Shiviti council snubbed
Politics has no place in traditional leadership matters but has been a problem for years
ON MARCH 10, the Limpopo provincial government took a decision to formally recognise the so-called “Khakhala Traditional Community” and issued it with a certificate as a “new” traditional council.
This recognition of Khakhala emanates from the 2019 government gazette 3056, signed by Limpopo Premier Chupu Stanley Mathabatha, on November 29, 2019.
The political implication of this decision at best, riddled with political interference by the provincial political authorities, strips the Shiviti Traditional Council of its status as the rightful traditional authority, which covers 14 villages with a population of approximately 30 000 under the Greater Giyani Municipality.
Why they changed the tag to this remains a mystery to the people and has created huge confusion in the community.
The Shiviti community, under Hosi Thomo – one of the branches of the Varhonga community located in the North East of the former Transvaal Province, now Limpopo Province – has been abruptly relegated to the dustbin of history by the Limpopo provincial government under the guise of restoration of this traditional leadership arrangement.
It is not the first time that there have been attempts to strip the Shiviti Traditional Council of its chieftaincy, and this has failed before.
The Ralushai Commission was set up to investigate the traditional leadership contestation between Shiviti and Khakhala years ago and lost because the apartheid laws found no evidence of the existence of the newly created traditional council having ever existed before.
Therefore, the newly created traditional council has no legal standing, at the expense of the almost two centuries old, documented and archived Shiviti traditional leadership. The recently created new traditional council never existed because its traces have not been found.
In our view, the recent elevation of Khakhala is an abuse of power and sidestepping of the Shiviti Traditional Council by the Limpopo provincial government. It is also puzzling, because the alleged disposition is currently being heard in courts.
As the Shiviti Traditional Council, we firmly believe in the rule of law and we will await the court’s decision on this matter.
We are of the view that this parallel process, by the provincial government, should not have taken place. The process of creating the new traditional council should have been put on hold pending the pronouncements of the courts.
The fact that this issue was hurried by the provincial government, while the court of law is still adjudicating the same matter, is both problematic and quite undermining to the laws of the Republic of South Africa, which the governing party, the ANC, Premier Mathabatha leads in Limpopo.
The government must uphold and respect the law at all material times.
The action of the provincial government, of pronouncing Khakhala as a traditional community, is divisive and it has negative consequences for the unity of the people in the said jurisdiction.
This pronouncement also came as both a shock and a betrayal to the entire Shiviti Traditional Council and the Royal Family because it happens against a backdrop of our meeting with the MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Mr Baskopo Makamu, on March 13, 2019, regarding the issue that a new traditional council would be created within the jurisdiction of the current Shiviti Traditional Council.
At the time, MEC Makamu spectacularly rejected the rumour and assured the Royal Council that he had no knowledge of the creation of such a new traditional council. He further assured the council that should such a thing happen, the creation of the new traditional authority, he would be transparent with us.
The issue of traditional leadership and government interference is not a new phenomenon in South Africa. It has been a nagging problem for many years now.
The Shiviti Royal Family and Shiviti Traditional Council are disappointed with the recent developments, particularly the creation of a new traditional authority by the Limpopo provincial government. Our disgust and dismay is because this issue of traditional leadership dispute is being ventilated in the high court of the land.
The provincial government of Limpopo’s advice is that whoever is affected by their acceptance of claims on senior traditional leadership status as recommended by the Kgatla Commission, which gave rise to this dispute, have legal rights to contest this in the courts of the land, hence, we did exactly that.
The government of Limpopo must stop undermining traditional leaders and treating the laws of the country with contempt, if we are to build a country rooted in strong constitutional principles.
Political leaders cannot decide who becomes the traditional leader of a certain community as they wish.
Chieftaincy is born with and it is not an award which is given by politicians to whomever they like.
The recent elevation of Khakhala is an abuse of power and sidestepping of the Shiviti Traditional Council