Thesis has been submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of the Witswatersrand. This thesis analyses the effects of state interventions on chiefly, ethnic, gender and generational relations in Bushbuckridge. By analysing violent conflicts, the thesis investigates how social forces attempt to impose moral economies on a " community" within the context of a rapidly transforming political economy. Leaders are analyzed in relation to their ability to represent a moral economy, and in doing so, intervene effectively on behalf of their constituency.