Traditional authorities and land reform in South Africa: Lessons from KwaZulu Natal

This article considers the question of land demand and land reform in relation to traditional authorities in KwaZulu Natal. The article has three sections. The first section analyses the current status and position of traditional leaders in the province. This provides a background for the second section, which appraises the attitudes of traditional leaders and their councils to the status quo and to future land reform and land management. The attitudes and opinions appraised emerged in workshops and in‐depth interviews conducted with traditional leaders between August 1994 and January 1995 in the two district study areas selected as provincial research sites for the Land Reform Research Project. These districts are the Estcourt‐Weenen area (also the site of the province's Land Reform Pilot Project) and the Mhlatuze catchment. In Estcourt‐Weenen, a central issue is the relationship of the traditional authorities to the community trusts which have been established to acquire and administer new land. In the Mhlatuze catchment, the role of the traditional authorities in relation to an emerging commercial smallholder agriculture is central. Conditions in both districts could present a challenge to the authority and power of traditional leaders. The third section of the article considers the implications of the present position of traditional leaders and their views and attitudes for future land reform programmes. The research was commissioned by the Land and Agricultural Policy Centre and funded by DANIDA. Our use of the terms ‘traditional leader’ and ‘traditional authority’ is in line with the legal terminology outlined in the interim constitution, and does not constitute a normative judgement on the leaders or authorities concerned.

Notes

Institute for Social and Economic Research and Association for Rural Advancement. Mclntosh is now a partner in McIntosh, Xaba and Associates, a partnership of institutional and development research and facilitation specialists.