Ramaphosa calls on traditional leaders to avoid court battles
President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on traditional leaders to avoid turning to the courts to solve disputes over succession.
Ramaphosa was addressing the opening of the National House of Traditional Leaders in Parliament on Tuesday.
He said succession battles continue to demean the institution of traditional leadership.
“The institution of traditional leadership has its own internal mechanisms to resolve disputes, the house of traditional leaders must seek to ensure that these mechanisms are indeed applied so that disputes on issue of succession are not continuously referred to the courts, prematurely as well.”
Ramaphosa also urged traditional leaders to take control of customary initiation practices.
“Customary initiation is a right of passage of our young people to manhood and to adulthood, and it has become increasingly populated by unscrupulous people and many young men are being manned and some are losing their lives.”
“We traditional leaders as custodian of culture to take this cultural practice back into your hands and improve it accordingly. This is your area of responsibility, do not allow unscrupulous people, thugs, and gangsters to take this very important tradition over,” he added.