This week, religious and traditional leaders of society from across the country’s nine provinces gathered at the Birchwood Hotel in Ekurhuleni for a three-day consultative conference organised by the Cultural, Religious and Linguistic (CRL) Rights Commission.
There were various recommendations and resolutions passed in a bid to curb some of the prevalent issues affecting traditional, cultural, and religious practices across the length and breath of our country.
Speaking during the conference Dr Edward Mafadza, who received an avalanche of requests from cultural and traditional leaders indicated that even though, the commission is not a watchdog but rather an oversight driven institution, there were various illegal practices that call on the commission and some of its stakeholders to play a more meaningful and active role in arresting some of these practices which bring traditional, religious, and cultural practices into disrepute.
These include the practice of Ukuthwala, abduction of initiates, and sexual harassment by some religious and traditional leaders.
“Since the start of the conference, we have been hearing more and more about how far-reaching is the mandate of the CRL and what would be its role and mandate when it comes to litigation against some of these practices. However, unlike other chapter institutions which have a more punitive arm, the commission is dictated to in terms of its mandate which takes on a more conflict-resolution role rather than it be punitive,” he said.
Speaking to Independent Media on the sidelines of the conference Kosi William Mahlangu, a traditional leader based in Mpumalanga, said the practice of Ukuthwala as well as the abduction of initiates for ransom should be punished as these bring cultural traditions into disrepute.
“These practices bring our cultures into disrepute and therefore should not be condoned. As traditional leaders, we work with the CRL and other stakeholders to intervenes whenever some of these things happen within our communities,” he said.
Spokesperson for the commission Mpiyakhe Mkholo indicated that the conference was able to take various resolutions aimed at promoting harmony, and peaceful relations among various sectors that fall within the commission.
“We met on the last day of the conference and went through various resolutions that were passed. One of these was the importance of uplifting African and local languages as key cornerstones of academic research.
It is high time local languages are lifted up to the standard of English and Afrikaans that that can be used for research.
Other resolutions included teaching African languages at school, so that not only English and Afrikaans are dominant languages. We received a report from the Department of Basic Education that this is already happening,” he said.
On the issue of abductions and sex crimes and other alien practices, Mkholo said the conference was adamant that perpetrators of these practices must be dealt with.
In a cultural economy there has to be cultural parks where people can learn more about local cultures which can be used to sell to tourism, and uplift the local economy.
The conference also reflected on cultural villages and parks to display the works of artists within their communities.
Churches have uniforms and there was a resolution to move to a situation where these churches start a process where these uniforms are locally made so that money used to buy fabric and making them must circulate within these communities,” he added.
Speaking on the rights of the Khoisan people, Chief Wayne Petersen called on the commission to help the plight of the Khoisan people who continue to be marginalised by the government, and other sectors of society.
“We have been writing to the CRL Commission to help us with some of our challenges. We have written a number of letters. Till now, there has not been any solutions to our problems,” he lamented.
The Star