Celani Sikhakhane
The KwaZulu-Natal government is being accused of causing divides within the families of traditional leaders – spurring many disputes.
The provincial Department of Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) is cited as the biggest culprit.
The accusations were raised by the IFP chief whip Blessed Gwala at the KZN Legislature, who claimed that Cogta was also assisting a certain faction of the fighting families by going to court.
There have been more than 32 izinduna and amakhosi killings in Zululand since 2019.
Gwala said it is high time Cogta stopped poking its nose into traditional leadership battles.
“It has become the norm for Cogta to interfere in traditional leadership disputes and to take sides. In doing so, the government perpetrates tensions amongst the families of amakhosi,” said Gwala.
He said that the KZN MEC for Cogta recently announced that the department would approach the court to oppose the Pietermaritzburg High Court ruling that Inkosi Skhosiphi Mdluli of KwaNyavu must be reinstated to his position.
“Further in the case involving the Mdletshe Clan, the court ruled against the apparent irregular appointment of Zolani Mdletshe as inkosi of the Mdletshe Traditional Community,” Gwala said.
“In addition, leaders like Mr Mhlanganyeleni Maltese (induna), a senior member of the Maltese family and clan, were allegedly deliberately excluded from participating in the negotiations concerning a traditional leadership dispute in the Mdletshe traditional community.”
Scrolla.Africa has learned that the business interests of some government officials have allegedly led the department to support certain factions of the families.
Gwala said it’s time for the House of Traditional Leadership to be the one to deal with the issues to avoid government interference.
In most cases the fights start when the wife of the late inkosi wants to ascend to the throne and at the same time the son also wants to take over.
Cogta spokesperson Senzelwe Mzila told Scrolla.Africa that it is difficult to respond to these allegations because the matters differ from time to time.
