AFRICANUS Vol 30 No 2 ISSN 0304-615X - University of South Africa

power play in South African communities on the topic of ``development'' could
create the opportunity for influential individuals to influence workshops and
other methods of participatory research decisively. Because we would want the
community to control development, we would be unaware of the dynamics and
rationale underlying decisions and actions taken. This makes it difficult to know
when the results of participatory research are reliable and valid. The epistemology
of participatory research demands that the methodological be subservient
to the political. The emphasis on the political, however, could also allow
individuals outside the ``target group,'' or interests outside those of the community,
to control research. In this way doubt is cast on the methodological
rigour employed in participatory research, which makes it a less lucrative alternative
to orthodox social research.
Participatory development in South Africa, besides being affected by the concerns
raised earlier, will be profoundly affected by local-level authority, which
includes traditional leaders and local authorities. It may easily be argued that
traditional leaders constitute one of the most crucial, if not overlooked, aspects
of rural development in South Africa. However, their role in development is not
clear at the moment. Making a commitment to helping the poorest would not
necessarily intrude upon their authority. However, making a commitment
against the better off could well do this. Allowing women access and control
over land would most probably lead to conflict: many men control their own
piece of land, and this will diminish the chances of more men gaining land. On
the other hand, traditional leaders do have a responsibility toward their communities,
and it is inconceivable that they would do something that goes against
the wishes of the majority of their ``subjects.'' Opponents of traditional authority
structures often accuse them of playing the role of gatekeepers, as they have
considerable influence over rural life. However, they could be a most important
ally in a market-driven political economy.
Individual headmen and tribal councils could be more or less sympathetic to the
empowerment of target groups such as small farmers. Close cooperation and
strategic trade-offs with individual traditional authorities could create the possibility
of a development project under the control of the participants. The peculiarity
of this situation is that the possibility of establishing a participatory
development project would depend more on the willingness of individual traditional
leaders to grant access to land, than on national policy on traditional
authority.
Local Government in South Africa has been placed on a unique footing com-
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