• Traditional leaders are encouraging people to work the land in the face of economic strife during the Covid-19 crisis.
• Contralesa says communities remain in need, with some still battling water shortages.
• The organisation has called on South Africans to "aggressively" adhere to lockdown regulations.

While traditional leaders had already announced the initiation season for 2020 was halted on account of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (Contralesa) told News24 it is continuing the work of ensuring that villages understand the threat posed by the outbreak.

The World Health Organisation last week expressed some concern about how communities in the country were receiving information about the pandemic.

This comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa raised the issue in one of his evening addresses, calling for South Africans to adhere to lockdown regulations.

Contralesa general-secretary Zolani Mkiva told News24 the organisation has been on the ground trying to meet communities' needs during the global health crisis.

Some have criticised the government for not communicating sufficiently with those in living in rural areas, what is your take?

Ever since the lockdown was announced by the president in March, we've been hard at work ensuring that we communicate the message communicated to us by the national command council.

After meeting with the president and Cabinet, we understood that this was a very serious threat to our existence. We took that message and translated it into indigenous and simple language for our communities to understand what is happening.

One of the decisions we took exactly a month after that, I think around mid-April, was to cancel the initiation season for winter; this was part and parcel of how we took this thing so serious.

We did not wait for the government to lobby us. We were convinced, based on our own assessment as an organisation, that's what was needed - not just to suspend the winter season, but we took a very decisive decision to say we are cancelling totally.

Have there been any concerns around illegal initiation schools during this period?

We spoke in one voice. We used our authority, without our message being contaminated by other people, and it carried through. It was received very well, with a clear understanding from our people.

All communities have complied. If there were any isolated cases, it would be by individuals, behind the community's, back - but we haven't come across that.

We closed ranks and left no stone unturned in communicating to our communities; then we went back to the government to ask that it formulates regulations regarding the decision.

What has the overall experience of battling Covid-19 and the lockdown been like for traditional leaders?

We have been leading by example, getting involved to bring relief where possible. So, we try and mobilise resources, taking food to people and interacting with business communities to assist our villages with food parcels, groceries and personal protective equipment, such as masks and sanitisers.

Our own structures have been helpful in reaching communities on the ground, to assist.

It's been important for us to not only communicate using words, but through action as well, equipping our people at this time. You might take R15 to buy a mask for granted, but here people are really toiling and can't take even that amount to go buy a mask.

Water has also been a major issue here; we are engaging with the government vigorously over this. They took water to schools, but schools exist within the ambit of communities. Some people have taken to blocking trucks from reaching schools, saying you can't take water there when these children come from homes without any water.

We are also asking for the government to not use these short-term interventions when it comes to water supply. We've been saying they must come and drill boreholes, so a long-term perspective is one of the things we are pushing for in rural communities. I think we are working in harmony with the government towards finding each other.

Are you content with the resources at hand?

We are asking the government to make budgets and resources available directly to traditional councils. Through the national structure, we are able to benefit a little, but it's the tip of the iceberg in terms of what we are getting - and we are appealing to them for more resources.

This is a big challenge, but we understand there is no money.

Scarcity of resources is a big issue and we do understand that this Covid-19 outbreak came at a time when we got a negative outlook from ratings agencies… it's a disaster within a disaster really.

How are rural communities able to mitigate this?

What's helping our communities is the fact that the issue of adaptation is not a difficult thing - it's part and parcel of our indigenous knowledge systems. We know how to adjust our lives.

The other advantage for rural people is that they have an option to go back to the field and till the land. We are making a clarion call to our communities that they go back and work the land to ensure there is food security. The reliance on stipends and grants to be issued by the government is totally unsustainable; people must start to work on their gardens.

If you don't have a field, at least you have a portion of a garden… let's plant crops, let's plant vegetables. Let's make means through the boreholes which we are asking for, so we can begin to irrigate those plants, that way we have sustainability.

We are not coming up with theories of how we can revive the economy. We are saying, with what we have, how can we best devise and provide food security for our people?

Finally, where do you stand on the argument of using African knowledge systems in finding a solution to the pandemic? 

We are championing that view. We communicated this directly to the president when he was consulting before announcing Level 3 of the risk-adjustment strategy.

We said set resources aside and prioritise the issue of processing the confirmation of all the indigenous knowledge and medical interventions, including Umhlonyane and others.

Also, make sure that these things are not snubbed and talked down on by Western trained doctors. And then prioritise the work, get confirmation and announce to the nation that Umhlonyane and other medicines are actually confirmed - even by the labs.

We are not happy with the speed, but will keep pushing for this.

Contralesa is concerned about rising numbers and calling on citizens to aggressively accept the regulations and to obey their leaders, in government, communities and families.