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Chapter 15
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8748-6.ch015
ABSTRACT
In this chapter, theoretical foundations of social entrepreneurship and legal empowerment are explored
and intersection of these social actions by community based-paralegal practice in rural KwaZulu-Natal
examined. Conceptually, integration of social entrepreneurship and legal empowerment innovatively
contributes to the broader discourse on self-determined community development and democratic gov-
ernance. Empirical evidence shows that community-based paralegals generate legal empowerment as
social entrepreneurship and such service delivery advances rural women empowerment. Arguably there
is a global/local nexus of each social action; a positive theory of social entrepreneurship is more use-
ful than normative theories; rule of law orthodoxy is less meaningful for and somewhat contradictory
to self-empowerment of indigenous populations that experience plural legal systems. This qualitative
study found that while contemporary business models are incorporated in the intersection of social
entrepreneurship and legal empowerment, so are African indigenous justice principles and remedies.
INTRODUCTION
Social entrepreneurship entails business models with a social mission to enhance the quality of life for
target groups and wider society by promoting social wealth. Such target groups include segments of
humanity that have been historically marginalised and economically unsettled, the so-called poor. Legal
empowerment is another social action that seeks to encourage community and self-assertion. In this chap-
Legal Empowerment as
Social Entrepreneurship:
The KwaZulu-Natal Cases of
Bulwer and New Hanover
Fayth Ruin
University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Winnie Kubayi Martins
Centre for Community Justice and Development, South Africa