“We must always remember that the executive of the Mpumalanga House of Traditional Leaders carry the hopes and dreams of our communities in rural areas, especially during this era, characterised by unfavourable socio-economic conditions.”
So said Premier Refilwe Mtshweni- Tsipane during the officially opened the Mpumalanga House of Traditional Leaders on Tuesday May 3.
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She looked back on the past years and how Covid-19 had affected the way of doing things, and she made announcements on the changes that will be implemented.
“Following our extensive deliberations with both the chairperson and the deputy chairperson on how we may augment our support to the traditional leaders, I have decided that from the 2023/24 financial year, we will increase our support for Ingwenyama from R400 000 to R1 000 000 per annum. This translates into an increase of around 150%. As part of our support for senior traditional leaders, we will also increase the administrative grant from
R300 000 to R350 000 per annum.
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“In this current financial year, the provincial government, through the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), shall renovate eight critical traditional council offices, while 12 new offices will be constructed. In addition, 25 offices shall be attended to over the next three years.
“When Cogta provided tools of trade in the form of desktop computers and printers in the previous financial year, it was responding to these sophisticated challenges. All traditional councils, including the offices of the two Izingwenyama, were provided with ICT support.
“This ICT infrastructure enhances the ability of traditional council offices to provide services in the most rural of surroundings.
“As we mark the last stretch of the last mile of the current term of the executive of both the provincial and local houses of traditional and Khoi-San leaders in Mpumalanga, it will be remiss of me to not express my gratitude to the esteemed members of the house. We were awestruck by your dedication and commitment to serve the community with such distinction and integrity. Your advice on cultural matters and development, for areas within the jurisdiction of traditional leadership, has enriched us. It is during your tenure that we fought together the pandemic and saved lives as I have indicated earlier.
“As you prepare to hand over the baton to the new leadership, I am certain that a road map has been developed for a seamless handover of the new executive from June 1.
“We remain resolute in our commitment to work with bo-Ndabezitha, and this will be our approach in the interactions with the executive.”
