The Premier of KwaZulu-Natal Dr Zweli Mkhize
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister, Sicelo Shiceka
The President of Contralesa, Nkosi Phathekile Holomisa, A! Dilizintaba!
National Executive Committee Members of CONTRALESA
Honoured Leaders of our Houses of Traditional Leaders
Zinkosi zakowethu, Makhosi akithi, Di Kgosi
Invited guests and all delegates
I feel extremely honoured by your invitation to open this historic seventh national conference of the Congress of Traditional Leaders, (CONTRALESA). We attach great honour, value and respect to our traditional leaders and hold all Di Kgosi gathered here in the highest esteem.
Last week we had an opportunity, together with traditional leaders across our country and African continent, to honour our icon President Nelson Mandela, a son of the soil, a great leader and himself an Inkosi of Isizwe sabaThembu.
On that occasion, we recalled that traditional leaders have a history that should not be forgotten.
I would like us to remember that very rich history of the contribution of our traditional leaders to the fight against colonialism and apartheid, and then link it to the priorities and demands of the constitutional democracy we live in.
When the colonialists arrived particularly in the Southern part of Africa, they made contact with traditional leaders. When colonialists began to forcefully take everything from us, including our land, our authority to govern, our dignity and everything we had, our traditional leaders put up the greatest resistance.
They commanded their people, their regiments, to fight in defence of all of that we had. Because our people expressed utmost loyalty to traditional leaders, colonisers focused on them very specifically for punishment. Traditional leaders were thus arrested, imprisoned, killed, deposed or exiled in these wars of dispossession. But they never relented.
The turning point is in many respects the Bhambatha rebellion of 1906, led by Inkosi Bhambatha Zondi under King Dinuzulu. This encounter with the colonialists convinced the African leaders of the time that the colonised could no longer continue the armed engagement with the colonisers. The intellectuals of the time and traditional leaders decided that the strategy and tactics had to change.
Leaders and prominent African personalities who have been fighting in isolation argued for the formation of a national movement to ensure a collective and united struggle rather than a fight as individual provinces. In 1911, in the face of this onslaught on the African people, Pixley ka Isaka Seme made the famous unity call saying Mzulu, Mxhosa, Msuthu hlanganani. He spoke out strongly about the need to eradicate the demon of animosity and tribalism, and for unity amongst the African oppressed and colonised.
The discussion gravitated towards the formation of the ANC in Mangaung in the Free State. It is remarkable that traditional leaders donated cows and other necessities to the founding conference of the ANC! The first executive committee of the ANC, consisted of Rev. John Dube, as President; Solomon T Plaatje as Secretary; Pixley ka Isaka Seme as Treasurer; Thomas Mapikela of the Orange Free State as Speaker and Montsioa as Recording Secretary.
The Reverend Mqoboli of the Wesleyan Church became Chaplain-in-chief, assisted by the Reverend HR Ngcayiya. Walter Rubusana, Meshack Pelem, Sam Makgatho and Alfred Mangena were elected Vice-Presidents. The ANC had an upper house of traditional leaders in its structure then. Traditional leaders who became honorary Presidents were: Dalindyebo of the abaThembu, Montsioa of the Barolong, Lewanika of Barotseland (part of Zambia), Letsie 11 of Basutoland (Lesotho), Khama of Bechuanaland (Botswana) and King Dinizulu.
When we pay our respects to amakhosi and oKumkani as the ANC, we are staying true to the history and traditions of our movement. The organisation was founded with the full blessing and participation of traditional leaders. Also interesting during the period, is that membership of the ANC was automatic to the subjects of any inkosi who joined the ANC.
Due to their membership of the ANC, traditional leaders went through bitter and systematic de facto dethronements when colonialists decided to place them under the jurisdiction of magistrates. They were confined to their specific districts in which they resided, and were stripped of all their powers.
During the 1940s, the ANC changed its form and became a mass movement.
Sadly from this period until freedom in 1994, some of our traditional leaders were co-opted by successive regimes and were used to oppress their people.
But yet many others remained true to the history and traditions of their forebears who had fought colonialism and dispossession.
It was important for the progressive movement to regain the support of our traditional leaders and to once again involve them in the struggle for liberation. A consultation was undertaken with amakhosi after the formation of the United Democratic Front, about the need to establish a political organisation of amakhosi to ensure proper political mobilisation. We are proud of the fact that the establishment of CONTRALESA was endorsed by the ANC.
With that gesture, the progressive history of our traditional leaders was revived and re-confirmed, and amakhosi took their place again in the forefront of the struggle for true liberation. It is important that this conference has paid tribute to the first President of CONTRALESA, the late Inkosi Mhlab'unzima Maphumulo of Maqongqo.
He is one of those traditional leaders who continued in the tradition of our illustrious and brave traditional leaders who refused to be party to oppressing their people. He was a courageous leader, known for his bravery against all odds who had survived previous attacks, until a fatal one outside his Pietermaritzburg home when he was gunned down by enemies of freedom and justice.
Inkosi Maphumulo believed in freedom and justice, and knew that he could not be able to lead his people to prosperity if South Africa was not free.
That was why he found it easy to go all the way to Lusaka leading a CONTRALESA delegation to confer with the ANC on how best amakhosi could be organised to make them work for liberation and justice. In memory of Inkosi Maphumulo and many traditional leaders who paid the supreme price for freedom, the institution of traditional leadership must be strengthened and afforded its rightful place in the hearts and minds of our people.
The ANC has never divorced itself from traditional leaders. We knew that by destroying the manner in which the traditional system was operating, colonialists sought to undermine the dignity and standing of the African people.
After the 1994 elections and the ushering in of democracy, together we developed a progressive Constitution that recognizes traditional leadership.
The efforts of starting to restore the dignity of our traditional leaders began. The establishment of the national and provincial houses of traditional leaders were meant to assist in providing a platform for our traditional to engage and take forward their interests and those of their subjects.
There is a difficult but very important point that I would like to emphasise and place on the table today. In all parts of the world, wherever there was a serious clash between traditional leaders and republicans, traditional leaders have never survived.
History shows that they are usually crushed by the republicans. It is only where amakhosi were flexible in outlook, strategy and tactics that they survived as an institution. There are many examples in Europe for example Norway, Netherlands, England and others. It is therefore critical for the institution to be dynamic and be able to adjust to the changing conditions.
It is therefore important for CONTRALESA to work with the ANC to map out a strategy to properly locate traditional leaders in a democratic South Africa.
The political space created by the constitutional democracy has exposed this urgent need for traditional leaders to unite and to begin to speak in one voice in engaging government.
Working together we must find a meaningful role for traditional leaders in our constitutional democracy. CONTRALESA needs to work with government to ensure good working relations and cooperation with other constitutional structures such as local government. This should be done in a manner that does not render traditional leadership irrelevant or that makes amakhosi to feel they are being treated with disrespect.
This must be done sooner rather than later, to ensure that our traditional leaders become part of the country’s transformation project. I am aware that there are many outstanding issues that amakhosi wish to engage government on.
We met with amakhosi and had intensive discussions with them throughout the country during the election campaign.
They mentioned the need for urgent rural development and land reform. They want to see roads, water, sanitation and proper housing in their areas. They want outstanding land claims to be resolved. They asked for the clarification of their role and relationship with the local government sphere. Many bluntly asked me why they should receive instructions from councillors! Indeed many still want to engage government intensively on the Nhlapo Commission.
The question of unity for our traditional leaders is therefore paramount, so that all these issues can be attended to holistically, at both government and ANC levels. My message today is to request CONTRALESA to seize the space and play that role of uniting amakhosi around one programme of action to protect their interests while advancing the goals of building a better life for all.
The relationship with government must not necessarily be an adversarial one, given that the ANC was founded on the roots of traditional leadership and it understands the institution.
Honoured leaders of our people,
You would be aware that this government has made a commitment to improve the quality of life of our rural communities, and these are the areas where CONTRALESA is rooted.
Based on the consultations we had had with traditional leaders in particular and reviews we had done, we created the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform as well as the Department of Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs. Our vision is to turn rural areas into habitable human settlements and to boost economic activity and infrastructure development.
This, as said earlier, is one of the requests we have been receiving from our traditional leaders over the years. Our view is that people residing in rural areas should be able to make a decent living from the land on which they live.
We also want to ensure that our rural communities have access to clean water, decent shelter, electricity and services that are obtainable in urban areas.
Working together we must ensure that children in the rural communities have access to quality education, health care centres, government resources, recreational facilities as well as the opportunities that are available in the cities and our urban centres.
As all of us would know, government is committed to ensuring that land reform through redistribution and restitution, is more coherently linked to the creation of livelihoods for the rural poor. Rural development is a massive project that will require all of us to work together over a period of time to ensure results.
Zinkosi zakowethu, Di Kgosi,
This government has placed the fight against crime as a top priority. We must intensify the fight against crime in every part of the country. We urge our traditional leaders to continue to assist us in arresting the incidents of crime in our communities, particularly during the festive season.
In addition to commanding respect and authority over our rural communities, we know that Amakhosi will work with government to re-instil the values of Ubuntu, inhlonipho, amasiko nokuziphatha. These are the values that Amakhosi have represented over the years that are now greatly needed in our ongoing efforts at rebuilding communities.
We have spoken at length about the establishment of street committees in urban areas. We must replicate this in rural areas through village committees.
Over the next three days, I am certain that CONTRALESA will have ample opportunity to address the challenges facing the Institution of Traditional Leadership as a whole.
Honoured Di Kgosi, in 2012 your organisation the ANC will celebrate 100 years of existence! We must spend the next two years working hard to build unity and to consolidate the gains of our democracy, including properly locating traditional leadership in that democracy.
You need to be part of the celebration, highlighting the role that traditional leaders played at the formation of this mighty movement. We need to work with urgency to ensure that together we can be able to celebrate the 100 years of a movement that recognised traditional leadership from its inception!
As you continue with your deliberations bear in mind that the situation has changed dramatically since the ANC was founded 100 years ago, and new conditions require new strategies and tactics. I know that you are equal to the task.
Let me take this opportunity to thank you again and wish you a very successful conference.
I thank you.
Issued by: The Presidency
14 November 2009
Source: The Presidency (http://www.thepresidency.gov.za)
