Succession to traditional Venda leadership in a changing constitutional environment in South Africa

Abstract

The conflict and ambivalence in the legislative transformation in South Africa, recognising on the one hand the institution of traditional leadership and its concomitant customs and values, and on the other hand enforcing the fundamental value of gender equality entrenched in the South African Constitution, Act 108 of 1996 are debated in this paper. A succession dispute among the Venda of Masia is used to show how untenable the application of the gender equality principle in the Constitution and in Act 4 of 2000 (The Promotion of Equality and the Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act) is as regards succession to traditional leadership in this tribe. The claim to the position of traditional leader of a senior female member of the Royal Council of Masia was refuted by the Council. During a special Royal Council meeting convened to discuss the succession dispute in the royal house of Masia and related issues, senior members of the Council emphasised the fact that the recognition of traditional leadership and customary law and the right to culture, embodied in the Constitution, endorse their views and their decision that succession to the position of traditional leader among the Masia is patrilineal (in the male line of descent), with the result that only males are eligible to succeed to the position of traditional leader. A breach of these rules may still today lead to the intervention of the ancestor spirits who, as custodians of tradition and the customs of the tribe, expect the Royal Council to honour the rules.