An Investigation into the Role of Traditional Leaders in Natural Resource Management in Mutasa North

Abstract

The study sought to establish the existing relationship between government ministries and agencies with traditional leaders in light of their role as custodians of communities in natural resource management. In pursuit of this it also went on to scrutinize the state of existing laws, institutions and legislation that directly link to the management of natural resources in communal areas which are under the jurisdiction of traditional leaders in Mutasa South constituency. To unfasten the perspectives experiences, perceptions and feelings on these research traditional leaders, community members and other relevant stakeholders were interviewed. The qualitative approach was used in this research. The research discovered that there is incongruence with regards to the role of traditional leaders in natural resource management and that of government and its agencies. Traditional leaders get their legitimacy from the pre-colonial era and heritage whilst the government gets its authority from the Constitution and the democratic process of elections. The decentralization theory was implemented by the Zimbabwean government through the Prime Minister’s Directive of 1984 that empowered the Rural District Council as the representative of government at community level. The aim of this process was to enable central government to reach out to communities in rural areas and improve the efficacy of central government. However, it emerged in the research that the process of decentralization has marginalized communities and traditional institutions from natural resource management. It instead has consolidated power upwards to central government through Rural District Councils pushing traditional leaders to subjects of central government. According to Ray’s theory of legitimacy which was used in this research, traditional institutions and the government must coexist because they derive their legitimacy from different centres of authority. Possible solutions to these inconsistencies and challenges could be solved by Ray’s theory of legitimacy which entails a mutual process of coexistence without acrimony between the state and traditional leaders.