PhDRDV / Institute for Rural Development

MPM / OR Institute for Governance and Policy Studies / The study was carried out at Thulamela Local Municipality within Vhembe District Municipality in Limpopo Province in the Republic of South Africa. The study is about an investigation into the role of traditional leadership in community development: A case of Thulamela Local Municipality. In South Africa, municipalities, especially those which are found in rural areas, are faced with challenges that sometimes hamper development and thus service delivery to clients. These challenges are sometimes as a result of the way traditional leaders execute their role in service delivery in their areas. It is in this context that this study attempts to investigate the role of traditional leadership in community development and how this impacts on service delivery. Only quantitative method was used to collect data. Questionnaires were formulated and conducted to traditional leaders in Thulamela Local Municipality. Questionnaires were designed and administered to traditional leaders in Thulamela Local Municipality. The study seeks to investigate the role that traditional leaders play and how they can be capacitated to improve service delivery. The study seeks to find ways through which traditional leaders can be capacitated to perform their roles effectively in their communities. This study established clearly that traditional leaders play a role in maintaining law and order in their communities. It also became evident with this study that communication between traditional leaders and ward councillors leaves much to be desired. It revealed a trend that traditional leaders are needed, especially when communities embark on protests. / NRF

Entre Sociologie politique et Anthropologie religieuse, cette thèse tente de comprendre l’interaction entre « Religion locale et pouvoir politique» dans la perspective de consolidation du pouvoir en Afrique, plus précisément au Gabon. Elle met l’accent sur la gestion du pouvoir politique en Afrique et analyse les rapports du rite initiatique Ndjobi avec le pouvoir politique dans la communauté Mbede. Ce champ thématique est déconstruit jusqu’à la nation gabonaise à travers l’initiation et l’implication des politiques locaux aux religions locales. Le rite Ndjobi serait une contre-offensive locale visant à réparer l’univers social et à protéger les Mbede. C’est un élément fondamental au maintien de l’ordre à travers le symbolisme de l’Okèlè é Ndjobi qui est l’affirmation par laquelle un initié prend à témoin le sacré et la vérité de la déclaration qu’il profère devant le panier contenant les reliques du Ndjobi. Pour un chef traditionnel, ce rite serait un moyen de compenser une déficience constitutionnelle de son pouvoir politique afin d’entretenir chez ses sujets initiés respect et surtout crainte. Le serment du Ndjobi serait un contrat politique de confiance à un chef de village, à un responsable politique initié à ce rite. A travers cette déconstruction, cette religion locale pourrait être appréhendée comme un support du pouvoir politique gabonais à l’échelle nationale. Les serments se font avec des paroles ; mais en Afrique noire, ces paroles ne sont pas légères. Elles permettent d’agir sur soi, sur les autres et sur le monde concerné comme une contrainte comparable à une épée de Damoclès. Cette contrainte s’exerce d’une manière subtile et imposée avec quelques négociations intra-politiques liées à la « politique du ventre » pour que l’initiation ne s’apparente pas à un acte subi et sorcellaire aux yeux de la population. La sorcellerie comme une sanction du rite Ndjobi est vécue par l’ensemble des Mbede et des initiés politiques, comme une menace permanente d’agression visant leurs corps, leurs biens et leurs familles. En effet, certains chefs traditionnels dit « Nga Mpugu» choisissent la ruse, la fraude, les crimes rituels, la possession matérielle comme moyen politique afin non seulement de contrôler la population, mais aussi de manipuler les envies de pouvoir de leurs adeptes et de leurs proches collaborateurs. En Afrique, « gouverner c’est prévoir » et prévoir, c’est mettre en place un mécanisme permettant d’éviter d’être surpris par l’ennemi qui peut être un proche. Ce serait, en fait, la mise en fonction d’une « Démocratie traditionnelle ». C’est dans ce sens que cette thèse peut s’inscrire dans la perspective de compréhension et d’analyse du politique en Afrique noire à travers les religions locales comme fondement du pouvoir politique malgré l’arrivée actuelle des obédiences religieuses modernes et des parrainages / On horseback between political Sociology and political Anthropology, this thesis try to understand the interaction enter "local Religion and political Power» with the prospect of consolidation of the power Africa, more exactly in the Gabon. It underlines the management (direction) of the power politics and analyzes the relationship enter the initiation rite Ndjobi and the political power in the community Mbede. This thematic field is deconstructed up to the Gabonese nation through the initiation and the implication of the politics premises within this religion. The rite Ndjobi would be a local counter-offensive to repair the universe social and to protect Mbede. It is a fundamental element in the maintenance of law and order through the symbolism of Okèlè é Ndjobi that is the assertion by which an initiated calls in to witness the sacred and the truth of the statement which he utters in front of the basket containing the relics of Ndjobi. For a traditional leader, this rite would be a way to compensate for a constitutional deficiency of its political power to maintain at its introduced subjects respect and especially been afraid, fault of whom its power could widely be imaginary. The oath of Ndjobi would be a political reliable contract to a village headman, to a politician introduced to this rite. Through this demolition, this local religion appears as a support of the Gabonese political power on a national scale and even money regional. Even if the oaths are made with words; but in Black Africa, these words are not light. They allow to act on one, on the others and on the world concerned as a constraint comparable to a sword of Damocles. The constraint practiced in a way subtle and imposed with some intra-political negotiations bound to the «politics of the stomach " So that the initiation undergone is not similar to an act of the witchcraft in the eyes of the population. The witchcraft as a penalty of the rite Ndjobi is lived by all the Mbede and the political initiated, as a threat perms of aggression aiming their bodies, at their goods and at their families. Indeed, every traditional leader says "Nga Mpuhu" always chooses the guile, the fraud, the ritual crimes, the material ownership as political way to make not only control the population, but also to manipulate the desires for power of her followers and for her close collaborators. In Africa, "you saddle today and ride out tomorrow" and plan, it is to set up a mechanism allowing to avoid being was a surprise by the enemy who, generally, is always a close relation. It would be, in fact, the putting according to a "traditional Democracy ". It is in this direction that this thesis can serve of complementary element with the prospect of understanding and analysis of politics in Black Africa through the religions local as foundation of the political power in spite of the current arrival of the modern religious obedience and the sponsoring