The role and significance of traditional leadership in the governance of modern democratic South Africa

The institution of traditional leadership in Africa pre-existed both the colonial and apartheid systems and was the only known system of governance among indigenous people. However, contrary to the current political trend of discrediting traditional leadership, Africans have their own understanding of democracy, which is sharply from the liberal democracy of the west. The institution of traditional rulership was democratic in its own unique way in what we nowadays refer to as ‘consensus’. This article argues that the institution of traditional/indigenous leadership is still relevant as a trusted institution for governance by the majority of people living in rural South Africa. The Basotho adage: mooa khotla ha a tsekisoe is the maxim in which my argument – that traditional rulership is a sine qua non in rural areas – is grounded. The South African democratic government has failed to decisively define and unambiguously clarify the role of traditional leadership in government. The article aims to demonstrate government’s strategy of rendering the institution of traditional leadership obsolete and thus erasing it from South African political landscape. The debate on the role of traditional leadership is mainly founded on two diverse viewpoints: traditionalism and modernism; these viewpoints will form part of this paper. In this paper, I will refer to the legal or political framework of South Africa on the institution of traditional leadership.