Chronicle Editor
THE selection of successors to traditional chiefs has in recent years been mired in controversy as families squabbled over the right person to take over from a deceased traditional leader.
In some cases, the disputes have resulted in prolonged legal battles that have seen areas going without a traditional leader for years.
After the selection of a chief, some families have continued to fight over the position and recently a voice note, purportedly sent by a female relative to Chief Menyezwa of Lupane District, Matabeleland North Province, circulated on social media where the woman plotted to kill him with the help of a sangoma.
As a result, such fights before and post-selection of chiefs lead to divisions within families and the broader community.
It is against this background that we appeal for a peaceful and harmonious transition in the Sigola chieftaincy following the death of Chief Zephania Sigola who was buried at his farmhouse in Esiphezini, Umzingwane District last Friday.
We call upon the family to exercise caution and follow traditional protocols in the selection of the next Chief Sigola without bickering and divisions.
Last Friday, moments before the late traditional leader’s coffin was lowered into his grave, the chief’s only surviving child, Ms Nomalanga Sigola, was handed the traditional sceptre (intonga) by her late father’s uncle from the Ngungumbane clan, with a village elder, Mr Joel Mpofu later revealing that the late chief had chosen his daughter as the heir to his throne.
However, an aunt to the late chief, Mrs Eunice Mtungwa, distanced the family from what she said was a “culturally embarrassing” action by Mr Mpofu.
She said the whole clan was left shocked and embarrassed by what happened last Friday and stated that the family would soon summon Mr Mpofu to explain himself and why he did not engage the family first to inform them of whatever the late chief had said to him on his death bed.
“As per culture and tradition, the headman will automatically lead the people as acting Chief Sigola, that is the procedure, not that embarrassing thing we saw at the burial of my nephew,” said Mrs Mtungwa.
“Igangile indoda leyana and as family we shall soon be summoning him, usephambanise umntwana and we are certainly not happy,” she said.
Mr Mpofu, who was also a confidante to the late Chief Sigola, claimed that they were merely following instructions from the late traditional leader whom he said was clear that his daughter Ms Nomalanga must be given the sceptre on his burial day and that if anyone challenged that decision, he will “wake up from” his grave.
At the centre of some disputes over a successor to a chief is gender and we hope that in the case of the Sigola family, gender would not be an impediment as society has seen female and male traditional leaders who have served their communities with distinction.
Online Reporter