Cape Town - Traditional leaders from across the country have received the nod from President Jacob Zuma for the important role they played to ensure the success of the recent local government elections.
Opening the National House of Traditional Leaders on Friday morning, Zuma used the opportunity to
remind traditional leaders of the peaceful relations they needed to have with local councillors.
He said there was no reason for fighting as councillors were elected for five years, while traditional leaders were born into those positions.
Zuma said instead, the two should complement each other in order to bring services to the people.
The President signaled a warning to African National Congress (ANC) councilors regarding the issue of the manipulation of party candidate lists. He appealed for patience and for disgruntled members of the party to refrain from protests, as the matter was being investigated.
He called for people to desist from disrupting swearing in ceremonies of mayors and councillors, as those who got in to positions through corruption would be removed.
Zuma said traditional leaders were key to meeting government's 2014 targets in rural areas. Such goals included the increase of access to electricity from 8 percent to 92 percent.
He reiterated his State of the Nation statement that government would make job creation a top priority this year and that the Expanded Public Works Program was set to create those jobs and skills in rural areas.
Since March, he said that 89 689 work opportunities had been created across 46 municipalities and 410 wards across the country. He talked about the need to fill up top municipal positions, highlighting that 234 management posts, representing 82 percent, had since been filled.
The President said that 218 engineering posts in municipalities, representing 77 percent, had also been filled.
However, he expressed concern that only 78 out of 283 communication vacancies in municipalities dad been filled up, saying the matter needed urgent attention.
The President also used the occasion to express the nation's condolences following the passing of Mama Albertina Sisulu.
He said MaSisulu had braved apartheid brutality in the struggle for freedom, dignity and human rights of South Africans.
She died on Thursday night at her home in Linden, Johannesburg.
