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President Mugabe arriving at the National Council of Chiefs’ Conference in Bulawayo on Saturday

THE National Council of Chiefs’ Conference ended in Bulawayo at the weekend with the country’s traditional leaders discussing various pertinent issues with Government ministers and President Mugabe who addressed the gathering on Saturday. From the indaba, it was clear that chiefs play an integral role in safeguarding the country’s moral fibre by upholding cultural values and ensuring that Zimbabweans retain their identity.

Traditional leaders are the custodians of our land and deserve the respect of all Zimbabweans and we salute the Government for ensuring that since independence in 1980, they have always been well catered for. During the colonial era, chiefs were reduced to stooges of the racist Rhodesian government with their dignity and authority whittled down and usurped by white District Administrators.

This was a well calculated move aimed at dehumanising blacks and trashing their institutions for the benefit of the minority settler regime which had forcibly grabbed land. After independence, the Government restored the respect and authority of traditional leaders and accorded them the respect they deserve. Today, chiefs wield immense influence in their jurisdictions and are held in high esteem by their subjects.

Their relationship with Government is excellent and this bodes well for service delivery in their areas. Granted, Government has not always been able to address all the traditional leaders’ grievances due to resource challenges but it has ensured that it priorities their plight. For instance, in addition to the salaries that chiefs are receiving every month, their headmen are now also getting allowances to enable them to discharge their duties and not be at the mercy of villagers whom they are supposed to superintend over.

Government has also moved swiftly to avail all-terrain vehicles to chiefs to ensure that they access every corner of their areas of jurisdiction. While this move has predictably been condemned by opposition parties, it should be borne in mind that chiefs last received vehicles 13 years ago and their current fleet is old and dilapidated. It would be a dereliction of duty were Government to let chiefs lead a life of penury and destitution when they serve an important national duty.

We therefore applaud the Government for securing 226 Isuzu trucks for chiefs to enable them to address their transport challenges. We also take note of steps being taken to continue improving the welfare of chiefs and increasing the powers of their courts. Ministers revealed on Saturday that the allocation of vehicles to the chiefs was part of a cocktail of measures being implemented by the Government to improve the welfare of traditional leaders in the country.

There are also plans to review chiefs’ allowances upwards while the plight and welfare of widows of traditional leaders will also be looked into. Government is also considering a request by traditional leaders to be provided with decent accommodation. Provincial assemblies with chiefs will be held as a way of seeking to address some of the issues that were raised by traditional leaders during the conference. This is commendable.

Addressing the chiefs on Saturday, President Mugabe said Government would continue prioritising the welfare of chiefs and according them respect as custodians of Zimbabwe’s land and customs. The President also warned “sell-out” land reform beneficiaries who are accommodating white former commercial farmers. He said people should use the land instead of being cajoled into dubious arrangements.

“We hear that there are some former white farmers who are coming back via the back door, offering you tractors, centre pivots saying they just want to help you. They tell you to stay in town while they farm for you, harvest then share the yield. We say no to such. Never should we allow our land to be repossessed by whites. Some got land when they are not able to use it. They are working in cities letting white farmers work on the land. If you don’t want to use the land, tell us openly not to clandestinely enter into arrangements with former white farmers coming from Johannesburg (South Africa). We will chase both you and your white farmer from that land. This land was fought for,” Cde Mugabe said.

The President added that the land was sacred and indigenous Zimbabweans should jealously protect it from being repossessed by the former commercial farmers.

“Those that got farms should not think that they own the land. The land is sacred. You were only given that land to work on it and produce food. When you die you will leave the land for your family and those that will come after you. In our culture chiefs are the custodians of the land. People are the owners of the land, in so far as they use it when they die they leave that land for others,” he said.

We agree with the President that the land reform programme is irreversible and beneficiaries should not enter into dubious arrangements with whites with the aim of reversing it.