CHAPTERS
6.4 Traditional leadership and the land question
traditional leaders and they need to ruminate about whether they need their independence to be compromised. In addition, their involvement in policy implementation and their mobilization capacity are important in implementing policies.
This thesis revealed that most people are still attached to traditional structures, particularly in the 10zini municipality. Similarly, Lutz and Linder (2004: 12) revealed that 'in other parts of the world, where the majority of the citizens are still attached to traditional structures, the issue is more about interaction between traditional and modern structures'. Traditional structures have historically been linked to spiritual, religious, political, judicial and economic functions and traditions. In South Africa before 1994 there were chiefs who were against the apartheid government, whilst others supported it. Interestingly, in the post-apartheid period after realizing that certain legislations were silent about their role in local government they then worked together to challenge the democratic government. Collaboration among traditional leaders contributed to a lot of political changes and anlendments in certain laws. For example, the Municipal Structures Act was amended so that traditional leaders' representation in local government affairs was increased from 10 to 20 percent. It was revealed in the 10zini municipality that the 20% representation of traditional leaders in the municipal affairs is not utilized.35 It is worth noting that this 20%
participation of traditional leaders was provided after a long debate and intimidation where traditional leaders took a vanguard position that they would disrupt the second democratic local government elections of December 2000.
further led to intense competition among clans in particular communities. He further argued that 'the land is the cement that binds the tribal society together in one social, economic and religious group' (Turner, 1972: 116). This shows that the issue for land contestation is not a new debate. Writing the foreword to the White Paper on South African Land Policy, Derek Hanekom (then Minister of Land Affairs) held that 'land ownership in South Africa has long been a source of conflict. Our history of conquest and dispossession, of forced removals and racially-skewed distribution of land resources, has left us with a complex and difficulty legacy' (White Paper on South African Land Policy, 1997: 3). Barrow (1977: 26) argued that 'not long after the first Dutch settlers arrived at the Cape in 1652 they were confronted with the problem which remains fundamental in South Africa; land'. This confirms that land-based confrontations have a long history in Africa in general, and in South Africa in particular. This study revealed that at Jozini Municipality, this land conflict was nuetralised by the IFP political leadership. The view was that IFP councillors should not disturb traditional structures on land systems because traditional leaders are the custodians of the land.
Traditional leaders were at times selling communal land as an income-generating activity, but in certain cases this is done to benefit of local communities, whilst at times, it was used for their own benefit and needs. The study revealed that there is a certain tax that people are paying for land in rural areas, but it has not been the task of this study to audit as to how this tax is used. There is a need for further research about whether it is fair to pay such a tax or not. In the case of Jozini Municipality, the council does not have land (Jozini Municipality IDP Review, 2004: 19). This leaves the council with no choice except working in juxtaposition with traditional authorities.
This thesis found that there was a concession directed to traditional leadership which has been a product of limited co-operation between government departments (Department of Land Affairs (DLA) and Department of Provincial and Local Government (DPLG)) at national level. Land is important for the provision of development projects in rural areas. Ironically, the Communal Land Rights Act (CLRA) gave powers to traditional councils to allocate and administer land issues in rural areas. In KwaZulu-Natal such powers were already in place through Ingonyama Trust Land Act. It is against this background that these two structures should work
together. Traditional authorities should not be service delivery agents. Researchers such as Keulder (1998: 315) argued that 'traditional authorities do not have sufficient capacity to become service providers themselves. Any attempt to tum them into service providers will probably fail and undermine the support of the institution'.
Through the inclusion of traditional leaders the new conception of developmental local government would be able to contribute to the quality of service delivery to previously disadvantaged communities.
Most country case studies reviewed in this study vividly show that traditional leaders were used by colonial governments to maintain control over the African population and to implement unpopular policies. With the advent of democracy and the introduction of local government in rural areas, traditional leaders were stripped of their remaining powers and were transferred to rural local government. Ironically, although their powers were reduced implementing some of the development policies required the support of traditional leaders or chiefs. This is similar to the indirect colonial rule system which relied on the traditional system to implement its unpopular policies. The difference in the new political landscape in South Africa is that traditional leaders are viewed as one of the important stakeholders in implementing rural development in South Africa (Pycroft, 2002). The question that arises about the participation of traditional leaders in municipal affairs is whether it is a supportive or a directive one.
It has been clear in this research that the colonial and apartheid government used traditional leaders as civil servants and paid them for doing certain administrative work. What is emerging even in the post-apartheid government is that although some are advocating for the exclusion of traditional leaders from governance, but traditional leaders are still paid just like civil servants. It could be argued that by paying chiefs the state can instruct traditional leaders to implement some policies of government institutions. This has also created a potential for latent conflict among traditional leaders themselves. This thesis revealed that only the chiefs are paid. Headmen are concerned that such concessions were only directed to chiefs whilst they were also performing a lot of administrative work in rural areas. There has been a concern in this thesis as to how accountability is exercised by chiefs as paid civil servants because both structures are informed by different types of legitimacy.
Accountability is an important requirement in public management. F or centuries accountability was a central issue in the theory and practice of public administration.
Accountability is a traditional cornerstone of democracy to which each political representative and public official has to adhere. It is vital to note that at the heart of any discussion about accountability lie questions about who is accountable to whom, for what, in what manner and in what circumstances?