AXL AFRICAN STUDIES

YOUR NAME: NOZIPHO

STUDENT NUMBER: SBNNOZ002

E-MAIL: sbnnoz002@myuct.ac.za

TUTOR NAME: MOYO MOSES

TUTORIAL NUMBER: 6

COURSE CODE: AXL1200S

COURSE NAME: AXL

DUE DATE: 31/08/2018

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SUBMISSION DATE: 21/09/2018

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DATE: 21/09/18
a.) There are several different types of traditional governance in Africa. The ways of
governance have been changing from the colonial to the post-colonial era. There are
mainly two types of these systems, the decentralized and the centralised political
system. The decentralised system is based on a unified manner by the community when
making decisions. The centralised system constitutes of kings and kingdoms. Those
who control the community are the leaders. The Maasai and Barabaig alike of northern
Tanzania have developed and maintained traditional knowledge and practices for the
management and conservation of the biological resources on which they depend. The
government can train these people and assimilate them into the agricultural system to
conserve the land. The system of initiation done to young boys in the rural areas is
unsafe but since people listen to their chiefs the government can incorporate chiefs in
such programs. This can be done by taking the traditional people who do it and training
them to do it in a safer healthier way. The chiefs can also be used to achieve the goals
of the government run programs like immunisation and vaccination programs which
reduce the death rate of a nation. The system of village heads that talk to people at local
level then to the chiefs is used by the government as seen by the local municipalities
which deal with the issues of the community at municipal level. Traditional leaders can
then cooperate with locally elected government officials on land allocation, dispute
settlement, social and cultural change, and bringing transition between the civic society
and community-based organizations to bring about development. The Botswana
government retained and gave recognition to traditional institutions and their systems
of governance. The traditional tribal administration structure is one of the four main
organisations of public administration machinery and local government at decentralised
local (district) level. The government can use traditional systems during elections so
that people in the community have one view fearing the risk of exclusion and people
had to compromise for the good of the community. This ensures that everyone in the
government is moving on the same line, improving the efficiency. Traditional systems
also allow room for minorities, the government could also include the small political
parties into their system to prevent disagreements between the major and minor
segments. Since traditional leaders have judiciary powers the government can train
these leaders and elders to judge according to the constitutions and the government
could din turn benefit from how the traditional court is run.The Tswana of Botswana
and the Ashanti in Ghana had systems which were established on the constitution,
customary law and a council of elders. This was done to ensure that that power of the
leader is kept under check and not abused. however, the institutions were weak as the
chief possessed the executive and judiciary powers. The government can learn from
this flaw by not putting all the power on the president because it weakens institutions
leading to corruption. The chiefs act as the facilitators and preside over unified
decision-making processes by the elders and the community. For example, the Ashanti
of Ghana allowed each village to manage their issues through mediation by the leader.
This can be incorporated in the modern state by means of wards and section in different
cities so that the people can address the issues they are facing as a community and how
to tackle them. The existence of a leader in the community also helps to reduce poverty
and lack, as seen with the Ndebele people if someone did not have cows the king’s cows
would be used to plough their land and those who were starving would receive food
from the chief. They had “isiphala” where people would put their grain after harvest
 and it would be distributed by King in times of drought this ensured that no one would
go hungry. The systems of check should also be adopted on local levels of governance
to monitor delivery systems because of the rise in corruption in many African countries.
The principle of looking out for people as a community can be adopted by means of
neighbourhood watches and gathering clothes and food to donate to orphanages and the
less privileged.

b.) The growing economic diversity and complex division of labour due to globalisation
of the world does not facilitate the traditional institutions thus the states would fail to
cope. The practises go against human rights as in some countries children who were
born as albinos or twins would be killed due to customary laws. The inability to secure
property rights has made a major downfall to African traditional systems. The lack of
written agreements during transactions makes the credibility of agreements very little.
The allocation of land without tittle deeds is not regarded as ownership in the global
world. This has many people instead of going to chiefs to get land going to government
institutions to acquire land and get title deeds. Due to the rise in gender empowerment
movements which encourage women to participate in political and military activities
goes against many African traditional means of governance. The exclusion of women
in decision making deprives the community of very good and brilliant ideas women
might have. This is seen by the increasing number of women who are involved in
politics for example the Prime Minister of Britain is a woman, also the rise in women
joining the military and police force which used to be regarded as a male thing. The
passing down of power through lineages is also irrelevant as most people have now
been exposed to a democratic way of doing things which involves elections, and
everyone has an equal chance to contest. The fact that traditional methods of
governance are linked to culture makes it difficult for some laws to be implemented in
the global world as people come from different cultures and this might lead to tribal
wars. The consensus way of decision making is also not so effective as people are now
affiliated to their different political parties hence things are now done in partisan way.
Since the chief is the distributer those who would not agree would be excluded from
the benefits. The traditional systems also have a bias in the sense that some traditional
leaders are influenced by political parties in order to get votes from the villagers hence
the people are not able to make decisions as they might be excluded from the benefits.
Because the political systems of governance are based on ubuntu many people have lost
their ‘ubuntu’ due to exposure from different cultures which makes it difficult to follow
those rules. The transfer of knowledge through lineages by word of mouth allows room
for distortion and bias and thus the laws are not fully preserved.
c.) A modern society is not just a union of modern institutions, but it is made when the
different parts of the society come together. It also involves the inclusion of everyone
in that society. Africa which has many of its population in the rural areas who still
follow traditional means of governance has led to a problem to the development of
African social economic and political structures.

The exclusion of the traditional institutions which is often disregarded by the state also
shows the failure of the new states. The traditional systems of governance are still
relevant today. This is seen as most governmental organisations use the chiefs to
facilitate programs in the villages. This brings a huge success and people listen to their
leaders. For example, the number of people in rural areas in Zimbabwe affected by
HIV/AIDS has decreased as the government and international organisations through
the community leaders have made people aware of what is going on and how to take
care of themselves. The recognition of traditional leaders in chapter 12 of the
constitution of South Africa shows the relevance of these leaders and in Zimbabwe the
chiefs were given authority to distribute land and conserve the environment. Their right
to distribute land in their communities was recognised in the Zimbabwe 2013
Constitution. This ensures that the different cultures and identity of different African
groups is preserved. This is done by culture day celebrations and cultural centres in the
villages conducted by the chiefs. The chiefs are also paid a salary by the government.
The ways of governance are still relevant as some people go back to their rural homes
when faced with conflicts and the chiefs help to solve them. The ability for Botswana
to maintain its traditional governance was through the creation of laws that protected
chiefs and the willingness of the British regime to honour such institutions. This
combination allowed the country to transition post-independence. This has seen a thrive
in the economy of Botswana even after independence which most African counties have
failed. On July 31, 1993, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda permitted the
installation of Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II, the son of Mutesa II, as the new Kabaka of
the kingdom of Buganda. Representatives of other monarchies from Swaziland, Britain,
and Ethiopia were all at the ceremony to witness the rebirth of Buganda. This saw a
stop in the civil war that had been started when the government failed to recognise him
as King.

However, these systems of governance are slowly becoming irrelevant because some
chiefs have left their villages to access education and a better life. To the people a king
is a king because of his people and he should dwell with his people to rule. For example,
in Ghana the chiefs were incorporated into the civil service, the educated chiefs were
rewarded by the Communist Peoples Party and opportunities were created for them to
play an active role during the Nkrumah’s Marxist-Leninist regime, one was made
ambassador of the India whilst others were appointed to several boards which means
the local people are robbed off their leader. The movement of people also to different
parts has also made it difficult for the councils to combine and make decisions. The
growing diversity in the division of labour hinders the people in the rural areas from
coping with the growing world as they have no access to technology. The movement of
people to cities has seen people preferring to go to the courts of law instead of going to
the chiefs when faced with disputes.

References
1.) Holsti, K.J., 1970. National role conceptions in the study of foreign policy.
International Studies Quarterly, 14(3), pp.233-309.
2.) Acemoglu, D., Johnson, S. and Robinson, J., 2002. An african success story:
Botswana.
3.) Norris, P. ed., 1997. Passages to power: Legislative recruitment in advanced
democracies. Cambridge University Press.
4.) Held, D., McGrew, A., Goldblatt, D. and Perraton, J., 2000. Global transformations:
Politics, economics and culture. In Politics at the Edge (pp. 14-28). Palgrave
Macmillan, London.