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Date : 07/04/2005
Source: The Presidency
Title: Mbeki: Annual opening of the National House of Traditional Leaders


Address by the President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, at the annual opening of the National House of Traditional Leaders: Cape Town

Chairperson of the National House of Traditional Leaders, Inkosi MB Mzimela
Deputy Chairperson, Khosi FP Kutama
Your Majesties and Royal Highnesses
Traditional leaders
Honourable Minister Sydney Mufamadi
Honourable Deputy Minister Nomatyala Hangana
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

I want to thank you once more, for extending an invitation to the Presidency to address this opening session of the National House of Traditional Leaders. We are happy that our interaction with this House continues and is now an entrenched practice.

On behalf of the government I wish to extend our sincere condolences for the tragic and untimely death of your Chief Executive Officer, Mr Malungisa Gobe. We note with sadness that this is the second time that this House has lost a CEO through death, the first being, Mr Louis Molobi, who passed away in July 2002. As the House knows, Mr Gobe was part of a delegation of members of this House that visited Zimbabwe, with the purpose of sharing experiences and strategies on the functioning of the important institution of the traditional leadership in both countries.

Interactions such as the visit to Zimbabwe will undoubtedly play a key role in strengthening friendship among our people on the African continent and thereby contribute to the development of a shared commitment to work for the betterment of the lives of all Africans.

Your mission to Zimbabwe was an important one, especially because it also ties with your initiative to form a continental body of traditional leaders, an idea that our Cabinet fully endorses. I am also quite pleased to note that the National House of Traditional Leaders was invited, together with other international observers, by the Zimbabwean government to send a team of observers to witness the parliamentary elections that took place on the 31st March 2005.

Chairperson, I would like to speak briefly about one of the important matters facing all of us as South Africans, but which is perhaps more directly related to the day-to-day work of the institution of traditional leadership. This is even more relevant as you embark on an initiative to form a continental body.

This is the matter of language, tradition and identity. Recently, there have been reports, in this country, about the decline in the usage of indigenous African languages by the African people themselves. There are a number of factors that contribute to this situation, reasons that all of us should examine closely examine at an appropriate time.

What we may want to focus on is the fact that our languages are not used as they should be by our people. As we know, there is insufficient use of African languages in schools, at national and provincial parliaments, in municipalities and other public and private institutions. At school level, fewer and fewer of our children are taking African languages as subjects.

I am raising this matter here because, among other challenges, this is one of the pressing issues that our traditional leaders should be concerned with.

We all know that language is not merely words that are spoken on a daily basis, nor is it just a means of communication. Language is a critical factor in terms of sustaining national identity. It contains in it the history of those who use it. It communicates the traditions, customs, the morals and values of the people.

Through its idioms and proverbs, it gives guidance as the people face all manner of challenges in their lives. All of us continue to derive wisdom from the old-age idioms of our languages, which help when we face difficulties, when we deal with conflict situations, when we embark on new careers, when we raise children and families and when we build communities.

Accordingly, it cannot be that we, whose identity has been formed by the store of knowledge we inherited from our ancestors, can stand idly by while these languages are facing the danger of decline.

A detailed report by the Pan South African Language Board (PANSALB) released in October 2000 indicated that there are many institutional difficulties facing African languages, even though many of our people are committed to the preservation of their home languages. The Report says:

“South Africans clearly have a high level of commitment to their home languages and languages of identity. This is evident in their views on language policy, on language use in education, and in their choice of language in the media, where that choice exists.

“…The extent to which languages are accommodated in the bureaucracy, the civil society and in the economy has only an approximate relationship to the degree of concern about language policy. People who speak Afrikaans tend to be more concerned about the implications of language policy on their language…”

The Report continues that:

“Given the commitment to language in the country at large, it is ironic that some major institutional structures and processes are unresponsive to this interest. The printed media, communication by politicians and language policy in schools are among the more prominent examples of failure to accommodate the language preferences of millions of South Africans.” (P189)

Perhaps it will be important to contrast the absence of a consistent campaign in defence of many of the African languages with what our Afrikaans speaking compatriots are doing in defending their language, as the Report indicates.

Given what the report we have cited observes and the situation as we know it, I think it would be important for this House and the leadership that constitute this institution to work with national and provincial parliaments, the relevant government departments such as Education and Arts and Culture, provincial departments and other institutions in the private sector to look closely into this important matter.

In addition to the question of language, there are indications that apart from the rural areas, African people in the urban areas do not organise and participate in festivals that celebrate our traditional songs and dances. The result is that we raise many young people who have no idea about their own traditions which are communicated through songs, most of which, like language, contain a lot of history and stories dealing with values and morals.

In many instances, it is easy for our youth to identify with rock stars from places they have never seen, who deal with issues that are foreign to our situations and experiences. Invariably, this process inculcates an alien culture in many of our people.

Again, I think the traditional leaders, working with the communities, the private sector, municipalities as well as provincial and national spheres of government, could ensure that festivals that celebrate our traditions, songs and dances become a regular feature in all parts of our country, including in our big cities, whether in Cape Town, Johannesburg, eThekwini, Tshwane, Port Elizabeth and other urban areas.

I am raising this matter here because while there are many challenges facing all of us in this country, I do not think that there is any echelon of leadership best placed to deal with this matter of language, tradition and identity, than the leadership represented here today. There are many people in this country who are also concerned about the issue of identity, or loss of it. This is in the context of all of us being South Africans, united in our diversity, as our constitution says.

Chairperson,

I am aware that this leadership has been engaged in many processes aimed at bringing a better life to our people. Indeed, the Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Act provides for the involvement of each Local House of Traditional Leaders to participate in local programmes that seek to advance the development of rural communities.

The Houses are also required to participate in local initiatives that are aimed at monitoring, reviewing or evaluating government programmes in rural communities. I trust that we will continue to use existing frameworks and processes to collaborate so as to accelerate the process of development of our rural communities.

I am certain that many of us are alarmed by the significant number of recent cases where families have been killed, sometimes because of conflicts between the spouses, in instances where there have been allegations of rape, and so on. It would seem that there has been an increase in the incidence of such cases, especially in the rural areas. Perhaps this House need to pay special attention to this deviant behaviour and together work out solutions to these challenges.

Part of the challenge in this regard may be to look at the existing programmes of moral regeneration and ask the question whether they are having the necessary impact. In this context, we appreciate the work that you are doing among all our people in the rural areas, relating to questions of social cohesion and other matters such as the struggle against communicable diseases, including AIDS.

Further, Chairperson, I am very pleased that in August 2004, the House signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). I trust that this will make it possible for all of us to work better together to bring to a stop these incidents of violence, of rape against women and children and of senseless killings.

In addition, I think it will be important that the work between this leadership and the South African Police Service (SAPS) is further strengthened, especially around the joint-work on rural safety. Let us also continue with measures to ensure that illegal firearms are handed over to the police. The work that you have done on the question of assisting with the handing-over of illegal firearms is indeed commendable, because all our people deserve to live in conditions of peace and security.

One of the challenges facing government is the matter of social grants, both with regard to their accessibility and the fraud committed by those who are not entitled to have these grants. As in many other matters I think we should strengthen our collaboration so that those of our people who are entitled to these grants should access them without any hindrance and those who steal these grants should face the full force of the law.

Again, as we know, through the unscrupulous work of a few people, there has been a danger of debasing and discrediting one of our important traditional institutions – the initiation schools. Among other things, we need your leadership, as the custodians of our cultures, to ensure that we have safe, accountable and community-based initiation schools.

Chairperson,

The Department of Provincial and Local Government is actively involved in the implementation of the Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Act, which our Parliament passed in November 2003.

In this regard, you will have noted that an independent Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims was established in November 2004. This Commission has the task to investigate and resolve long-standing traditional leadership disputes.

Clearly, this House has the responsibility to assist in ensuring that our traditional leaders and communities refer all disputes and claims to the Commission. This will help expedite the finalisation of the work of the Commission within the prescribed five-year period.

I was informed that the first formal meeting between the Commission and the National House took place yesterday. I am quite confident that you had a fruitful interaction with the Commission, and that you will continue to engage with one another on a regular basis.

Furthermore, the provinces are currently preparing to pass various pieces of legislation dealing with provincial aspects of law with regard to traditional leadership. Once more, I trust that this House, together with its provincial counterparts, will play a much more active role in these processes.

In this regard, one important issue that the various provinces are grappling with is the amendment of their respective legislation to establish Local Houses of Traditional Leaders in relevant district municipalities and, where applicable, metro municipalities. We are happy with this development because the establishment of Local Houses heralds a new era for increased participation of traditional leaders in matters of local governance.

Furthermore, government has agreed that the National and Provincial Legislatures should refer relevant legislation to the National and Provincial Houses of Traditional Leaders for consideration. In this way, there is no doubt that working together we will be able to deliver better services to our people.

The National House of Traditional Leaders has also listed among its challenges the establishment of the Continental House of Traditional Leaders and the opening of the new Chamber and offices. I have been informed that there are ongoing consultations with other traditional leaders and structures on our continent with regard to the establishment of the Continental House of Traditional Leaders. This is a positive development because it will offer us a better chance to include the majority of our people, especially from the rural areas, in the regeneration of the African continent.

Undoubtedly, there cannot be an African renaissance without the active participation of our traditional leaders who are the custodians of our history, traditions and customs.

We are therefore confident that your participation in the development of Africa, through a continental structure, will help accelerate the important process of claiming for ourselves the 21st century as the African century. As I indicated in the past, I stand ready to work with you to ensure that our continental organisation, the African Union, gives the necessary recognition to, and cooperates with the structure you will establish.

Chairperson,

Traditional leadership is an institution of our people, and as such, government stands ready and willing to collaborate with you so that it becomes stronger and is better able to serve our people.

In this regard, we urge the House also to reflect on its achievements and challenges over the past ten years of democracy, so as to position itself properly to respond to the demands of our Second Decade of Democracy, and to strengthen its links with all spheres of government.

I wish you a fruitful and constructive year ahead.

I thank you.

Issued by: The Presidency
7 April 2005

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