Durban — Retired Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo has been roped in to head a team of legal professionals who will train amakhosi in KwaZulu-Natal on matters of judiciary.
This was announced by KwaZulu-Natal Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Reverend Thulasizwe Buthelezi at a meeting with amakhosi in the old legislature house in Ulundi north of the province on Thursday.
The MEC said the courses will be conducted under the auspices of the University of KwaZulu-Natal under the stewardship of the judge Ngcobo. He also announced that the first batch of 50 amakhosi will commence next month.
The MEC added that the certificate that will be issued to amakhosi on the completion of the course will be accepted as a prerequisite for a law degree should an individual inkosi want to further his legal studies. Buthelezi further stated he has hired the retired KwaZulu-Natal judge president Mjabuliseni Madondo as his legal advisor.
“We have taken this decision to equip amakhosi with legal skills so that amakhosi will preside over the cases fairly since they will be knowledgeable in the law,” said the MEC.
Currently, amakhosi are acting as judges and Magistrates of their traditional courts. Amakhosi are allowed to preside mainly on cases of land and social disputes between their subjects. They mete out sentences such as fining the guilty party a cow. With the legal training which will come with a certificate, inkosi will preside over the cases with more authority.
The MEC also announced that the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa has already indicated that he would use the legal training as a pilot project, and if it is successful, he would implement it nationwide.
Welcoming the announcement on behalf of amakhosi, inkosi Sifiso Shinga who is the chairperson of the House of Traditional leaders in the province said the programme will bring back the dignity of amakhosi since verdicts will carry more weight and be respected by his or her subjects.
Buthelezi also announced he has discovered that there is R39 million in the traditional levies account which was supposed to have been allocated to amakhosi to run their budgets but never happened.
The MEC said in the next financial year for the first time each inkosi would receive their tribe’s budget. He also defended his frequent use of the Ulundi Legislature while other MECs use offices in Pietermaritzburg as the provincial capital, saying he would not allow the legislature that was built by the late inkosi Mangosuthu Buthelezi to be a white elephant.
Buthelezi further reported to amakhosi the process to verify legitimate headmen (izinduna) is going well and many have been removed from the system after they were found to have been appointed illegally.
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