COMMEMORATION OF HIS MAJESTY KGOSHI MAMPURU II MESSAGE OF SUPPORT BY PRINCE MANGOSUTHU BUTHELEZI MP PRESIDENT OF THE INKATHA FREEDOM PARTY INKOSI OF THE BUTHELEZI CLAN AND TRADITIONAL PRIME MINISTER TO THE ZULU MONARCH AND NATION Mamone, Moshate: Limpopo Province 25 January 2014 I salute Kgosi Mampuru III; His Excellency the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Mr Lechesa Tsenoli; His Excellency the Minister of Correctional Services, Dr Sibusiso Ndebele; the Honourable Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture, Dr Joe Phaahla; the Honourable Premier of Limpopo, Mr Chupu Stan Mathabatha; His Worship the District Mayor, Councillor Mogobo David Magabe; His Worship the Mayor of Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality, Mr Alfred Matlala; royalty and Amakhosi present; honoured guests. I consider it a privilege to have been asked by Kgosi Mampuru III to participate in todays commemoration in honour of his ancestor. In April last year, I bore witness to the official renaming of Pretoria Management Area to Kgosi Mampuru II Management Area. As I did so, I felt empathy, and a pacifying sense of satisfaction, for my own family history also bears the marks of undignified loss and I know the significance of remembering our fallen ancestors. It is a great thing for Kgosi Mampuru II to be honoured and commemorated. It is the least we can do for a man who died resisting oppression in our country. I can only imagine the deep emotions that todays commemoration must stir in Kgosi Mampuru III and in the people of the Bapedi nation. The brutal and inhumane manner of Kgosi Mampuru IIs execution must certainly have left a stain on the hearts and minds of a people. I pray that through ceremonies like this, the stain will be erased. It is not that we will no longer remember. But that - when we remember - we will do so from a place of healing. Although the burial site of Kgosi Mampuru II is still not known, it is fitting that we have stood on the site of his last days and his death, to honour him and remember his courage. It is fitting too that we gather again to commemorate Kgosi Mampuru II today. Coming from the line of Zulu royalty, I empathise with the Bapedi King, remembering how my own paternal grandfather, Inkosi Mkhandumba Buthelezi, was executed on the 22nd of February 1911 in the Pietermaritzburg gaol. He was accused, on trumped up charges, of murder, and sentenced to be hanged, despite the fact that there was no corpus delicti. The alleged body was never found. Because of the absence of a body, the then Minister of Justice, JBM Hertzog, recommended a reprieve. But the Governor General, Lord Gladstone, followed the recommendation of Judge President Henri Boshoff, and Inkosi Mkhandumba was hanged. This history bears similarities to the hanging of Kgosi Mampuru II, 28 years previously, in whose case President Kruger gave assurances that sentence would not be carried out until he had discussed the matter with the British Colonial Secretary, Lord Derby. Despite those assurances, Kgosi Mampuru II was hanged. I understand how an injustice perpetrated more than a century ago still affects a people today. My own family is still pained by the hanging of my paternal grandfather. Inkosi Mkhandumba was among the brave warriors who fought the Anglo-Zulu War and survived the Battle of Isandlwana on the 22nd of January 1879. That was the first major battle between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom, in which the British suffered a crushing defeat. Yet, even though he remains a hero of our nation, just as in the case of Kgosi Mampuru II, we do not know where Inkosi Mkhandumba is buried. It is difficult to find closure in a matter like this. Inkosi Mkhandumbas father, my great grandfather, Inkosi Mnyamana kaNqengelele Buthelezi, was, at the time, serving as the traditional Prime Minister to the Zulu monarch, King Cetshwayo. As such, he was Commander in Chief of all the Kings regiments, and led his own sons, including Inkosi Mkhandumba, into battle. It was a particularly difficult time, for King Dinuzulu, who had only recently returned from exile on the Island of St Helena, was suddenly implicated in the Bambatha Rebellion, sentenced for treason and imprisoned. The Bambatha Rebellion was a protest against the imposition of poll tax. The King, my maternal grandfather, was innocent, but was implicated when he acquiesced to Inkosi Bambathas plea for refuge for his wife and daughter, who were brought to the Kings Osuthu residence. In 1910, the year before Inkosi Mkhandumba was hanged, General Louis Botha became the first Prime Minister of South Africa, and ordered that King Dinuzulu be released. Yet he was not allowed to return home. The King was transported to the farm Uitkyk in the Transvaal, where he died three years later. This unsettling history is part of the fabric of my nation and part of who I am. In the same way, the undignified death of Kgosi Mampuru II is part of the fabric of the Bapedi nation. It cannot be undone. But we can give resonance to Kgosi Mampuru IIs life, and his death, by remembering and honouring his name. Even now, in my minds eyes, I picture the 200 spectators who paid to witness the despicable execution of a King. I picture Booth, the executioner, and the gaoler with his officials. As they looked upon a naked prisoner, condemned to death, they could never have imagined that 130 years into the future, the very soil on which they stood would be named for their victim. To some degree, justice has been done. I pay special tribute to the Honourable Minister of Correctional Services Dr Ndebele for that But whatever healing that renaming ceremony brought to the Bapedi nation, there is still work to be done to close the wound and restore what was taken. That work is performed in moments like this, as we commemorate Kgosi Mampuru II and all he did towards freedom from oppression in our beloved country. My only sadness in the twilight of my life is that after 20 years of our democratic era, solemn promises that were made to a Coalition of Traditional Leaders of South Africa by the democratic government have not been honoured since the year 2000. On November 30, 2000 a Cabinet Committee set up by President Mbeki, which consisted of Cabinet Ministers, Senior Counsels and Traditional Leaders came to the conclusion that in order to prevent the obliteration of the powers and functions of Traditional Leaders, that Chapter 7 and Chapter 12 of the Constitution will be amended. Even the legislation on Traditional Leadership that is now in the offing does not address this issue of the powers and functions of Traditional Leaders. I am honoured to be a part of this work of restoration and healing. I thank His Majesty the King for inviting me to be here and I offer my wholehearted support. Contact: Ms Liezl van der Merwe, MP 082 7292510
Posted on: Mon, 27 Jan 2014 12:36:46 +0000
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