The Chairperson of the National House of Traditional Leaders Kgosi Pontsho Maubane,

Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly and Deputy Chairperson of the NCOP

Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Mr Lechesa Tsenoli

Deputy Minister Andries Nel,

Their Majesties Kings and Queens present,

The Deputy Chairperson of the National House of Traditional Leaders and the

Chairpersons of Provincial Houses of Traditional Leaders

Honourable Members of the National House of Traditional Leaders

Chairperson of SALGA and local government leadership

Mr Cecil Le Fleur, Chairperson of the National Khoi-San Council and your Councillors

Ladies and gentlemen

Lotshani!

Chairperson,

I thank this august House for an opportunity to interact with it in just a fortnight after its opening.

As I listened, your deliberations on a wide range of issues affirm that we share common concerns as leaders of our people, both the elected and the hereditary.

Two weeks ago we gave a report on the path we have traversed together over the past 20 years, including the transformation of this revered institution since 1994 from being extensions of apartheid rule to the institution that cares for its people.  

We are pleased that today traditional leaders are engaging at the highest level of government.

This proves once again that being a traditional leader in 2014 is far better than it was prior to 1994.

The institution is today part of a democratic system, and it is fully entrenched amongst the people, like fish in water.

Esteemed Members

We are pleased that you are affirming your leadership position in local economic development and community advancement.

As such, we expect creative leadership at all levels, a leadership that inspires hope amongst the people.

We urge you to bring people together to seek solutions to the challenges that we face, such as rural-urban migration.

It is important to strengthen our rural areas and invest in the land, in agriculture and stock farming to enhance food security.

It is therefore correct and proper, that we reiterate the call for traditional leaders to marshal their communities back to the land to plough and produce food through subsistence farming.

Masibuyele emasimini and implement among others the Fetsa Tlala Campaign, in collaboration with the Departments of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries, Rural Development and Land Reform and COGTA.

We have through our various governments’ land reform and redistribution programmes, ensured support to small-scale farmers towards formal commercial farming.

This is critical for all our livelihood and sustainability as a nation.

The Fetsa Tlala and Ilima/Letsema Campaigns will be intensified and expanded to reach more villages as we strive to banish hunger and food insecurity!

This is because we want to move South Africa forward through sustainable livelihoods at local level.

Chairperson

Honourable members;

I am pleased to hear that the House has plans to address the challenge of local economic development.

The recent partnerships with the South African Heritage Resource Agency and other heritage institutions on rebuilding or developing sacred and heritage sites must be nurtured to its full potential.

I welcome your commitment to be involved with all other stakeholders and Ministries to develop our people in the rural areas.  

Your programme on cultural tourism has indeed attracted our attention as you seek to unearth and develop the ancient shrines and graves of your forebears.

We are certain that such initiatives will also create job opportunities as local people interact with our tourists.

Honourable members;

I am pleased that the Khoi and San leadership under the National Khoi-San Council (NKSC) are with us today.

The process towards integrating the Khoi and San leadership into the mainstream of cultural leadership is on course.

The Traditional Affairs Bill, which you have been engaging deeply, will be amongst the laws to be considered by the new Parliament after the May elections.

You will again still have a second opportunity to make further inputs through the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces (the NCOP) public hearings process.

I urge you to use this opportunity of public consultations on this Bill, following the Government Gazette published by Cabinet last year, to make further inputs before its submission to Parliament.  

We welcome the offer by our traditional leaders to cooperate with government in the day to day provision of services to our people.

I heard you clearly when you said that you wanted your offices to be turned into service delivery centres where people will apply for ID’s, receive their grants, receive and pay for municipal services and other amenities.

This is because you agree with us that together we can do more as we move South Africa forward.

Chairperson

The reopening of the land claims law was passed by Parliament on Tuesday the 24 February, slightly more than two weeks ago.

We intend to interact with you directly as we together have to accelerate the pre-1913 land claims, an opportunity created by the ANC government for the descendants of the Khoi and San to lodge their claims.

The reopening of the land claims will also recognise the heritage and national landmarks that must be protected –areas of huge interest to traditional leadership as they have sacred meanings.

Last week I met traditional leaders in the North West and we discussed a number of issues regarding communal land administration, servitudes and other encumbering of the land for security in financial transactions.

Traditional leaders also raised the issue of constant demand by municipalities on cultural communities, through the traditional councils, to release the scarce land resource for municipal services.

We make a commitment that the Ministers for COGTA and Rural Development and Land Reform will look at this matter.

Chairperson of the National Khoi- San Council,

The Khoi and San victories of more than 500 years ago and the subsequent ones are recorded.

Programmes must be developed to integrate these commemorations and celebrations of the Khoi and San battles, and their victories, into the general cultural events calendar of the COGTA, particularly led the Department of Traditional Affairs.

Chairperson, Kgosi Maubane

As you know, while South Africa is a world leader in the fight against HIV/Aids, the disease still ravages despite intense campaigns and the roll-out of anti-retroviral drugs.

This calls for more intensification of the prevention messages among the population, particularly the youth, further distribution of medication and collective fight against the stigma attached to HIV and AIDS.

I am encouraged that our traditional leaders in their local traditional councils are going to become HIV-Aids ambassadors working closely with the Department of Health.

This will strengthen the partnership against AIDS, and fight the stigma attached to it.

Esteemed Chairperson

I wish to thank Members for raising the issue of male circumcisions and how it has become hazardous, as 2013 casualty numbers were at their highest.   

COGTA and Health Ministers will be meeting soon to consider possible interventions to curb further deaths in these schools.

They will obviously engage the traditional leadership institutions and practitioners to ensure that measures are put in place and implemented as soon as possible.

This will help to clear the way for initiation, one of our old important customs, which should be handled with all care to eliminate injuries and casualties.

We expect the leadership of the National House on this matter.

On another front, drug and substance abuse is still a challenge in our communities and we have to intensify our fight against this scourge.

We also agree with members of this House that indeed the right to protest must not be abused to commit the crime and other acts of dishonour.

The Minister of Police will interact with the House to develop partnerships in combating crime in your areas.

Chairperson

The National Interfaith Council of South Africa (NICSA)’s formation in 2012 was an important development in the project of nation building and social cohesion.

Our constitution guarantees religious freedom, but we abhor acts of crime committed in the name of religion, particularly Satanism.

Let us guide our youth away from these traps, and we invite religious leaders to join hands with communities and the police to fight this challenge.

Working together as traditional and religious leaders and government, we will be able to curb the social ills afflicting our country.

Compatriots

We are looking forward to active participation of traditional leaders and their councils in their municipalities as we make South Africa a better place to live, both urban and rural.

Let us encourage our communities to go out in their numbers on the 7th of May 2014 to vote so that we can continue to implement these programmes that we have spoken about today and to make South Africa a much better place to live in.

I thank you!

God Bless Africa!