After an extended period of apartheid and its inherent ills, the first democratic
elections were finally held in 1994 in South Africa. Major changes in governance
issues had to be effected in order to improve the well-being of millions of South
Africans living in abject poverty. One of the major structural changes made by the
democratic government with regards to governance was to introduce a threesphere
governmental structure comprised of national, provincial and local
spheres. Through the system of intergovernmental relations and cooperative
governance, powers and functions of the three spheres are defined as well as
the inter-relationship between them.
Local government has been identified as the sphere closest to the people and
therefore critical to service delivery. Over the last five years, local governance
issues have been receiving increasing attention as it has been realized that in
order for the government to improve human well-being, local governments have
to be efficient and competent. However, there is an impasse within the sphere of
local government which is posing a serious challenge to service delivery,
especially in rural areas. This impasse is related to roles and responsibilities of
traditional leadership vis-a-vis municipal councillors. This problem is more
noticeable in the former homeland areas where considerable power used to be in
the hands of traditional leaders during the apartheid era.
This study used case study evidence from the Department of Social Welfare and
Population Development led poverty alleviation project, the Imbothimuni Flagship
Programme, to investigate the role of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as
a catalyst for improving the state of intergovernmental relations and cooperative
environmental governance. The project was implemented in the rural village of
Imbothimuni at Mid-Illovo in KwaZulu-Natal. The findings of the study showed that
there remains a lack of cooperation between traditional leadership and municipal
councillors. The democratic government's initiatives to strengthen local
government and enhance service delivery are not realized where there are
conflicts and ambivalence over who should exercise the leading role in rural
development. A myriad of legislative provisions have been drafted to legitimize the
institution of traditional leadership, but they still fail to provide a legislative
framework within which traditional leaders and municipal officials can cooperate.
As a result of this lack of cooperation, developmental imperatives continue to be
compromised and environmental degradation persists. The in-depth analysis of
the legislative provisions relevant to traditional leadership shows that the
government has resolved to legitimize the institution, in spite of the controversial
debate on this notion. What is needed as a matter of urgency is a succinct
legislative framework within which traditional leaders and municipal councillors
can operate without conflict. The study revealed that the role of EIA in bringing
together stakeholders, including traditional leaders and municipal councillors, is
invaluable. The study also revealed that there is an urgent need for environmental
awareness campaigns aimed at municipal officials, grass roots communities and
most importantly, the traditional leaders. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/3502 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Nowele, Siphumelele. |
| Contributors | Fincham, Robert J., Thornhill, Marita. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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