African Philosophies Embedded in African Eldership

Abstract This chapter uses two indigenous concepts from two Isinguni (Sesotho and IsiXhosa) languages spoken in South Africa to explore the indigenous conception of justice. These two languages are used to argue that knowledge is contextual, and languages are tools to help us understand how different contexts practicalize their philosophies. The chapter is approached from a decolonial perspective, using the theoretical concepts of epistemological disobedience and inward looking to emphasize the need for the consideration of indigenous African perspective in indigenous African contexts. The decolonial approach in this chapter is used to explain how phenomenon is conceived and experienced in an African context. As such, an African epistemological lens is used to illustrate the nuanced ways in which justice is conceived and practiced. Through the African epistemological lens, an indigenous philosophy of ubuntu/botho is used to argue that the indigenous concept of ubulungisa/holokisa (justice), is grounded on principles of humanness. This philosophical grounding is made manifest through the understanding that a human being is a human being through other people. This finds expression in the concept of ukubambisana/hosebedisana (working together) a practical aspect of ubuntu that places the facilitation of justice in the hands of the community.