Chaos erupted during Sekhukhune CONTRALESA conference
Jane Furse
The Provincial secretary of the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (CONTRALESA) was forced to suspend the Sekhukhune CONTRALESA conference due to the dispute that erupted during the conference.
The conference was meant to be the one in which a new regional leadership team was elected, and it was held at Jane Furse Comprehensive School on October 24th.
Provincial organiser, Lesedi Mammushi and the provincial secretary, Kgoshi Maomane was deployed to convene the conference.
But before the conference could begin, there was a concerning issue of unaudited membership
And the provincial organiser addressed it confirming that there were people who were having receipts which were not corresponding with their ID, s.
That alone raised a suspicious concern to whether indeed the attendance were eligible members of the CONTRALESA in good standing.
She asked the attendance to hand over their receipts so she could conduct the membership audit.
But many of the attendance were unhappy about that and chaos erupted.
“When I arrived here I asked how things were done and I was told that people were using the receipt at the gate so I am asking for those bulk receipts and later on am going to demand the single receipts,” said Lesedi.
“To solve this issue we must have to audit each member’s membership,” she said.
Kgoshi Maomane admitted that the region has challenges of unaudited membership. “A proper audit is not yet completed therefore with the power vested in me, I have decided to stop the meeting,” said Maomane.
“I declare this meeting together with the conference cancelled until further notice,” he said.
Meanwhile the provincial chairperson, Kgoshi Letsiri Phaahla, said, his office will appoint a convener and coordinator.
“The regional structure is dissolved and an appointed convener and coordinator have to ensure that the memberships are audited,” said Phaahla.
He also insisted that the regional conference should and will happen in the next coming two weeks, since they have a provincial conference on November 7th.
“I have come across a very concerning issue here; the issue is that some member’s membership receipt does not correspond with their ID, and for that reason, on the bulk membership they will be put aside”. Phaahla explained.
He also added that, those who are in that situation will be disqualified.
“Yes the constitution says anyone can be a member of the CONTRALESA and it allows anyone to be elected to any position as long the person subscribes to the values of the traditional leadership,” said chairperson.
“Politicians have interest in this conference as they want to control the traditional leaders but we don’t want to be controlled by politicians,” he said.
