones based on heredity and custom. This practice does not start today, but is well documented throughout Africa. The practice of female matriarchs is a well-known thing and has been institutionalised and practiced since time immemorial. We have already passed legislation which requires that at least one third of members in traditional councils must be women. During this financial year we will step up measures to establish and transform Traditional councils in line with the prescript of the law.
Honourable chairperson
I am happy to announce that for this financial year, we have allocated a budget of R103 604 million to cater for the needs of this institution. To date we have appointed 183 senior traditional leaders and 2 067 headmen who are on the payroll of government. As part of measures to support traditional leaders to execute their mandate, we are proud to have appointed 716 staff members in traditional council offices.
This means that we will have to fill the remaining 209 vacant posts in due course. An annual construction and refurbishment plan of offices for this financial year has been developed and will be implemented. An annual training plan will also be rolled out this financial year with the support of the Local Government Sector Education and Training Authority (LGSETA). This will equip Traditional leaders with relevant skills to implement legislation and policies that affect the institution.
We are also planning to roll-out the following information and communications technology (ICT) projects in traditional council offices:
* Supply of printers to 50 traditional councils
* Cabling and connecting of five traditional council offices to the network of the office
* Provision of 3G connectivity to the network of 20 traditional councils
We will continue to update and store genealogical tree information of leaders electronically to minimise disputes and preserve culture. IT connectivity is part of our strategy to bridge the divide between urban and rural areas. Government believes that, investing in ICT in rural communities will play a crucial role in building sustainable rural communities. Living in a rural community must never relegate one to a status of a second class citizen.
Honourable chairperson
I am pleased to note that the initiation season for this year has begun in earnest. About 325 applications have been received and approved so far and we will ensure that all schools comply with provisions of both the Initiations Act and the Schools Act.
We will move with speed to immediately close illegal schools and those charging exorbitant fees. Once again, I appeal that lives should be spared during this initiation period, as one life lost is one too many.
Initiation schools must promote the highest standards of cultural education which can help society to rid itself of crime and social abuse. We look forward to this cultural institution producing more cultured men and women who can become positive role models in society.
Chairperson, our cultures and languages are the embodiment of who we are as South Africans. Languages carry the souls and the personalities of each one of us. It is for this reason that we should teach the youth of our country the importance of cherishing one’s own language and culture.
Working together with government departments and civil society, we all have a responsibility to ensure that our languages are promoted. The challenge is to ensure that we do not only conserve these languages, but also play a role in their development to become languages of commerce and industry.
Honourable chairperson, as we all know, the province is faced with a challenge of sporadic disputes involving mining houses and their surrounding communities. Whilst we do everything to engage the mining houses and other business people to consider awarding bursaries, procurement and employment opportunities to those needy communities adjacent to the mines, it is important that the tribal trusts also come on board to meet the growing expectations of our people.
We have established a legal team of advisors in our office to help traditional leaders with legal support whenever they need to enter into contractual agreements with the mines. This has come after we were inundated with several disputes emanating from agreements which could not be fulfilled because one of the parties failed to honour the agreements.
Honourable chairperson, as you will probably know, the Land Use Management Bill and the Traditional Courts Bill, are currently before parliament. These pieces of law will have a bearing on how traditional leaders conduct their affairs. We urge you to engage with these pieces of law so that we have a dispensation that works for everyone concerned.
We will continue to hold regular engagements with the house of traditional leaders on all matters ranging from land use management, land restitution, recognition of new traditional authorities to the important matter of benefits for indunas.
As always, government is ready to offer any assistance of whatever kind in order to ensure that traditional leaders are enabled to carry out their tasks to the best of their ability.
Let us continue as one family to do what is right for our people. Service to the people must mean wiping every tear from every eye. It must mean ending poverty, diseases and ignorance. So long as there are those amongst us who are without food and shelter, our work will never end. We must be united by the hope that one day; all of these challenges shall come to pass.
Every single traditional leader has a vital role to play in the development of our people. We should never think that our responsibilities do not count or that we are unimportant. All of us have a job to do and must do it today and not tomorrow.
The hundreds of the unemployed and the poor, in our rural communities, cannot depend on handouts forever. All they need is hope and real empowerment which can drive them out of poverty for good. The responsibility of leadership is to lead by helping those in need to help them.
Working together we can do more!
Re a leboga!
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Limpopo Provincial Government
26 June 2009
