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| Title: | Worldviews and Decision Making: Natural Resource Management of the Laka of Mapela in an Anthropological Perspective |
| Authors: | Eckert, Britta De Beer, F.C.  Vorster, L.P. |
| Year: | 2001 |
| Periodical: | South African Journal of Ethnology |
| Volume: | 24 |
| Issue: | 3 |
| Pages: | 88-98 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | South Africa |
| Subjects: | Sotho natural resource management land use agricultural land Anthropology and Archaeology Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on shared decisionmaking principles among the Laka of Mapela, a Northern Sotho-speaking rural community in the Northern Province of South Africa. To this end, the impact of people's values and beliefs on decisionmaking pertinent to the harmonious control, allocation and use of land at Mapela are analysed. The world view of the Mapela people presents development experts and agronomists with unsurmountable problems. This is due to the fact that many deeply rooted convictions lead people to use natural resources unsustainably, which, in managerial terms, means that the grassroots level responds negatively to plans and strategies which presuppose environmental awareness and public concern about flora and fauna in the rural areas. The incompatibility of the management principles of traditional leaders, transitional local councillors (TLCs), and the Department of Agriculture are explored. The paper argues that the new political framework in which some of the managerial powers are transfered from the traditional authorities to the TLCs have so far failed to replace the traditional authorities with regard to land management. The paper is based on fieldwork conducted in 1997-2000. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and Afrikaans. |