Despite an undertaking by President Thabo Mbeki, the South African government continues to undermine traditional leaders, Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi said on Thursday.
Speaking during a meeting in Cape Town between traditional leaders and the Department of Health on circumcision, Buthelezi said the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government had refused to recognise the House of Traditional Leaders as a government entity.
This was despite the Constitution stating that it should be recognised as such.
”The government of the province of KwaZulu-Natal has just refused to recognise the House as an entity to give it the capacity and autonomy that it should have in terms of the national legislation.
”Any effort to convey this situation to the president of South Africa has been frustrated,” he said.
As long as the government continued to undermine traditional leaders, it would be difficult for them to participate in programmes.
”In short, there is not much we can do to implement plans to contribute optimally to the fight against HIV/Aids as long as we are not given the resources to do so.
”We are being denied that participation,” he said.
Buthelezi accused the government of paying ”lip-service” to the African renaissance programme.
”We have in power a black government which pays lip service to an African renaissance, but which does its darndest to destroy any relevance of any role that we traditional leaders can play to save our nation from all the scourges that we face as the South African nation,” he said. – Sapa