Leaders urged to handle their disputes
He added that groups and dividends among royal families were not acceptable as it was a recipe for disaster.
MBOMBELA – The premier of the province, Mr David Mabuza urged traditional leaders to handle disputes among royal families with discretion.
Mabuza urged them to lead by example and treat their differences with the highest secrecy. “You have a duty to protect the institution and respect must be upheld at all times.
“Who am I to address royal families’ disputes? I can’t go out there and witness your dirty linen. My plea is to treat matters of the royal family with respect and confidentiality,” he said to applause of many who attended the official opening of the House of Traditional Leaders last week.
He added that groups and dividends among royal families were not acceptable as it was a recipe for disaster.
According to Mabuza, the disputes ranged from successions to ordinary royal family disputes and they were a cause for serious concern to government since they destabilised the effective functioning of traditional councils. “Matters of the royal families must be dealt with by the inner royal family (Lusendvo).
“Communities under traditional leadership must learn to respect their chieftaincy and desist from interfering or trying to influence decisions of royal families, especially on issues of succession.”
Not long ago, infighting over the chieftaincies made headlines in various news networks.
The premier added the executive committee of the house had started a programme of visiting individual traditional leaders to discuss their challenges and disputes related to succession with them.
He also urged them to bury their differences and put “efforts into restoring peace and harmony within their respective chieftaincies”.
So far, 163 cases were reported to the Provincial Committee on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims. A total of 90 cases had been dealt with of which only two were found to be valid.
