Institutional factors in natural resource management in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa - Institutional Constraints to Small Farmer Development in Southern Africa - page 223

community. That is, culture functions as the people's vision towards reality and includes in
it customs, tradition and religion.
Culture plays a very important role in the management of resources because it conveys
knowledge and information in a society, which then applies when utilizing their resources
(Stevens and Treurnicht, 2001). Culture also acts as an obstacle to the use of natural
resources. For example, Nkosi (2005) indicated that in some of African rural communities,
when there is death in a family, no one is allowed to till the land or perform any activity on
rangelands. People mourn until that person is buried and after a funeral, in some cultures,
people are not allowed to go to rangelands or till the land until a ceremony of cleansing of
the family is done.
Religion and livestock farming
Different people and different religions can interpret the perception of religion differently.
Gardner (2002), cited by Zenani and Mistri (2003), defines religion as that which provides
a way of coming across a sustaining innovative power, whether it comes from God, a
remarkable existence in life, or simply the source of all life. Religion can also be associated
with the way in which communities live and in most of African traditional religions, most
communities are integrated with their natural resources. Furthermore, African communities
still believe that land is a gift from God, particularly on communally owned lands. Religion
on African land is also connected to the fact that ancestors are buried in it. That is, without
land, there would be no home for the dead. The land is valued as a resource for livelihood
for it produces food and water for people and their animals (McCall, 1997). For example,
in KwaZulu-Natal, when people go hunting or are looking for medical plants on their
rangelands, they burn their traditional stick so that they are able to communicate with their
ancestors. By doing this, they believe that their ancestors will bless them with whatever they
want on rangelands (Nkosi, 2005).
This shows that, in some African communities traditional religion still plays a significant
part in people's life. Besides respecting their land, many people still slaughter goats, cattle
and sheep as offerings to God and ancestors. These offerings assume three principal forms,
namely, offerings of thanksgiving for national, tribal and family successes, offerings in cases
of deaths, chronic sickness and epidemic diseases and finally offerings of prayer in terms of
hardship, poverty and drought (Quail Report, 1980).
Apart from various offerings, there are certain days under which, because of religious
beliefs, people do not do anything on communal rangelands, like collecting fuel wood,
water for domestic purposes or thatch grass. These days are Sundays and Saturdays and,
as a rule, people have to respect these days. Attitudes toward religion and religious beliefs
vary widely. For example, according to Islamic religion, the land belongs to those who care