Date: 12/03/2004
Source: Mpumalanga Provincial Government
Title: N Mahlangu: Opening of House of Traditional Leaders
ADDRESS BY THE HONOURABLE PREMIER, NJ MAHLANGU, ON THE OPENING OF THE HOUSE OF TRADITIONAL LEADERS, MPUMALANGA LEGISLATURE, 12 March 2004
Honourable Chairperson of the House of Traditional Leaders, Kgosi Mashile
Your Majesties, the Kings of our people
Honourable Amakhosi of our province
Honourable Members of the House of Traditional Leaders
Honourable Amakhosi visiting our province today
Honourable Members of the Legislature
Honourable MECs
Honourable guests
Ladies and gentlemen.
I stand before this honourable House at a very important and very crucial moment in time of our history, this being the eve of the celebration of our first decade of democracy.
There are 31 days ahead of the general elections, both for the national and provincial spheres of government. This juncture in time demands of us that we reflect on that place where we started and the place at which we have now arrived.
I intend to reflect on the participation of the traditional leaders in the struggle against apartheid and colonialism and in so doing, we remember the brave fight fought by King Dingane during his confrontation with the Voortrekkers. We remember how, in this case, Piet Retief and his troops wanted to dispossess land from the Zulu Kingdom and the Zulu nation.
The alleged document in which King Dingane ceded part of his land is said to have been signed by the King himself, but it is difficult to understand how the King comprehended the context of the letter or document, because he was not conversant with the language of Piet Retief and we were not told that there was any interpreter. It is clear that King Dingane did not agree to give his traditional land to the intruders, because clearly the King would not have waged a war to defend his land had that been the case.
My logic tells me that King Dingane and his subjects defended their land from being seized under false pretences. We also think of the prophecy, or last word, of King Shaka, who said, "Izinyoni ezimhlophe zizothatha umhlaba wethu" and he fought for what belonged to him and to his subjects.
King Nyabela similarly fought General Joubert in defence of his brother, Mampuru, and they were prepared to die, rather than surrender their authority to the intruders.
These are but a few examples and an indication of the struggle endured by traditional leaders, risking bloodshed rather than capitulation and surrendering their land and their authority. The reason why most of the troops of the traditional leaders were defeated was simply because they fought their wars in a divided manner.
For instance, the Zulus fought on their own, the Ndebele fought on their own, as did the Sekhukhune and the Silamba and others. Traditional leaders fought and defended their territories as ethnical entities.
After 1912, the realisation came to certain groupings of our people that we could protect the people of this country against oppression by colonisers and minority rule by amalgamating as a force to be reckoned with, irrespective of our ethnic groupings.
As this realisation took root, we witnessed the formation and growth of such movements such as uMkhonto weSizwe of the African National Congress (ANC), Azanian People's Liberation Army (APLA) of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) and others.
Diverse strategies were used to spread the gospel of unity and to discourage ethnicity in our struggle until all of us realised we had to fight domination with a single, united front.
From the short and simple exposition I have given, it is self evident that traditional leaders sacrificed much in their fight to lead us to where we stand in our own country today.
We need to, and indeed we do, salute the liberating armies of the liberation movements as well as the armies, or amabutho, all of whom fought for our freedom in different eras in our history, on various and far flung battlefields using diverse and defence and counterinsurgency tactics of war.
Let us now turn our focus to the epic journey made by our traditional leaders in our immediate history that is since the struggle was won in 1994.
Leading up to the first democratic elections of 1994, I was personally privileged to have been part of the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) initiative and the multi-party negotiation process which where aimed at reaching a negotiated settlement for the country.
I recall that traditional leaders were accorded a representational status for their people at these historical and groundbreaking negotiations because their part in the struggle against apartheid was acknowledged and appreciated.
I do, however, want to put it clearly that at this stage, in the very death throws of apartheid, there was uncertainty regarding the future role of traditional leaders in a new South Africa. This uncertainty and confusion was brought about by the following factors:
During the pre-apartheid or colonisation era, traditional leader exercised absolute authority in respect of his tribe. He was the Commander in Chief of the armed forces of his area and he could summon any of his subjects to the "iBandla", and if any person defaulted in or defied the laws of the tribe, his "Amabutho" would fetch that errant subject and escort him or her to the tribal court, the iBandla; and each time they would be acting under the authority of the traditional leader, either in person or in his capacity as the Commander in Chief of the forces.
A traditional leader was also Commander in Chief of the army, "uMkhuzi waMabutho". There were few choices in the face of intruders other than for the traditional leader to give the order for the amabutho to fight to the death to protect his subjects and their land.
A traditional leader was further the Supreme Judge of the highest court of the tribe. He would try all difficult cases and there would be no appeal against his judgement.
A traditional leader was also the president of his territory in that he would allocate arable or residential land to his people and he would perform all the executive functions of a modern day leader to ensure the stability and growth of the tribe.
The arrival of colonisation and apartheid to the South African shores saw the powers of traditional leaders, some of which I briefly outlined, being stripped from them altogether. They were stripped of their powers by legislation of the colonisers and left with few powers and little dignity.
Powers of arrest were removed from traditional leaders and transferred to the new institutions of the colonial power, called the South African Police, under the Governor-General.
No longer were they the Supreme Judge of the highest court, they had to be satisfied with hearing petty cases of blacks in their territory and any cases above and aside from these had to be heard by the courts of law of the apartheid government.
Powers of the Commander in Chief of traditional leaders were also severely clipped and all executive powers were now vested in the Governor-General or his institutions of government, at national or provincial level.
When the negotiations for a new dispensation and the handover of power in our country ensued at CODESA in 1993 and 1994, the question arose as to the role of the institution of Traditional Leaders in a new South Africa.
Should executive powers be restored to traditional leaders and in so doing dismantle such institutions such as a national police force and the Supreme Court? Or alternatively, should the executive powers be vested under the State President and his or her national, provincial and local structures of government?
In my own analysis these were open questions, in that if executive powers were given to traditional leaders, who would become the President of the country and who would become the Supreme Judge, and so on?
In finding a solution to such problems, the negotiators came to an agreement that there should be one, united national police force, a single, united national defence force; the judiciary should be presided over by judges and the executive authority was to be placed in the authority of those elected by the people and recognised by the Constitution.
And so the process of transformation of the old orders in our country began, dismantling such institutions as the South African Police and the South African Defence Force, institutions that would conform to the spirit and Constitution of our new, democratic South Africa.
The new South Africa also ensured that leaders in the national, provincial and local government were placed in public office by the ballot of the people.
Once all these issues had been brainstormed, negotiated and agreed upon at CODESA, the shape and form that the new South Africa would take emerged. But the immediate question remained, "What is the role of Traditional Leaders in this country and in a new dispensation?"
Negotiators at Kempton Park agreed that a House of Traditional Leaders should be established in the national and provincial spheres of government and that provision should be made for traditional leadership participation at local level. As there were severe time constraints this was an interim measure. The time constraints did not allow for wide consultation with communities regarding the determination of the proper role of traditional leadership in governance. I wish to give my assurances that we shall continue our commitment to consult widely on all issues affecting traditional leadership.
All the interim measures agreed upon at the CODESA negotiations at Kempton Park, together with the Interim Constitution of the country, ushered in the first democratic elections on 27 April 1994. The Interim Constitution provided that the elections would be held on a one-person-one vote ballot, irrespective of colour or creed and that political parties would enter for the elections, and not individuals.
Need I remind the Honourable House of what they know? - that the ANC overwhelmingly won the majority of votes at both national level and in seven of the provinces of South Africa. Accordingly, the finalisation of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa rested with the ANC-led Parliament, while taking into account all the minorities in Parliament.
Since 1994 until up to the end of 2003, the matter of traditional leadership has occupied the ANC-led Parliament at national level, as well as within the nine provinces of the country. Traditional leadership, at both the National House and the Provincial Houses, together with the rest of the South African people, participated in crafting a framework legislation, which has now been called the "The Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Act".
We are immensely pleased that this framework has now been enacted and become a law of the land, and for that we must thank the ANC-led Parliament. The Act provides the parameters within which provinces will develop their own norms for dealing with traditional leadership, at provincial and local levels.
I wish to give my assurance to the Honourable House that they will be afforded full participation in all debates, as shared leadership is the foundation stone of the ANC government.
As I have just mentioned, we have now come to sufficient consensus on the framework legislation needed for the province, in terms of the national framework. The drafting of the provincial framework is underway and soon we will have a completed draft for tabling to this Honourable House. I, once again, offer my assurances to our traditional leaders that all their views will be taken into careful consideration when dealing with the development of the provincial legislation.
Also, as a milestone achievement Chairperson, the national government is engaged in a process of a White Paper on Land Rights. The aim of this legislative process is to ensure that traditional leadership and other role players at local level do play an important integrative role in the administration and management of land on behalf of rural people. Once more, this is an important move aimed at improved service delivery and thereby improving the lives of people in rural areas.
Honourable Chairperson, I now wish to turn to the achievements of the traditional leadership in the development of the communities in our province. At the very foundation of all our achievements is the unprecedented cordial and collaborative relationship that has developed between government and the traditional leadership in this province. There is no doubt in my mind that you, the Honourable Members of this House, and the community at large will bear testimony to this statement.
We have brought services provided by government to the doorsteps of the people of this province, by providing relevant services and enabling infrastructure in the offices of the respective traditional leaders.
We have appropriately devolved some of the functions of government, such as applications for old age pensions, disability grants, child support grants and the like to the traditional authorities of our traditional leaders throughout the province.
We have also empowered Tribal Authority offices by giving them transport, enabling them to perform these duties and we have agreed on specific conditions for managing the transport. My office has further deployed well-trained staff to Tribal Authority offices to assist them to be in a position to efficiently and effective handle the functions devolved to the Tribal Authority offices.
Prior to 1994, indigenous law was never recognised in the courts of law of the country, except in the traditional leaders' courts or the Commissioner 's Court, of a very low level. A South African court judge was not obliged to and could not take into cognisance customs and traditions, unless there was evidence deduced in court.
Today, the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, as contained in Chapter 12, section 211 (3), states that the courts must apply customary law when applicable, as part and parcel of the law of this country. This Honourable Chairperson, you will agree with me, is a great achievement.
Another milestone which comes to mind if the enactment of legislation (Recognition of Customary Marriages Act of 1998) by the ANC-led Parliament, which stipulates, for the first time that customary marriages were are recognised by law in our country.
I need to just sketch a scenario regarding marriages, before this law was enacted. The only legally recognised marriage at that time and recognised as a supreme marriage, was a civil marriage, according to South African law. A scenario would be as follows:
If Mbongeni Shabalala enters into a traditional marriage with Ntombi Zodwa Nkosi at Mahushu in this province, and if Mbongeni Shabalala goes to Nelspruit to look for work, he would rent a room to stay in Nelspruit. Perhaps Mbongeni, while in Nelspruit, strikes up a relationship with Nomsa Khumalo and thereafter they look for their own house in Nelspruit, in by-gone days they would have had to produce a marriage certificate according to civil law. While they may not have intended to get married, they may get a marriage certificate from the Magistrate's Office in Nelspruit and they would have been regarded as legally married. The traditional marriage between Mbongeni and Ntombi Zodwa Nkosi would have been automatically nullified, which would have amounted to an automatic divorce, as the civil marriage superseded the traditional marriage.
Need I say it? Traditional marriage was regarded as being very inferior. Today we have civil marriage and traditional marriage placed on an equal footing. It is a very progressive Parliament in Cape Town, led by President Mbeki that afforded equal status to these marriages.
Honourable Chairperson, we also need to acknowledge that we have impressive achievements in service delivery in our rural areas. For instance, in Ntwane in Greater Groblersdal, we are investing over R10 million in this area to ensure that the local people get adequate clean water in their homes so that they will be able to bath or shower in their own homes.
The same can be said for the people of Kgobokwane as a result of the R4 million invested for the reticulation of water to their houses. We may also make mention of the Mgobodzi tar road in the rural areas of Nkomazi, which is under construction right now and as I speak. Also the Mbuzini access route which goes through the villages of Nkosi Mlambo and Nkosi Sandile Ngomane is just another of our achievements in service delivery in rural areas.
We have clinics to service the health care needs of our people in the deep rural areas, for instance, at Amsterdam Health Centre, at the Mametlhake Clinic in the rural areas of Moretele, at Nokaneng and Seabe Clinics also in the deep rural areas of the province. The improvements and upgrading of Themba Hospital and the construction of KaBokweni Clinic are also examples of service delivery in rural areas.
The struggle for a better life for all our people will not be fulfilled until we have taken control of the scourge HIV/AIDS on, particularly, our young people. The government is appreciative of the role played by the traditional leaders' HIV/AIDS forum in this regard. We hope that traditional leaders will filter information on HIV/AIDS to the members of their tribal authorities and communities. This forms part of our President's call and efforts in the Moral Regeneration Movement and I have no doubt that traditional leaders have responded to the President's call and will throw their full weight behind this initiative.
Chairperson, out of the 4 800 classrooms built, many are in rural areas. Out of them 2,4 million households have seen water provided to them, are again mainly in the rural areas. In short, a large number of the 345 000 households who now have electricity reside in rural areas and they are enjoying the same services that families in Johannesburg and Nelspruit enjoy.
However, that having been said, our greatest challenge still lies in creating employment for our rural communities. We must make sure that we draw investment to these areas. Our Expanded Public Works Programmes are designed to play a major role in creating employment in rural areas. We intend creating more jobs for unemployed people over the next five years. We will be relying on the participation of the Traditional Leaders in their respective areas of jurisdiction to realise this objective.
The important tool when dealing with unemployment is to ensure that our young people are well skilled. In dealing with this matter, we have created a bursary fund in the Office of the Premier, in conjunction with the private sector, to cater for high performing mathematics, science, engineering and technology students.
In tandem with these efforts being made, we must and we are dealing with the problem of crime. I hope some of the South African Police Service reservists who graduated last year have been absorbed into the service of the South African Police Service and that they are serving the communities in the various areas of our traditional leaders.
We need to pursue the idea of deploying the remaining Police Reservists to each of our 54 traditional authority offices in the province so that they can contribute to the combating of crime throughout the Mpumalanga Province. In this regard, I have already instructed the Director-General in my office and our Provincial Treasury to make sure that there is budget for this item in the financial year 2004/2005 starting on 1 April.
Honourable Chairperson, we need the co-operation of all traditional leaders in this province in order to make our vision a reality and to make our dreams come true.
We have distributed a lot of food parcels in communities during the past few months. I want to urge our traditional leaders to make sure that everyone in your Tribal Authority creates a food garden, where nutritional food can be planted and harvested for family use.
I know all to well that there is a scarcity of water in some areas of our province, but this matter is receiving attention at the highest authority and I appeal to traditional leaders to bear with us while we make every endeavour to solve this problem. We need, however, to encourage our people to save water and to repair leakages instantly and to install water meters, so that all our people can enjoy the free, basic water supply of 6 000 litres per month. We have begun to install water meters in Thembisile, Dr Moroka, Thaba Chweu, Nkomazi and Albert Luthuli Municipalities.
Honourable Chairperson, your House will agree with me that our rural development strategy is aimed at creating opportunities, capital investment, infrastructure development, capacity building and skills development, food security, expand basic services to rural areas and promote efficient land use. Such an approach will create opportunities for jobs, income generation and improvement of living standards.
The question and a challenge for us all is to continuously influence the Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) of municipalities. Traditional leaders should continue to ensure that their authorities do participate in both the planning and development of IDPs in municipalities affecting their respective areas of jurisdictions. Chairperson, this is the only way by which we jointly can succeed in pushing back the frontiers of poverty in rural areas.
Honourable Chairperson, as the general elections on 14 April 2004 are now imminent, I urge the Honourable Traditional Leaders to mobilise people in their locality and to encourage them to cast their votes in numbers. Voting is inextricable from democracy and freedom, it is part and parcel of our well-being, development and growth.
Honourable Members of the House of Traditional Leaders, in the opening of my address I dwelt on our more ancient roots and traditional leaders. These monarchs have rightfully been immortalised in history books, globally, for their unswerving commitment to their people. It is right and proper for us to honour these leaders in the first decade of our freedom in South Africa.
These great leaders were indeed, the pioneer freedom fighters in the struggle that ended a short ten years ago. It is also right and proper, Honourable Members that at this time of celebrating our freedom and democracy that we honour those traditional leaders who were our modern-day freedom fighters.
Let us remember the great Nobel Peace Prize winner, Chief Albert Luthuli, who pioneered modern day freedom fighting by confronting the enemy with his intellect and spirit alone. Those who followed, some of whom have will be immortalised in history, and some who will remain little known, but no less brave and honourable, are also deserving of our honour, respect and gratitude today.
Our democracy is ten years old and growing sturdier as each year passes but challenges will continue to confront us, this is the nature of a free society. But let us confront these challenges by using the example of great South African men and women that is with focused determination, a spirit of unconditional service to our people and an unquestionable respect for all our fellow South Africans.
Chairperson, all around us we can hear our people thanking us for having worked together with them, including traditional leaders, those at the head of religious bodies, the intellectuals in our communities, the youth, women and the ordinary people from the villages and townships, in the true spirit of KHOMANANI.
Honourable Chairperson, it is my honour and privilege to declare this sitting of the Mpumalanga House of Traditional Leaders open. May strength, wisdom and unity prevail in your deliberations so that we may fulfil our promise of a better life for all.
I thank you.
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Mpumalanga Provincial Government
12 March 2004
Source: Mpumalanga Provincial Government
Title: N Mahlangu: Opening of House of Traditional Leaders
ADDRESS BY THE HONOURABLE PREMIER, NJ MAHLANGU, ON THE OPENING OF THE HOUSE OF TRADITIONAL LEADERS, MPUMALANGA LEGISLATURE, 12 March 2004
Honourable Chairperson of the House of Traditional Leaders, Kgosi Mashile
Your Majesties, the Kings of our people
Honourable Amakhosi of our province
Honourable Members of the House of Traditional Leaders
Honourable Amakhosi visiting our province today
Honourable Members of the Legislature
Honourable MECs
Honourable guests
Ladies and gentlemen.
I stand before this honourable House at a very important and very crucial moment in time of our history, this being the eve of the celebration of our first decade of democracy.
There are 31 days ahead of the general elections, both for the national and provincial spheres of government. This juncture in time demands of us that we reflect on that place where we started and the place at which we have now arrived.
I intend to reflect on the participation of the traditional leaders in the struggle against apartheid and colonialism and in so doing, we remember the brave fight fought by King Dingane during his confrontation with the Voortrekkers. We remember how, in this case, Piet Retief and his troops wanted to dispossess land from the Zulu Kingdom and the Zulu nation.
The alleged document in which King Dingane ceded part of his land is said to have been signed by the King himself, but it is difficult to understand how the King comprehended the context of the letter or document, because he was not conversant with the language of Piet Retief and we were not told that there was any interpreter. It is clear that King Dingane did not agree to give his traditional land to the intruders, because clearly the King would not have waged a war to defend his land had that been the case.
My logic tells me that King Dingane and his subjects defended their land from being seized under false pretences. We also think of the prophecy, or last word, of King Shaka, who said, "Izinyoni ezimhlophe zizothatha umhlaba wethu" and he fought for what belonged to him and to his subjects.
King Nyabela similarly fought General Joubert in defence of his brother, Mampuru, and they were prepared to die, rather than surrender their authority to the intruders.
These are but a few examples and an indication of the struggle endured by traditional leaders, risking bloodshed rather than capitulation and surrendering their land and their authority. The reason why most of the troops of the traditional leaders were defeated was simply because they fought their wars in a divided manner.
For instance, the Zulus fought on their own, the Ndebele fought on their own, as did the Sekhukhune and the Silamba and others. Traditional leaders fought and defended their territories as ethnical entities.
After 1912, the realisation came to certain groupings of our people that we could protect the people of this country against oppression by colonisers and minority rule by amalgamating as a force to be reckoned with, irrespective of our ethnic groupings.
As this realisation took root, we witnessed the formation and growth of such movements such as uMkhonto weSizwe of the African National Congress (ANC), Azanian People's Liberation Army (APLA) of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) and others.
Diverse strategies were used to spread the gospel of unity and to discourage ethnicity in our struggle until all of us realised we had to fight domination with a single, united front.
From the short and simple exposition I have given, it is self evident that traditional leaders sacrificed much in their fight to lead us to where we stand in our own country today.
We need to, and indeed we do, salute the liberating armies of the liberation movements as well as the armies, or amabutho, all of whom fought for our freedom in different eras in our history, on various and far flung battlefields using diverse and defence and counterinsurgency tactics of war.
Let us now turn our focus to the epic journey made by our traditional leaders in our immediate history that is since the struggle was won in 1994.
Leading up to the first democratic elections of 1994, I was personally privileged to have been part of the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) initiative and the multi-party negotiation process which where aimed at reaching a negotiated settlement for the country.
I recall that traditional leaders were accorded a representational status for their people at these historical and groundbreaking negotiations because their part in the struggle against apartheid was acknowledged and appreciated.
I do, however, want to put it clearly that at this stage, in the very death throws of apartheid, there was uncertainty regarding the future role of traditional leaders in a new South Africa. This uncertainty and confusion was brought about by the following factors:
During the pre-apartheid or colonisation era, traditional leader exercised absolute authority in respect of his tribe. He was the Commander in Chief of the armed forces of his area and he could summon any of his subjects to the "iBandla", and if any person defaulted in or defied the laws of the tribe, his "Amabutho" would fetch that errant subject and escort him or her to the tribal court, the iBandla; and each time they would be acting under the authority of the traditional leader, either in person or in his capacity as the Commander in Chief of the forces.
A traditional leader was also Commander in Chief of the army, "uMkhuzi waMabutho". There were few choices in the face of intruders other than for the traditional leader to give the order for the amabutho to fight to the death to protect his subjects and their land.
A traditional leader was further the Supreme Judge of the highest court of the tribe. He would try all difficult cases and there would be no appeal against his judgement.
A traditional leader was also the president of his territory in that he would allocate arable or residential land to his people and he would perform all the executive functions of a modern day leader to ensure the stability and growth of the tribe.
The arrival of colonisation and apartheid to the South African shores saw the powers of traditional leaders, some of which I briefly outlined, being stripped from them altogether. They were stripped of their powers by legislation of the colonisers and left with few powers and little dignity.
Powers of arrest were removed from traditional leaders and transferred to the new institutions of the colonial power, called the South African Police, under the Governor-General.
No longer were they the Supreme Judge of the highest court, they had to be satisfied with hearing petty cases of blacks in their territory and any cases above and aside from these had to be heard by the courts of law of the apartheid government.
Powers of the Commander in Chief of traditional leaders were also severely clipped and all executive powers were now vested in the Governor-General or his institutions of government, at national or provincial level.
When the negotiations for a new dispensation and the handover of power in our country ensued at CODESA in 1993 and 1994, the question arose as to the role of the institution of Traditional Leaders in a new South Africa.
Should executive powers be restored to traditional leaders and in so doing dismantle such institutions such as a national police force and the Supreme Court? Or alternatively, should the executive powers be vested under the State President and his or her national, provincial and local structures of government?
In my own analysis these were open questions, in that if executive powers were given to traditional leaders, who would become the President of the country and who would become the Supreme Judge, and so on?
In finding a solution to such problems, the negotiators came to an agreement that there should be one, united national police force, a single, united national defence force; the judiciary should be presided over by judges and the executive authority was to be placed in the authority of those elected by the people and recognised by the Constitution.
And so the process of transformation of the old orders in our country began, dismantling such institutions as the South African Police and the South African Defence Force, institutions that would conform to the spirit and Constitution of our new, democratic South Africa.
The new South Africa also ensured that leaders in the national, provincial and local government were placed in public office by the ballot of the people.
Once all these issues had been brainstormed, negotiated and agreed upon at CODESA, the shape and form that the new South Africa would take emerged. But the immediate question remained, "What is the role of Traditional Leaders in this country and in a new dispensation?"
Negotiators at Kempton Park agreed that a House of Traditional Leaders should be established in the national and provincial spheres of government and that provision should be made for traditional leadership participation at local level. As there were severe time constraints this was an interim measure. The time constraints did not allow for wide consultation with communities regarding the determination of the proper role of traditional leadership in governance. I wish to give my assurances that we shall continue our commitment to consult widely on all issues affecting traditional leadership.
All the interim measures agreed upon at the CODESA negotiations at Kempton Park, together with the Interim Constitution of the country, ushered in the first democratic elections on 27 April 1994. The Interim Constitution provided that the elections would be held on a one-person-one vote ballot, irrespective of colour or creed and that political parties would enter for the elections, and not individuals.
Need I remind the Honourable House of what they know? - that the ANC overwhelmingly won the majority of votes at both national level and in seven of the provinces of South Africa. Accordingly, the finalisation of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa rested with the ANC-led Parliament, while taking into account all the minorities in Parliament.
Since 1994 until up to the end of 2003, the matter of traditional leadership has occupied the ANC-led Parliament at national level, as well as within the nine provinces of the country. Traditional leadership, at both the National House and the Provincial Houses, together with the rest of the South African people, participated in crafting a framework legislation, which has now been called the "The Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Act".
We are immensely pleased that this framework has now been enacted and become a law of the land, and for that we must thank the ANC-led Parliament. The Act provides the parameters within which provinces will develop their own norms for dealing with traditional leadership, at provincial and local levels.
I wish to give my assurance to the Honourable House that they will be afforded full participation in all debates, as shared leadership is the foundation stone of the ANC government.
As I have just mentioned, we have now come to sufficient consensus on the framework legislation needed for the province, in terms of the national framework. The drafting of the provincial framework is underway and soon we will have a completed draft for tabling to this Honourable House. I, once again, offer my assurances to our traditional leaders that all their views will be taken into careful consideration when dealing with the development of the provincial legislation.
Also, as a milestone achievement Chairperson, the national government is engaged in a process of a White Paper on Land Rights. The aim of this legislative process is to ensure that traditional leadership and other role players at local level do play an important integrative role in the administration and management of land on behalf of rural people. Once more, this is an important move aimed at improved service delivery and thereby improving the lives of people in rural areas.
Honourable Chairperson, I now wish to turn to the achievements of the traditional leadership in the development of the communities in our province. At the very foundation of all our achievements is the unprecedented cordial and collaborative relationship that has developed between government and the traditional leadership in this province. There is no doubt in my mind that you, the Honourable Members of this House, and the community at large will bear testimony to this statement.
We have brought services provided by government to the doorsteps of the people of this province, by providing relevant services and enabling infrastructure in the offices of the respective traditional leaders.
We have appropriately devolved some of the functions of government, such as applications for old age pensions, disability grants, child support grants and the like to the traditional authorities of our traditional leaders throughout the province.
We have also empowered Tribal Authority offices by giving them transport, enabling them to perform these duties and we have agreed on specific conditions for managing the transport. My office has further deployed well-trained staff to Tribal Authority offices to assist them to be in a position to efficiently and effective handle the functions devolved to the Tribal Authority offices.
Prior to 1994, indigenous law was never recognised in the courts of law of the country, except in the traditional leaders' courts or the Commissioner 's Court, of a very low level. A South African court judge was not obliged to and could not take into cognisance customs and traditions, unless there was evidence deduced in court.
Today, the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, as contained in Chapter 12, section 211 (3), states that the courts must apply customary law when applicable, as part and parcel of the law of this country. This Honourable Chairperson, you will agree with me, is a great achievement.
Another milestone which comes to mind if the enactment of legislation (Recognition of Customary Marriages Act of 1998) by the ANC-led Parliament, which stipulates, for the first time that customary marriages were are recognised by law in our country.
I need to just sketch a scenario regarding marriages, before this law was enacted. The only legally recognised marriage at that time and recognised as a supreme marriage, was a civil marriage, according to South African law. A scenario would be as follows:
If Mbongeni Shabalala enters into a traditional marriage with Ntombi Zodwa Nkosi at Mahushu in this province, and if Mbongeni Shabalala goes to Nelspruit to look for work, he would rent a room to stay in Nelspruit. Perhaps Mbongeni, while in Nelspruit, strikes up a relationship with Nomsa Khumalo and thereafter they look for their own house in Nelspruit, in by-gone days they would have had to produce a marriage certificate according to civil law. While they may not have intended to get married, they may get a marriage certificate from the Magistrate's Office in Nelspruit and they would have been regarded as legally married. The traditional marriage between Mbongeni and Ntombi Zodwa Nkosi would have been automatically nullified, which would have amounted to an automatic divorce, as the civil marriage superseded the traditional marriage.
Need I say it? Traditional marriage was regarded as being very inferior. Today we have civil marriage and traditional marriage placed on an equal footing. It is a very progressive Parliament in Cape Town, led by President Mbeki that afforded equal status to these marriages.
Honourable Chairperson, we also need to acknowledge that we have impressive achievements in service delivery in our rural areas. For instance, in Ntwane in Greater Groblersdal, we are investing over R10 million in this area to ensure that the local people get adequate clean water in their homes so that they will be able to bath or shower in their own homes.
The same can be said for the people of Kgobokwane as a result of the R4 million invested for the reticulation of water to their houses. We may also make mention of the Mgobodzi tar road in the rural areas of Nkomazi, which is under construction right now and as I speak. Also the Mbuzini access route which goes through the villages of Nkosi Mlambo and Nkosi Sandile Ngomane is just another of our achievements in service delivery in rural areas.
We have clinics to service the health care needs of our people in the deep rural areas, for instance, at Amsterdam Health Centre, at the Mametlhake Clinic in the rural areas of Moretele, at Nokaneng and Seabe Clinics also in the deep rural areas of the province. The improvements and upgrading of Themba Hospital and the construction of KaBokweni Clinic are also examples of service delivery in rural areas.
The struggle for a better life for all our people will not be fulfilled until we have taken control of the scourge HIV/AIDS on, particularly, our young people. The government is appreciative of the role played by the traditional leaders' HIV/AIDS forum in this regard. We hope that traditional leaders will filter information on HIV/AIDS to the members of their tribal authorities and communities. This forms part of our President's call and efforts in the Moral Regeneration Movement and I have no doubt that traditional leaders have responded to the President's call and will throw their full weight behind this initiative.
Chairperson, out of the 4 800 classrooms built, many are in rural areas. Out of them 2,4 million households have seen water provided to them, are again mainly in the rural areas. In short, a large number of the 345 000 households who now have electricity reside in rural areas and they are enjoying the same services that families in Johannesburg and Nelspruit enjoy.
However, that having been said, our greatest challenge still lies in creating employment for our rural communities. We must make sure that we draw investment to these areas. Our Expanded Public Works Programmes are designed to play a major role in creating employment in rural areas. We intend creating more jobs for unemployed people over the next five years. We will be relying on the participation of the Traditional Leaders in their respective areas of jurisdiction to realise this objective.
The important tool when dealing with unemployment is to ensure that our young people are well skilled. In dealing with this matter, we have created a bursary fund in the Office of the Premier, in conjunction with the private sector, to cater for high performing mathematics, science, engineering and technology students.
In tandem with these efforts being made, we must and we are dealing with the problem of crime. I hope some of the South African Police Service reservists who graduated last year have been absorbed into the service of the South African Police Service and that they are serving the communities in the various areas of our traditional leaders.
We need to pursue the idea of deploying the remaining Police Reservists to each of our 54 traditional authority offices in the province so that they can contribute to the combating of crime throughout the Mpumalanga Province. In this regard, I have already instructed the Director-General in my office and our Provincial Treasury to make sure that there is budget for this item in the financial year 2004/2005 starting on 1 April.
Honourable Chairperson, we need the co-operation of all traditional leaders in this province in order to make our vision a reality and to make our dreams come true.
We have distributed a lot of food parcels in communities during the past few months. I want to urge our traditional leaders to make sure that everyone in your Tribal Authority creates a food garden, where nutritional food can be planted and harvested for family use.
I know all to well that there is a scarcity of water in some areas of our province, but this matter is receiving attention at the highest authority and I appeal to traditional leaders to bear with us while we make every endeavour to solve this problem. We need, however, to encourage our people to save water and to repair leakages instantly and to install water meters, so that all our people can enjoy the free, basic water supply of 6 000 litres per month. We have begun to install water meters in Thembisile, Dr Moroka, Thaba Chweu, Nkomazi and Albert Luthuli Municipalities.
Honourable Chairperson, your House will agree with me that our rural development strategy is aimed at creating opportunities, capital investment, infrastructure development, capacity building and skills development, food security, expand basic services to rural areas and promote efficient land use. Such an approach will create opportunities for jobs, income generation and improvement of living standards.
The question and a challenge for us all is to continuously influence the Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) of municipalities. Traditional leaders should continue to ensure that their authorities do participate in both the planning and development of IDPs in municipalities affecting their respective areas of jurisdictions. Chairperson, this is the only way by which we jointly can succeed in pushing back the frontiers of poverty in rural areas.
Honourable Chairperson, as the general elections on 14 April 2004 are now imminent, I urge the Honourable Traditional Leaders to mobilise people in their locality and to encourage them to cast their votes in numbers. Voting is inextricable from democracy and freedom, it is part and parcel of our well-being, development and growth.
Honourable Members of the House of Traditional Leaders, in the opening of my address I dwelt on our more ancient roots and traditional leaders. These monarchs have rightfully been immortalised in history books, globally, for their unswerving commitment to their people. It is right and proper for us to honour these leaders in the first decade of our freedom in South Africa.
These great leaders were indeed, the pioneer freedom fighters in the struggle that ended a short ten years ago. It is also right and proper, Honourable Members that at this time of celebrating our freedom and democracy that we honour those traditional leaders who were our modern-day freedom fighters.
Let us remember the great Nobel Peace Prize winner, Chief Albert Luthuli, who pioneered modern day freedom fighting by confronting the enemy with his intellect and spirit alone. Those who followed, some of whom have will be immortalised in history, and some who will remain little known, but no less brave and honourable, are also deserving of our honour, respect and gratitude today.
Our democracy is ten years old and growing sturdier as each year passes but challenges will continue to confront us, this is the nature of a free society. But let us confront these challenges by using the example of great South African men and women that is with focused determination, a spirit of unconditional service to our people and an unquestionable respect for all our fellow South Africans.
Chairperson, all around us we can hear our people thanking us for having worked together with them, including traditional leaders, those at the head of religious bodies, the intellectuals in our communities, the youth, women and the ordinary people from the villages and townships, in the true spirit of KHOMANANI.
Honourable Chairperson, it is my honour and privilege to declare this sitting of the Mpumalanga House of Traditional Leaders open. May strength, wisdom and unity prevail in your deliberations so that we may fulfil our promise of a better life for all.
I thank you.
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Mpumalanga Provincial Government
12 March 2004
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