The interaction of indigenous law and Western law in South Africa : a historical and comparative perspective

Abstract

Historically South African law has been dominated by Western law. Indigenous law and the jural postulates which underpin that law are insufficiently accommodated in the South African legal order. The Western component of the official legal system is regarded as institutionally and politically superior and is as such perceived to be the dominant system. In contrast indigenous law is regarded as a servient system. The monopolistic control of the legal order by the Western section of the population resulted in the creation of a legal order primarily suited to its own needs. The fact that few of the values of indigenous law are reflected in the official legal system and the fact that there is a measure of conflict and tension between the fundamental precepts of indigenous law and those of Western law, gave rise to a crisis of legitimacy of the official legal system in South Africa. This in turn lead to the emergence of unofficial alternative structures for the administration of justice. Indigenous law should receive full recognition and enjoy the same status as Western law. To accomplish this, legislative measures which entrench a distorted indigenous law, limit the application of indigenous law, or affect its status in the South African legal order, should be revoked. Even in a multicultural society such as that of South Africa, there is a common nucleus of core values that are shared by the whole society. But different cultures have different conceptions of these basic values and their role in legal, political and social ordering. The Bill of Rights should give due recognition to the postulates which underscore both Western and indigenous law. This should be done by providing that the values the Bill entrenches, must be interpreted in their proper cultural perspective where circumstances so demand. But this will be possible only if the level of knowledge of indigenous law and its fundamental precepts is drastically improved.