DRAFT TRADITIONAL AND KHOI-SAN LEADERSHIP BILL, 2024

The Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Bill (TKLB) 2024 is proposed legislation in South Africa designed to formally recognise and regulate traditional and Khoi-San leadership. It follows a 2023 Constitutional Court decision that declared the Traditional Khoi-San Leadership Act 3 of 2019 unconstitutional due to a lack of public participation and concerns over land dispossession. The 2024 Bill introduces processes for leadership recognition in Section 8 and Section 10, and requires the Premier to define traditional council jurisdictions in the Provincial Gazette under Section 16(5) to address community land rights. However, the document notes gaps in the Bill, including a lack of direct mechanisms for communities to challenge leadership recognition, the absence of voting rights for leaders in municipal councils, and insufficient enforcement mechanisms for gender representation, despite a requirement that one in three council representatives be women.

• The Traditional Khoi-San Leadership Act 3 of 2019 was declared unconstitutional and invalid by the Constitutional Court in 2023 because it lacked adequate public participation, allowed for land dispossession without community consent, entrenched old Bantustan boundaries, and gave traditional councils unconstitutional powers.
• The 2024 Bill establishes specific processes for the recognition of leadership, with Section 8 detailing the process for Traditional and Khoi-San leadership and Section 10 focusing on senior Khoi-San leaders or branch heads.
• The Bill contains several limitations: leaders can advise municipal councils but cannot vote or make decisions, there is no direct provision for communities to challenge leadership recognition, and there are no clear enforcement mechanisms to ensure gender and marginalised group representation in decision-making, despite a quota requiring women to make up one in three council representatives.

APA

Natural Justice (2025). DRAFT TRADITIONAL AND KHOI-SAN LEADERSHIP BILL, 2024. https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Factsheet_Draft-TKS-Bill_FINAL.pdf

Chicago

Natural Justice. DRAFT TRADITIONAL AND KHOI-SAN LEADERSHIP BILL, 2024. 2025. https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Factsheet_Draft-TKS-Bill_FINAL.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Natural Justice |title=DRAFT TRADITIONAL AND KHOI-SAN LEADERSHIP BILL, 2024 |date=February 2025 |url=https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Factsheet_Draft-TKS-Bill_FINAL.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{naturaljustice2025draft, author = {{Natural Justice}}, title = {{DRAFT TRADITIONAL AND KHOI-SAN LEADERSHIP BILL, 2024}}, institution = {Natural Justice}, year = {2025}, month = feb, url = {https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Factsheet_Draft-TKS-Bill_FINAL.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }