Pretoria – Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa says traditional leaders must serve their people as a whole and must do so under the constitutional framework that respects and preserves their existence.
In his message of support at the annual commemoration of Kgosi Mampuru II in Jane Furse in Limpopo on Saturday, Deputy President Ramaphosa said traditional leadership remains an important part of nourishing spiritual and communal wellbeing.
“We must guard this institution and shun those who use it to abuse power and to enjoy ill-gotten spoils while our people remain neglected.
“Together with our traditional leaders we must fight corruption and greed. With our traditional leaders we must continue to devise strategies to wrestle our people from unemployment, inequality and poverty,” he said.
Deputy President Ramaphosa said government could not transform society alone.
“We look to our traditional leaders to inspire our young people to stay in class and to make the best use of the opportunities that our government is affording them in higher education.
“Collectively, we have a duty to free our people from bondage, ignorance and illiteracy. It is our duty to strive for the prosperity of all and not the profit of the individual. We are called to create value, to give hope and we to share the benefits of our work,” he said.
The late Kgosi Mampuru was among the first liberation icons that refused to recognise the oppressive hut tax law imposed in the 1860s on African households by the colonial government.
He was brutally executed in public at the old Pretoria Central Prison for refusing to pay an imposed hut tax on 22 November 1883.
In honour of the late Kgosi Mampuru II, President Zuma renamed the old Pretoria Central Prison after him on 10 April 2013.
Since its inception in 1999, the annual Kgosi Mampuru II Commemoration, has attracted an estimated number of 30 000 audiences from all nine provinces and internationally. – SAnews.gov.za
