Ramaphosa Addresses Issue of Powers & Functions of Amakhosi

By: Lindelani Mbatha

President Cyril Ramaphosa says Traditional Leaders must work with the Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development department to avail more land for development and to benefit.

Ramaphosa has been replying to a debate in the National House of Traditional Leaders.

Since 2018, around 1, 5 million hectares of communal land has been availed by traditional leaders.

Ramaphosa says government has entered into a memorandum of understanding to ensure that land that has been availed is cultivated and worked on, for agricultural and farming production.

He says the powers and functions of traditional leaders is fundamental to the understanding of their position in the country’s constitutional democracy, adding that they acknowledge that there are differing views across society on how to define their powers and functions.

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Meanwhile, the amaZulu Nation’s Prime Minister, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, says he’s concerned that government has no political will to move forward the process of creating a legislative framework for traditional leaders.

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The President acknowledged Buthelezi’s concerns and says this issue is fundamental to our understanding of the position of traditional leadership in a constitutional democracy.

“Prince Buthelezi has been a consistent voice on these issues, and I wish to thank him for the forthright manner in which he has raised the views of traditional leaders,” explains Ramaphosa