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The assessment of the state of governance within Traditional Affairs in the provinces by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs constitutes an important historic milestone in the efforts of government to place all matters pertinent to traditional affairs, including their institutions, at the centre of social, political and economic development.

For many years the affairs and institutions of traditional leadership remained in the periphery of development. That situation often led to marginalisation of traditional leaders and their institutions with regard to meaningfully influencing the critical policy and programmatic matters pertaining to development. The consequence thereof has been that the communities that live under traditional leadership, most of whom residing in rural areas, have had their development needs not given the necessary and sustained attention as they ought to be given.

The ANC government under the leadership of President Jacob Zuma is committed to turn that situation around. The assessment we have just conducted in KwaZulu-Natal is the seventh done thus far throughout the country. We aim to complete these assessments with the North West province in early August 2011. The Western Cape is the only province where the assessments will not be done because they have no traditional leadership structures.

Through the assessments Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs is also looking at ensuring that the leaders and members of the Houses of Traditional Affairs nationally and provincially must be guided by principles of good governance. The principles of good governance include, among others the following:
Promotion of service delivery - this can be done through cooperation and building partnerships between structures of traditional leadership and local government. Strong relations between elected representatives and traditional leadership are the cornerstone of service delivery.
Fostering unity and partnerships - fostering unity among traditional leaders themselves, unity among the different houses, unity among different ethnic groups, and building unity with structures of government locally, provincially and nationally is indeed critical.
Accountability - accountability to government, accountability to structures of traditional leaders and perhaps most importantly, accountability to rural communities.
Clarification of roles - the clarification of roles between traditional leadership and government structures, through the amendment of legislation and allocation of roles to traditional leaders by government departments will go a long way in ensuring that development and service delivery is promoted.
Transparency - transparency in terms of leadership, utilisation of financial and other resources.
The assessment exercise also seeks to establish the status quo in the various provinces on issues such as the budget allocated to traditional leadership, resources allocated to houses, relationship between the structures of traditional leadership and local government structures and relationship among structures of traditional leadership and implementation of legislation on traditional leadership.

It will help identify the discrepancies with regard to dealing with traditional leadership in the provinces, with a view to devising an effective Traditional Affairs-wide strategy to deal with identified challenges. It will among other things result in the development of a partnership model between Traditional Leadership and Local Government. The discrepancies with regard to the salaries and resources of Traditional Leadership will also be addressed.

After these assessments a report will be compiled and it will help give a clear picture of the state of Traditional Affairs in our country. In turn that will help inform policy and strategic interventions required to ensure the strengthening of Traditional Leadership and Affairs in the provinces, and across the country as a whole.

It has been disturbing to observe that for quite some time, the National House of Traditional Leadership has been characterised by several challenges, particularly at the leadership level. The current term of the House has seen three different Chairpersons and three different Deputy Chairpersons assuming positions at different times. When this current term comes to an end in May 2012, there would have been no Chairperson or Deputy Chairperson of the House who would have served a full Five Year Term of Office.

The removal of Chairpersons and Deputy Chairpersons has been due to either challenges relating to provincial legislation dealing with the establishment of provincial houses, and other times a vote of no confidence by members in their leadership. Irrespective of the reasons, something is seriously wrong. This situation is a reflection of deeper challenges that must be rooted out once and for all.

Such a situation does not reflect the National House of Traditional Leaders (NHTL) in a positive light, and neither does it contribute to the building of a positive image for the National House, provincial houses and institutions of traditional leadership in general. This therefore calls for self introspection by the leadership and members of the both provincial and national houses.

We have no doubt that honest and frank self introspection will lead to the election of the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson who will finish their respective next full Five Year Terms in office. We are quite certain that the current leadership and membership of the NHTL will contribute in no small way in this regard.

It is heartening to state that despite the challenges that have been faced in the past, a lot of ground has been covered since 2010. One of the achievements of this government under the leadership of President Zuma is the establishment of the Department of Traditional Affairs.

The establishment of the Department of Traditional Affairs was as a result of constant and persistent calls by traditional leaders over the years for a dedicated focus on matters of traditional leaders. With the establishment of the Department of Traditional Leadership, matters of traditional leadership are being dealt with more broadly, systematically and in focused and sustainable manner.

One of the major responsibilities of this department is to reclaim the vast lost ground lost to other departments and structures. This includes issues of heritage, traditional medicine and healing, indigenous knowledge system, just to mention a few examples. The new department will, in a constructive manner, vigorously engage with other national departments and organs of state to ensure that it plays a leading coordinating role on all relevant matters.

It is the role of the Department of Traditional Affairs to ensure that traditional leaders are effectively and meaningfully involved on matters of rural development. One of the critical areas that the Department of Traditional Affairs, with its expanded mandate, is also busy amending legislation in order to create an enabling legislative and regulatory environment for dealing effectively and efficiently with traditional affairs.

The amendment of legislation will also ensure, among others, that traditional affairs, rather than only traditional leaders, will take centre stage. The Khoisan communities will also be fully represented in the National House. Provincial legislation will have to be amended as well to ensure that the Khoisan communities are also represented in the relevant provincial houses. The representation of the Khoisan in the Houses is long overdue.

The Department of Traditional Affairs is in the process of finalising guidelines on the operations of the National House of Traditional Leaders. The guidelines will constitute the first internal document that deals specifically with issues of operation and tools of trade for members of the National House. In the past these issues were dealt with through departmental policies that were primarily meant for officials of government. Once finalised and operational, we would urge provincial government departments to develop similar policies to deal with matters affecting provincial houses of traditional leaders.

When opening the House of traditional leaders in June this year, the President referred to the planned summit between traditional leaders and councillors that will take place later in the year. The assessment of the state of traditional leadership will bring the much needed insight that will inform and enhance the engagement with councillors during the summit.

Other work has already been done that will also assist the summit. For example, an Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the National House and SALGA has been signed and a draft implementation plan developed, work that will be taken further during the summit later in the year.

The Department of Traditional Affairs continues to give a dedicated support to the Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims. At the national level, the Commissioners as well as the Chief Executive Officer have been appointed. Provincially, the Department is busy working with the provincial governments to finalise the appointment of the provincial committees.

As part of the implementation process after the release of the Nhlapo Commission findings on Kings and Queens, certificates of recognition has already been issued to four incumbents in the Free State and Mpumalanga. Other recognition certificates will be issued to the identified incumbents in due course. The department is also dealing with court challenges regarding the implementation of the Nhlapo Commission recommendations as and when they come.

As far as the work of the Commission on the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers is concerned, progress is being made too. In its next report, the Commission is likely to make a determination on the salaries of headmen as well as on local houses of traditional leaders. The department will also work closely with the Commission to ensure that challenges regarding the implementation of the determination on medical aid, pension and death benefits for traditional leaders are overcome.

A lot of work has been done. However a lot more still to be done to ensure that traditional affairs take their rightful place in the country’s development agenda. Outstanding work includes the reconstitution of traditional councils in some provinces and the establishment of local houses. With the establishment of the new Department of Traditional Affairs, and the establishment of provincial departments with a similar mandate, we have no doubt that these challenges will also be dealt with successfully.

We look forward to close cooperation and collaboration by all stakeholders during these assessments. We hope that through these assessments constructive recommendations will come out that will indeed help us advance much faster towards our common cherished goal of a better life for all, especially and most vulnerable that live in rural communities.