Customary court presidents rise up against gov't

Although the urban-based traditional leaders have had incessant skirmishes with the parent ministry of Local Government and Rural Development through simple exchange of letters, this week the leaders engaged an attorney to fight from their corner. They are raising a plethora of issues that the ministry has preferred to sit on. At the core of traditional leaders’ concerns is a need to be treated at par with their traditional colleagues in the rural areas, otherwise known as kgosi (chief), moemela kgosi (chief’s representative) and mothusa kgosi (deputy chief) . They argue that they discharge the same judicial and administrative functions as their counterparts in tribal jurisdictions and wonder why the discrimination to them in urban centres when it comes to their conditions of service.

“As customary court presidents, we should be enjoying same jurisdiction functions and privileges as the rest of the presiding officers,” said one of the 25 affected customary court presidents and deputies who have taken the government head on.