The Business of Being Bafokeng

The Corporatization of a Tribal Authority in South Africa

Bibliographic Data

ID2222154
AuthorsSusan E Cook (corresponding author)
Year2011
Volume52
IssueS3
PagesS151-S159
Publication date2011-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCurrent Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0011-3204 • E-ISSN: 1537-5382
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/657894
OpenAlexW1551497952
LanguageEN
Citations received16
References cited6

In this essay I explore the tensions and contradictions inherent in the Royal Bafokeng Nation's status as both community and corporation. As one of South Africa's approximately 750 traditional communities, the Royal Bafokeng Nation is on the one hand part of a modern parliamentary democracy governed by a liberal constitution and on the other a traditionally governed patriarchy that preserves hereditary rule and communal forms of land tenure. As a corporatizing entity, the Royal Bafokeng Nation is also one of South Africa's largest community-based investment companies, and it channels revenue derived from mineral deposits into a broad investment portfolio that in turn funds an aggressive social-development program. The legal, financial, and social tensions that arise when an ethnically based polity seeks to maximize its financial standing by becoming a player on the global commodities stage are the focus of this article. Rather than hindering its prospects for commercial success, the traditional elements of the Royal Bafokeng Nation-in both a legal sense and a cultural sense-are arguably the keys to its prosperity, now and in the future

Constitution · Corporation · Democracy · Multiculturalism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Polity · Prosperity · Sociology · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Law · Legal Issues in South Africa · South African History and Culture

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