Separate bogosi from politics

Our ethnic diversity needs careful management if we are to achieve lasting peace and security as a nation. Those that came before us did a fairly good job in managing our ethnic diversity in spite of an unequal constitutional landscape.  Thanks to free speech rights, anger was constructively channeled to dignified dialogue, a situation that has subsisted to date.

Of late, however, we have been reminded of our vulnerability. Somewhere in our political discourse, we must arrive at a common understanding of the interplay between tribal authority and political authority, in particular, how the two can complement each other as essential building blocks of a unified and peaceful nation. One of Kgosi Kgafela’s key lamentations was that the constitution had in fact disempowered Dikgosi and reduced them to subordinates of civil servants when they should, in fact, be exercising dominion over their tribal territories.