ABSTRACT
KwaXimba lies beyond Cato Ridge, off the N3 highway between Johannesburg and Durban, a route familiar to the migrant workers of rural Natal. Crossing an empty plateau, a minor road curves down steep ridges before opening out on to the Valley of a Thousand Hills. The valley combines the picturesque with poverty: the hills range as far as the eye can see, as densely populated as any township but with mud and corrugated iron structures built haphazardly on the slopes, rather than the grids of matchbox houses one sees in the cities. The district is home to the people of Ximba, some of whom were forcibly removed to this place in 1960. Most of the people who live here, however, choose to do so because they support Chief Mlaba, whose leadership based on participatory democracy and development has attracted them to live within the boundaries of his tribal authority:
