President Thabo Mbeki had promised traditional leaders their powers would not be reduced, but the Communal Land Rights Bill did exactly that, Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa chairman Patekile Holomisa said on Friday.
Holomisa, an ANC MP who previously chaired the National Assembly’s land committee, was reacting to Mbeki’s attack on certain unnamed traditional leaders, whom the president said were threatening bloodshed because of the controversial bill.
Mbeki’s criticism, in the online publication ANC Today on Friday, formed part of his reaction to the recent bomb blasts in Gauteng.
Holomisa said that although Contralesa had not threatened bloodshed, it understood the frustration of some traditional leaders.
Sketching the reason for traditional leaders’ dissatisfaction, he said: ”In 2000, we (traditional leaders) held three meetings with him (Mbeki), where he categorically stated that in no way will the power of traditional leaders be reduced or diminished by his government.
”We asked him to put it in writing, and he took exception, saying it looked as though we doubted his word.”
Moreover, the president had said legislation would be enacted that would define the role of traditional leaders, and which would not diminish their powers in terms of local government.
”Instead, we have a law (the Communal Land Rights Bill) that continues to erode the powers of traditional leaders, in spite of what he (Mbeki) said.”
Holomisa, who now chairs Parliament’s constitutional review committee, said Contralesa had been seeking a meeting with the ANC for some time to discuss the matter.
”We have not succeeded. We want them to teach us about this democracy they’re talking about.”
National House of Traditional Leaders chairman Chief Mpiyezintombi Mzimela was not immediately available for comment. Representative for the ANC and the presidency were also not available to identify which traditional leaders Mbeki was referring to.
In his ANC Today newsletter, Mbeki noted that since the democratic elections in 1994, there were those who occasionally made threats that if their demands were not met, they would resort to violence.
”The matter must, however, be made abundantly clear that the democratic order will not submit to threats of this kind.”
The Communal Land Rights Bill, which had been published for public comment and discussion, followed an earlier national and inclusive consultation process.
Once tabled in Parliament, the public would still be able to make further representations.
Despite this, and instead of making constructive proposals as they saw fit, a recent meeting of some traditional leaders had once more resorted to the kind of threat that lead to the criminal actions witnessed in Soweto and Bronkhorstspruit, he said.
The leaders, while calling for the bill to be withdrawn and scrapped, said it was likely to be the cause of bloodshed in rural areas ”and it would promote faction fighting as people will create or be trapped into conflict”.
Mbeki condemned what he described as the ”open threat against the lives of innocent South Africans” made by ”people who belong among the constitutional and legal structures of our system of governance”.
He warned that if anybody tried to use force to subvert the implementation of the legislation, ”the law will take its course without fear or favour”.
”It would be expected that the traditional leaders, who are part of our system of governance, would assist our law enforcement agencies fully and without reservation.”
The government would not allow anybody to arrogate the right to themselves to reverse the victory of peace ”our country and people achieved at a high cost in terms of loss in human lives and injury to very many”.
Another objective of the liberation struggle was to end the division of South Africans into hostile and mutually antagonistic racial and ethnic groups.
”However, it is clear that there is still a small minority in our society which yearns for a return to the days of antagonistic racial and ethnic divisions that once tore our country apart.”
Mbeki repeated that the overwhelming majority of South Africans, both black and white, rejected this perspective and would not be forced to accept it through bombing campaigns or threats of bloodshed. – Sapa