The Role of Traditional Leaders in the Midst of The Covid-19 Pandemic: Was It Sufficient?

• Pages: 102-112
• Date: 01 December 2021
• Published date: 01 December 2021
• Author: Mamokhere John,Mathebula Ntwanano Erasmus
• Subject Matter: Derecho Público y Administrativo

European Journal of Economics, Law and Social Sciences

IIPCCL Publishing, Graz-Austria

Special Issue

December, 2021

ISSN 2519-1284

Acces online at www.iipccl.org

117

The Role of Traditional Leaders in the Midst of The Covid-19 Pandemic: Was

It Sucient?

Mamokhere John

University of Limpopo

Mathebula Ntwanano Erasmus

University of Venda, South Africa

Abstract

The central aim of this paper is to interrogate the role played by traditional leaders in fostering

service delivery and tackling the spread of COVID-19 pandemic in rural areas. The institution

of traditional leadership play a pivotal role in supporting municipalities in rendering services

to communities. It can therefore be asserted that all organs of State are duty and morally

bound to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic by puing measures in place targeted at

mitigating the spread of the virus. In rural areas, municipalities are working closely with the

institution of traditional leadership in tackling the spread of the virus. Traditional leaders

play imperative roles in local government by improving governance via public participation,

development planning, increasing service delivery, an advisory role in the municipal

council, and enhancing the livelihoods of local communities in a sustainable manner. During

COVID-19 Pandemic, traditional leaders have thus far been proactive in rural areas in the

f‌ight against the virus. Methodologically, this paper adopted a Critical Discourse Analysis and

secondary data covering the role of traditional leadership in rural areas. The paper concludes

by recognising the existence of the institution of traditional leadership as part of public

administration. Consequently, the status and identif‌ication of the institution of traditional

leadership are also recognised by dierent pieces of legislation, though their role is not clearly

def‌ined. Thus, this paper recommends that the role of traditional leaders in local government

needs to be redef‌ined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 and other pieces

of legislation as they are no clear.

Keywords: Traditional leadership, COVID-19 pandemic, Role and Local government

Introduction and Background

The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic at Wuhan in China presented many challenges

across all spheres of government. UNESCO (2020) posits that COVID-19 pandemic

has aected all countries around the world. It hit Asia, Europe and the Americans

before gradually taking root in Africa and no area has been spared, whether

socially, culturally or economically. In that regards, all organs of state including

local government and traditional leaders have been required to be proactive and

responsive to the COVID-19 pandemic by puing in place measures targeting at

containing the spread of the virus. Poswa (2020) opined that the role of traditional

leaders in the f‌ight against the spread of COVID-19 has thus far been pro-active in

rural areas. The suspension of mass gatherings, funerals and the initiation schools

contributed signif‌icantly to saving lives, including, of those young men who had