Bantu Authorities and Betterment in Natal: The Ambiguous Responses of Chiefs and Regents, 1955-1970

Abstract

While the Maphumulo and Nyavu chiefs, regents, and izinduna at Table Mountain (Pietermaritzburg, Natal) agreed to establish bantu authorities in early 1955, well before many other KwaZulu/Natal chiefdoms, they and their successors did little thereafter to suggest continued support for the apartheid system of African administration. Examining the actions of these apartheid-era traditional leaders requires avoiding depictions of chiefs as resisting or not resisting, with what Frederick Cooper called the capital 'R'. Exactly what is or is not being resisted must be clear. Apartheid needs to be unpacked, as does the chiefdoms' internal politics that influenced the actions of traditional leaders. Rural opposition to the bantu authorities system included battles against collaborative chiefs, against the traditional authority system itself, and in support of traditional authorities. At Table Mountain, the people attacked symbols of betterment and the bantu authorities system, making clear...