SUBMISSION
BY

THE COALITION OF TRADITIONAL LEADERS OF SOUTH AFRICA
ON THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT:PROPERTY RATES BILL FOR PRESENTATION AT THE PUBLIC HEARINGS TO BE CONDUCTED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON PROVINCIAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT -
CAPE TOWN

INTRODUCTION


A Coalition of Traditional Leaders of South Africa is composed of all the Provincial Houses of Traditional Leaders of South Africa, the National House of Traditional Leaders of South Africa, Congress of Traditional Leaders of South African and the Royal Bafokeng Nation. We constituted this structure so that the traditional leadership of the country can speak in one voice on all issues pertaining to the institution of traditional leadership and traditional communities.

We have reason to believe that the Portfolio Committee convened a National Consultative Workshop on the Property Rate Bill in Gauteng on 7 and 8 April 2003 and at that workshop only the National House of Traditional Leaders was invited to make input and other coalition partners i.e. the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South African and the Royal Bafokeng Nation were never invited. We may mention that the Provincial Houses were invited to attend. It is our view that in future the Portfolio Committee should invite all the other members of the Coalition in all matters having a bearing on the institution of traditional leadership.

We noticed through the press and also on information from our members who had attended the National Conference that the Portfolio Committee intended to hold public hearings on this matter and it was indicated that those individuals or parties who need to make a presentation to Parliament should do so on or about the 5th of May 2003 and due to numerous consultations that we have had, it has not been able for us to make our presentation before that date and we consulted the Secretariat of the Portfolio Committee which gladly granted us an extension to be able to present a document that is containing the views of all our members.



COMMENTS

We are in principle opposed to the idea or notion that property in traditional communities should be levied municipal rates in the same way as property that is in urban areas.

During the year 2000 we publicly voiced the objection of ourselves and that of our communities as regards the incorporation of traditional communities into urban areas without proper consultation with ourselves and traditional communities concerned. Our concerns are contained in a detailed memorandum that was submitted to President Mbeki. We were assured by the President that it was not the intention of our Government to diminish any power and function of the institution of traditional leadership in this country instead it was the intention of the Government to increase the powers of the institution. We were further assured that it was never the intention of our Government to incorporate our areas only to benefit the bankrupt municipalities instead our areas would benefit by such incorporation so that the lives of our people would be better of. We may mention that we did state that it was our fear and that of our people that the Government intended to incorporate our areas in urban areas so that the traditional communities could be burdened with urban tax to pay for municipalities that were heavily indebted. We believe that many municipalities are still heavily indebted as speak today. Furthermore both the culture and the system of governance in municipalities is not only foreign but also very oppressive to our communities.

We have also noted in the Bill that for the first time in the lives of the traditional communities they will be liable to pay tax for the rondavels and structures that they have built and also their mealie fields. We would like to state clearly that the homesteads as well as the land in our communities is owned communally. The homes that are more often than not registered in the name of the Head of the household in fact belong to a family unit and not to that individual. Furthermore there is no title deed that is registered anywhere in the name of the Head of that household. This issue is still under consideration in a separate Bill which is known as Communal Land Rights Bill which would be presented in Parliament in due course. Needless for us to mention that we are in principle opposed to any idea of title deed in our areas precisely because this would expose our communities to a foreign system that will lead to them losing what we know as their inalienable right to own land in this country. Furthermore it is well-known that all financial institutions, that is Banks, are in the hands of the foreign multi-nationals and to expose our people to submit their land as a collateral to such institution will expose them to these foreign multi-national. There is a real danger that even the 13% that so far is in our hands will be taken away from us. We and our people will continue to defend the 13% of the land of our country which was successful defended by our forebearers and we are determined to obtain the other share in the 87% that is mainly in the hands of foreigners in this country.

During the year 2000 and when it became apparent that there was no clarity on the possible dangers of elimination of the institution of traditional leadership in this country the President and ourselves agreed to form a Joint Technical Committee which considered the implication of incorporating traditional authorities into the present municipal system. The Joint Committee found that unless the Constitution of our country is amended to protect the institution of traditional leadership the introduction of the new municipal structures in our country will bring about the total destruction of the institution of traditional leadership in this country. With this in mind we therefore propose that the Constitution of our country need to be amended to deal with this unintended "mischief". We then proposed that Chapter 12 of the Constitution should be amended. We annex hereto a copy of the Joint Technical Report and wish to refer this Committee to annexure "E" thereof which set out our proposal as regards the amendment of the Constitution.

The Committee is obviously aware that the process of bringing about a White Paper on the institution of leadership and governance is almost at a final stage as we speak. As the Honourable Members will no doubt know, the White Paper will for the first time in our country set out clearly the policy of our Government as regarding the institution of traditional leadership. The Honourable Members will no doubt be aware that once the White Paper has been released the necessary legislation and possible the amendment of the Constitution of this country will emerge. The crisp question at this stage is whether it will be wise to pre-empt the process and bring a new oppressive system of municipal tax to the entailing masses leading in traditional communities.

The White Paper on South Africa Land Policy recognise all forms a ownership to land and these include the following:
1. Individual Rights

2. Family based ownership
3. Group based rights
4. Rights under communal ownership system

See: pages 62 to 63.


The White Paper on South Africa Land Policy further recognises both individual and Command Land Tenure systems.

On the Communal Land Tenure the White Paper recognises that:


"Communal systems provide free or very cheap access to land to the poor. The social structure which goes with communal ownership alone provide an important survival safety net function to the poor, as does the fact that land cannot be sold to raise cash in emergencies or foreclosed for debt. In South Africa, the group rules which apply in communal areas have also managed to keep land less crowded than in comparable individually owned black freehold areas."

The White Paper team then conclude that:

"The challenge appears to be to ensure for a variety, flexibility and change over time. It is crucial that different tenure options be developed so that people are in a position to make informed choices..."

See: Page 31

CONCLUSION

We are therefore proposing that the Bill in its present form insofar as it proposes that municipal property rate be improved upon traditional communities be either removed or amended drastically by making provision for consideration of incorporating traditional community areas on finalisation of White Paper on institution of traditional leadership and governance and any legislation that will emanate there from.

We trust that our submission will be accepted by this Committee as the consequences of ignoring them are too ghostly to contemplate.

We Thank You.