Question NW510 to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs

Reply:

(a)

• The Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Act, 2019 (TKLA) makes provision for the establishment of the Commission on Khoi-San Matters which deals with applications for recognition of Khoi-San communities and leaders and makes recommendations to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in this regard. The Commission was appointed with effect from 20 September 2021 for a period of five years and has to date invited and received applications for recognition and is currently seized with the recognition process. As at this point, there are no recognized Kho-San communities and leaders, and the support of the Department of Traditional Affairs is currently channeled towards the Commission on Khoi-san Matters to process the applications for recognition by Khoi-san leaders and communities.

• The Commission has conducted awareness campaigns in all provinces on the application process, the criteria for qualification, how to complete application forms and other provisions of the Act in relation to applications, including the timeframes within which applications for recognition can be submitted to the Commission. However, despite the extensive awareness campaigns and groundwork that the Commission conducted in its first year of operation to educate members of the public and potential applicants on the application process, all the applications received by the Commission did not comply with the Act and did not have documentary evidence to assist the Commission to determine if the applicants qualify to be recognised.

• To address this challenge the Commission has begun conducting applicant member investigations as part of its investigation and intervention process to assist the applicants to provide required documentary evidence. In this regard, the Commission conducts face-to face bilateral engagements with each applicant member concerned. During the session, the application form and gaps therein as well as the evidence documents required for compliance in terms of the Act are explained to the applicant members, and the applicant member is assisted to complete the application form in compliance with the provisions of the Act.

(b) Government’s support to the socio-economic development of Khoi-san communities is multi-faceted and involves a range of organs of state in line with their respective mandates. The following are examples:

• Culture and language

(i) There are steps taken to design and implement specific projects aimed at promoting and protecting the use of Khoi-San languages as one of the previously disadvantaged indigenous languages. The SA Constitution makes provision for the establishment of a Pan South African Language Board (PanSalb) to promote the creation of conditions for the development and use of languages. To date, PanSalb has launched the Khoekhoegowab Dictionary Glossarium, the first dictionary for the South African Khoi and San languages. Free copies of the Glossarium were distributed to communities and other interested stakeholders. Furthermore, the Department of Education has introduced the Nama language in some of the Northern Cape schools.

• The Protection of the Cultural indigenous knowledge system

(ii) Government has through the Department of Science and Innovation developed legislative measures to protect cultural and indigenous knowledge systems. The primary objective of the Indigenous Knowledge System is to facilitate the protection of Indigenous Knowledge relating to and owned by indigenous communities of SA, and the restoration and recognition thereof, and (a) facilitate the redress of rights and benefits to indigenous communities which have previously been deprived of such rights and benefits; (b) facilitate and coordinate the development of indigenous knowledge; (c) establish and manage the registration of indigenous knowledge practitioners; (d) empower indigenous communities through education and awareness campaigns to enable them to recognise and utilise indigenous knowledge for cultural and economic benefit.

(iii) The Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and Environmental Affairs has launched the industry-wide benefit-sharing agreement on traditional knowledge associated with Rooibos between the Khoi-San communities and the Rooibos industry on 01 November 2019 in the Western Cape. This agreement has been concluded in terms of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing, and the agreement was signed by the Minister, the National Khoi-San Council, the San Council of South Africa, and the South African Rooibos Council. The first payment of just over R12,2 million has been paid to the San and Khoi people of South Africa.

• Access to land

Government has through the Department of Agriculture Land Reform and Rural Development continued to process land claims received from Khoi-san communities. In this regard, the Department has confirmed that Khoi-San communities have successfully claimed land in many provinces. However, government appreciates that at the core of some of the land claims is fundamental issue of the cutoff point introduced by the Land Act of 1913. This matter was discussed at the Land Tenure and Administration Summit convened by the Deputy President in May 2022, and clear resolutions on the way forward were taken in this regard.

• Delivery of basic services

Government follows an integrated governance approach with a view to accelerating service delivery, especially in previously disadvantaged communities. Central to this are Integrated Development Plans (IDPs), which are strategic planning instruments that inform all planning, budgeting, management, and decision-making of local municipalities. To enhance service delivery, government has adopted the District Development Model which seeks to convert districts into geographic hubs within which to drive integrated development and service delivery. These geographic spaces, just like municipalities, cater for all South Africans, including Khoi-san communities that reside there.

End.