The spontaneous ideology of tradition in post‐apartheid South Africa

Abstract

This article examines the debate sparked by the demands of chiefs or ‘traditional leaders’ to be incorporated into the post‐apartheid structures of rural local government. Despite sharp differences in their conceptions of democratic representation, nearly all sides in the debate quickly acceded to the notion that chiefs could be considered as legitimate political authorities by virtue of their cultural status. The widespread belief in cultural legitimacy held by outsiders (namely, those not claiming to participate in it) is argued to demonstrate the existence of a spontaneous ideological phenomenon emanating from the material structures of rural communities and institutions.