Remarks By Hon. Premier Tsp Makwetla At Inkosi M.D Mthethwa’s Funeral
Madabukela Royal Kraal
29 September 2007
Honourable Minister of Defence, Mr M. Lekota
All the Royalties
Honourable Members of the Executive Council,
Members of the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature,
Honourable Mayors and councilors,
Deputy President of the African National Congress, Mr Jacob Zuma,
Religious Leaders,
The Mthethwa Clan and the Madabukela Community,
Fellow Mourners
The untimely passing away of Inkosi Mthethwa has created a deep sense of loss among all of us in the Mpumalanga Provincial Government. Today, we pay tribute to his leadership contribution to enabling strong partnerships between government and traditional leadership institutions to ensure that we advance development and the quality of service delivery in the Province.
As a leader, he understood the key role that traditional leadership institutions should play in matters of local governance and service delivery, especially in areas under the jurisdiction of traditional leaders. Under his leadership of the Provincial House of Traditional Leaders, we have made remarkable progress in enhancing working partnerships between traditional leaders and elected public representatives. The contribution of traditional leaders to the implementation of government programmes bears testimony to the improved working relations between traditional leaders and elected councillors.
Long before the coming into operation of the Traditional Leadership and Governance Act in 2003, the Mpumalanga House of Traditional Leaders was one of the progressive Provincial Houses that had begun to address conflictual relationships and tensions between elected public representatives and traditional leaders. Because of his excellent negotiation and leadership skills, Inkosi Mthethwa was tasked by the House to lead the Mayor/Amakhosi Cluster, which was a structure that comprised District Mayors and the Executive Committee of the House. This structure focused on improving working relations and the participation of Amakhosi in development and service delivery.
Another project that Inkosi Mthethwa championed as part of the
collective leadership of the Provincial House of Traditional
Leaders was the partnership with the South African Police
Service focusing on fighting crime. The Amakhosi/SAPS bilateral
agreement was an initiative to recruit people to work as police
reservists to assist with crime prevention in areas under the
jurisdiction of traditional leaders. Initiated in
In honouring the memory of Inkosi Mthethwa, we have a responsibility to ensure that the institution of traditional leadership grows and plays its rightful role in governance and service delivery. Part of the work that we need to do is ensuring that the establishment of traditional councils is speedily completed. In this regard, regulations for the election of the 40% membership of Traditional Councils has been finalised and published for public comment.
We are accelerating the verification and clarification of boundaries for each traditional council so that elections can take place. A task team comprising the Department of Local Government and Housing, SALGA Mpumalanga, Home Affairs, Statistics South Africa, and the Demarcation Board has been established to verify the voting population within each traditional council.
Government is also working on the improvement of infrastructure in traditional areas in order to enable the effective functioning of traditional institutions. We will also ensure that all the necessary assistance is provided to enhance the capacity of traditional institutions to discharge their responsibilities.
On behalf of the Provincial Government, I would like to express our condolences to the Mthethwa royal family and the Madabukela community.
Akwehlanga lungehlanga, nilale ngenxeba. Sonke sishaywe ingozi engeqiwa ntwala.
Sithi ulale ngoxolo Nyambose
I thank you.
Issued
by: Office of the Premier,