Who and what is AfriForum?

AfriForum is an Afrikaans civil rights organisation that protects the rights of minority groups at national as well as provincial level, and anyone who can identify with AfriForum’s principles and objectives may join the organisation. AfriForum’s community plan focuses on mobilising communities to thus take control of their own streets and neighbourhoods again. AfriForum ensures that your constitutional and civil rights are recognised and protected at national level.

Wie en wat is AfriForum?

AfriForum is ’n Afrikaanse burgerregteorganisasie wat die regte van minderheidsgroepe op sowel nasionale as provinsiale vlak beskerm, en enigiemand wat met AfriForum se beginsels en doelstellings kan identifiseer, mag by die organisasie aansluit. AfriForum se gemeenskapsplan fokus daarop om gemeenskappe te mobiliseer om só weer beheer terug te neem oor hul eie strate en woonbuurtes. AfriForum verseker dat jou grondwetlike én burgerregte op nasionale vlak erken en beskerm word.

AfriForum calls for unity between amakhosi and izinduna and urges the Premier to intervene urgently

This media statement is also available in: isiZulu

Soundbite: Barend Uys (English)

Soundbite: Barend Uys (Afrikaans)

AfriForum urgently appeals to amakhosi (senior traditional leaders) and izinduna (traditional leaders) in KwaZulu-Natal to maintain good relations and cooperation with one another for the benefit of the communities they serve and not to allow politicians and officials to cause division between them or to act unlawfully against leaders. This follows on the letter that AfriForum wrote to Thami Ntuli, the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, on 11 February after members of the Mpungose Traditional Community were informed that the traditional leaders Ndunankulu M.T. Mpungose and Induna M.S. Mahaye had been removed as leaders without compliance with legal provisions.

AfriForum has urgently requested the Premier to ensure the safety of the leaders to prevent further unlawful and illegal actions against these and other leaders and finally to initiate a comprehensive investigation into the removal of traditional leaders and the growing division between amakhosi and izinduna. The letter was sent to the Premier after a letter to Thami Biyela, an acting director of traditional affairs within the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, went unanswered, despite the letter highlighting that Ndunankulu Mpungose had been threatened with a firearm.

According to Barend Uys, Head of Intercultural Relations and Cooperation at AfriForum, it is concerning that legal provisions are not being complied with and that the lives of traditional leaders are thereby put in danger. “Improper interference that sours the relations between amakhosi and izinduna and weakens traditional leadership structures has serious negative consequences for the well-being of grassroots communities. It harms the healthy functioning and continued existence of cultural leadership structures and cultural orders and therefore the continued existence of cultural communities – and in this case, Zulu communities in particular. Premier Ntuli must intervene urgently for the sake of the safety of traditional leaders and the wellbeing of the communities they serve.”

AfriForum has enjoyed good relations with the Mpungose Traditional Community in the Nkandla area and specifically the Nkungumathe community since 2017. This relationship was established when AfriForum assisted the community to obtain a court order that the Kuba Secondary School must be built in the community as undertaken by the provincial Department of Education.