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,