South Africa's transition took place well into the rising tide of globalisation, neoliberalism, new forms of religion and a global remobilisation of cultural and ethnic identities. Many have commented on the fact that the South African Constitution is a robustly modernist law formulated at a time when many of the forms of rationality, state, religion and economy that underpin modernism are strained (see, for example, Comaroff and Comaroff, 1999; Garuba and Raditlhalo, 2008; Jacklin and Vale, 2009; Klug, 2000, 2010; Robins, 2008).

How have religion and tradition fared in the postapartheid state? What has happened to relationships between religion, tradition and the African National Congress (ANC) government? How has the right to religion been interpreted? How have its enabling provisions been legislated? Has the ambiguous place of traditional leadership and customary law been resolved? Have the institutions of traditional leadership been consolidated, transformed or limited by the democratic state? What are the consequences of the contrasting places of religion and tradition in law and governance?

These are political and legal questions. They are also closely related to changes in society and the economy. At the time of writing, 20 years have passed since the Constitution came into effect and 22 since the first democratic elections. This is not a very long time for state formation. New processes are constantly emerging. There is no privileged place in the present from which to assess the legacies of the transition, even as there are emerging trends and evident moments of consolidation and crisis. In this sense, all conclusions are provisional.