Durban — The House of Traditional Leaders in KwaZulu-Natal has lauded Zululand District Municipality’s decision to increase amakhosis’ medical aid from R436 000 from the last financial year to R1.2 million.
The announcement was made on Saturday by the mayor, Thulasizwe Buthelezi, during his budget speech in Mondlo township outside Vryheid, in the north of the province.
The mayor said his municipality had set aside R1.2 million for traditional leaders’ health needs, adding that he was proud to be the only municipality that catered to their health.
The municipality first launched the programme in conjunction with Bonitas last year.
Hailing the decision, House of Traditional Leaders chairperson inkosi Sifiso Shinga said they welcomed the mayor’s gesture to provide support to amakhosi with medical aid.
He said amakhosis’ salaries were low, which was why some could not afford to pay their own medical aid, let alone for family members.
“We are happy with what the mayor has done. Amakhosi need medical aid but they cannot afford it because their financial support from the government is insufficient so we appreciate what the Zululand District Municipality has done,” said Shinga.
The district has a total of 36 traditional leaders who are expected to benefit from the programme. In 2014 Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) in the province announced that amakhosi were allowed to join the Government Employees Medical Aid Scheme (Gems) and the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF). An inkosi was allowed to add his family to the medical aid but inkosi Shinga said like all government employees, amakhosi were paying for government medical aid which was expensive.
The Zululand mayor also announced that R30 million had been set aside to assist women with their projects while R3 million would go to small businesses like car washes and salons and other small businesses.
The mayor said that out of a R1.5 billion overall budget, a big chunk would go to water services since it was the main responsibility of a district municipality to supply water to the residents of the district.
The district is one of the biggest after eThekwini, with a population of more than 800 000. It covers five local municipalities – Ulundi, Nongoma, Dumbe (Paulpietersburg), Abaqulusi (Vryheid and Pongola). All are under IFP government except Dumbe, which falls under the NFP-ANC coalition.
This budget might be the last one tabled under the IFP as the ANC/NFP/ EFF coalition pushes hard to oust mayor Buthelezi from power. Last week the council was supposed to sit but failed since the municipality announced that the municipal building would be fumigated. The IFP was also likely to lose Nongoma after the NFP/ANC/EFF became the majority.
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