Advocacy

The remit of We R uS also includes working with the traditional authorities to set up an Advocacy Group to lobby the Legislature to create and or amend national laws, policies, and programs that capture the essence of their traditional philosophies of life that have been honed over thousands of years, and thus protect the culture and heritage.

For instance, traditionally, the ownership of land is vested in the communities in the sense that it belongs to the ancestors, the as yet unborn, and the living, who are thus only caretakers with a responsibility to earn a living from it, but more importantly to preserve it as an essential resource to guarantee the survival and prosperity of future generations. Thus they have NO MANDATE SELL IT LAND. They can only LEASE LAND. Even then they have to reserve a minimum of 10 to 33 percent of the yield of any exploitation of the land for the community.

The lease of any commercial land should also stipulate that if the beneficiary of the lease does not commence the exploitation of the land within 7 years of the lease date, the land revert to the ownership of the community.

This Advocacy includes the putting pressure on the government to enact or amend the laws to revert the power of administration of the communities to the Chiefs and elders.