New law to define chiefs’ roles
THE Ministry of Rural Development, Promotion and Preservation of National Culture and Heritage together with chiefs are expected to soon finalise the much awaited Traditional Leaders Bill with deliberations still in progress.
The two Houses of Parliament are expected to debate the Bill early next year and should they give it the nod, it will be transmitted to President Mugabe for him to decide whether or not is should be signed into law.
In the past two months, the ministry conducted two all-stakeholders conferences in Bulawayo and Mutare with chiefs, academics, cultural groups, civic society and parastatals.
The aim of the conferences was to collate the diversity of ideas on the roles of chiefs and how these should be captured in the Bill.
Historically, traditional leaders have been at the centre of the spiritual, social and economic affairs of Zimbabwean communities.
The consultation process informing the Draft Bill was done in line with provisions set out in Chapter 15 of the 2013 Constitution, which regulates the establishment and functions of the traditional leadership.
During both all-stakeholder conferences, various concerns were raised by chiefs who complained that their role in society was being eroded.
In response to their grievances, the National Culture and Heritage Ministry last week held a three-day workshop in the capital to further scrutinise the Draft Bill and seek ways of finding common ground with traditional leaders.
The ministry’s internal meeting deliberated and agreed on several issues that will result in tweaking of some sections of the draft.
They also resolved to conduct one more all-stakeholders conference where they would set out the final positions to captured in the draft.
An official in the ministry told The Sunday Mail Religion that there are no misunderstandings per-Se between central Government and the country’s traditional leadership.
“To say there is a deadlock between the ministry and traditional leaders is an exaggeration of facts; the ministry is only supposed to explain and make clarifications on some of the sections of the Bill.
“For example, the roles of chiefs should be made clear and they (chiefs) should also understand the roles of Government, that is why we have arranged the final all-stakeholders conference,” said the official.
“The conference will be held outside Harare during the last week of October or in the first week of November this year. Since the day we started the project we have been working well with all our stakeholders … As the ministry we are glad that all our stakeholders were free to air their views during the consultations.
“We started this thing together and we will finish it together. Now we are in the process of finalising everything before we send the Bill to the Attorney-General’s Office after which it will be taken to Parliament.
“All things being equal we hope that by March next year, we will be done with the whole process,” added the official.
The Traditional Leaders Act (Chapter 29:17) is the principal legislation which is supposed to give effect to the new constitutional framework on traditional leadership and governance.