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In his capacity as Chairperson of the Presidential Task Team on Matters raised by Traditional and Khoi-San Leaders, Deputy President Shipokosa Paulus Mashatile has this morning, 02 September 2025, met with Representatives of the Griqua Royal House at OR Tambo Official Residence in Pretoria.

In June this year, the Office of the Deputy President received a letter from The Griqua Royal House requesting a meeting with the Deputy President to discuss the Traditional Leadership recognition of the Khoi and San communities, among other things.

Today's meeting provided an opportunity for Deputy President Mashatile to brief the Representatives of the Griqua Royal House on progress on the process of the recognition of the Khoi and San communities by the Commission on Khoi-San Matters.

The Commission on Khoi-San Matters (Commission) is a statutory body established in terms of section 51(1) of the Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Act of 2019.

In terms of section 57 and 58 of the Act, the Commission has the following functions:

• To receive applications for the recognition of Khoi-San communities, branches, senior Khoi-San leaders and Branch Heads.
• To investigate the applications received.
• To prepare comprehensive reports with recommendations on each application that has been received and investigated.
• To submit the report and the recommendations of each received and investigated application to the relevant Premier for comment and give the Premiers a period of 60 days to provide the comments.
• After receiving the comments from the relevant Premiers, the Commission must finalise and submit its report containing its recommendations to the Minister on the possible recognition of Khoi-San communities, branches, and leaders.

In this regard, Commissioner Cordney Mangale assured the meeting that all processes for recognition are being followed accordingly and that the Commission would make an announcement on the outcome of the application for recognition before the end of its term in August 2026.

Deputy President Mashatile thanked the Commissioners and  Representatives of the Griqua Royal House for attending to the matters raised in the most cordial fashion and for their commitment to promoting and preserving institutions of Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership in South Africa.

The meeting was also attended by Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Prince Zolile Burns-Ncamashe, Commissioners and Senior Government Officials.

Issued by the Presidency