Battle of the Chieftaincy and community riots

Christinah Mogobye

In Sefikile village, we have two tribal offices under two different Chieftaincies. There are always conflicts, that affect the community at large, and the needs of the community are not being met. This has led to delays in development and unnecessary community riots. We are living in a village that does not have peace, police are even tired of intervening because it’s one thing after the other.

This village has been ruled by Chief Ramono since the year 2021. In a community meeting held at the Community Centre on the 18th of April 2024, the local headman announced that Chief Ramono would step down as a chief. The Paramount Chief, Kgafela Kgafela who originates from Botswana will stand in as an acting Chief. The ward councilor and his followers were against the local headman and the Paramount chief. On the 20th of April 2024, the Paramount chief came to address the community about his ruling, and also to be introduced to the community. The ward councilor denied them access to the local hall, the headmen called the cops, and they came. However, that didn’t stop the ward councilor from his mission of denying them access to the community center. That is when the Paramount Chief’s followers started attacking the ward councilor’s followers, injuring them with sticks. People still got injured in the presence of the cops and backup from the police was called and the situation got better.

We are confused as a community because we thought the local headman and the ward councilor worked hand in hand as leaders of this community, but we were disappointed to learn that they don’t see eye to eye. We wonder what the cause of the problem could be. This community is broken and should be built by them, but now the situation is getting worse.

This problem can be resolved by engaging the law because many people in this community are already in trouble for taking the law into their own hands.