My personal observation of leadership squabbles in this area is that leadership is fiercely contested between traditional and political authorities. The relationship between these structures is complex, ambiguous and contradictory. Traditional leadership, on the one hand, claims to have jurisdiction over the land in which political authorities operate. Because of having jurisdiction, traditional leaders thus need to be consulted regularly on issues that have a bearing over their land. It should
101 further be maintained that traditional leaders are widely accepted as custodians of culture.
Political structures, on the other hand, believe that they are entitled to lead the area because they regard themselves as democratically elected representatives. The local government within the area has been accused of poor service delivery. To this end, no tap water has been provided in the area. Visitors usually drive on gravel roads. Ward councillor does not reside in the area. This ambiguity in terms of the role each institution is supposed to play is very detrimental to the development initiatives in the area. Development in the area has largely been marred by poor co-operation between political and traditional leaders.
A sizeable response rate was recorded from participants of focus groups who blamed community leadership for lack of development in the area and thus migration. Many felt that since the Inkosi, Induna and the councillor are not doing their jobs effectively there will be no progress in development.” They even mentioned that “... there is a need for change on the positions occupied by the Inkosi, Induna and the councillor as these people especially the Inkosi and Induna, are old and do not clearly see any need for development in the area.” “In actual fact”, one said, “They are the ones blocking development in the sense that they do not want to be opposed or challenged when it comes to development matters.”
Much like the previous respondent, another interviewee further noted that “The traditional authorities and local councillor are not playing any positive role in terms of bringing development into the area”. He also mentioned that “The councillor does not have time to engage with community matters as he is busy where he is working”. On the issue of the chief the respondent noted that “... the Inkosi is naïve, hence he receives orders from the councillor”. As is noted above “... the Inkosi is old and uneducated and this is why he does not want to bring development into the area, hence he says his people are fine while they say they need development”.
Another respondent was very negative saying that “... the traditional authority and the local councillor are not playing positive roles in terms of bringing development in the
102 area”. He continued to say that “... approximately 99.9% of the people of eMabhuqwini can emphasise that the councillor and the chief have never done anything to bring development to the area. The result of this is that a huge number of the people of eMabhuqwini do not have basic services such as water, electricity, sanitation, waste removal and paved roads, to mention a few examples”.
On the issue of the councillor meeting up with the community it appears from this respondent that “The councillor only appears when it’s time for political elections.
Other than this the councillor does not call any developmental meetings with the community.” The proof of this is evident from views of other respondents who mentioned that “... the councillor had served three consecutive terms doing nothing for the community he was chosen to serve. Furthermore the councillor is working as hospital clerk for the Ekhombe Hospital which is one of the hospitals that are in Nkandla.”
On the issue of the councillor another respondent noted that “... the councillor sometimes makes empty promises to the community. For example there are two tanks that were installed for the community to get water from, but up until now there is nothing happening with these tanks”. Another respondent noted that “… they get water from the tanks, which is rain water and the basic services are a dream to them in eMabhuqwini as the area is absolutely underdeveloped”. As a result of this, 100% of the people of eMabhuqwini do not have piped water in their dwellings except standpipes at the road side which are sometimes waterless and far from the people who need to use them. There are no basic services such as electricity etc. As a result the respondents think that the Inkosi and local councillor are not playing a positive role in bringing development into the area. Moreover the people of eMabhuqwini have to travel and spend a great deal of money to access social service offices at Nqutu and Nkandla which are far from eMabhuqwini. “... the councillor”, according to one respondent, “only engages with the community when asked to do so.” “Other than this the councillor does not come to the community to listen to issues faced by the community.
103 Moreover, the respondent mentioned the fact that when it comes to living in an underdeveloped area, many people are scared of the Inkosi in terms of challenging him to allow development to come into the area. He said that when you are nervous you have to keep quiet but when you are not, you have to be bold and challenge whosoever is stopping development, whether it is the Inkosi, induna or councillor.
The leaders are failing to bring development into the area. According to this respondent “... there was a person by the name of Sibiya who was the one lobbying for development to come into the area but it ended with him when he died. On top of this the respondent argued that any initiative by youth the Inkosi stops it under the false impression that they want to bring African National Congress (ANC) ideas in the area”. On the issue of whether traditional authorities and the local councillor are playing a positive role in terms of bringing development into the area, this respondent said she thinks the Inkosi, Induna and the local councillor are doing so. In her explanation she said that “they promise to bring development but they do not implement it.”
On the issue of the traditional authority and the local councillor, she said: “I do not think that they play a positive role in bringing development into the area”. She said that “... in our area there is no change in terms of development but in other areas there is. The Inkosi and the Induna are the same.” She said that the councillor makes arrangements for his people, but these end up merely being lip-service. She said: “I think that the traditional authority, that is the Inkosi as well as the local councillor, are not playing their roles in terms of bringing development into the area. This is because they still compete with cows and donkeys ... where they fetch water from”. She further said that in other areas there is water, electricity and toilets but there are none of these in their area.