CALL TO TRADITIONAL LEADERS AND TRADITIONAL COMMUNITIES ACROSS SOUTH AFRICA TO PROTECT ALL THAT OUR ANCESTORS FOUGHT FOR
BY PRINCE MANGOSUTHU BUTHELEZI MP
TRADITIONAL PRIME MINISTER TO THE ZULU MONARCH AND NATION
INKOSI OF THE BUTHELEZI CLAN
AND PRESIDENT OF THE INKATHA FREEDOM PARTY
Your Royal Highnesses, Traditional Leaders of the Zulu Kingdom; the Xhosa Kingdom; the AbaThembu Kingdom; the AmaMpondo Kingdom; AmaRharhabe Kingdom; the Venda Kingdom; the Bafokeng Kingdom; the Tswana Royal Houses; the Shangaan Royal Family and all other Royal Houses; and Traditional Leaders and Traditional Communities in the Republic of South Africa.
Attack on traditional leaders exposes policy
During the ANC’s recent land summit, in May 2018, former ANC Secretary General and former Head of State Mr Kgalema Motlanthe spoke bluntly about traditional leadership. In a scathing attack, he called traditional leaders “village tinpot dictators”.
Not a single leader in the ANC spoke up. No one contradicted Mr Motlanthe or called him to task. The fact is that this senior leader was voicing a long unstated position of the ANC.
As Chairperson of the High Level Panel on the Assessment of Legislation and the Acceleration of Fundamental Change, Mr Motlanthe opened the call for land administered by traditional leaders to be taken away and placed under the ownership of Government. Effectively, the first land expropriated without compensation would be the land of traditional communities.
But the Panel’s recommendation to scrap the Ingonyama Trust Act simply expressed a policy decision already taken by the ANC. At its 5th National Policy Conference in July 2017, it was noted that “…the KZN ANC has been moving for the repeal of Ingonyama Trust”.
The call to scrap the Ingonyama Trust Act is a warning call to us all.
The Act maintains under indigenous and customary law those few pieces of land remaining to the Zulu Kingdom following a century of colonialism and dispossession. It is one of the few legal constructs in which traditional leadership is afforded its rightful authority in our democratic dispensation.
If Government can scrap this Act and expropriate land administered by traditional leaders, we should not be surprised when it takes the next step in disempowering traditional communities.
During Questions to the Deputy President in Parliament on 29 May 2018, the Deputy President was confronted with Mr Motlanthe’s accusation that traditional leaders are “village tinpot dictators”. He failed to contradict this accusation, simply confirming that a draft Bill is in place to remove land that is administered by the very traditional leaders who have served and led our people for generations.
This is not only about land held under the Ingonyama Trust, but about all traditional land. During its 54th National Conference in December 2017, the ANC resolved to “Democratize control and administration of areas under communal land tenure.” How did they plan to do this? “Expropriation of land without compensation should be among the key mechanisms…”
This initiative against traditional leadership is not sudden or unexpected. It has a long history. The question is: How will we respond?
A trail of broken promises
In November 2000, the imminent creation of wall-to-wall municipalities throughout South Africa created a serious threat to the role, powers and functions of traditional leaders.
While the Constitution recognises the institution of traditional leadership, it failed to enshrine the governance authority vested in traditional leaders. Legislation passed since 1994 has consistently failed to prescribe their role, powers and functions, opening the way for traditional leaders to be side-lined, ignored and dictated to when it comes to local government.
With the creation of municipalities, the role, powers and functions of traditional leaders could be wholly usurped.
As the traditional Prime Minister to the Zulu Monarch and Nation, I and Nkosi Sango Patekile Holomisa, the Chairperson of CONTRALESA, worked together to raise this problem with our country’s leaders since the time of President Mandela.
Throughout the negotiations towards a democratic South Africa, I had championed the institution of the monarchy and traditional leadership, insisting that they be recognised.
The struggle for liberation had, after all, been waged first and foremost by kings and traditional leaders who fought colonial power in the Anglo-Zulu War. During the so-called territorial wars of the Eastern Cape the resistance of our people was led by kings and traditional leaders. And when the ANC was founded in 1912, it was founded by traditional leaders, who led our liberation struggle from the start.
I believed so strongly in the recognition of traditional leadership that I risked political suicide, withdrawing from the 1994 elections until a Solemn Promise was made that issues like the role of the monarchy would be addressed immediately after elections.
That promise was never fulfilled.
Thus I continued to fight for the role, powers and functions of traditional leaders to be enshrined in legislation. My fight was joined by traditional leaders from across South Africa who formed the Coalition of Traditional Leaders to engage with Government.
In November 2000, when the greatest threat to traditional leaders arose, representatives of the Coalition engaged with a Cabinet Committee led by then Deputy President Jacob Zuma to resolve the imminent threat. As a result, a commitment was made to the Coalition of Traditional Leaders that Chapters 7 and 12 of the Constitution would be amended.
Again, that promise was broken.
Thus the Municipal Structures Act was allowed to erode the role, powers and functions of traditional leaders, taking away their local governance authority and placing it in the hands of government officials.
Nine years later, at a conference of traditional leaders from across Africa, President Zuma admitted that the commitment to amend the Constitution to prevent this from happening had never been implemented, because ‘the comrades’ didn’t want it; ‘the comrades’ being the ANC.
They wanted absolute power, even if it meant reducing traditional leaders to mere ceremonial figures.
When President Zuma was questioned about this in Parliament, he backtracked, saying that the commitment had really just been a recommendation. In response, I rose in Parliament to lament that our country was being led by deception.
Legislation passed since then has systematically reduced and limited the role of traditional leadership in the governance of traditional communities, to the extent that only a few traditional leaders are allowed to participate in municipal councils, their views need not be taken into account, and none of them may vote.
Bit by bit, traditional leaders have been disempowered. And now the final nail is being hammered into the coffin of traditional leadership with the call for expropriation of traditional land.
It affects us all
This is not a regional issue. It affects every traditional leader and every traditional community across South Africa.
I have the greatest respect for the institution of traditional leadership. I believe in the role and authority of our kings, and the recognition of our kingdoms. I recognise that these fundamental aspects of our identity are under attack. I therefore have a responsibility to sound a warning.
We need to take the last stand against this final obliteration of the institution of traditional leadership by the ruling party.
How can traditional leaders support people who see us as “village tinpot dictators”? The ANC has made their intentions clear at the highest level.
I ask Abantwana begazi to speak to your communities about this. It is in the interests of our people to know what is happening.
I will continue to fight on behalf of traditional leaders and traditional communities. This has been my life-long work, for I believe in protecting all that our ancestors fought to achieve. Let us take their fight forward and ensure that it does not become a closed chapter of history.
Thank you!