CoGHSTA MEC engages with province’s Amakhosi

Passionate about issues of traditional leadership, the provincial MEC for co-operative governance, human settlements and traditional affairs, Speed Mashilo, has promised to restore the dignity and respect Amakhosi deserve.

Mashilo, who was recently sworn in as the new political head of this department, said he has already visited and met with some traditional leaders in Mpumalanga in a bid to get first-hand experience of how they operate and how they are treated by the current ruling government.

Speaking to Mpumalanga News, Mashilo said traditional leaders have an important and meaningful role to play in this democratic dispensation, as they did during the apartheid era. He said they played a major role in the fight against colonialism and apartheid, and they still have so much to offer today.

“One of the reasons we want to bring Amakhosi closer is because we know there are some communities who still believe in tribal authorities, and these are the same communities we serve as a government. So we need to work with Amakhosi to bring development to our people,” said Mashilo.

“I have met with Amakhosi. Fortunately for me, I was in this department during the last months of the sixth administration and I had already familiarised myself with some of the ins and outs thereof. We are committed to working with Amakhosi. This is not just lip service; as you have seen, we have given them the tools required to make their work much easier,” he said, referring to the vehicles, tractors, livestock, tablets and new offices that the provincial government and Mashilo’s department handed over to Amakhosi in the province.

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He said he has already attended to three different cases involving vacant chieftaincy positions in Mpumalanga.

“We have met with the Mnisi Tribal Council in Bushbuckridge, as they haven’t had a leader since the passing of Chief Clyde Mnisi, who was gunned down. We had a fruitful meeting and we will soon have the last meeting before we can appoint a new leader for this traditional council,” said Mashilo.

He said he has also met with the Mogane Royal Family, in which there are disputes and disagreement about the successor.

“In all these areas, the senior traditional leaders have either passed on, or in other cases the successor is still too young to lead, or there is no male successor and the families can’t come to an agreement about whether they want a female successor to take over the throne,” he added.

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Mashilo also said he was in full support of the Sunrise Magazine and Bantu Rise Publishers’ documentation of all the Mpumalanga traditional councils, including the Ndebele Kingdoms situated in the Nkangala District.

Mpumalanga News has learnt that the documentation is set to be in the forms of a history book and a TV documentary.