The Coronation of the VhaVenda King -Restoring the kingship of Vhavenda under the lineage of His Majesty King Toni Mphephu Ramabulana”
Today, 18 August 2016, government joined other stakeholders and the royal family during the media briefing held in the palace of His Majesty, King Mphephu Ramabulana. The plenipotentiaries’, the Deputy Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, honourable Obed Bapela, and the MEC for COGTA in Limpopo Province, honourable Makoma Makhurupetjte indicated they were making this important announcement on behalf of His Excellency, President Jacob Zuma. The important announcement made was that the ceremony to coronate the King be held on 9 August 2016.
On the same day, the Vhavenda royal family will, on that day, coronate His Majesty King Toni Mphephu Ramabulana in line with their own customs and traditions. Immediately after the coronation, the President will symbolically hand over the recognition certificate to the King in terms of section 9 (2) (b) of the Traditional Leadership and Governance Act, 2003 (Act No: 41 of 2003).
His Excellency President Jacob Zuma will recognise the King and symbolically hand over the recognition certificate to the King. The President will hand over the certificate symbolically because he has already recognised the King officially in 2012.
The Deputy Minister Obed Bapela, and the MEC Makoma Makhurupetjte and the royal family represented by the entire Vhavenda Kingship took the country into their confidence outlining the processes leading to and during the ceremony on 9 September 2016.
Deputy Minister Bapela indicated that the coronation ceremony will be taking place during heritage month in terms of our countries calendar. This is a month in which heritage day is celebrated annually in South Africa on the 24th September.
When our first democratically-elected government decided to make Heritage Day one of our national days, we did so because we knew that our rich and varied cultural heritage has a profound power to help build our new nation. This is a month in which all South Africans are encouraged to celebrate their diversity (diverse cultures and traditions), whilst also emphasizing that South Africa truly belongs to all irrespective of our diversity and that we are proud of our rich heritage as a nation.
Of importance is that this important event in the history of the VhaVenda people and the entire South Africa is taking place in the year of the Constitution. This is the year in which our Constitution marks 20 years since the late former President Nelson Mandela signed it into law.
This key and strategic law and framework of our democracy continues to guide us even as we talk about the coronation of the King and also assist us towards building a cohesive society we envisaged, which embraces and promotes constitutional rights and human dignity. The planned ceremony therefore speaks to our constitution in action.
“The Coronation marks the restoration of the Vhavenda Kingship following an extensive work done by the Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims (known as Nhlapo Commission) which was constituted by the democratic government to look into the matters of kingships/queenships in the country. The Commission recognized the imbalances of the past and the way our people were robbed of their dignity and prohibited from fully practicing their customs and traditions freely by the successive oppressive governments whose tyranny and iron-fist rule, ended in 1994 with the dawn of democracy,” said Deputy Minister Bapela.
In pursuance of the need to restore the integrity and legitimacy of the institution of traditional leadership in line with customary law and customs, it was imperative that the kingship of the Vhavenda be restored. Subsequent to the analysis of customary law and customs of the Vhavenda traditional leadership, the Nhlapo Commission also determined that the kingship of Vhavenda has always been led by a king who ruled over a number of traditional communities.
Since the commission ended and recommended that Vhavenda Kingship be restored, the royal family met and agreed on King Toni Mphephu Ramabulana, the son of the late Khosikhulu Patrick Mphephu, as the heir and king.
The ceremony will therefore be taking place under the theme, “Restoring the kingship of Vhavenda under the lineage of His Majesty King Toni Mphephu Ramabulana” - This theme, calls for unity of the communities behind the leadership of His Majesty King Mphephu Ramabulana. It also calls on communities to identify with this important ceremony and most importantly, with His Majesty as the leader of his people as determined through traditions and customs that have been part of the Vhavenda people for generations.
It is important to note that this coronation is a ceremony marking the formal investiture, involving performance of a VhaVenda traditional and customary ritual and enrobement of the king. The ceremony will also include taking of a special oath of office administered by the member of the judiciary.
Both the MEC and the Deputy Minister sound a clarion call to all South Africans across our country to support this important milestone in the journey of our democracy as it symbolises the important role that the traditional leadership continues to play in the democratic South Africa.
It also makes clear the fact that, the two systems can co-exist and complementing each other as envisaged by our constitution. Section 211 of the Constitution of South Africa, 1996 (Act 108 of 1996), recognises the institution, status and role of traditional leadership, according to customary law subject to the Constitution. “This indeed proves that our laws provide for coexistence between democratic government and traditional leadership and also clarifies the roles of each within the spirit of “unity in diversity”, said Deputy Minister Bapela.
In conclusion, both MEC and Deputy Minister called for unity amongst all the Vhavenda nation, South Africans in general and also urged the entire Kingship to work together to move the nation forward under His Majesty King Toni Peter Mphephu Ramabulana.
Maila u sumbwa!
Ndaa!
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