Makokoba’s urban chief

03 Aug, 2014 - 03:08 0 Views
Makokoba’s urban chief

The Sunday News

chief charumbira

Chief Charumbira

Vusumuzi Dube
ALTHOUGH they have not earned recognition through the country’s laws, they are slowly gaining popularity in urban areas and have the same traditional roles as their rural counterparts — they are urban chiefs, a not-so-familiar leader in Zimbabwe.To many, traditional chiefs are associated with the rural areas, they are regarded as those individuals who are customarily mandated to uphold cultural values in a particular community, which earned them the loosely formulated entitlement of being “custodians of culture”.

Sunday News last week managed to trace one of the few urban chiefs in the country, Makokoba’s Chief Dlamini, who revealed that his duties were similar to those of any other traditional chief, noting that it was about time Government crafted legislation that recognises urban chiefs.

He said this was a phenomenon that was in existence in the past which had somehow died a natural death but now they were simply moving to revive it.

“I am the chief of Makokoba, the people appointed me in 2007 after they noted that we needed someone in the urban setup to help in the upholding of traditional values, give young children direction and basically maintaining unity within the community.

“My duties are very much similar to any other traditional leader. I regularly hold a traditional court and also have laid down structures, where I have a headman and police to help summon anyone to my courts,” said Chief Dlamini.

He said during his courts he mainly dealt in cases that were of a cultural nature and whenever he felt a serious crime had been brought before him, he would refer the case to the police.

“You should note that Makokoba is a closely knit community. We have people from all backgrounds, which makes my duties very much complicated because I have to accept this. You should also note that being the oldest suburb in the city, we have a lot of old people, which explains our inclination to our traditional values.

“My major problem, however, is from the youths who don’t want to accept that tradition is a part of them. You summon them to the court they just laugh at you but besides that my village really recognises my leadership. Even the political leadership is gradually accepting my existence, this of course mainly with the insistence of the people,” said the chief.

He, however, bemoaned the fact that Government did not want to accept the existence of urban chiefs, saying they played an integral role in ensuring that the country upholds its traditional values as a significant number of the country’s population resides in the urban areas hence the need for someone to give them guidance.

“Right now in Bulawayo I am the only chief who is alive after the death of Chief Khumalo in Nkulumane and Chief Sipepa in Pumula South but I am sure the families there and the communities are in talks to find successors.

“In the past we have pushed that we get some recognition but it seems no one wants to listen to us, hopefully one day we will get the recognition that we so much deserve,” said the chief.

Contacted for comment, president of the Chief’s Council, Chief Fortune Charumbira, said while it would be a noble idea to have a chief, tradition had to be followed in the appointment of chiefs.

“For one to be recognised as a chief or traditional leader they should be able to present a family tree that will prove that indeed they come from a lineage of chiefs, no one can just wake up and be a chief whenever they want.

“Yes we need these urban centres to uphold the traditional values but one fact is that all those who stay in those urban centres have roots and it is from here that they will get guidance from the chiefs in their original rural areas,” said Chief Charumbira.

Ward Seven councillor, James Sithole, under which Chief Dlamini operates said he had a good working relationship with the chief.

“I might be a political leader and he more on the traditional front but we work hand in hand, we both know our limits in terms of duties,” said Clr Sithole.

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