Jacob Zuma, the South African president, has issued a ringing endorsement of traditional courts, saying that problems should be resolved “the African way, not the white man’s way”.
South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma Photo: AFP/Getty Images
Mr Zuma, a proud Zulu who himself subscribes to traditional practices
such as polygamy, said that those living in rural communities in South
Africa found the traditional justice system a better way of resolving
their disputes.
“Prisons are done by people who cannot resolve problems,” he was quoted as saying by South Africa’s Times newspaper.
“Let us solve African problems the African way, not the white man’s
way. Let us not be influenced by other cultures and try to think the
lawyers are going to help.
“We have never changed the facts. They tell you they are dealing with
cold facts. They will never tell you that these cold facts have warm
bodies.”
His comments have caused consternation among lawyers, opposition
politicians, civil society groups and women’s’ formations in his own
party who have slated the Traditional Courts Bill currently making its
way through parliament.
The bill is championed by the influential Congress of Traditional
Leaders of South Africa, which has hinted that its support for a second
term for Mr Zuma at the ANC’s December elective conference depends on
it.
But it has been staunchly opposed in a series of public consultations because it bases traditional court jurisdictions along the apartheid-era “tribal homeland” boundaries, forces people to accept customary laws which are currently consensual and denies them the right to legal representation enshrined in South Africa’s constitution.
Lulu Xingwana, Mr Zuma’s Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities, has called for it to be redrafted altogether amid concerns of how women will be treated given traditional patriarchal rules.
“It’s oppressive to women and discriminatory,” she told a parliamentary hearing in September. “Why are we taking our people back to the dark ages?”
In an official speech on Wednesday to the National House of Traditional Leaders, which sits beside MPs in parliament, Mr Zuma acknowledged “genuine concerns” raised about the bill in public consultations.
He called for the bill to be strengthened to protect the rights of women and ensure all South Africans had access to all forms of justice.
But in unscripted comments made after the speech, he made clear his preference for an “African” courts system.
Desmond Lesejane, of the Alliance for Rural Democracy which has called for the bill to be withdrawn, said the president’s comments did not surprise him.
“The Ministry of Justice has made clear that it will ignore much of what came from the public consultations and this would explain why their officials are so insistent on this,” he said.
The alliance, which brings together some of South Africa’s biggest civil society groups in opposition to the bill, claims the bill even ignores traditional cultural practices, by doing away with the old tiered system of traditional courts to give one person, often a political appointee, unilateral power.
“President Zuma can push for tradition but this is a corrupted version of cultural practices,” he said.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/9653920/Jacob-Zuma-backs-traditional-courts-instead-of-white-mans-way.html
But it has been staunchly opposed in a series of public consultations because it bases traditional court jurisdictions along the apartheid-era “tribal homeland” boundaries, forces people to accept customary laws which are currently consensual and denies them the right to legal representation enshrined in South Africa’s constitution.
Lulu Xingwana, Mr Zuma’s Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities, has called for it to be redrafted altogether amid concerns of how women will be treated given traditional patriarchal rules.
“It’s oppressive to women and discriminatory,” she told a parliamentary hearing in September. “Why are we taking our people back to the dark ages?”
In an official speech on Wednesday to the National House of Traditional Leaders, which sits beside MPs in parliament, Mr Zuma acknowledged “genuine concerns” raised about the bill in public consultations.
He called for the bill to be strengthened to protect the rights of women and ensure all South Africans had access to all forms of justice.
But in unscripted comments made after the speech, he made clear his preference for an “African” courts system.
Desmond Lesejane, of the Alliance for Rural Democracy which has called for the bill to be withdrawn, said the president’s comments did not surprise him.
“The Ministry of Justice has made clear that it will ignore much of what came from the public consultations and this would explain why their officials are so insistent on this,” he said.
The alliance, which brings together some of South Africa’s biggest civil society groups in opposition to the bill, claims the bill even ignores traditional cultural practices, by doing away with the old tiered system of traditional courts to give one person, often a political appointee, unilateral power.
“President Zuma can push for tradition but this is a corrupted version of cultural practices,” he said.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/9653920/Jacob-Zuma-backs-traditional-courts-instead-of-white-mans-way.html
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