Describes current land administration practices as understood by traditional structures to unpack some components of existing African tenure arrangements in KwaZulu-Natal. Hoped this will help better to understand how communal land systems operate, regardless of which structure governs them, in order to support practices that secure tenure effectively. Includes introduction, background to the research, the debate about the role of traditional institutions in a democracy, gender equity, research objectives and methodology, research findings – structure, land administration, access, use and alienation, conclusions.