Traditional leaders in the Eastern Cape say rural communities will not be taken for granted by political parties seeking their vote in the upcoming national and provincial election.
The provincial chair for both the Eastern Cape House of Traditional Leaders and Contralesa, Nkosi Mwelo Nonkonyana, has listed a number of challenges faced by traditional leaders and the slow pace of service delivery to rural communities.
Among challenges he listed were an “obliteration of powers and functions of traditional leaders” and a “lack of enactment of the Traditional Court Act to empower traditional courts under traditional leaders to dispense justice in accordance with the African legal system” which has been “suppressed by the Roman Dutch legal system” or common law of SA”.
He said traditional councils should also be provided with necessary infrastructure and funding to drive development in their communities.
“In 2018 traditional leaders, despite the challenges, continued their fight for the institution of traditional leadership and successfully rejected the notion that the land that was successfully defended by our forebears [13%] should be expropriated by government. We will continue to defend the legacy left by heroes and heroines of our struggle such as Nkosi Jongumsobomvu Maqoma, and many traditional leaders who selflessly defended the land we occupy,” said Nonkonyana.
Commenting on 2019 being an election year, Nonkonyana said: “We will allow all political parties to freely campaign in our areas. Should the people seek our advice, we will not hesitate to provide them with our advice so that they could take an informed decision. In this regard, without involving ourselves in any campaigns, we will not support any party that is bent on undermining traditional leadership in SA. With this in mind, we will critically evaluate all manifestos as well as the conduct of all political parties. Be that as it may, we are of the firm view that traditional leadership must remain above party politics and stand on its principles and values.”
Nonkonyana said traditional leadership would engage the ANC-led government “to implement agreements to restore powers and functions for the institution so as to promote the necessary mutual respect and co-operation between structures of the institution of traditional leadership and all spheres of government”.
He said they would continue defending expropriation of their land by the state and would start a process leading to a system of administering land in traditional communities for all people living within traditional communities in a fair and equitable manner.
He added that they would continue to fight all attempts to put the custom of traditional initiation into disrepute.
“In this regard we will take concrete and radical steps to eliminate all mischief by the criminals and thugs that continue to flout our customs and laws and continue to kill, disfigure, inflict grievous bodily harm and untold misery to many families.
“In this regard we welcome government intervention to work with us and all fraternal organisations to address the menace,” he said...