HIGH LEVEL PANEL ON ASSESSMENT OF KEY LEGISLATION AND ACCELERATION OF FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE North West Public Hearings: 1 – 2 March 2017 1 March 2017: Morning Session Italics: Setswana transcription Non-Italics: English translation of Setswana and English transcription Speaker: Thank you very much; you may take your seat. I would like to welcome one of the Panellist members Mr Tshefuta to come forward and continue with the program. Mr Tshefuta. Mr Tshefuta Good morning, dumelang, dumelang - Le kae ? Ra leboga bagolo. How are you, thank you my elders. My name is Thulani Tshefuta. I have been sent by my elders in the high level Panel to run the proceedings of the day today and before we do that, I do want to encourage that all of us who are here, we must be registered, as I understand that some have already registered. Because there are many languages that we work with, there are interpretation devices or gadgets that are available at the back, if you need those, you just need to take your ID and they will give you your gadget. We have interpretation from English to isiXhosa, Setswana, Afrikaans; we should be having sign language as well. In the list, in the gadget, Channel 1 will be English, Channel 2 will be Afrikaans, Channel 3 ke Setswana, Channel 4 isiXhosa. I want to take this opportunity and thank you for joining us as the High Level Panel (HLP), we are now in province Number 8 and what we have observed throughout is that province no 2 always gets better than no 1; no 3 better than 2, number 4 better than? It means number 8 has a challenge of being better than 7 and the rest, so that is the challenge that we have. The HLP is here at this hearing led by the chairperson (CP) of the Panel, which I want you to help me in welcoming President Kgalema Motlanthe as the president of the Panel. He is very keen to come and engage with you but I want him to wait a bit, let’s welcome Mkhulu again to the province. Disclaimer: These transcripts were produced by different people, including post-graduate students who 1 translated and transcribed the material from the YouTube recordings of the public hearings. We cannot vouch for the absolute accuracy of the translation and transcription, and refer those who require absolute accuracy to the YouTube record itself. HIGH LEVEL PANEL ON ASSESSMENT OF KEY LEGISLATION AND ACCELERATION OF FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE Introduces Panel members Dr Aninka Claasens as one of the Panel members, we have Dr Olive Shisana, we have Reverend Damon, we have Yvonne Muthien; we also have Prof Eddie Maloka and of course yours truly Thulani Tshefuta, myself. We are also joined by a high level delegation from the leadership of the province that is led by the speaker Hon Susan Dantjie. I want to invite her to stand with the entire delegation from the provincial legislature and speakers of municipalities, intergovernmental structures basically in the NW, so that we see them that they are part of us. (Applause) Thank you. At this stage I would like to invite the speaker of the provincial legislature in the NW province, to come and welcome s in this session. Susan Dantjie: Thank you very much program director, the HLP led by former President, one of our own, son of the soil Rre Kgalema Motlanthe. Ke tseye tshono e ke dumedise maloko otlhe ka kakaretso a palamente, members of the provincial speaker’s forum, baagi botlhe ba Bokone Bophirima (BB), magosi otlhe a a ka tswang a le teng, le bone ke re ke ba dumedise beng ba mmu. Let me take this opportunity to greet all members of parliament, members of the provincial speaker’s forum, residents of the NW, any chiefs that may be present, let me greet you the owners of the soil. Tiro ya ka ke go le amogela mo tirong e releng mo go yone e botlhokwa. The program director has already said that we are the 8th province. Fa re le profense ya borobedi go raya gore tshwanetse re intshe maswe dinaleng, re tseye these public hearing very serious. My job is to welcome you to this important event. The program director has already said that we are the 8th province, when you are the 8th province you must do a very good job. We must take these public hearings very seriously. Disclaimer: These transcripts were produced by different people, including post-graduate students who 2 translated and transcribed the material from the YouTube recordings of the public hearings. We cannot vouch for the absolute accuracy of the translation and transcription, and refer those who require absolute accuracy to the YouTube record itself. HIGH LEVEL PANEL ON ASSESSMENT OF KEY LEGISLATION AND ACCELERATION OF FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE Ha ke bua jaana, our Hon Rre Kgalema Motlanthe, “ka itse gore wa nkutlwa tota thata, so o tla leka go tlhalosa mo gaufi “chuckles” ke dirisa advantage ka gore ke a itse gore wa nkutlwa. Di public hearings tse re leng mo go tsone Hon Ntate Kgalema, ke gore as a province, we are a very rural province, so its proper and relevant for you to be here, gore baagi ba BB, ka gore kgangkgolo ya lona ke go tla go sekaseka melao e e nnileng teng mo nageng ya rona gore a na ya dira, le gore e direla bagabo rona jang. As I sepak now, our Hon Rre Rre Kgalema Motlanthe, I know that you can really hear me, so you will try to explain briefly, I am taking advantage because I know you can understand me well. These public hearings that we are in progress, Hon Ntate Kgalema, because as a province, we are a very rural province, so its proper and relevant for you to be here, so that the residents of BB...because the main issue that we have come here to investigate is the laws in our country, whether they are working and whether they are working for our people. Ga ke re province ya rona ke e leng the rural province, ke raya gore e tletse bohuma, e tletse botlhokatiro and ke a itse gore nngwe ya dikomiti tsa gago Rre Kgalema Motlanthe ke go lebelela dintlha tse di tshwanang le tseo. Go mo go bone gore ba bue, ba kgwe ka tlhaa gore lo kgone go ba utlwa gore le tla ba thusa jang, fa go na le melawana mengwe e ba naganang gore ke sekgoreletsi go ka fetola maphelo a bone. I say our province is rural, because it is plagued by poverty, unemployment and I know that one of your committees Rre Kgalema Motlanthe will focus on such issues. It is up to them to speak up so that you can hear them and see how you can assist them; if there are any laws that they think hinder them in changing their lives, they must speak up. Sabobedi ke gore profense ya BB ke e ikileng ya nna Bantustan, being a Bantustan, go raya gore go na le melawana mengwe ya that time, e e santseng e dira, go raya gore puso since 1994 ge se re ke re e sekaseke, ke ne ke dira kopa eo rra gore also when you are in the NW also look into those laws tsa the former Bophutatswana; ke a itse gore go santse go na le bomagaborona in other villages bao e leng gore melao e santse e ba gatelela in way. Disclaimer: These transcripts were produced by different people, including post-graduate students who 3 translated and transcribed the material from the YouTube recordings of the public hearings. We cannot vouch for the absolute accuracy of the translation and transcription, and refer those who require absolute accuracy to the YouTube record itself. HIGH LEVEL PANEL ON ASSESSMENT OF KEY LEGISLATION AND ACCELERATION OF FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE The second thing is that NW Province was once a Bantustan, being a Bantustan means that there are some laws of that time that are still in effect; meaning that the government has not had a look at this since 1994. I am thus making a request that when you are in the NW also look into those laws of the former Bophutatswana. I know that there are some of our people in other villages that are still being oppressed by these laws. Go na le molao o mongwe ke wa 1978, ke wa lefatshe, go na le bomagaborona ba ba santseng ba sotlega ke molao o;ka nako eo ba ne ba bitswa gore ba nna ko di trust land, tse eleng gore magosi a neng a le gaufi le metse eo, ne go tilwe tlhokomela batho ke ba, mme lefatshe ga se la gago, maara jaanong magosi a mangwe a iphile mafatshe a batho ba rona ga ba kgone go owna mafatshe, so ke a kopa tota gore melao e mengwe mo BB ya puso e e fetilng, ga go kgonagala lo e shebe fa lo ntse lo ya ko pele. There is the land law of 1978; there are still some of our people that are suffering under that law. At the time there were “Trust lands” where chiefs were requested to take care of people, knowing that the land does not belong to them, but now some of these chiefs have taken the people’s lands; our people are not able to own land. So I am requesting that some laws of the previous government be looked into going forward. I know that I am part of the decision that established the Panel through the speaker’s forum, if needs be to extend, we will make a plea if needs be cause really re nagana gore go tleng ga lona mo BB go botlhokwa thata.