Chiefs to occupy old Parliament Building

Rutendo Nyeve, Sunday News Reporter
THE country’s traditional leaders led by the Council of Chiefs have been allocated office space at the Old Parliament Building in Harare as the Second Republic continues to restore the dignity of the country’s traditional leadership.

This was said by President Mnangagwa during the official opening of the Annual Chiefs Conference that was held in Bulawayo last week. The conference, which began on Tuesday was officially opened by President Mnangagwa the following day where he also took time to respond to various requests put forward by the traditional leaders. One of the requests was that the Council of Chiefs needed offices and a budget to be allocated to them to ensure the smooth running of their administrative and operational issues.

“The National Chiefs Council requested for their own offices as well as their own budget. We have agreed that following the completion of a New Parliament which was constructed as part of the bilateral relations between Zimbabwe and China, the chiefs will be accorded office space at the Old Parliament building. You will recall that when I went to China in 2018 my friend, the Chinese President gave me money for us to construct a new Parliament and it has been constructed and completed. So, when we move to the new building, I have promised them that we will avail offices for them at the Old Parliament building,” said President Mnangagwa.

While chiefs help promote and uphold cultural values and facilitate development, they also play a key role in resolving disputes in their communities. That requires them to have courts where cases are heard and the Second Republic has committed to building courts for them.

“Chiefs requested that Government construct courts at their homesteads as well as provide stationery to use in the court processes. For Matabeleland region, it is very easy for us to do this for you as the chieftainship is from father to son. However, as for the Mashonaland region, chieftainship moves from one area to the other. This makes it difficult to build. So, we then resolved that in such a situation, the chieftainship should agree on where they want the court to be constructed then we build it,” said President Mnangagwa.

Meanwhile, chiefs who were granted powers to become marriage officers are set to undergo training after which they will be authorised to practice as marriage officers.

“The Ministry of Justice has said you will be trained first after which you will be authorised to be marriage officers. However, that has been granted and you will just undergo training. There are various marriage acts that you need to be trained on before you commence as marriage officers,” said President Mnangagwa.

The chiefs through the president of the Chiefs Council Chief, Fortune Charumbira, applauded the gesture by the President describing it as bringing back the powers of the chiefs.

“We want to appreciate the powers that have been given to us as chiefs. We are now marriage officers.

The President signed this law. So, we are expecting that soon after our training people will be coming to us as chiefs to get married,” said Chief Charumbira.

He said although the law sparked a lot of debate among various stakeholders, they were happy that their interests were safeguarded and the bill sailed through.

“This law generated a lot of debate in Parliament. It took about two years being debated in Parliament. One of the issues that chiefs were querying is why the law did not allow us to ask if the groom would have paid lobola.

“As chiefs we refused because you can’t say people are getting married customarily before the chief and ignore that aspect. I want to appreciate that we got support in Senate up until the law allowed us to ask if the groom  would have paid the bride price. We want to thank the President for signing this law,” said Chief Charumbira.

This year’s conference was unique as it brought in more than 500 headmen from across the country.

This was the first time for them to attend the Annual Chiefs Conference. -@nyeve14