DA, MK Party clash over Amakhosi vehicle scheme

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MK Party KwaZulu-Natal Legislature caucus leader Inkosi Phathisizwe Chiliza has dismissed allegations by the DA that he accepted one of the luxury SUVs procured by the provincial Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) for amakhosi.

The denial comes after DA KZN leader Sithembiso Ngema accused Chiliza of hypocrisy, claiming he benefited from the very government programme his party had publicly criticised.

In a statement, Ngema alleged that Chiliza accepted one of the R800 000 vehicles purchased as part of Cogta MEC Thulasizwe Buthelezi’s multi-million rand programme to provide SUVs to traditional leaders.

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“For weeks, MKP publicly criticised MEC Thulasizwe Buthelezi for the R20 million allocated to purchase 35 SUVs for Amakhosi.

“Yet, while attacking the process, iNkosi Chiliza, who is MKP’s Leader of the Opposition in the Legislature, sent his wife to collect one of those same vehicles on his behalf,” Ngema said.

Ngema said Chiliza, who serves both as an Inkosi and an MPL, “should have led by example”.

However, Chiliza has rejected the allegations, saying they stem from a misunderstanding of how the institution of traditional leadership operates.

What should be understood is that as someone who now occupies public office as an MPL, I have to assign my traditional leadership duties as an Inkosi to another person, in this case to uNdlunkulu (Queen).

Chiliza accused the DA of failing to appreciate the manner in which traditional leadership structures operated.

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“What the DA is guilty of is failure to distinguish between the traditional leadership system and the Western leadership system. They simply assume that everything in the world is done the Western way, which is not the case,” he said.