Democracy Compromised

List of maps
Abbreviations
Foreword

1. Traditional authorities, democracy and the land question: Some conceptual and theoretical considerations
2. The Xhalanga district and its people : 1865 - 1883
3. The land question and local governance in Xhalanga : 1883-1924
4. Rural local governance in Xhalanga in the era of the District Council: The struggle continues
5. Tribal authorities and the revival of chieftainship in Xhalanga
6. ‘Tshisa, tshisa’ (Burn, burn): The struggle against tribal authorities intensifies
7. The era of Bantu Authorities in the Xhalanga district: A decentralised despotism?
8. Democracy compromised: post-1994 retribalisation
9. Conclusion

References
Index

Dr Lungisile Ntsebeza is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Cape Town. Since 1995 he has focused on the South African land reform programme and democratisation in rural South Africa.

Extract from review by Peter Limb (Michigan State University) in African Book Publishing Record Vol. XXXIV, No. 4, 2008:

"Well produced, with clear maps, and co-published with Brill (2005), the book is a beautifully sculptured revised doctorate that outlines and explains the history and sociology of traditional authorities in Xhalanga district, Transkei, from the late nineteenth century to the present. Central to the author’s thesis is the intersection of democracy, rural local governance, power and land. He guides the reader effortlessly through this history...

...Democracy Compromised: Chiefs and the Politics of the Land in South Africa is a significant work of considerable value to all scholars, students, practitioners and libraries interested in South African politics, sociology, and studies of land and chieftaincies."

Extract from review by Maanda Mulaudzi (University of Cape Town) in the Journal of Southern African Studies Vol. 33 No. 3 / September 2007 pp.698-700:

"These studies [Ntsebeza's Democracy Compromised: Chiefs and the Politics of the Land in South Africa and Oomen's Chiefs in South Africa: Law, Power and Culture in the Post-Apartheid Era] are important contributions to our understanding of the relationship between democracy, chiefs and customary law in South Africa and Africa more generally. Thoroughly researched, both are written in an engaging style."

Click on the links below to read the reviews:

New Agenda Democracy Compromised 01 Oct 2007