Will the real Khoisan chiefs please stand up
Questions raised over ‘mushrooming’ of leaders
A call for the real leaders of the Khoi and San nation to be identified is growing as the group – which calls itself the First Nation – edges ever closer to recognition in the House of Traditional Leaders.With a place in the house likely to be confirmed in just over a month, questions are being raised around the “mushrooming” of chiefs.And it should be questioned, according to Eastern Cape co-operative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) MEC Fikile Xasa.He said the legitimate leaders would need to be established so that the correct people received the benefits associated with being a part of the House of Traditional Leaders.Xasa said members of the house were paid a salary and received benefits such as car allowances.The Khoi and San came one step closer to being legally recognised as a nation with their own traditional leaders and communities earlier in 2019 when the Traditional and Khoisan Leadership Bill was passed by parliament.The bill is seen as controversial by some, with critics concerned about the amount of power it will give traditional leaders to enter into deals with mining and other companies, without proper consultation or the consent of affected communities.The next step – which will provide total legitimacy for the Khoi and San – is for the president to sign the bill into law.In the meantime, the National Khoi and San Council has elected to set up a commission to audit the veracity of those claiming to be chiefs.And those chiefs, Nelson Mandela Bay politician Marlon Daniels said, appeared to be around every corner.National Khoi and San Council chair Cecil Le Fleur said there were only two ways someone could become a chief.“That is by virtue of bloodline, which speaks to customary succession, where your father, grandfather, and so on were paramount chiefs.”However, because of the complications in establishing bloodlines, the second option was by elected leadership.Daniels, a Patriotic Alliance councillor, said he had recently met many people who claimed to be Khoisan chiefs.“There are a lot of people [who], when I greet them, say ‘no, address me as chief because I have been sworn in as a Khoisan chief’.“My concern is what criteria are in place to qualify as a Khoisan chief, or does someone just put up their hand and say ‘let’s take a walk and we are going to make you a chief’?”Daniels said he was not disputing the relevance of Khoisan chiefs but was questioning the authenticity of people calling themselves chiefs.Daniels has asked in a Facebook post about the criteria for a chief position.“My post was so somebody can shed some light and make me understand how these chiefs are mushrooming on a regular basis.”Xasa said the process to establish who exactly were the rightful chiefs had started.“As Cogta, we recognise them – the law has been passed, but now there are some processes to understand who is chief and who is not.“It can be difficult because of the lapse in period of when they were there [as chiefs].“[It] is something that is very difficult to trace in history but they are better placed to lead the government in terms of the reconstruction of that genealogy.”Xasa said the process was set to start after the general election on May 8.“The process will talk about the implementation of the new act but also the process of identifying who is the correct and incorrect chief,” he said.“This is important because we see this in existing kingdoms and chiefdoms where they fight to be recognised.”The process would include drawing up regulations around who becomes a chief and how they will be identified.“The idea is to determine who is a chief and who is not a chief, and where – because there are many areas,” he said.“Our common understanding is that when you are chief you rule over a certain area, which could be a problem.”Xasa said a commission would be established, which would be led by the Cogta ministry in the new administration after the elections.The commission would deal with any contestations that might arise.When the process was completed, the Khoisan chiefs would not only be recognised, they would also be eligible to receive a salary and other benefits from Cogta.ANC MPL Christian Martin – a vocal advocate for Khoi and San rights – said that descendants of only five clans could legitimately become chiefs.Those clans were the Namaqua, Korana, San, Cape Khoi and Griqua.Referring to the concern surrounding the legitimacy of chiefs, Martin said it was inevitable that many people would come out of the woodwork to claim kingship and queenship.After almost 400 years and facing extinction, the Khoi and San group was finally being recognised by the government, he said.“In Khoi and San, a !nau [pronounced ngqawu] is the traditional process a chief must go through and it is done by a paramount chief.”Martin said anyone being sworn in as a chief had to bring a sheep, or any wild game which could be consumed, to a ceremony.“There should be no money expected [by the paramount chief], unless the sheep and whatever is needed for the ceremony – and this is if there is a prior arrangement – will be provided,” he said.“It is the renaissance for us as the Khoi and San, one that [former president] Thabo Mbeki spoke about which I believe is very powerful: ‘I am an African. I owe my being to the Khoi and the San whose desolate souls haunt the great expanses of the beautiful Cape’.“He [Mbeki] even goes on to say that we don’t get recognition,” Martin said.Le Fleur said as soon as the Traditional and Khoisan Leadership Bill of 2015, which was passed by parliament on February 26 2019, was enacted by the president of the country, a national commission on Khoi and San matters would be elected.This commission’s role would be to assess the legitimacy of any existing Khoisan community leaders or chiefs, he said.
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