‘Traditional Authorities’ and Community Rights in Contemporary Mozambique: between Activism and Incorporation

Mozambique’s donor-inspired ongoing programme of ‘traditional authorities’‘(re-)integration’ carries considerable emancipatory potential for local communities in their relations with central political institutions and the globalized economy. By analysing ‘traditional authorities’’specifically elaborated discourse and highlighting their agency within the dynamics emerging from state institutions’attempts at ‘incorporating’ them in the sense indicated by Zenker and Hoehne, that is, to deny them all political autonomy, this article aims to clarify ‘traditional’ leaders’ role in defending their own communities’ interests and rights vis-à-vis the state, private enterprises, and development actors/donors. Close examination of empirical data collected during field research in Inhambane province provides convincing evidence of 'traditional authorities’' general inability to develop effective discursive strategies for the representation and defence of their communities’ interests and rights. By choosing to retreat within the domain of spirituality and to cede much of their statutory prerogatives to more dynamic and better resourced actors, ‘traditional authorities’ end up accepting their ‘incorporation’ into the institutional structure of the state as merely symbolic objects and sources of internal as well as international legitimacy, thus obliterating their role as natural representatives of their communities.