Charlotte Drew

One of the most fundamental principles upon which South Africa’s current judicial system rests is the notion that all people are considered equal under the law. The debate over the incorporation of Muslim personal law (MPL) into the secular legal system thus presents an exception to this tenet by applying different standards to citizens of different religious beliefs. Many Muslim scholars argue that non-recognition of their laws is detrimental to all citizens by denying legitimacy to important institutions that theologically they cannot reconcile with the secular equivalents. Not only are there several practical and ideological obstacles to implementing an alternative legal tradition into South Africa’s secular system, but also, the concept of the law as the supreme institution that treats all people as equal would be compromised.

This essay shall focus on the intersection of politics and religion through the lens of African Traditional Religion. African Traditional Religion, most widely practiced among the Zulu people of South Africa, itself is rich in diversity, but because all such local forms worship a supreme being, revere their ancestors and rely on oral transmission, they are generally referred to by the singular term “traditional religion.” This belief system accepts all other religions as equally valid constructions of knowledge, and does not pretend to hold all the answers to human problems. Other views are considered, and often adopted, making African traditional religion a dynamic institution.