A coalition of rural organisations will hold a picket outside the Bhisho High Court on Friday morning.
The court is hearing an appeal by Eastern Cape Premier, Phumulo Masualle, against an earlier ruling that gives the people of Cala Reserve the right to appoint their own headman in terms of a long-standing customary law going back to the 19th century.
But, this changed in 2012 when royal family appointed their own headman.
The Legal Resources Centre says the Bhisho High Court found in favour of the community in the review.
Although colonial and apartheid rulers imposed chiefs on the people of Xhalanga, from the 1880s the people of Xhalanga fought for their democratic customary practice to elect their leaders. Even under the Transkei TerritorialAuthorities Act 4 of 1965, they were granted the right to choose who would lead them.
They persisted in followingthat practice until the present day. Today, the democratically elected provincial government seeks to reverse thatbasic right won through hard and principled struggle by the people of Xhalanga. Through this appeal, the provincial government seeks to enforce the power of the royal family to impose their preferred candidate as the inkosana of Cala Reserve, over the customary-law right of the people of Cala to self-rule. The provincial government is doing this in blatant contravention of customary law, its own law, national legislation, and theConstitution.
The October 2014 judgment by Judge Nhlangulela declared that the customary law of Cala Reserve requiresits headman to be elected by members of the community and declared that the royal family and the Premier must follow local customary law. Judge Nhlangulela’s judgment meant that government should have followed the democratic customary practice of the people of Xhalanga, where Cala Reserve is located, to vote for theirheadman. This judgment implied that problematic interpretations and implementation of the provincial and national laws are inconsistent with the democratic ethos contained in our country’s Constitution.
When headman Fani announced that he wished to retire as headman at the end of 2012, the people of CalaReserve expected that they would elect their new headman. The Eastern Cape Traditional Leadership andGovernance Act says that custom must be followed: “the royal family concerned must…identify a person whoqualifies in terms of customary law”. But this did not happen. Instead of allowing the people of Cala Reserve to elect their headman as per their long-established democratic customary practice, the royal family proceeded with a unilateral appointment and the Premier of the province endorsed this appointment. The local chief, Chief Gecelo, stated that he has no obligation to consult the community. He also argued that this Eastern Cape law has stopped the operation of the local custom and now the royal family can appoint whom they want. The people of Cala Reserve went and complained to Chief Gecelo, to the KwaGcina Traditional
