Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Bill [B23-2015]

The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs will commence with the second phase of the public hearings on the Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Bill targeting North West, Free State and KwaZulu-Natal provinces, starting from 23 January to 03 February 2017.

The Committee will begin this second phase in North West, in Rustenburg, on 23 January, head to Mafikeng on 24 January and complete this province by visiting Vryburg on 25 January 2017.

The Committee will also revisit Kimberley in the Northern Cape, to reconvene the public hearings on 26 January. During last year’s first phase of the hearings, Kimberley was among the areas visited. However the hearings in Kimberley did not proceed as planned. As such, the Committee committed to return to Kimberley and afford residents a proper round of hearings.

The Committee has also rescheduled public hearings in Vredenburg in the Western Cape for March this year. Hearings in this area were originally scheduled for last year, but had to be postponed due to urgent Parliamentary business that Committee members had to attend. 

The Free State province hearings will be held from 27 to 31 January 2017, with KwaZulu-Natal hearings being held from 01 to 03 February 2017.

The first phase of these hearings was conducted in 2016, in the Northern Cape, Western Cape and Eastern Cape, from 24 November until 09 December 2016 where members of the community aired their views regarding this draft legislation.

The third and last phase is scheduled to take place towards the end of March this year and will target Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Gauteng provinces. Details will be communicated in due time.

The Bill, which provides for among other things the statutory recognition of the legitimate Khoi-San leadership and communities, has been in the legislative pipeline since 1997 and was formally tabled before the Committee in 2015.

The Bill also provides for integrating recognised Khoi-San leaders into existing houses of traditional leadership and doing away with separate structures for the Khoi-San. These will then be called houses of Traditional and Khoi-San Leaders.

The recognition provisions contained in the Bill do not elevate the Khoi-San communities and leaders to a higher status than other traditional communities and leaders or grant any special status to them. Instead, recognised Khoi-San traditional leaders will, in respect of their recognised communities, perform the same functions as the currently recognised senior traditional leaders. This is to avoid a potentially divisive hierarchy among South African communities, as occurred under the colonial and apartheid regimes.

Furthermore, the Bill makes provision for a comprehensive Code of Conduct for all recognised traditional leaders, from the National House, provincial houses and local houses of traditional and Khoi-San leaders, to kingship or queenship councils, principal traditional councils, traditional councils, traditional sub-councils, and Khoi-San councils and branches.

The Bill also provides for specific criteria for the recognition of headmen and headwomen, and conducting of investigations to establish whether the headmenship and headwomenship that have been established meet the criteria for recognition.

Find here:  Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Bill [B23-2015]
                   Draft Programme of the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs

For Public hearings' dates and enquiries please contact Mr Temba Gubula on tel (021) 403 8307 or cell 078 735 8809 / 081 402 3531

Email: [email protected]