The aim of the study is to examine the perceptions of rural people towards the
demarcation issue in KwaZulu-Natal. The debate on land and land ownership
and control has existed since Africa's invasion by colonists. A rhetorical question
posed by Richard A. Lobban, Jr, author of "Africa Divide", "if European
colonialism has not altered the African continent, how would modern political
geography differ?" Questions of this nature have been through many a
geographer's mind.
The "Scramble for Africa", resulted in Africa being cut up into portions. Colonial
boundaries fissured natural territorial boundaries and split clannish groups of
similar languages. The twentieth century was rife with civil wars resulting from
clan divisions that arose among African nations.
South Africa, especially KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) is no exception to conflicts.
Tensions between local government and tribal authorities have soared since the
question of regionalism in South Africa emerged from the 1994 democratic
elections. South Africa was demarcated during apartheid into four provinces and
as part of the democratic transformation further divided into nine provinces.
With the new re-demarcation national government felt a need to incorporate rural
areas into local government structures, for financial support.
The study attempts to link demarcation and socio-cultural factors of rural
communities towards the concept of demarcation. However, particular attention
is given to socio-economic elements of the community under study, what is
demarcation, objectives of demarcation, the role of tribal authority and local
government and more especially how these issues play a role in the lives of the
rural community. Furthermore, in order to ascertain the extent to which the
Demarcation Board had addressed the issue of demarcation in rural areas. / Thesis (M.A.)--University of Durban-Westville, 2002
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/10459 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Singarum, Rameniammal. |
| Contributors | Bob, Urmilla. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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