Challenging Neotraditional Authority in Namibia

Abstract

The chapter explores the meaning and challenging of neotraditional authority in Southern Africa and aims to address two questions: How far is the authority of contemporary neotraditional leaders accepted or contested? And what does neotraditional authority in general and its challenging more specifically mean for the actors involved? The first part describes and discusses three different perspectives on authority (authority lends power legitimacy and meaning; authority is different from power; authority is a specific form of power) and relates them to the current academic and public debate on neotraditional authority. In the second part, I investigate the challenging of neotraditional leadership by young community activists in the Topnaar Traditional Authority, Namibia. The activists aimed at promoting democracy in their community against a background of manifold accusations of self-enrichment and corruption against the neotraditional leaders. The chapter argues that the youth uprising and quest for democracy was less about challenging neotraditional authority per se and more about replacing the incumbents as well as obtaining a fair share of political power. It resulted from the perception that the way in which the neotraditional leadership handled local affairs and the distribution of communal resources did not serve the cause of a common good. Since the uprising gained at least some of its momentum from my research on neotraditional authority, I also reflect on my role in the local debate and conflicts.