Wise Old Heads
Traditional leaders must focus on redressing past imbalances, says premier
Eastern Cape House of Traditional Leaders executive members and representatives of the national house listen attentively as Premier Phumulo Masualle and ECHTL chair Nkosi Mwelo Nonkonyana deliver speeches during the opening of the House for 2019 in Bhisho on Thursday.
The land reform debate in SA is an issue which remains both emotive and sensitive to traditional leadership.
And it is critical that traditional leaders should be part of the land expropriation without compensation debate to ensure continued stability and equity in tenure, ownership and use.
This was the clarion call made by premier Phumulo Masualle at the official opening of the Eastern Cape House of Traditional Leader (ECHTL) in Bhisho on Thursday.
“I urge the traditional leadership institutions to not misinterpret this discussion as an attempt to tinker with the powers of the traditional leadership institution, but to look at the redress for those that have been dispossessed, to ensure justice and equity in the future development of our country,” he said.
Masualle said traditional leadership institutions were key in driving the agricultural revolution in traditional and rural communities.
“To what extent can the institution of traditional leadership use their custodianship of culture, tradition, customs and heritage, in the context of ubuntu to bring about sanity and the restoration of African ways of life and thereby contribute to the national discourse, social stability and location of global phenomenon such as globalisation and the fourth industrial revolution?”
Masualle said tourism could benefit rural areas cut off from the mainstream economy.
“I therefore encourage that our traditional councils be custodians of culture, customs and traditions and help in the packaging and showcasing of these to the world,” he said.
Traditional leaders should also play a crucial role in shaping the youth for the future.
“They should also contribute towards clean governance at municipalities.
“We must join the fight against malfeasance and corruption as it defeats our democratic gains,” Masualle said.
“Many more of the Eastern Cape’s well over seven million inhabitants have access to basic services like electrification, water and sanitation, broadened access to health-care services, resulting in improved life expectancy, the quality of life for more of our people continues to improve.”
ECHTL chair Nkosi Mwelo Nonkonyana said infighting among royal families was destabilising and weakening traditional leadership.
“We want united and strong royal family members who respect and uphold their legitimate lineages and customary practices,” said Nonkonyana.