North West Premier Bushy Maape has expressed his deepest condolences for the passing of the North West Chairperson of the House of Traditional leaders, Kgosi Madode’nkundla Langa-La-Sembo Zibi.
Kgosi Zibi also served as Chairperson of the Provincial House of Traditional and Khoi-San Leaders, and worked closely with the government in addressing a number of issues relating to traditional leadership in the province.
The Principal Traditional Leader of AmaHlubi both in the Eastern Cape and North West provinces, passed away peacefully at his homestead of Kwa-Khayakhulu, Rustenburg in the presence of his family.
Kgosi Zibi was buried on Saturday at Kwa-Khayakhulu where he had set up home after the historical settlement where AmaHlubi, led by iNkosi Nonkonya Shadrack Zibi, came to live among BaTswana after World War I in the North West province in 1924.
Inkosi Zibi was among the young men who volunteered to serve as soldiers in France alongside the Allied Forces during World War 1. Some of the African soldiers died when the ship SS Mendi sank.
Maape said at the funeral Zibi led his people with dignity and respect.
“He served as Chairperson of our Provincial House of Traditional and Khoi-San Leaders. He worked closely with the government in addressing a number of issues relating to traditional leadership in the province.
“He was an academic and equally an intellectual in his own right. He was a proponent of the history, culture and heritage of African people. Throughout his life he championed the socio-economic development and self-reliance of communities in rural areas which many of them fall under the jurisdiction of traditional leaders,” added Maape.
