The role of traditional authorities in the implementation of Integrated Development Planning Policy (IDP) in Vhembe District Municipality, Limpopo province (original) (raw)
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The present research study brings out the findings of a case study on the perceptions of elected and traditional leaders with respect to how effective they engage communities on development issues. Fourteen villages in nine Traditional Leadership Councils within Makhado, Mutale and Thulamela local Municipalities of Vhembe District were selected using the stratified random sampling technique to participate in the study. Fourteen Councillors whose Wards covered the villages were interviewed together with members of Headmen Councils. One hundred and twelve focus group discussions and 14 key informant interviews were conducted. A semi-structured interview guide was used to collect data, with a tape recorder serving as an assistive device. Interview transcripts and field notes were analysed using the inductive approach. Traditional leaders were reported to be effective in engaging communities, resulting in people-centred decisions being made; they planned and held regular, wellattended meetings that involved residents of the areas under their jurisdiction. The meetings took place on days and at times most convenient to the local community; and they presided over discussions that dealt with matters of real concern to grassroots communities. The unearthed mechanisms for effective community engagement might help to reduce the increasingly common service delivery protests. Besides, the study clarifies how to achieve ownership of community development initiatives. Lastly, ideas on the appropriate mechanisms for effective community engagement are evident.
Local Government and Traditional Leadership in South Africa
There have been arguments whether traditional leadership is needed for rural development in democratic local governance. Arguments about traditional leadership in South Africa often result in the one whether customs based on traditional values are democratic. It is possible to lose the traditional value which has been historically produced in the society if the criterion to judge political meaning of traditional leadership is based on election. The influence which traditional leadership exercises has been recognized in rural areas. Therefore, the way of integrating and collaborating with traditional leadership is an urgent challenge for democratic South Africa.
D espite constitutional provisions for traditional leadership in South Africa, traditional leaders have not been clearly recognised since the advent of democracy in 1994. Yet centuries ago, this type of leadership served as part of the history of the natives. In underscoring governmental functions, the 1996 Constitution makes provision for the three spheres of government, namely, national, provincial and local government. However, in some provinces such as KwaZulu-Natal, the king receives a substantial amount of funding from the provincial government in order to run the affairs of his kingdom. In such cases, standardised guidelines, accountability mechanisms and roles are not clearly stated for all traditional leaders in South Africa. In making sense of the role of traditional leadership in South Africa, a qualitative research in the form of focus group discussions was undertaken with the traditional leaders of the Greater Sekhukhune District Municipality. The purpose of this article is to understand the role (relevance and contribution) of traditional leadership in South Africa during the post-1994 democratic dispensation. The issues raised by these traditional leaders are that the current democratic government has reduced them to the role of preserving cultural heritage and does not include them in socio-economic activities; hence these traditional leaders are regarded by some sections of society as irrelevant.
2002
Ta ble of contents page no. Chapter 1: The need for the study 1 1.1 Aim of the study 1 1.2 Research problem 1 1.3 Research question 2 1.4 Subsidiary questions 3 1.5 Hypothesis 3 1.6 Chapter outline 3 Chapter 2: The research methodol ogy 6 2.1 Introd uction 6 2.2 Sources of informatio n 6 2.2.1 Primary sources 6 2.2.2 Secondary sources 6 2.3 Sampling 7 2.4 Shortcomin gs experience d during data collection 9 2.5 Conclusion s 9 Chapter 3: Conceptu al and theoretica l framewor k l0 3.1 Introductio n 10 3.2 Key concepts 10 3.2.1 Traditional leader/aut hority or tribal leader/aut hority l0 3.2.2 Tribal area 12 3.2.3 Local governmen t. 12 3.2.4 Municipalit y 12 3.2.5 Demarcati on 13 3.3 Theoretica l perspectiv es 14 3.4 Critical analysis of the theories 17 Chapter 4: Tradition al leadershi p and governme nt 20 4.1 Introductio n 20 4.2 Internation al precedents 20• 4.2.1 Botswana 20 4.2.2 Ghana 23 4.2.3 Zimbabwe 25 4.2.4 Micronesia 26 4.3 Lessons fro South Africa 33 4.4 Traditional leadership in South Africa 34 4.5 Debates about the roles and functions of traditional Leaders in South Africa 39 4.6 Conclusion s 45 Chapter 5: South African legislatio n 47 5.1 Introductio n 47 5.2 The Constitutio n 48 5.3 The White Paper on Local Governme nt. .48 5.3.1 The role of traditional leadership at local leveL .49 5.3.2 The relationshi p between traditional leaders and local governmen t. 50 5.3.3
Interfacing interplay of local government, traditional leaders and society
Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 2017
Wilmien Wicomb from the Legal Resource Centre states that the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 marks the first time that customary law was recognised as a law equal to its common law and even statutory law counterparts. Whilst this recognition is implicit in chapter two of the Constitution, the Constitutional Court's jurisprudence in 2000 placed such recognition beyond doubt to make sure that the legislature and executive entrench the understanding of constitutional recognition of customary practices. This article considers the following research question: Is the interface of the interplay of local government, traditional leaders and society possible to restore transformation and community development where there are traditional leaders' presence? To answer, qualitative methodologies were explored. The study found that traditionality and modernity, lack of clarity of the role of traditional leaders, parallel administrations, power struggles and court battles needed resolve to ensure meaningful public-sector reforms and transformation.
Engaging traditional leaders in municipal governance: The case of South African Municipalities
Indilinga: African Journal of Indigenous Knowledge Systems, 2020
As part of a larger study on establishing a payment culture for municipal services, this article examined the importance of engaging traditional leaders in facilitating a payment culture to enhance equitable service delivery. A qualitative approach and exploratory design were applied to find solutions to the problems of the study. Municipal employees were selected using a purposive sampling method and data were collected using online interviews. ATLAS.ti (version 8.2) was used to analyse the data collected from the participants. The results revealed that traditional leaders are revered by residents and could be engaged adequately by municipal employees to assist in municipal governance. Municipal employees further confirmed that traditional leaders facilitate social cohesion by representing the municipality at the local level and could sufficiently facilitate a payment culture for municipal services and service provision. All participants affirmed that municipal governance could be...
Alternation, 2018
This Afrocentric article uses the Maruleng sub-district of Limpopo province as a test case to analyse and critique the intersection(s) between constitutional institutions of authority and traditional mechanisms of governance in South Africa. Methodologically, the author has relied heavily on critical discourse approach and conversations in their broadest form. The article's main argument is that the coexistence of traditional leadership and municipal councils is inherently problematic. At the centre of the problematic nature of the coexistence of traditional leadership and municipal councils lie the discontinuities of the cultural values and practices of the Black communities in Maruleng sub-district. It is concluded that there is an urgent need for the desk of traditional leadership within the local Maruleng Municipality. It is also necessary to craft a space for municipal representation in the council of traditional authority. This desk and municipal representation in each other's affairs would be instrumental in untangling the competition for leadership space and other challenges within and/or between the various traditional authorities and the local municipal council.
Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods, the aim of the study forming the basis of the article was to examine how traditional leadership can be harnessed for the purposes of service delivery at the local level in South Africa. Specifically, the study sought to examine the juxtaposition of traditional and modern forms of governance in South Africa (institutional duality) and the role traditional leaders play in the provision and delivery of social and economic services to the sections of the population within their jurisdictions. The results of the study confirmed the existence of this institutional duality with regard to the Southern African institutional culture. In other words, even though traditional leaders no longer wield the considerable administrative, legislative and judicial powers they used to exercise over the chiefdoms, they are still very much part of the institutional culture of South Africa and the sub-region.
Mobility Foundation position paper on the challenges and barriers to traditional leader’s participation in planning and policy development at the local government level. Rural policy development is a complex process with many challenges and barriers faced by both communities and government. Further, there seems to be much overlap between the challenges and barriers faced by communities and those faced by government. This suggests that ways to address these barriers and challenges may be most effective when communities and government work together in partnership. The position paper by Mobility Foundation is to reduce the barriers and challenges to policy development, both at the community and government levels.as well as increased rural communities’ understanding of how they can work effectively with government and\ public policy makers. However, even though progress has been made in reducing the barriers and challenges to rural policy development, communities and government must continue working together with the goal of improving the policy process in a manner that meets the needs of rural Communities.