Traditional leaders are an anachronism

William Gumede

The system of African traditional chiefs, leaders and structures should be abolished, or if retained, reformed to be in line with constitutional democratic norms, to ensure social, gender and age equality and promote individuals’ freedom of choice.

If traditional leaders and structures are to be retained, they must be democratised. The system is underpinned by patriarchy. Traditional leaders have more power than ordinary

“subjects”. Older men must be venerated and adult men generally have more power over women and youth for no other reason than that they are men.

The system challenges and competes with SA’s constitution, laws and values. These competing systems — the official democratic constitution battling against traditional governance — are responsible for lawlessness, lack of accountability and corruption. It should not continue.

Traditional governance as it is undermines social and gender equality, freedom of choice and basic human rights. Traditional authorities undermine democracy, equitable development and growth.

Traditional governance reinforces inequalities along social, gender, age and urban-rural lines. The rigidity of traditional structures and the patriarchy that undermines social, gender, demographic and generational equality are two reasons why most African countries in the postcolonial era have stagnated.

Even colonial powers used traditional chiefs, leaders and structures to impose control over oppressed African peoples.

In most African colonies, the governments pursued indirect rule. Traditional leaders were used to rule the colonised communities.

The colonial governments gave pliant African traditional leaders powers of life and death as long as they kept their allegiance to the colonial system.

In this way, people were often doubly oppressed, by the colonial governments and by their own chiefs and authorities.

In many African countries the liberation movements struck alliances with traditional kings, chiefs and authorities-based elites. The condition was for the latter to ensure that their “subjects” voted regularly for the governing party.

In this way, only the liberation elites and the traditional leader elites benefited. The ordinary citizens remained mired in poverty.

In the African postcolonial period, only Tanzania’s Julius

Nyerere disbanded chiefdoms, traditional leaders and kings, rightly arguing they undermined social, economic and cultural equality. He attempted to make every citizen equal.

It has been difficult to challenge autocratic traditional leaders. It is often seen as challenging African

“identity”, “culture” and

“community”. Being perceived to be at variance with African “culture”, “identity” and “community”, even if such “culture”, “identity” and “community” were harmful to oneself and others, was often seen as shameful.

The first step to reforming African traditional institutions is to democratise them. All aspects that clash with the constitution must be abolished. Traditional systems must introduce gender equality, social equality and defer to democratic laws.

All traditional leadership must be made symbolic or ceremonial, without any formal powers. Members of communities must have the right to opt out of such “ceremonial” or symbolic traditional governance systems.

Hereditary succession must be abolished. Traditional leaders must also be elected. Women must qualify too. There must be clear rules to impeach corrupt, autocratic and selfish traditional leaders.

Harmful African traditions, cultures and customs must be scrapped. Control of communal land must be taken away from traditional leaders and given to individual households.

The patriarchy that underpins the African traditional governance system must be abolished in favour of equality in social status, gender and age. Ending patriarchy, strengthening gender, age and social equality will unleash new energy, boost individual freedoms and unleash inclusive development.

First step to reforming traditional institutions is to democratise them