This study is about the place of traditional authorities in local level land administration and rural governance in contemporary Mozambique. It came about as a result of the publication of the Decree 15/2000 that recognised traditional authorities after their abolition more than 20 years earlier. This study seeks to examine four inter-related themes: the role of traditional authorities in local level land administration in Mozambique / why the government recognised traditional authorities in the year 2000 after having abolished them more than 20 years earlier / whether the recognition of hereditary traditional authorities is consistent with principles of democracy / and lastly to investigate whether the practices taking place on the ground are an expression of democracy as envisaged by the country&rsquo / s constitution.<br /> <br /> The study is based on documental research on the subject, as well as on fieldwork in the community of Chirindzene, Gaza Province in Southern Mozambique. It argues that generalisations about the role of traditional authorities in local level land administration may be misleading. Drawing from the case study in Chirindzene, it shows that it was only the lowest level of the traditional authority structure (the lineage level) that continued having influence in land allocation and distribution after independence in this area. With regard to the recognition of traditional authorities, the study argues that an appreciation of the changing global context is important to understand this dramatic shift. The study argues that the Decree 15/2000 and its regulations are weakening the democratic experience initiated in 1970s by allowing rural populations be ruled by hereditary rulers who are not elected. For this reason, the rural population does not enjoy full citizenship rights because they are ruled by both elected structures and appointed ones.

This study is about the place of traditional authorities in local level land administration and rural governance in contemporary Mozambique. It came about as a result of the publication of the Decree 15/2000 that recognised traditional authorities after their abolition more than 20 years earlier. This study seeks to examine four inter-related themes: the role of traditional authorities in local level land administration in Mozambique / why the government recognised traditional authorities in the year 2000 after having abolished them more than 20 years earlier / whether the recognition of hereditary traditional authorities is consistent with principles of democracy / and lastly to investigate whether the practices taking place on the ground are an expression of democracy as envisaged by the country&rsquo / s constitution.<br /> <br /> The study is based on documental research on the subject, as well as on fieldwork in the community of Chirindzene, Gaza Province in Southern Mozambique. It argues that generalisations about the role of traditional authorities in local level land administration may be misleading. Drawing from the case study in Chirindzene, it shows that it was only the lowest level of the traditional authority structure (the lineage level) that continued having influence in land allocation and distribution after independence in this area. With regard to the recognition of traditional authorities, the study argues that an appreciation of the changing global context is important to understand this dramatic shift. The study argues that the Decree 15/2000 and its regulations are weakening the democratic experience initiated in 1970s by allowing rural populations be ruled by hereditary rulers who are not elected. For this reason, the rural population does not enjoy full citizenship rights because they are ruled by both elected structures and appointed ones.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, June 2017 / This study examines leadership and statebuilding in the very specific context of the transition of a rebel group to a governing entity of a post-conflict state by comparing the cases of Mozambique and South Sudan. Drawing on theories of political leadership, statebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction, and recent studies on political legitimacy, this study provides insight into the processes by which leaders interact with and build the institutions of state that both enable their governance and that may ultimately constrain their authority, and the impact of external actors on these processes. This study focuses particularly on the critical interaction between political leaders and the institution of the rebel group turned political party that they lead in the fragile post-conflict period. This study traces how FRELIMO in Mozambique and the SPLM in South Sudan built sufficient political legitimacy in order to be considered the natural party of governance upon independence in each country. It also compares how RENAMO in Mozambique sought to make the transition from rebels to politicians. It then closely examines how leaders’ and parties’ political legitimacy was built or lost in subsequent years and the impact of this on building the critical institutions of state and ultimately on the stability of that state. Both cases highlight, for different reasons, that leaders matter particularly when institutions are weak. This report contends that a critical causal mechanism in a successful transition from fighting a war to governing a country is establishing and maintaining legitimacy – both internally with the governed population and externally with key international partners. How leaders balance internally derived and externally derived legitimacy often proves to be important. External actors are often fundamental in bestowing legitimacy on armed groups, even when there are other groups claiming to represent the interests of the population. While externally derived legitimacy is important in getting these parties into power, sources of internal legitimacy, derived from their own populations by parties and leaders, are critical in shaping their ability to offer stable government. Each case demonstrates that legitimacy must be maintained in order to maintain stability. / XL2018

In Mozambique, rural poverty is visible in the statistics and in real life. According to UNDP (2005), the index of Mozambique’s human development ranked 172 out of 177 countries and was far below the averages of the sub-Saharan Africa and Least Developed Countries, despite considerable improvement in the indicator over the previous five years. It had been determined that 54% of the population lived below the poverty level of $1/day surviving on as little as US$0.40 per day in 2003 (UNDP, 2005). The population distribution in Mozambique remained predominantly rural; with 64% of the 21.4 million people living in the countryside. The development prospects of rural areas remained a key concern (UNDP, 2005). Development was also a key problem for me. For this study it was decided to select a specific problem, the role of the traditional leaders in development, and a special case, a traditional chief - João Mapanguelana Mondlane, nominated in 1949. Between 1960 and 1974 Mapanguelana inaugurated a settlement scheme and a cooperative in the Aldeia das Laranjeiras north of Mandlakazi in Gaza province. I selected this case because several approaches assume that the nature of the relationship between key local development actors and communities has an impact on the development conditions observed at any point in time of the rural areas. From this case study, I can conclude that the involvement of the local leaders with legitimacy and credibility in the community and modern social and administrative networks was the key point that made it possible for the Aldeia das Laranjeiras to be different from her neighbouring villages. During the colonial period the government in Mozambique recognized the significance of traditional leadership as a way to reach the people and make their rule effective and legitimate, specifically in the rural areas. After independence, the new Frelimo government banned traditional leadership and accused it of having collaborated with colonialists and of practicing exploitative actions. In 2000, the Mozambican government reversed the earlier approach, particularly in line with policies that aim at carrying out developmental projects in the districts, and established legal procedures for the nomination of community representatives. The review of the literature and the findings suggest that Mozambique followed the new trends of incorporating the traditional leadership in the rural local governance as a way to reach rural economic development. The aim of this study is to assist policy makers in developing countries especially in Africa, and more specifically in Mozambique, in focusing on the problem of involving the local leaders in the struggle to reduce poverty in the rural areas where most of the population is located. / Thesis (M.Dev.Studies)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

Thesis (MPhil (Sustainable Development Planning and Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / Though the Maganja da Costa District in Mozambique has potential for the development of natural resources, the District is neither economically self-reliant nor empowered and is the poorest within the country. Thus, the research question set for this study is: What are the main factors that inhibit poor people in the study area from effectively using local resources for their livelihoods and what possible alternatives could enable them to achieve economic empowerment? In an attempt to answer the question, the following aspects were investigated: the systems of local resources, product and indigenous knowledge use and management; the local mechanisms of acquiring and sharing information, knowledge and skills; the obstacles to acquiring and sharing information, knowledge and skills; the influence of such obstacles on the management of local resources and livelihood strategies, as well as on the community’s organisational, leadership and entrepreneurship capacity. An exploratory study was conducted in the study area using the qualitative method, involving participatory action research. A comparative literature review and field work was conducted in order to collect the data. Raw data were collected in two phases: While pilot research took place over 5 days, more extensive research took place over 21 days. During the extensive research, in-depth household interviews were conducted, using semi-structured personal interviews, focus group interviews and discussions, direct observations and cross-checking methods employing a sample size of 101 respondents randomly selected and 10 key informants. The Statistical Programme of Social Science (SPSS) was used to process and analyse the raw data. The results show that the main factors that inhibited poor people in the study area from effectively using local resources and products for their livelihood were: i) a lack of knowledge, skills and talents; ii) the inadequate mechanisms in place for sharing local information, knowledge and skills; iii) the ineffective community organisation and leadership; iv) a lack of entrepreneurship skills and capabilities; v) the inadequate existing infrastructure, transport and trading systems; vi) a low level of partnership and networking; vi) a disruption of socio-cultural cohesion; and vi) inadequate mechanisms for planning, implementation and management of local development strategies, programmes and projects by local government. Most of the government’s development strategies in Mozambique focus on economic growth, which does not necessarily entail the economic empowerment of poor people. The role of traditional leadership has been neglected, which has resulted in the disruption of traditional values and belief systems that might otherwise have positively contributed to socio-cultural cohesion. The role that community building could play in assisting poor people in the study area to establish common values, and to develop collective goals and actions, should enable them to acquire and/or share information, knowledge, skills and talents in such a way as to strengthen themselves. Such strengthening of organisational, leadership and entrepreneurship capacities and skills could significantly contribute to attaining economic self-reliance, poverty alleviation and sustainable development, if the community building approach were to be adequately applied. Additional research is required in order to identify appropriate mechanisms for making further advances in applying such an approach in rural Mozambique, especially in the study area.