NHTL: BUDGET REVIEW

1
NHTL BUDGET REVIEW

• PRESENTATION OF THE BUDGET REVIEW OF THE NATIONAL
  HOUSE OF TRADITIONAL LEADERS FOR THE FINANCIAL
  YEAR ENDING MARCH 2007

2
NATURE OF PRESENTATION

• The presentation will take the following shape
• Foreword by the Chairperson of the National House
  of Traditional Leaders
• Section one Mandate of the NHTL
• Pieces of Legislation
• Vision and Mission
• Section two Administration
• Administrative support of the NHTL

3
NATURE OF PRESENTATION

• Section three Program of the NHTL
• Section four International trips
• Section five Conclusion
• Section six Recommendation

4
MANDATE OF THE NHTL

• The following are some of the pieces of
  legislation that affect the institution of
  traditional leadership in general.
• Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework
  Act, 2003 Act 41 of 2003
• Disaster Management Act,
• National House of Traditional Leaders Act,1997
  (Act No. 10 of 1997)
• Municipal Structures Act, 1998 ( Act No. 117 of
  1998)
• Municipal Systems Act, 2000 (Act No. 32 of 2000)

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Mandate of the NHTL

• White Paper on Traditional Leadership and
  Governance, 2003
• Constitution of the Republic of South Africa
• Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act, 2005
• Communal Land Rights Act, 2004 ( Act No. 11 of
  2004)
• Remuneration of Public Office-bearers, 1998

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Act of the NHTL

• The National House of Traditional Leaders like
  any other House of Traditional Leaders is
  established by the Act of Parliament.
• The Act has specific requirements that the NHTL
  must fulfill which amongst others are the
  following
• Promotion of the role of Traditional Leadership
  within the Constitutional dispensation
• Enhance unity and understanding amongst
  Traditional Communities
• Enhance cooperation between the National and all
  other Houses of Traditional Leaders.

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Act of the NHTL

• May advise Government and make recommendations
  relating to the following
• Matters relating to Traditional Leadership
• The role of Traditional Leadership
• Customary Law, and
• Customs of Communities observing the system of
  Customary law

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Act of the NHTL

• The NHTL may investigate and make information
  available on Traditional Leadership, Traditional
  Councils, Customary Law and custom
• The NHTL shall, at the request of the President,
  advise him or her in connection with any matter
  referred to it for consideration and
• Shall present an annual report to Parliament (an
  exercise that the NHTL is doing now)

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Act of the NHTL

• The Budget Review presented here today is based
  on the strategic plan of the NHTL and the actual
  performance
• The DPLG will present the financial aspect
  regarding the NHTL taking into account that we do
  not have our own CFO and therefore we rely on the
  Dept. for this service.
• The report will indicate the achievements and
  challenges facing the NHTL
• The NHTL will not explain the provisions of each
  Act but will reserve it for the workshop to be
  facilitated by the Committee

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Section two Membership of the NHTL

• The NHTL is composed of 18 members who are
  representing six provinces viz
• Limpopo
• Mpumalanga
• North West
• Free State
• KwaZulu-Natal and
• Eastern Cape
• Each province is represented by three members who
  are elected by their Houses. Unfortunately the
  Act of the NHTL does not compel provinces to send
  women traditional leaders to the NHTL as compared
  to the Framework Act.

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Administration

• The NHTL has one staff member who is assisted by
  staff members seconded by the DPLG for that
  purpose.
• The NHTL has an overall staff compliment of 13.
• The challenge remains that the present staff
  compliment cannot give adequate support to the
  NHTL to realize its objectives.

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Section three Programs of the NHTL

• In terms of the strategic plan of the NHTL, there
  are four strategic goals viz
• Advancement of Service Delivery
• Custodian of cultures, customs, traditions and
  values
• Pro-active communication
• Capacity

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Programs of the NHTL

• Advancement of Service Deliver
• Alignment of strategic plans
• The NHTL visited all Houses to request them to
  align their plans with that of the NHTL. The
  alignments will ensure that all Houses and
  traditional institutions focuses on similar
  objectives.
• The challenge though is the financial capacity of
  the Houses to deliver even on the strategic plan.
  Traditional Institutions are not adequately
  funded to enable them to deliver on their
  mandate. One cannot expect a traditional council
  to render a good service with a grant of about
  R50 000.00. The workshop which will be held on
  the 19th of June will probably include all the
  MECs and other relevant stakeholders in the
  traditional leadership matters to address the
  concerns that the NHTL have.

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Programs of the NHTL

• Establishment of Forums
• Due to the omissions in the NHTL Act regarding
  the working relationships with Provinces, the
  NHTL resolved to established the following Forums
  that act as a support base for the NHTL
• Social Development Forum
• Internal Arrangement Forum
• Constitutional Development Forum
• Traditions and Cultures Forum

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Program of the NHTL

• Building of working relationship
• It is a known fact that the NHTL and government
  did not have a good working relationship prior to
  the promulgation of the Framework Act and even
  thereafter.
• The NHTL has worked very hard to increase
  interaction and participate in the government
  programs. The interaction with Cabinet has indeed
  open gates for the NHTL to bring matters of
  traditional leaders to the entire cabinet of the
  country.

16
Program of the NHTL

• Participation in the Legislative processes
• The NHTL has participated and made inputs to a
  number of pieces of legislation which includes
  the Civil Union Bill.
• The NHTL acknowledges the fact that it does not
  have capacity to deal with all pieces of
  legislation that goes through the NCOP, however,
  we are determined to make inputs in as many
  legislation as possible like the Traditional
  Courts policy framework that the Department of
  Justice is working on.

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Program of the NHTL

• HIV and AIDS
• The NHTL is represented by three members in the
  SANAC. The SANAC plan is handled by the Social
  Development Committee which is planning to
  resuscitate the traditional leadership HIV and
  AIDS chapters. The resuscitation will involve
  getting funding for those structures to be able
  to work noting that traditional councils do not
  get any budget.

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Program of the NHTL

• Crime Prevention
• Traditional Leaders are actively participating in
  the prevention of crime in South Africa.
• The participation is through the National Crime
  Prevention Strategy (NCPS) which give the
  following pillars
• Criminal Justice System
• Social Value and Education
• Environmental design and
• Transnational crime

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Program of the NHTL

• Custodianship of Culture, Custom and tradition
• The NHTL has worked very hard to establish the
  CHOTLA, already two meetings were held and the
  third one will be on 17 May 2007 to adopt the
  establishment Protocol.
• Culture
• The NHTL together with SAHRC and the CRL
  commission have jointly conducted a public
  hearings to ascertain the misuse of initiation.
  The report will of these hearings will inform a
  policy to be drafted by the NHTL and the two
  organizations.

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Programs of the NHTL

• Pro-Active communication
• Relationship with SALGA
• The signing of the MoU with SALGA took place on
  the 03rd of April 2007 (which falls out of the
  reporting period), the MoU will indeed decrease
  and ultimately end the fights between
  Municipality and traditional leaders.
• MoU with Unisa
• A MoU with Unisa was signed to get the
  professional assistance for the NHTL to make more
  meaningful inputs and service delivery.

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Programs of the NHTL

• Capacity
• Capacity building programs
• The NHTL together with DPLG and LGSETA will be
  delivery comprehensive capacity building programs
  for traditional leaders. This capacity building
  will include Local Economic Development which
  will be conducted in June-July of this year.
• The Program of support by DPLG will play a very
  meaningful role in capacitating traditional
  institutions to know their mandate.

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Programs of the NHTL

• Capacity building on Gender Violence
• The MoU with the NPA and the Dept of Justice is
  bearing fruits as some traditional leaders have
  graduated from this training. A second phase
  training is being organized to take place before
  the end of the first quarter of this financial
  year.
• Poverty Alleviation
• The NHTL together with Social Development
  Department has capacitated spouses and female
  traditional leaders on poverty alleviation
  program. There are many orphans that are taken
  care of by spouses of traditional leaders through
  this poverty alleviation programs.

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Program of the NHTL

• Workshop/meeting of the NHTL and the Committee
• The NHTL appreciated the decision by the
  Committee to facilitate the first meeting.
  However, the following stakeholders are
  suggested
• All MECs responsible for Traditional Affairs
• All Directors of Traditional Affairs in the six
  provinces
• All Chairpersons of Houses of Traditional Leaders
• All Portfolio Committee Chairpersons of
  Legislatures responsible for Traditional Matters

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Programs of the NHTL

• Members Guide
• The NHTL has developed a set of policies called
  members guide
• The members guide attempts to close the gap not
  provided for by the commission on remuneration
  regarding the benefits due to public
  representatives who are not covered by any public
  service policy including the parliamentary
  policies for public office bearers

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Programs of the NHTL

• Women Indaba
• The NHTL arranged a conference of spouses and
  Female Senior Traditional leaders in Warmbath
  last year (2006)
• The conference was a follow up to a conference
  held in Kopanong in 2005 on capacity building
• The Warmbath conference provided a status quo of
  the progress made in the various provinces
• It was immediately followed up by a capacity
  building workshop organized by Social Development
  Department (Durban Capacity building workshop)

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Section four International trips

• The following trips were undertaken by the NHTL
  during the past year
• Namibia
• Explanation of the Continental House
• Zimbabwe
• Attending the Zimbabwe traditional leaders
  conference and talking about CHOTLA
• Botswana
• Attending the election of the new House

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Conclusion

• The report has in brief informed the NCOP of what
  the NHTL did with the money appropriated to it.
  We could have done more, but because of the
  scarce resources we could not even appoint staff
  members that will take the NHTL forward. We have
  appointed very few that are helping but much must
  still be done. We believe that the workshop
  scheduled for the 19th of June will address most
  of the challenges that we are having.

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Recommendations

• It is recommended that
• The committee agree on the workshop scheduled for
  the 19th of June 2007
• The committee attends to the various functions of
  the NHTL including the committees of the House in
  order to see the proceedings and advise
  accordingly..

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Annexure

• Annexure A is the performance of the NHTL which I
  have summarized.
• Annexure B is the responses to questions raised
  by the committee during our last engagements

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Comments by the Committee

• The Committee made remarks and some observations
  during our engagements last year.
• Though answers were provided to each question
  asked, it is important to highlight the following
  comments

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Assistance by DPLG

• Assistance by DPLG
• Mainstreaming (hands on) support to the
  institutions of Traditional leadership to improve
  governance, performance and accountability.
• Resource and Infrastructure mobilization for all
  structures of Traditional Leadership.
• Provision of Administrative Support to the
  institution
• Provision of Dedicated Support to the National
  House of Traditional Leaders. Development and
  execution of a Comprehensive Skills Development
  Programme for Traditional Leadership
  Institutions (see attached document on a draft
  skills development framework)
• Provide support to provinces who received and or
  released traditional communities as a result of
  re-determination of provincial boundaries in
  terms of the 14th amendment to the Constitution

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ASSISTANCE BY DPLG

• Rendering of sustainable support to the
  institution of traditional leadership to promote
  and enhance the involvement of the structures
  within the institution in the development
  processes of their communities.
• DPLG to coordinate, facilitate and monitor
  support actions of national government and
  provincial government to the institution
• Promote the involvement of traditional leadership
  institutions in service delivery

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ASSISTANCE BY DPLG

• Reviewing and strengthening the policy and
  regulatory framework in order to give greater
  attention and support to the institution of
  traditional leadership in respect of the
  implementation measures and processes.
• Drafting and finalization of national and
  provincial regulations on the reconstitution and
  functioning of traditional councils
• Finalization of the Policy on the Khoi-San
  Communities
• Amendment of the legislation dealing with Houses
  of traditional leaders in line with the White
  Paper and the Framework Act
• Provision of dedicated support to Kings and
  queens in terms of the new legislation
• Assessment of the alignment of the provincial
  legislation with the White Paper and the
  Framework Act on Traditional Leadership and
  Governance
• Involvement of Traditional Leadership
  Institutions in Intergovernmental Relations

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ASSISTANCE BY DPLG

• Addressing the structure and governance
  arrangements of the state in order to better
  strengthen, support and monitor the traditional
  leadership institution
• Establishment of an all inclusive National
  Technical Forum on Implementation of National
  and Provincial Legislation
• Provision of benefits to traditional leaders
  (senior traditional leaders, headmen/headwomen,
  members of Houses)
• Develop and maintain a comprehensive information
  system on traditional leadership and institutions
• Reconfiguration of the DPLG and other relevant
  Departments in order to provide adequate support
  to the Institution