Despite constitutional provisions for traditional leadership in South Africa, traditional leaders have not been clearly recognised since the advent of democracy in 1994. Yet centuries ago, this type of leadership served as part of the history of the natives. In underscoring governmental functions, the 1996 Constitution makes provision for the three spheres of government, namely, national, provincial and local government. However, in some provinces such as KwaZulu-Natal, the king receives a substantial amount of funding from the provincial government in order to run the affairs of his kingdom. In such cases, standardised guidelines, accountability mechanisms and roles are not clearly stated for all traditional leaders in South Africa. In making sense of the role of traditional leadership in South Africa, a qualitative research in the form of focus group discussions was undertaken with the traditional leaders of the Greater Sekhukhune