Well-known tradititional leader, Vho Thovhele Kennedy Tshivhase is a leader with a mission: he has embarked on a campaign to get rid of laziness in all villages under his jurisdiction.

Tshivhase, who is also the chairperson of the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa in Vhembe, last weekend put aside his heavy schedule of traditional chores and led by example, leading a march with the traditional leader of Ngulummbi, khosi Vho Edzani Ratshitanga and other high ranking members of the Tshivhase Royal Council at Ngulummbi. The campaign was dubbed Vhubva a vhu liwi, meaning Zero Tolerance to laziness.

The march started at the Ratshitanga Royal Kraal to Sibasa and finished at the Royal Kraal.

Speaking to the hundreds of marchers who heeded the call to the march, Thovhele Tshivhase lashed out against people who just sit with nothing to do all day. "People must stop being lazy, they must exercise," he said. Tshivhase said he was not surprised to find many people falling ill and dying at an early age, people are no longer doing any work and this leads to weak bodies and minds and less production at the work place. "People are even lazy to walk short distances to their work places preferring to use public transport, cannot even plant vegetables at the back of their houses, preferring to buy everything at the markets," he said.

"Our forefathers used to travel long distances and till long stretches of fields and they remained very healthy all the time even though they did not have the type of health care we have today," he said. He called on his subjects to revisit their old ways and culture in order to be responsible citizens.

Tshivhase urged those not employed to create themselves jobs such as ploughing in the fields and making gardens.

"We need healthy bodies for healthy minds," he said.

The traditional leader of Ngulummbi village Khosi Edzani Ratshitanga, who organised the march, said he was overwhelmed by the support shown by his subjects. He said he was even more humbled by the presence of Thovhele Tshivhase who walked the seven kilometers to Sibasa and back. "He is a real father who leads by example and we are very blessed to have him as our leader," he said.

Ms Sarah Nemagovhani (53), one of the marchers said the march could not have come at a better time, when many of her age just sit down at home doing nothing. "This is good excersize for us, we only get time to walk when we go for our monthly grants, this is a wise move by our traditional leaders and we encourage them to organise more such marches," she said. She said she would start walking on a daily basis just to keep fit.