Mkhize in talks with royals to iron out issues

ANC treasurer-general Zweli Mkhize has spent two days in the Eastern Cape meeting kings, queens and traditional leaders.

The visit is part of a bid to iron out differences between the ruling party and traditional leaders raised by the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (Contralesa).

It was also part of the preparation for the ANC’s national policy conference as well as to cement historic and future relationships between the ANC and traditional leaders.

Mkhize is the convener of a task team with Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Deputy Minister Obed Bapela and Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti as members dealing with traditional leaders.

The meetings, which started on Tuesday, have been attended by Mkhize, Bapela, Cogta MEC Fikile Xasa and royals and leadership of both Contralesa and the Eastern Cape House of Traditional Leaders (ECHTL), as well as chairs and secretaries of ANC regions.

Mkhize said the task team would address the issues raised by traditional leaders about policy within the ANC and government. They would then compile a report for the national policy conference.

Mkhize said that they were working hard to restore relations between the ANC and Contralesa citing their historic ties since the establishment of the ANC in 1912 and Contralesa in the late 1980s.

Contralesa provincial chairman Chief Mwelo Nonkonyana said they had been raising concerns with the ANC and government since 1994. —