The In-Between World of Kgosi Nyalala Pilane: (Mis)Appropriation and Accountability among the Bakgatla-Ba-Kgafela in 21st-Century South Africa.

In this article, I discuss the story of Kgosi Nyalala Pilane of the Bakgatla-Ba-Kgafela in South Africa as an illustration of the extent to which some traditional leaders have become nearly unaccountable sovereigns in post-colonial South Africa. In particular, I trace the intersection of Kgosi Nyalala's world with that of neoliberal monopoly capital. This story is based largely on evidence produced before the 2016 Commission of Inquiry into the affairs of the Bakgatla-Ba-Kgafela community, which investigated, among other things, how the community's extraordinary wealth disappeared. I explore how Kgosi Nyalala used the law, and in particular customary law, as an effective shield against attempts to hold him to account and show how, by situating himself in the gap between the 'corporate' and the 'customary', he was able to evade legal obligations in both spheres. Finally, I argue that Kgosi Nyalala was ultimately able to become a ruler sufficient unto himself because he was enabled by both public and private sector actors who stood to gain from his success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]