Traditional leadership and governance re-contextualised
By Dr Nokuzola Mndende (Director of Icamagu Institute)
When I got an invitation to come and speak about the cultural and political
perspective of “Traditional Leadership” I first struggled about understanding the
actual meaning of the term “Traditional Leadership” and it took time for me to
actually get into the core of my topic. I had one barrier which I felt would be a
hindrance in expressing my views on the topic, that is to discuss an indigenous way
of life in another language outside its own context. Though we cannot help it at
present, it will always create problems as there are untranslatable terms which are
in most cases either compromised for the sake of common understanding amongst
ourselves or are just totally distorted or displaced. Most people prefer discussions
in English, not because we have no lingua franca in Africa, but just to appear more
civilised as English is perceived by most people as a measure of one’s intelligence,
academic level or civilisation. Today I am being asked to come and speak about
‘traditional Leadership and Governance” but I am not yet sure of the context in
which the term ‘traditional’ is being used in the present moment.
I may be taking you back to something that you may had discussed in your
previous conferences but I have to raise it again here so that it is clear to
everybody that there are still challenges in the use of the term ‘traditional’ as
nowadays the term is, in many cases not used from its original context but has
some racial and class connotations. Sometimes the use of ‘traditional’ when it
comes to indigenous black people in South Africa, always implies something of the
past which is packed somewhere and something that is not capable of change until
it is absorbed by the west where the west is always perceived as equivalent to
civilization and holiness. When people talk about dynamism they always equate it
with the west and its culture as if the west is above times.
Unfortunately Africans themselves have accepted that misconception and regard
what is theirs as incomplete until it is mixed with something from above the
Mediterranean Sea no matter how outdated it is. This causes an identity crisis and
mental collision amongst Africans themselves as they have a tendency to justify
their actions by first quoting from Europe and then come back home later to
endorse their findings. When talking about the Rites of Passage, for example,
some people will first quote the French ethnographer Arnold van Gennep and will
then come home and discuss initiation. This reversal of approach, which is starting
from the unkown to the known, causes confusion even in the cultural practices in
our communities. Also the imposed and assumed superiority of the Roman/
Deutsch Law over the indigenous law of the country does not bring any hope in
reviving, and adaptations of the indigenous law of the country since the indigenous
law is always judged from this foreign law irrespective of the many differences it
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has in keeping the communal way of life among the communities. Zvabva puts the
cause of such an identity crisis to colonization and he says the following:
The worst type of colonial enslavement is the cultural spiritual one where the
colonised is given a distorted image of himself and of his God by his
oppressors and he accepts that image, and continues with it unquestioningly
despising himself, his culture and his religion and slavishly aping the culture
of his colonisers (Zvabva1991: 76)
In this democratic dispensation where there is a general interest in bridging the gap
between the previously displaced and manipulated legal system together with the
imposed foreign legal system, there were again shortfalls in the process of working
towards equality for all. The owners of the manipulated legal system, which is the
indigenous law of community life, were not first asked to define themselves and
how they would like to get into this wagon of democracy without compromising their
roles as custodians of African culture. Some, who were already part of the wagon,
were having one foot in their own traditions and another in the foreign traditions,
and unfortunately it was/is still the foreign traditions that dictate their incorporation
to democracy. The indigenous traditions are regarded as the other and the
custodians have to plead for recognition and have to make many adjustments to be
incorporated into the status quo, like an inkosi being a Member of Parliament and
has to report to the chief whip on his activities during Constituency week, failure to
do that may result into a hearing or any other form of discipline. The chief has to
obey so as to have food on the table.
This approach shows that somewhere somehow an incorrect map had been used
to bring equality of these traditions together in a multi-cultural and multi-religious
society but the status of an inkosi has been compromised. Chinweizu advises us
on how we should approach our history by arguing as follows:
A map of our past is the pathfinder to our destiny. Thus if we misread the
map of our past or consult an incorrect map, we will misdirect our efforts in
shaping our future (Chinweizu, 1987)
By having an inkosi reporting to umntu omnyama, clearly shows that culturally and
politically, an incorrect map had been consulted. Today it is also difficult for us as
people who are not coming from the royal families to know the differences between
a ikumkani, inkosi, inkosana, amaphakathi, and isibonda because all of them are
under one category of ‘traditional leadership, and sometimes chiefs of a lower
status, or headmen, because of their expertise in the Roman-Deutsch Law, they
are elected to be the leaders of their seniors.
As chiefs are the custodians of African culture or perhaps let me say that they are
supposed to be custodians, it will be important for us that in our deliberations in this
conference we also take into consideration the history of our past if we want to
move forward together, recognizing our unity in diversity.
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1. Traditional Leadership in context
The use of the term ‘Traditional Leadership” , as explained earlier is confusing
because it could mean a broader category within the African way of life. Today we
hear from the Nhlapo Commission that almost all clans are claiming their historical
genealogies as ‘traditional leaders’ irrespective of which house a person was born
into, or which level that birthright is in the hierarchy of the royal line. This is
because there are several categories in this sphere of ‘traditional leadership’.
When one speaks of inkosi/ kgoshi no one from within the indigenous African
Culture takes time to think what this is all about, but when one speaks of Traditional
leaders, it may mean many things as even myself as umafungwashe (firstborn
woman in my clan), I am a traditional leader though I am not an inkosazana from a
royal standard. In any clan nothing would be done by the male side without
informing umafungwashe as even a ritual done without informing iintombi (females
born within the clan) is incomplete and will never be successful from cultural
standards.
It is unfortunate than in our continent we do not have an indigenous language in
which we can communicate because we are now struggling with the use of these
untranslatable terms like our indigenous leaders. I think we still need to find out if
the use of the term “traditional leader’ to iinkosi zethu is the appropriate term
regarding their status and office. I always struggle to accept the use of the term
‘traditional’ as it is now used to put anything indigenous in Africa, like traditional
healers, traditional medicine, traditional poets, traditional music, traditional religion,
in a lower status as compared to their equivalents globally. Though the term in itself
has got no racial connotations but its use in Africa today is wrapped up in racial and
class divides. The reasons for my uncertainty is because I have never heard of
Prince Charles or the Prince of Paris, or King of Morocco being constantly
classified as traditional leaders where ever they go, yet they are the leaders of their
respective traditions of their countries. With them the frequent adjective to define
them is that of the royal blood. Is traditional synonymous with the indigenous black
people of Sub-Saharan Africa? Other examples of this demeaning use of
‘traditional’ is found in many aspects relating to anything indigenous in Africa like
herbal medicine. When an herbal medicine is used by an inyanga/ixhwele, it is
called a traditional medicine but when the same medicine is used by other races
even here in South Africa, it is either called natural or herbal medicine. When our
people, for example, pick up an aloe leaf from its habitat it is called a traditional
medicine, but when the same aloe is processed in the laboratory and the juice is
taken out and dried, it is no longer called traditional but western or modern
medicine, but it is the same juice only different instruments are used to extract it.
Idowu (1973) in his justification of the use of the term ‘Traditional’ in his
understanding of African Traditional Religion, defines ‘traditional’ to mean,
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Native, indigenous, that which is aboriginal or foundational, handed down
from generation to generation, that which continues to be practised by living
men and women of today as the religion of the forebears, not only as a
heritage from the past, but also that which peoples of today have made theirs
by living it and practising it, that which for them connects the past with the
present and upon which they base the connection between now and eternity
(Idowu, 1973:104).
Coming to the office of ‘traditional leadership’ as used to mean royal house,
abantwana begazi themselves are not guiding us properly so that we understand
their inborn superior status. As traditional leadership is mainly based on the
birthright, inkosi iyazalwa ayivotelwa, that is, inkosi is born, he is not voted for his
position of leadership. The use of the term traditional leadership to refer to
ubukhosi could be confusing if it is applied from a general context. In each clan
there are special people who are the leaders in the traditional practices of their
communities like, the elderly, inkulu (first born male), umafungwashe, (first born
woman), an intlabi (a person who slaughteres animals), some uncles and aunts.
When these are classified they fall under the category of traditional leaders without
being iinkosi. When there is a family dispute and the case is taken to komkhulu, in
most cases inkosi refers the case back to the clan because he knows that each
clan has its own traditional leadership.
Therefore to be precise in my deliberations here I will not use ‘traditional
leadership’ but will use ubukhosi. As I have explained earlier that iinkosi are some
of the indigenous leaders and they play a crucial role in looking after the welfare of
their communities/tribes, they form the top structures in the political and social
welfare of their communities. They lead by example, that is why inkosi cannot or is
not supposed to be seen in a tavern for example. Ikomkhulu is the home for
everybody that is why no one would hesitate to send any stranger to komkhulu
where s/he is to be accommodated. Though ikomkhulu is to accommodate
everybody it was not expected for inkosi to leave his culture and adopt the culture
of the strangers and sacrifice the culture of the people he is leading.
2. Cultural and Political aspects
Former President of the democratic South Africa, uBawo uRholihlahla Mandela in
his book, Long Walk To Freedom explains how his father was deposed of his
chieftainship because he refused to appear before the magistrate in Mthatha. He
puts it as follows:
One day one of my father’s subjects lodged a complaint against him
involving an ox that had strayed from its owner. The magistrate accordingly
sent a message ordering my father to appear before him. When my father
received the summons, he sent back the following reply: ‘andizi ndisaqula’ (‘I
will not come, I am still girding for battle’)….
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My father’s response bespoke his belief that the magistrate had no
legitimate power over him. When it came to tribal matters, he was guided not
by the laws of the king of England, but by the Thembu custom. This defiance
was not a fit of pique, but a matter of principle. He was asserting his
traditional prerogative as a chief and was challenging the authority of the
magistrate (Mandela1994: 6)
This type of response from a chief was one amongst the very few as most of them,
because of the pressure had to submit to the rule of the day which was colonialism
with its appendages. Because of colonialism, unity in the practice of indigenous
customs was broken down as divisions came up amongst the people under these
chiefs and within chieftaincy itself.
As chiefs were the custodians of African culture, they were supposed to guard
against any foreign powers that intend to destroy it as any nation that has lost its
culture has no identity, no roots and therefore cannot claim to have indigenous
leaders. Because ikomkhulu is the home for all, some chiefs misunderstand that it
means that they themselves must leave their traditions and adopt the imported
ones and accept the colonial interpretation that African culture is backward, ancient
and has no knowledge of the Creator. Most of them were made to believe that God
did not speak to their ancestors but only spoke to the people of Israel. This caused
divisions even amongst themselves. Today we find chiefs being members of
umanyano, something that makes them to be under the guidance of church elders
which is the reversal of things. To those who are not part of the new religion there
are some concerns of this new junior status of ubukhosi.
3. Divisions
The first thing Europe did in the Sub-Saharan Africa was to divide Africans into
believers and nonbelievers. To believe was based in believing in the religion that
they brought and a non-believer was the one who rejected their form of belief. All
the African practices that were contrary to the Christian doctrines were relegated
into an outdated African culture and this has caused an identity crisis to those who
accepted Christianity and on the other hand also believe in the therapeutic power
of African rituals for ancestors and the African way of life in general.
Philip Mayer (1971), in his research in the East London area in the early seventies
of the 20th century shows that amaXhosa, for instance, were divided into two
groups, which were Amaqaba (those who smear ochre) or abantu ababomvu (Red
People- because of the ochre), and the second one being called abantu
basesikolweni (school people) or amagqobhoka (Christian converts). Mayer further
explains the root cause of the divisions as follows
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A Xhosa asked about the basic differences between Red and School people
will often put the acceptance or rejection of Christianity first of all (Mayer
1971: 29)
The general characteristic features of Amaqaba as seen by amagqobhoka were
that amaqaba are:
i)
Illiterate, literacy being defined from a western perspective
ii)
non- progressive
iii)
living in the past
iv)
have no knowledge of a true God
v)
are pagans
vi)
They were also believed to be very close to nature hence their religion
was sometimes called nature religion with secular spirituality.
Amagqobhoka on the other hand were and still are understood as:
- literate
- progressive
- sophisticated
- have an absolute knowledge of God through his holy word.
- will definitely go to heaven as their spirituality goes beyond the
grave
- have a superior mentality than amaqaba because they know what
God wants through his book.
These divisions not only affected the ordinary, even the chiefs themselves were divided
according to amaqaba and amagqobhoka and this has caused cultural and spiritual
differences amongst themselves. Those who were converted believed that Africans never
had spirituality but only had a culture. Then these divisions resulted in further categories
among the indigenous people and this diluted the practices of African traditions and
customs and developed some the mistrusts to some of the chiefs from their communities.
In these divisions, what is regarded as the indigenous religion by amaqaba is defined as
culture by amagqobhoka and to them (amagqobhoka) religion is equivalent to Christianity.
This religious dualism shows that there is a problem of theory and practice which had been
imposed upon Africans and unfortunately they accepted it without questioning it. Till today
Africans are still trapped within these terminologies and they themselves use them as a tool
to divide them and to define the ‘other’. These categories are explained in the
following simple drawing
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A:
AFRICAN
RELIGION
B:
BOTH
C:
CHRISTIANITY
The Commission for the Promotion of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and
Linguistic Communities of which I am part of received a complaint from a certain
community from one of the provinces. The community members were saying that
because their chief belongs to a church which regards Saturday as the holy day
and a day of rest, he therefore gave an instruction that no one under his jurisdiction
should bury on a Saturday. He told them to bury in any other day except Saturday.
That was problematic to both Christians who regard Sunday as their holy day and a
day of rest, and to the adherents of African Traditional Religion because Saturday
is convenient for them as it is during the weekend. Now the question is which
tradition does that ‘traditional leader’ follow? Which tradition is he imposing to his
people?
On the contrary in another province, the local chief instructed people not to work on
Sunday, no ritual performance, no planting allowed on this day because it is a
church day. This brings us to question even the origin of this concept of a ‘holy day’
in Africa.
4. Special day of worship is a foreign culture
In the African tradition there is no special day of worship. All days were created by
the Supernatural Power, the Creator; therefore it is regarded as disrespectful to
think of one day as holier than another. This may imply that one day is not holy at
all or it is less holy which also implies that the Creator has degrees of holiness from
most holy to less holy. All days are the same. For communal worship, people
gather together when they are performing rituals, but the day of the ritual is not
taken as holier than other days. What is regarded as holy is the ritual itself.
There is no formal word in African languages that refers to a regularly reoccurring
period of days such as a week either now or in the past. The present use of iveki ,
in isiXhosa and other languages for instance referring to a ‘week’ is the xhosalising
of Afrikaans ‘week’.
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The names that we use today are the adaptations of the imported concepts and
beliefs of other nations who came to the country. The Christian belief that Sunday
is the holy day and is the day of rest, and for Monday to be the first day of the week
was implanted into the African mind by colonialism and evangelisation. One should
also bear in mind that the present naming of the English days of the week is after
the Roman goddesses and the gods of the Anglo Saxons. The Romans named the
seven days of their week after the sun, moon and five planets. The English names,
Sunday and Monday, are also named after the sun and the moon, but from
Tuesday to Friday the days are named after the gods of the Anglo Saxons who
settled in England about 1 500 years ago. They were related to many groups of
people including the Norse people who lived in Norway, Sweden and Finland very
long ago. They were called the Teutons. These days were named as follows:
Sunday: The old English word was Sunnandaeg, the day sacred to the sun
Monday: The word comes from the old English word Monandaeg which
means ‘moon’s day’.
Tuesday: It comes from Tiu or Tiw, the old English names for Tyr, the Norse
god of war, and they called it Tiwensdaeg
Wednesday: It comes from the old English Wodnesdaeg. This day gets its
name from Woden or Odin, the chief god of all the Teuton people. He was
considered to be very powerful. He lived in Valhall, which was a huge hall,
glittering with gold, where the people believed great human heroes went
after they had died in battle.
Thursday: named after the Teuton god, Thor, the god of Thunder.
Friday: from old English Frigedaeg, Frigg’s day. Frigg was the Norse
goddess of love and Odin’s (Woden’s) wife.
Saturday: This comes from the Old English Saeterndae, the day of the
planed Saturn, which was named after the Roman god Saturn, originally the
god of agriculture.
(Stonier, Omar, Mndende, Pillay & Reisenberger; 1996:12)
When the missionaries arrived in the early nineteenth century they stressed the
importance of Sunday, or “Church Day” (iCawa). Later the working days of the
week also became significant and were named in the following manner:
Monday – uMvulo – the opening day
Tuesday – uLwesibini – the second day
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Wednesday – uLwesithathu – the fourth day
Friday – uLwesihlanu – the fifth day
Saturday – uMgqibelo – the finishing day
Sunday – iCawa – the church day (also made to be the day of rest)
AmaXhosa had a five day sequence of days starting from ‘Namhlanje” which
means ‘today’ and were as follows:
Namhlanje – today
Ngomso
- tomorrow or the next day
Ngomso omnye – the day after tomorrow
Izolo
- yesterday
Izolo elinye – the day before yesterday
Another informal complaint was on uLibo (First fruit ritual) which was performed in
the Eastern Cape. The community members were excited when their local chief
initiated this nearly forgotten tradition among the Xhosa communities. But what
lowered their morale was when the ritual was lead by bishops wearing their church
regalia and reading from the Bible. The person who complained had put his
concern as follows:
I have not heard that the Paul of the Bible came from a royal family, but our
chiefs and kings are the subjects of Paul, as a result even here at home
chiefs become subjects of priests even if they are not abantwana bagazi.
This is confusing because we do not know whether it’s the chief first or
Paul’s disciples. Who is above the other in status? To me the status of my
chief is above that of Paul and John
5. Death and Life after death
The meaning of death in the two religions differ, Christianity claims that the dead
are waiting for the Second Coming of Christ in Hades and they have no contact
with the living. In African Traditional Religion, death is regarded as a transitionary
stage before one can join the departed and enter the world of ancestors. When
someone dies s/he is often referred to metaphorically, in the following ways:
Akasekho - not longer present
Usishiyile - has left us
Uhambile - has gone
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Uswelekile- has become scarce
Utshonile/utshabile - has disappeared
Death means the physical separation of the flesh from an immortal soul. In African
religion, it is believed that although the flesh decays, symbolically the bones are
believed to remain alive and have the ability to see, hear, feel and experience a
range of emotions. Bones of the deceased are treated with great respect and are
believed to have the ability to ‘speak’ (ayathetha) and ‘hear’ (ayeva) when
someone is speaking to them. Today there is a burning issue of the shortage of
land for burial and people are encouraged to opt for cremation. Because of the
belief in ancestors cremation is unAfrican and it is the task of our chiefs to fight
against that imposition and to suggest some alternative methods of burying a
person.
6. Supremacy of the Roman -Dutch Law over the indigenous law of
the land
The role of the family and that of chieftaincy have been overshadowed by the
foreign laws that do not look at the holistic manner of disputes but are
individualistic. Human rights are no longer looked at from a communal way or how
they affect other people around but are so individualistic in such a manner that
even if they split the family is not such a concern. Some Bills have left the members
of the rural communities biting their lower lips and these have not done justice in
uniting the families but instead they are bringing them apart even in rural areas
when family cohesion should champion. These are Bills like the new children’s act
of saying that a girl at the age of twelve can make decisions about contraception
without the consent of the parent, the Civil Union Bill and many others. Should such
bills be discussed in chief’s inkundla where everybody is given a fair chance to
contribute some other resolutions could have been reached without compromising
the role of parents.
The manner in which rape is dealt with in our communities could be one of the
cases that need reference to the chief’s courts where rape was mainly dealt with by
women like in Isihewula. New methods could be developed but the majority of
decision makers be from the sides of the victimized sex.
In many countries the law of the land takes becomes the foundation and whatever is brought
in is adapted to go in hand with the indigenous law. Here at home the law of the land is
measured in terms of western scholarship. This cultural dependency and black
submissiveness to another culture and spirituality has resulted in the diminution of
an African identity. Though we are liberated, we still use the west as the measuring
rod for our activities.
We are always starting from the unknown to the known, instead of vice versa. One
could notice that whenever there is a moral debate in South Africa, people will start
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their arguments by what the Bible says, or what Paul said to the Phillipians or
Galatians or Corinthians and never from what our forefathers said to Africans. That
is why Chinweizu suggests that in order to move out of this confusion Africans must
try to:
To shift intellectual gear from what Europe has done to us (How Europe
underdeveloped Africa), to what we are doing to ourselves (How Africans
maldevelop Africa), and to what we must do for ourselves in order to get out of
our condition (How Africans can develop Africa), (Chinweizu, 1987: 73).
It will be important, if possible, that the concept of ‘traditional leadership’ be
revisited and be explained which law will be the foundation and how it will interact
with the other legal systems that are operating globally. Pursuing the proposed
Department of ubukhosi would be a great idea only if it will bring to the center the
communal way of bringing back unity and morality in our communities
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REFERENCES
p’ Bitek, O. (1970). African Religions in Western Scholarship. Nairobi: African
Literature Bureau
Chinweizu (1987). Decolonizing the African Mind. Nigeria: Pero Press.
Idowu E. Bolaji (1973). African Traditional Religion: A Definition. London: SCM
Press
LTD
Keulder C. (1998). Traditional leaders and Local Government. Pretoria: HSRC
Mandela, N. (1994). Long Walk to Freedom. South Africa: Macdonald Purnell
(PTY) Ltd
Mayer, P. (1971). Townsmen or Tribesmen. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.
Mcetywa S A M (1998). Mpondo Heritage: An Expression of Ubuntu. University of
Natal: Institute of Black Research/Madiba Publishers.
Mndende N (2000). Kutheth’ ithongo. Dutywa: Icamagu
Peires J B ed.(1983). Before and After Shaka. Rhodes University: Institute of Social
and Economic Research
Stonier, J; R. Omar, N. Mndende, S. Pillay & A. Reisenberger (1996): Festivals and
Celebrations. Kenwyn: Juta & Co. LTD
Zvabva, O. (1991). “Development of Research in African Traditional Religions”. In
S. Nondo (ed) Multifaith Issues and Approaches in Religious Education with special
reference to Zimbabwe. Utrecht: Rijksuniversiteit.
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