Locating traditional authority in post-apartheid South Africa : a case study of Bokgosi ba Ga-Masemola

Abstract

Having been transformed by colonial-apartheid institutions such as the Department of Native Affairs and later the Department of Bantu Administration and Development, ‘traditional leadership’ and ‘traditional authority’ have a complicated relationship to the post-apartheid South African state. Between its historical inclusion as an institution within colonial-apartheid structures and its post-1994 integration into forms of democratic governance, this research explored the political meanings of ‘traditional authority’. Beyond ideas of resilience, integration and relevance, what could the ‘proper’ place, functioning and meaning of traditional authority be read as in the post-apartheid period? How does its historical and continuing relationship to the state shape our understanding of its meanings? How does the post-1994 legislation shape our understanding of its resilience and relevance in relation both to the state and to poor, black citizens? How do we interpret the self-understandings of figures of traditional authority in order to further our interpretation of the meanings of traditional authority in the post-apartheid period? This project explored through legislation and policies shaping the role and function of traditional authority in the post-1994 period, as well as through in-depth qualitative interviews and self-descriptions of traditional leaders and community members, the politics and location of traditional authority in the democratic dispensation.