ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on authority as it presents in empirical terms – specifically describing the vernacular forums that exist in Msinga and the jurisdictions over which their authority extends. It provides an overview of the numerous forums that make up the vernacular management system of Msinga, briefly noting who constitutes these forums and how they relate to one another within the system. Many other forums that exist in Msinga – single-family councils, dual/joint family councils, neighbourhood gatherings, subward gatherings, head-men's policemen, amaphini and amagoso, umhloli wezintombi and isikebhe – all constitute and inform the vernacular management system. At the lowest level of the vernacular dispute management system one finds the family councils and the neighbourhood councils, which are typically used as forums of first instance in different kinds of disputes. The chapter discusses the profound interrelationship between the territorial and personal parameters of the jurisdiction of the core forums in the system.
