Court annuls ‘Hosi’ Maswanganyi

Maswanganyi was recognised as a chief by the premier on September 18, 2020, following a recommendation from the Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims (CTLDC). Maswanganyi lodged a claim in 2012 with the CTLDC and wants to be restored as a senior traditional leader of his community. In the claim, Maswanganyi had alleged that the chieftaincy of his community was lost in 1957 to Hosi Nhlaniki when the then government merged villages under one senior traditional leader.

Maswanganyi served as a headman under the Nhlaniki traditional leadership until when he was recognised as a chief himself. His inauguration as a senior traditional leader was held on the November 26 last year. However, this was short-lived after the Polokwane High Court recently ruled against the decision to recognise him as a chief. This came after Hosi Nhlaniki, under whom Maswanganyi served as a
headman before being granted senior traditional leadership status approached the court with an objection.

In the judgment, the court criticised the CTLDC for bungling the case. “The principle question the commission was required to investigate was whether a senior traditional leadership existed in respect of the Maswanganyi community.” The commission allegedly failed to execute the assignment properly by failing to give Hosi Nhlaniki a right of reply on its investigation of the case.

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“The commission has acted unfairly towards the applicant [Hosi Nhlaniki] when it embarked on inspection in loco [site inspection to gather supportive evidence] without inviting the applicant to attend, yet has invited members and representatives of the Maswanganyi community to attend the inspection” explained Polokwane High Court judge, GC Muller, when he read out the judgment. He also critisised the premier for installing Maswanganyi as chief while there was a pending case against the matter.

“If the judgment were allowed to stand, [keep Maswanganyi as a chief] the plaintiff would naturally feel that the decision had been reached behind his back because there was a view at which he was given no opportunity of being present. The judgment must therefore be set aside because it does not conform to the fundamental requirement that justice must not only be done but must also manifestly be seen to be done,” continued Muller, setting aside from the findings and recommendations by the CTLDC.

“The commission, in my judgment, has failed to comply with the imperatives contained in section 22(2) of the Framework Act and that has culminated in a gross irregularity, which vitiated the proceedings with the result that the report of and the recommendation by the commission fall to be reviewed and set aside,” he concluded. He awarded joint punitive costs to the office of the premier, the MEC for CoGHSTA, and the respondent. [Maswanganyi].