ANC vows to work traditional leaders in SA

Acting ANC Spokesperson, Zuko Godlimpi says the party is committed to working with all traditional leaders in the country. He was reacting to a statement made by the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (Contralesa) which warned the ANC to retract recent utterances it had made about the role of traditional leaders in the country.

Earlier, Godlimpi had said the ANC would not allow the country to be ruled by unelected kings.

But Godlimpi has sought to clarify his statement, saying it is the ANC that supported laws and policies promoting traditional leadership in the country’s constitution.

“The comment was not that there is something wrong with the kings and queens. The comment was about the nature of electing political leadership in South Africa. That, as the ANC, we believe that the leadership of this country including the president must be the product of a democratic election which means that all adults must have a right to decide who they want,” he said.

Godlimpi highlighted that his remarks stem from the fact that there is a political party proposing a different set-up in how leaders are elected.

“It says there must be no president in South Africa; there must rather be a prime minister and this prime minister must not be elected in a ballot, but must rather be appointed by kings and queens,” he said.