Jennifer Donnelly, the author of Revolution, puts it this way: “Little by little, the old world crumbled, and not once did the king imagine that some of the pieces might fall on him”.
Understandably the king would not have had any such imagination in an environment where many did not lead him to believe the world would never crumble in the first place, never mind there being a possibility of one of the pieces falling on him.
To suggest human rights are a European concept borders on extreme ignorance. There is ample evidence that the very basis of our customs and practices are premised on the respect for human rights. Of course, history itself is laced with hard evidence of systematic gross violations of rights under both European and our customary laws.
But the fact of those violations can never be a basis for justifying such practices as part of our customs. Whatever context existed to create an environment of such violations, be it colonialism, apartheid or the system of feudalism, does not justify any acceptance of gross violations of rights.
When men and women seek to take refuge in custom to justify what is otherwise wrong and to effectively cover up serious lapses, they justify why communities would rather reject those customs.
There was clearly a lapse in the system of traditional leadership which is the root cause of the current situation the king finds himself in. Traditional leadership systems have strong control mechanisms. It is unusual for a monarch who operates within these control mechanisms to end up in a situation such as this.
As one listens to the many conspiracy theories being piloted, one wonders whether the real conspiracy theory will ever be debated. That is whether the king is not in fact, the victim of a failed traditional leadership system as opposed to being a victim of an external political conspiracy or of a constitution that does not speak to the reality of our customs.
There must have been wise men and women whose primary responsibility it was to protect the institution of traditional leadership and ensure full compliance with the customs and customary laws of the people of Thembuland and to avoid precisely this sad end.
The king’s woes are certainly not the product of a conspiracy based on tribalism, nor the product of a constitution that failed to properly recognise customary law. They are a product of the failed traditional leadership system of his area.
Advocate Modidima Mannya is a former superintendent-general of the Eastern Cape education department
Surely advisors failed king
Understandably the king would not have had any such imagination in an environment where many did not lead him to believe the world would never crumble in the first place, never mind there being a possibility of one of the pieces falling on him.
To suggest human rights are a European concept borders on extreme ignorance. There is ample evidence that the very basis of our customs and practices are premised on the respect for human rights. Of course, history itself is laced with hard evidence of systematic gross violations of rights under both European and our customary laws.
But the fact of those violations can never be a basis for justifying such practices as part of our customs. Whatever context existed to create an environment of such violations, be it colonialism, apartheid or the system of feudalism, does not justify any acceptance of gross violations of rights.
When men and women seek to take refuge in custom to justify what is otherwise wrong and to effectively cover up serious lapses, they justify why communities would rather reject those customs.
There was clearly a lapse in the system of traditional leadership which is the root cause of the current situation the king finds himself in. Traditional leadership systems have strong control mechanisms. It is unusual for a monarch who operates within these control mechanisms to end up in a situation such as this.
As one listens to the many conspiracy theories being piloted, one wonders whether the real conspiracy theory will ever be debated. That is whether the king is not in fact, the victim of a failed traditional leadership system as opposed to being a victim of an external political conspiracy or of a constitution that does not speak to the reality of our customs.
There must have been wise men and women whose primary responsibility it was to protect the institution of traditional leadership and ensure full compliance with the customs and customary laws of the people of Thembuland and to avoid precisely this sad end.
The king’s woes are certainly not the product of a conspiracy based on tribalism, nor the product of a constitution that failed to properly recognise customary law. They are a product of the failed traditional leadership system of his area.
Advocate Modidima Mannya is a former superintendent-general of the Eastern Cape education department
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