Cape Town - The Traditional and Khoisan Leadership Bill 2015 could give effect to the Western Cape having its own House of Traditional Affairs, which will recognise the Khoisan and their leaders.
The bill is currently before the provincial standing committee on local government in the Western Cape Legislature, with public-participation meetings planned for later this month.
Masizole Mnqasela, chairperson of the standing committee on local government said it is vital for the first inhabitants of not only the Western Cape, but also the country.
“I therefore call on the Khoisan communities, which includes the Cape-Khoi, Griqua, Nama, Korana and San people; and relevant stakeholders and entities to not only avail themselves for the public hearings, but to also actively make written and oral submissions.”
Aaron Messelaar, administrator of the Griqau Royal House said they are going to participate in the public-participation process to highlight the unfairness of the bill.
“There are certain aspects of the bill that is not in line with the constitution. Even the constitution does not recognise the Khoisan leaders.
“Khoisan leaders are also not really recognised as important as other tribes and traditional leaders. That is my main problem.
“We cannot move forward if there are parts of society that remain marginalised.
“We also want the power to be given to the traditional leaders. The premiers should merely endorse whoever is elected by the people.
“We are however very glad that there is this public-participation process.”
Mnqasela said: “There are however problems with certain clauses of the legislation. We are worried about how traditional leaders will be recognised. Also, we need to look at the number of traditional leaders we have in the province.
“We would need a provincial house of traditional leaders if this goes ahead.
“But the details of this is still sketchy. We have however asked National Treasury to carry the cost of all related infrastructure.”
Mnqasela added the bill aims to address the current limitations of existing legislation, pertaining to sections of the National House of Traditional Leaders Act 2009.
The first public hearings will be held on April 10 in the Central Karoo.
@JasonFelix