Assessing the collaboration between traditional leadership and ward councillor towards community development in (Ward 4) eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality
The coexistence of traditional leaders and ward councillors in South Africa has birthed contestations within the sphere of local government. Debates have emerged in relation to the powers, functions of both lines of leadership and how they ought to coexist and cooperate in service delivery. The collaborations in the delivery of services to the citizenry between these two lines of leadership remains understudied, particularly in the eThekwini Municipality ward 4. The study conducted face-to-face interviews with a sample of 9 participants, utilising qualitative methods in its approach. To analyse the data that was collected through the semi-structured interview guide, the study employed the thematic content analysis. The results of this study revealed that traditional leaders mainly play cultural roles but have a strong hold on land as a factor of development. The two structures generally did not collaborate very well towards development, even though they communicated with each other. This was because of negative perceptions on the education levels of traditional leaders, lack of developmental budgetary support for traditional leaders and different political orientations between the two structures. Overall, interviewed community members viewed poor collaboration between the two structures as having a negative impact on social, economic and infrastructural community development. The study recommended a collaboration framework enforcing the inclusion of traditional leaders in municipal and ward forums. The study also recommend that it is crucial to provide training for both offices on how they can work together for the benefits to the community
traditional leaders, local government, service delivery
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