Outcry over Khoi-San bill
‘Boosts greedy traditional leaders’ powers’
CORRUPTION Watch has slammed President Cyril Ramaphosa for signing the controversial Traditional and KhoiSan Leadership Bill into law.
The organisation accused Ramaphosa of exposing rural communities to abuse by greedy traditional leaders who would violate their rights.
Civil society organisations have been waging campaigns against the bill, saying it gave traditional leaders enormous powers and violated the constitutional rights of communities.
Corruption Watch spokesperson Phemelo Khaas accused Ramaphosa of ignoring appeals from civil society and community members who highlighted the dangers of signing the bill into law.
“The bill gives traditional leaders the right to enter into agreements on the use of land without the consent of the most affected groups – this effectively enables traditional leadership structures to dispossess people of their land without either their agreement or expropriation,” Khaas said.
Khaas said Ramaphosa had also ignored the reports of two panels, the 2017 High Level Panel on SA legislation led by former president Kgalema Motlanthe and Ramaphosa’s own advisory panel on land reform, which state that provisions of the bill infringed on constitutionally protected customary and informal property land rights of people.
The Presidency said the legislation sought to transform traditional and Khoi-San institutions in line with constitutional imperatives and restore the legitimacy of institutions of traditional and Khoi-San leadership in line with customary law. Khaas said while the act ostensibly aimed to give autonomy to the Khoi-San community, the violation of rights would visit the communities. “It is not the Khoi-San people who will achieve autonomy; it is the Khoi-San traditional leaders whose effective autonomy from those that they purport to govern is now confirmed and strengthened,” she said.
The act and the equally controversial Traditional Courts Bill have been facing concerted opposition and led to the creation of a coalition campaign called “Stop the Bantustan Bills”.
ANC stalwarts Pallo Jordan and Mavuso Msimang are among the patrons of the campaign as they believe the laws belong to the apartheid era of Bantustans.
Khaas said traditional communities affected by the legislation would feel the brunt of the injustice and inequality permitted by the act if it was not contested. “It is clear that prior to the enactment of the bill, the realities in traditional communities have been a sustained level of corruption and impunity by their leaders. Now with this bill, it gives legitimacy to some of the worst corrupt acts this country has yet to truly uncover,” she said.
Corruption Watch executive director David Lewis said SA’s much-vaunted democracy was mainly enjoyed by those in big cities and the country’s rural population did not have ready access to NGOs and civil rights lawyers.
“This is particularly true of those communities subject to the rule of traditional leaders. We can scarcely credit the president’s decision to sign this appalling act into law and will oppose it using every available avenue,” Lewis said.
◆
◆ ◆
◆
◆