Sign leading the way to a local Zambian chiefs "palace". Photo: Uffe Gjerding
The chief’s
‘palace’ is a quite simple building and it is only the fly whisk he occasionally picks up as he talks, that reminds of the traditional authority that he holds in the
community. The chief is otherwise a calm, educated gentleman in his 60'es, a former government civil servant, who openly shares with us what he values and what his role as traditional chief is in the
modern Zambian nation state.Rites and ritualsThe tradition of kneeling and clapping is characteristic of the culture of mutual respect between human beings that finds a
particularly strong expression in this part of Zambia. As a custodian of tradition the chief complains about the gradual changes in morals that are taking place everywhere in the community and that
are harmful to the traditional mutual respect and working together that has been the hallmark of much of African culture and development.
He explains how the traditional initiation rites for young
men and young women in some places still has an important function in imparting life skills in order for the youth to be better equipped to manage as productive adults and family members.
The road to development After three years in Zambia, Uffe Gjerding, Representative of DanChurchAid in Zambia, is convinced that
development work is best, when it builds on positive values in the local culture.
Uffe Gjerding takes a two week road trip to examine this further. Vincent Akamandisa from partnerorganisation Women
for Change comes with him to be his "dooropener" and interpreter in his encounters with the Zambians living in the countryside. They stay with the locals and talk to them about everydaylige,
their worries and joys.
Read his six stories from the Zambian road on our website.
Chief Isiteketo goes on to explain how his forefathers gave land to the first missionaries (Mission
de Paris), and how Christian values have now been fully integrated with traditional values as important guiding posts in the lives of people today. Traditional chiefs
still ind chargeIn Zambia 94% of the land is still customary land, managed by the traditional chiefs, although since 1991 quite some land has been converted to statutory land for investment in
commercial farming, mining and tourism. Chief Isiteketo still holds the authority to hand over the right of use of customary land to his subjects according to their requests and needs, and his court
of ‘ministers’ deal with local disputes where these arise â€" especially over land issues.
The chief and his ‘ministers’
are therefore frequented by many people and often they are closer to the people than the national and local government officials. They have a good knowledge of what is going on locally and what the
problems of the local communities are, both directly and through the headmen chosen by the local communities. They can sometimes mobilise and supervise community members to work on projects such as
building schools, health centres, local roads etc. But their power and resources are limited. They have no authority to receive taxes and they live off the money and gifts that people bring.
For
example, we brought the equivalent of USD 30 and 3 bags of sugar when we asked for a meeting with the chief. A part of this was left with the ‘ministers’ in the
chief’s court. It is no longer the role of the chief to take the lead in the development of the community although he is often keenly aware of the needs.
As an example Chief
Isiteketo complained that the road from his palace to the centre of town had not been worked on for 30 years in spite of his complaints about its bad condition. And having just driven that stretch of
road in our 4 wheel drive vehicle, we could only agree with him. And as one senior woman chief who we met later said to us, the power and control of traditional leaders had been taken away at
independence in 1964, without finding a new way of emphasising the civic duties and responsibilities of citizens.Change through tradition
Zambian village. Most of Zambias rural
population still live in communities guided på traditional chief systems. Photo: Uffe Gjerding.
This unclear relationship between traditional and
‘modern’ forms of governance is perhaps one of the big challenges of the modern Zambian state: neither in its constitution nor through its daily praxis has it found
the right balance between the role of the traditional structures and the modern nation state structures.
The country would greatly benefit from clarifying this relationship and building on the values
and advantages of the two systems that live side by side. Civil society organisations like ‘Women for Change’ that DanChurchAid works with in providing support to
poor rural communities in Zambia are keenly aware of the need not only to work with the official government authorities, but also with the traditional leaders. Without their consent it is not possible
to work in the local rural communities. They are in many respects still the key to maintaining traditional values, but also to changing traditional practices where these are in contradiction with
evolving concepts of development, for example in the field of equality between men and women and in the fight against the spread of the HIV and AIDS pandemic.
By Uffe GjerdingDanChurchAid Country Representative in Zambia
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
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