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Master of Ceremonies
Hosi Muhlava II
Mayor Mushwana
Traditional leaders
Councillors
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

I want to greet you in the same spirit that you welcomed me today.

We have come here today to celebrate one of the most important dates in the history of the Nkuna people as well as to honour one of the heroes of this country.

It is interesting to note that even though this day coincides with a day of mourning the death of your king in 1944, you have made this day a day for the celebration of his good work and his heroism and which earned him respect across tribal and ethnic boundaries.

It is therefore good that instead of continual mourning, we celebrate his legacy because a hero is not mourned but gets his legacy engraved so as to encourage generations that live after him to follow in his footsteps.

It is therefore clear that Hosi Muhlava's deeds still speak, because had he died without any notable achievement his tribe we would not be celebrating today, as we would have long forgotten that he ever existed.

One of the strongest points of Hosi Muhlava's leadership was his immeasurable passion for socio-economic development. Convinced that this could easily be achieved through education, skills and a proper foresight, he dedicated his entire life to the provision of proper education to his tribe - a tradition his successors haven't done away with.

History shows that successful education is the one that is properly aligned to the socio-political needs of the people and Hosi Muhlava was undoubtedly one of those leaders with a skill to recognise this. It is such people who get the full benefit of education because they do not only absorb the classroom education but also align themselves with good political education that helps them identify the correct education zone, with the tried and trusted structures.

There is no doubt that our democratically elected government has brought us the liberation as well as education that advocates for the liberation of the mind of learners and helps them prosper in and outside the classroom - something Hosi Muhlava would be proud of.

As to the lyrics of the song by Richard Maceke:

"Vukosi bya velekeriwa, kambe nhluvuko wa tirheriwa" - one is born a chief, but unlike chieftainship, development has to be worked for.

The most important message in this song is that it calls for the traditional leaders to always remember that they are in their positions to serve their people.

All the good work is what makes a chief to be respected. Taking a short tour around the Nkuna territory, one sees a lot of development in various villages and we also meet faces full of smiles due to overwhelming hope by the local people and confidence that they have on their leaders.

You should be proud, as a tribe, to be so fortunate to have had great leaders who have been able to distinguish themselves above others in their heroic leadership that they demonstrated. As to Mzwakhe Mbuli's song:"Izibongo zenkosi kaziqedwa", - one can't complete praises to a king - I hope you will allow me to mention but few of your heroes:

* Hosi Mabuse, who foresaw a bleak future of the tribe at its original settlement at Ngome in Natal and led it to southern Mozambique,
* Hosi Rinono, who realised that life in southern Mozambique was unbearable and moved with his tribe to the north, and
* Hosi Xiluvane, who saw greener pastures in the Transvaal and relocated here with his entire tribe.

Looking at these statesmen I have just mentioned, one finds one thing that they had in common although they reigned at different times. All of them had the love of their tribe at heart and they never thought of abandoning it even during times of turbulence. They rather opted to take their people along so as to ensure their well-being.

In the past, war was the main cause of misery to our people. At times, hunger also fuelled our people's misery, although it was not a common factor. In our country, we have managed to defeat all wars after the end of the apartheid rule through the struggle that was led by women, youth and men.

Now is the time to rebuild our nation and to contribute to the African Renaissance.

However, as a nation that has just attained its freedom, we are faced with quite a number of challenges, which if not tackled head-on, will destroy our entire nation.

1. As it may be remembered, one of our main enemies during the struggle for liberation was poverty

2. As we were trying to address that, we were met with the serious threat of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, which is claiming the lives of our youth in great numbers. It has become clear that unless we do something as a nation, our population will gradually be constituted by elderly and eventually nobody will survive when these elderly people die, as the youth will have died first.

3. But there is another threat that is rapidly gaining momentum in our country - the rise in rape incidents that involve both women and very young children as victims. The country is still suffering from the shock of the molestation of a nine month-old baby last month by six old men. We still do not understand how not even one of these men could come forward to rescue this child.

This is an indication that something needs to be done and done urgently to stop this madness. What do we do as a nation to stop this? Do we cry and blame the government and the police and witchcraft? Do we turn a blind eye and pretend to see nothing and become satisfied that it hasn't happened to us? Do we ignore what is happening and mock the victims?

In our war against poverty we have seen good private sector - public sector partnerships emerging. We have seen how culture has played a role in developing our areas. Tourism is one of the cornerstones of our economy and eco-tourism is a constituent part of the tourism industry such as traditional ceremonies, museums and so on. Let us use our culture to fight moral decay, like we have used it to fight poverty. Let us put a stop to domestic crimes and child rapes and let us do something to protect mothers who are raped by their own sons.

Lastly, the government is not impressed by the actions of the people who wake up in the morning and declare themselves as chiefs and call upon people to follow them in for pieces of land.

The government is currently strengthening the legislation on illegal land occupation and those who continue to illegally invade land are going to face the music. We reiterate that the government will not tolerate illegal land occupation and anyone who does so or induces others to occupy land is going to be prosecuted.

We appeal to the law enforcement agencies to act promptly without discrimination whenever such cases reach their desks. The ANC led government will never support anarchy.

I thank you!

Issued by Ministry of Housing

01 December 2001