Perspectives on land and water politics at Mushandike Irrigation Scheme, Masvingo, Zimbabwe
- Authors: Mafukidze, Jonathan
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/76479 , vital:30573
- Description: Access to, control and ownership of land and water, amongst other natural resources in Zimbabwe, shape and affect rural lives, livelihoods, social relations and social organisation. Rural poverty has been entrenched and exacerbated by, amongst other factors, highly restricted access to these scarce resources. Historically, Zimbabwe’s rural areas (such as communal areas, smallholder irrigation schemes and resettlement areas) have existed as sites of struggles where contestations and negotiations over access to, control or ownership of these resources have taken place. Resultantly, multifaceted and dynamic social relations have been weaved and contested social spaces carved out. In rural Zimbabwe, contestations have tended to be complex, nuanced and intricate, working themselves out in different ways across time and space. In their heightened and more visible state, they have been characterised by violent physical expressions which, in the history of the country, involved two wars of liberation, the First Chimurenga (1896-1897) and the Second Chimurenga (1960s to 1980). The most recent violent manifestation was through nation-wide land invasions, politically christened the Third Chimurenga, which peaked in 2000 and continued sporadically to this day. Few studies on smallholder irrigation schemes in Zimbabwe have focused on understanding how contestations for access to scarce land and water resources are framed and negotiated at the local level. Cognisant of this lacuna, this thesis uses social constructionism in examining, as a case study, Mushandike Smallholder Irrigation Scheme in Masvingo Province in order to understand and analyse how land and water politics occur at the local level. The study deploys a qualitative research methodology approach in examining local water and land politics, which involved original irrigation beneficiaries and more recent land invaders. Findings of the thesis indicate that land and water shortages have increased considerably in the past two decades at the irrigation scheme due to the influx of land invaders into the scheme. This influx has had a negative impact on agricultural production and other livelihood strategies. Both scheme members and land invaders lay claim to land and water at Mushandike. These claims are intricately constructed and contested, and they are linked to broader issues such as partisan party-politics, policy developments, and tradition, origin, indigeneity and belonging. Though the struggles over land and water at Mushandike are firmly rooted in the concrete conditions of existence and experiences of beneficiaries and land invaders, external actors such as political leaders, state bureaucrats and traditional chiefs tend to complicate and intensify the contestations.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Mafukidze, Jonathan
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/76479 , vital:30573
- Description: Access to, control and ownership of land and water, amongst other natural resources in Zimbabwe, shape and affect rural lives, livelihoods, social relations and social organisation. Rural poverty has been entrenched and exacerbated by, amongst other factors, highly restricted access to these scarce resources. Historically, Zimbabwe’s rural areas (such as communal areas, smallholder irrigation schemes and resettlement areas) have existed as sites of struggles where contestations and negotiations over access to, control or ownership of these resources have taken place. Resultantly, multifaceted and dynamic social relations have been weaved and contested social spaces carved out. In rural Zimbabwe, contestations have tended to be complex, nuanced and intricate, working themselves out in different ways across time and space. In their heightened and more visible state, they have been characterised by violent physical expressions which, in the history of the country, involved two wars of liberation, the First Chimurenga (1896-1897) and the Second Chimurenga (1960s to 1980). The most recent violent manifestation was through nation-wide land invasions, politically christened the Third Chimurenga, which peaked in 2000 and continued sporadically to this day. Few studies on smallholder irrigation schemes in Zimbabwe have focused on understanding how contestations for access to scarce land and water resources are framed and negotiated at the local level. Cognisant of this lacuna, this thesis uses social constructionism in examining, as a case study, Mushandike Smallholder Irrigation Scheme in Masvingo Province in order to understand and analyse how land and water politics occur at the local level. The study deploys a qualitative research methodology approach in examining local water and land politics, which involved original irrigation beneficiaries and more recent land invaders. Findings of the thesis indicate that land and water shortages have increased considerably in the past two decades at the irrigation scheme due to the influx of land invaders into the scheme. This influx has had a negative impact on agricultural production and other livelihood strategies. Both scheme members and land invaders lay claim to land and water at Mushandike. These claims are intricately constructed and contested, and they are linked to broader issues such as partisan party-politics, policy developments, and tradition, origin, indigeneity and belonging. Though the struggles over land and water at Mushandike are firmly rooted in the concrete conditions of existence and experiences of beneficiaries and land invaders, external actors such as political leaders, state bureaucrats and traditional chiefs tend to complicate and intensify the contestations.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Understanding climate change and rural livelihoods in Zimbabwe: adaptation by communal farmers in Ngundu, Chivi District
- Authors: Nciizah, Elinah
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Agriculture -- Zimbabwe , Agriculture -- Climatic factors -- Chivi District (Zimbabwe) , Chivi District (Zimbabwe) -- Rural conditions
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/118765 , vital:34666
- Description: Climate change and variability is a global phenomenon which has deeply localised patterns, dynamics and effects. Amongst those people who are particularly vulnerable to climate change effects are small-scale farmers who are dependent in large part on rain-fed agriculture in pursuing their livelihoods. This is true of small-scale farmers in contemporary Zimbabwe and, more specifically, farmers in communal areas. At the same time, at international and national levels, there are attempts currently to minimise the effects of, and to adapt to, climate change. However, adaptation measures also exist at local levels amongst small-scale farmers, such as communal farmers in Zimbabwe. In this context, as its main objective, this thesis examines climate change and small-scale farmer livelihood adaptation to climate change with specific reference to communal farmers in Chivi District in Zimbabwe and, in particular, in Ward 25 which is popularly known as Ngundu. In pursuing this main objective, a number of subsidiary objectives are addressed, including a focus on the established livelihoods of Ngundu farmers, the perceptions and concerns of Ngundu farmers about climate change, the coping and adaptation measures of Ngundu farmers, and the enablements and constraints which affect attempts by Ngundu farmers to adopt such measures. The fieldwork for the thesis involved a diverse array of research methods, such as a questionnaire survey, life-history interviews, key informant interviews, focus group discussions and transect walks. In terms of theoretical framing, the thesis makes use of both middle-level theory (the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework) and macro-theory in the form of the sociological work of Margaret Archer. Combined, these two theories allow for a focus on both structure and agency when seeking to understand livelihood adaptations to climate change by communal farmers in Ngundu. The thesis concludes that there are massive constraints inhibiting adaptation measures by Ngundu farmers, but that this should not distract from the deep, often historically-embedded, concerns of Ngundu farmers about climate change and the multiple ways in which they express agency in and through adaptation and coping activities. It also highlights the need for more specifically sociological investigations of climate change and small-scale farmer adaptation, as well as the need for localised studies which are able to identify and analyse the specificities of adaptation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Nciizah, Elinah
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Agriculture -- Zimbabwe , Agriculture -- Climatic factors -- Chivi District (Zimbabwe) , Chivi District (Zimbabwe) -- Rural conditions
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/118765 , vital:34666
- Description: Climate change and variability is a global phenomenon which has deeply localised patterns, dynamics and effects. Amongst those people who are particularly vulnerable to climate change effects are small-scale farmers who are dependent in large part on rain-fed agriculture in pursuing their livelihoods. This is true of small-scale farmers in contemporary Zimbabwe and, more specifically, farmers in communal areas. At the same time, at international and national levels, there are attempts currently to minimise the effects of, and to adapt to, climate change. However, adaptation measures also exist at local levels amongst small-scale farmers, such as communal farmers in Zimbabwe. In this context, as its main objective, this thesis examines climate change and small-scale farmer livelihood adaptation to climate change with specific reference to communal farmers in Chivi District in Zimbabwe and, in particular, in Ward 25 which is popularly known as Ngundu. In pursuing this main objective, a number of subsidiary objectives are addressed, including a focus on the established livelihoods of Ngundu farmers, the perceptions and concerns of Ngundu farmers about climate change, the coping and adaptation measures of Ngundu farmers, and the enablements and constraints which affect attempts by Ngundu farmers to adopt such measures. The fieldwork for the thesis involved a diverse array of research methods, such as a questionnaire survey, life-history interviews, key informant interviews, focus group discussions and transect walks. In terms of theoretical framing, the thesis makes use of both middle-level theory (the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework) and macro-theory in the form of the sociological work of Margaret Archer. Combined, these two theories allow for a focus on both structure and agency when seeking to understand livelihood adaptations to climate change by communal farmers in Ngundu. The thesis concludes that there are massive constraints inhibiting adaptation measures by Ngundu farmers, but that this should not distract from the deep, often historically-embedded, concerns of Ngundu farmers about climate change and the multiple ways in which they express agency in and through adaptation and coping activities. It also highlights the need for more specifically sociological investigations of climate change and small-scale farmer adaptation, as well as the need for localised studies which are able to identify and analyse the specificities of adaptation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
An exploration of social media as a key site for the expression of post-racial politics
- Authors: Bell, Joshua
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Social media -- Political aspects -- South Africa , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994- , South Africa -- In mass media
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/94049 , vital:30995
- Description: This research sets out to examine colourblind racism in contemporary South Africa, specifically, as expressed on social media networks. In South Africa, a nation lauded for its transition from Apartheid to liberal democracy, racism still continues to exist. In the new democracy, racism continues in old, familiar forms but it has been suggested that racism also assumes new and emergent forms such as ‘colourblind’ racism. This is evident in recent controversies involving local public figures and their expressions of ‘soft’, ‘colourblind’ racism on Facebook. It is the new platforms and modes of racism unique to democratic South Africa which this thesis attempts to explore. Specifically, this study is framed by ‘post-racialism’, a concept developed by scholars globally to capture the suggestion that in liberal democratic societies across the world, racism continues with racial inequality now underpinned by an ideology of colourblindness as opposed to overt policies of segregation. Colourblindness denies the relevance of race as a collective issue, proposing instead that other social factors such as class are more pertinent in considerations of social inequality. The purpose of colourblind narratives may be identified as the reduction of racism to mere individual action, denying systemic white privilege and historical responsibility for reparation as well as preventing racially subjugated groups from critically interrogating racial power and privilege (Goldberg, 2015: 28-30). Post-racial theorists agree that the projection of colourblind politics which claims to no longer ‘see race’ has instead served to secure the normalisation of white privilege and black subjugation (Bonilla-Silva et al, 2004: 559-560). The purported existence of colourblind /post-racial racism and its impact requires exploration in the context of South Africa today. In expanding on the definition of racism, we are able to see that racism is an adaptive system of power that is able to reproduce and reconceptualise itself to changes within society. As modalities of racism have evolved, so have the platforms for its propagation. This research offers social media as a site of exploration for post-racial narratives. The case studies of Penny Sparrow, Helen Zille and Mabel Jansen are presented in this study as exemplars of post-racial liberalism, denial and exclusion. This research calls for the expansion of racial understanding so as to contest racial power structures as a continuing systemic issue in contemporary South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Bell, Joshua
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Social media -- Political aspects -- South Africa , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994- , South Africa -- In mass media
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/94049 , vital:30995
- Description: This research sets out to examine colourblind racism in contemporary South Africa, specifically, as expressed on social media networks. In South Africa, a nation lauded for its transition from Apartheid to liberal democracy, racism still continues to exist. In the new democracy, racism continues in old, familiar forms but it has been suggested that racism also assumes new and emergent forms such as ‘colourblind’ racism. This is evident in recent controversies involving local public figures and their expressions of ‘soft’, ‘colourblind’ racism on Facebook. It is the new platforms and modes of racism unique to democratic South Africa which this thesis attempts to explore. Specifically, this study is framed by ‘post-racialism’, a concept developed by scholars globally to capture the suggestion that in liberal democratic societies across the world, racism continues with racial inequality now underpinned by an ideology of colourblindness as opposed to overt policies of segregation. Colourblindness denies the relevance of race as a collective issue, proposing instead that other social factors such as class are more pertinent in considerations of social inequality. The purpose of colourblind narratives may be identified as the reduction of racism to mere individual action, denying systemic white privilege and historical responsibility for reparation as well as preventing racially subjugated groups from critically interrogating racial power and privilege (Goldberg, 2015: 28-30). Post-racial theorists agree that the projection of colourblind politics which claims to no longer ‘see race’ has instead served to secure the normalisation of white privilege and black subjugation (Bonilla-Silva et al, 2004: 559-560). The purported existence of colourblind /post-racial racism and its impact requires exploration in the context of South Africa today. In expanding on the definition of racism, we are able to see that racism is an adaptive system of power that is able to reproduce and reconceptualise itself to changes within society. As modalities of racism have evolved, so have the platforms for its propagation. This research offers social media as a site of exploration for post-racial narratives. The case studies of Penny Sparrow, Helen Zille and Mabel Jansen are presented in this study as exemplars of post-racial liberalism, denial and exclusion. This research calls for the expansion of racial understanding so as to contest racial power structures as a continuing systemic issue in contemporary South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
A gender based analysis of the Amalima Programme in empowering married women within households in rural Gwanda, Zimbabwe
- Authors: Sibanda, Patience
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Non-governmental organizations Zimbabwe Matabeleland South Province , Power (Social sciences) Zimbabwe Matabeleland South Province , Women Zimbabwe Social conditions , Women's rights Zimbabwe , Patriarchy Zimbabwe Matabeleland South Province
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63682 , vital:28470
- Description: Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) have occupied a prominent role in the socio-economic development of rural areas of Zimbabwe since the time of the country’s independence in 1980, including a focus on improving the conditions and status of women in communal areas. These NGOs adopt a participatory methodology in their development programmes and projects, as they try to ensure that the active participation of women in rural development facilitates women’s access to resources and the realisation of their rights. These initiatives are important given the pronounced system of patriarchy which exists in communal areas. In the context of local patriarchies, NGOs also often claim that they empower women. This thesis focuses on the work of one particular NGO programme, namely the Amalima programme, with a particular focus on three wards in the communal areas in Gwanda, Zimbabwe. From a gendered perspective concerned with questions of women’s empowerment, the main objective of the thesis is to provide a critical analysis of the Amalima programme with particular reference to married women in Gwanda. Based on original fieldwork (including interviews with men, women and NGO practitioners), the thesis concludes that the outcomes of the Amalima programme in empowering married women in Gwanda are uneven and that, overall, the local system of patriarchy (including at household level) remains largely intact.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Sibanda, Patience
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Non-governmental organizations Zimbabwe Matabeleland South Province , Power (Social sciences) Zimbabwe Matabeleland South Province , Women Zimbabwe Social conditions , Women's rights Zimbabwe , Patriarchy Zimbabwe Matabeleland South Province
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63682 , vital:28470
- Description: Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) have occupied a prominent role in the socio-economic development of rural areas of Zimbabwe since the time of the country’s independence in 1980, including a focus on improving the conditions and status of women in communal areas. These NGOs adopt a participatory methodology in their development programmes and projects, as they try to ensure that the active participation of women in rural development facilitates women’s access to resources and the realisation of their rights. These initiatives are important given the pronounced system of patriarchy which exists in communal areas. In the context of local patriarchies, NGOs also often claim that they empower women. This thesis focuses on the work of one particular NGO programme, namely the Amalima programme, with a particular focus on three wards in the communal areas in Gwanda, Zimbabwe. From a gendered perspective concerned with questions of women’s empowerment, the main objective of the thesis is to provide a critical analysis of the Amalima programme with particular reference to married women in Gwanda. Based on original fieldwork (including interviews with men, women and NGO practitioners), the thesis concludes that the outcomes of the Amalima programme in empowering married women in Gwanda are uneven and that, overall, the local system of patriarchy (including at household level) remains largely intact.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
The Influence of Clientelism on the Informal Sector in Zimbabwe : a Case Study of Glen View 8 Complex, Harare
- Authors: Tandire, Justin
- Date: 2021-04
- Subjects: Patron and client -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Informal sector (Economics) -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Informal sector (Economics) -- Political aspects -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Patronage, Political -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , ZANU-PF (Organization : Zimbabwe) , Zimbabwe -- Social conditions , Glen View Complex 8 (Zimbabwe)
- Language: English
- Type: thesis , text , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/177986 , vital:42896 , 10.21504/10962/177986
- Description: This study focuses on the influence of clientelism in the informal sector of Zimbabwe in Glen View 8 (Complex). The study used the case of Glen view 8 (complex) in Harare Province. The study focused on political dynamics in the informal sector; livelihood strategies employed by informal sector operators; manifestation of “Big Men”, social networks in the informal sector; and different strategies employed by operators to overcome the problems of political manipulation, clientelism and patronage. It employs a qualitative research methodology to enable a nuanced comprehension of the clientelistic relationships that take place in the informal sector of Zimbabwe. Through in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, narratives and in-depth interviews with key informants, the study explored the clientelistic nature of the informal sector. The major findings of the study are that the informal sector in Zimbabwe is influenced by political patronage. It was established that patronage influences the informal sector in Zimbabwe in general and at Glen View Complex 8 in particular. Some of the operators revealed that patronage negatively affects their business as they are sometimes forced to attend political party meetings either at the complex or at ZANU-PF star rallies in town. The operators experience a plethora of problems such as lack of security, poor sanitation, stiff competition, poor infrastructure, lack of insurance and fire outbreaks. It has been revealed that most of the problems experienced at the complex are a result of the politicisation of the informal sector particularly by the ZANU-PF party. Operators at the complex have described the politicisation of the informal sector as a major drawback to their efforts of realising maximum benefits from their work. Therefore, the thrust of this thesis is premised on the de-politicisation of the informal sector as the starting point in the transformation of the activities of the operators. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Sociology, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-04
- Authors: Tandire, Justin
- Date: 2021-04
- Subjects: Patron and client -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Informal sector (Economics) -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Informal sector (Economics) -- Political aspects -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Patronage, Political -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , ZANU-PF (Organization : Zimbabwe) , Zimbabwe -- Social conditions , Glen View Complex 8 (Zimbabwe)
- Language: English
- Type: thesis , text , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/177986 , vital:42896 , 10.21504/10962/177986
- Description: This study focuses on the influence of clientelism in the informal sector of Zimbabwe in Glen View 8 (Complex). The study used the case of Glen view 8 (complex) in Harare Province. The study focused on political dynamics in the informal sector; livelihood strategies employed by informal sector operators; manifestation of “Big Men”, social networks in the informal sector; and different strategies employed by operators to overcome the problems of political manipulation, clientelism and patronage. It employs a qualitative research methodology to enable a nuanced comprehension of the clientelistic relationships that take place in the informal sector of Zimbabwe. Through in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, narratives and in-depth interviews with key informants, the study explored the clientelistic nature of the informal sector. The major findings of the study are that the informal sector in Zimbabwe is influenced by political patronage. It was established that patronage influences the informal sector in Zimbabwe in general and at Glen View Complex 8 in particular. Some of the operators revealed that patronage negatively affects their business as they are sometimes forced to attend political party meetings either at the complex or at ZANU-PF star rallies in town. The operators experience a plethora of problems such as lack of security, poor sanitation, stiff competition, poor infrastructure, lack of insurance and fire outbreaks. It has been revealed that most of the problems experienced at the complex are a result of the politicisation of the informal sector particularly by the ZANU-PF party. Operators at the complex have described the politicisation of the informal sector as a major drawback to their efforts of realising maximum benefits from their work. Therefore, the thrust of this thesis is premised on the de-politicisation of the informal sector as the starting point in the transformation of the activities of the operators. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Sociology, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-04
“Willing victims”: a study of Zimbabwean migrant workers in the citrus industry of the Sundays River Valley, Eastern Cape
- Authors: Maisiri, Brandon James
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Migrant agricultural laborers South Africa Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Foreign workers, Zimbabwean South Africa Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Citrus fruit industry South Africa Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Job creation South Africa Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Work environment South Africa Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Agricultural wages Social aspects South Africa Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Marginality, Social South Africa Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Migrant agricultural laborers Legal status, laws, etc South Africa , Global Value Chains , International Labour Organisation's Decent Work Agenda
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/190657 , vital:45015
- Description: The citrus fruit industry is a large, lucrative industry on the global market. South Africa's citrus fruit industry competes globally and is firmly intergraded into the citrus global value chain (GVC). Sunday River's Valley (SRV) in the Eastern Cape is a powerhouse citrus producer in South Africa. This dissertation interrogates the impact of the citrus value chain on Zimbabwean unskilled immigrant farmworkers in the SRV, positioned at the bottom of the value chain. Mainstream global chain literature, which adopts a neo-liberal approach to development, assumes that businesses in the global south stand to benefit from integrating into global chains. This line of thinking also assumes that, by virtue of the suppliers’ experiencing economic upgrading, farm owners’ employees may experience social upgrading. The idea of social upgrading stems from the International Labour Organisation's Decent Work Agenda, which promotes workers' rights and conditions globally. In the agricultural sector, there is a growing trend of producers (in the global south) employing undocumented immigrant farmworkers. Free market economists perceive these immigrants' employment in the agricultural value chain as a progressive step for immigrants to step out of poverty. This study employs a qualitative research method to analyse social upgrading for immigrant workers in the citrus GVC. This is done by examining the selected workers' working and living conditions against the key pillars of the Decent Work Agenda. Using the critical GVC framework and a Marxist orientation, this study seeks to show that the use of migrant (especially undocumented) labour in the agricultural value chains is not empowering immigrants in the global south but is essentially a strategy of securing cheap and docile labour for profit maximization. While this can be said for local South African workers as well, the migrant workforce is peculiar as their fragile citizenship in South Africa makes them a less resistant labour force to farm owners labour law violations. This study's findings validate this contention, as they show that immigrants employed in the citrus industry in the Eastern Cape are subjected to several Decent Work deficits. The findings also show that these immigrants have no access to mechanisms of empowerment and are barely surviving from their earnings. , Thesis (MSocSci) -- Faculty of Humanities, Sociology, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
- Authors: Maisiri, Brandon James
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Migrant agricultural laborers South Africa Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Foreign workers, Zimbabwean South Africa Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Citrus fruit industry South Africa Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Job creation South Africa Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Work environment South Africa Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Agricultural wages Social aspects South Africa Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Marginality, Social South Africa Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Migrant agricultural laborers Legal status, laws, etc South Africa , Global Value Chains , International Labour Organisation's Decent Work Agenda
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/190657 , vital:45015
- Description: The citrus fruit industry is a large, lucrative industry on the global market. South Africa's citrus fruit industry competes globally and is firmly intergraded into the citrus global value chain (GVC). Sunday River's Valley (SRV) in the Eastern Cape is a powerhouse citrus producer in South Africa. This dissertation interrogates the impact of the citrus value chain on Zimbabwean unskilled immigrant farmworkers in the SRV, positioned at the bottom of the value chain. Mainstream global chain literature, which adopts a neo-liberal approach to development, assumes that businesses in the global south stand to benefit from integrating into global chains. This line of thinking also assumes that, by virtue of the suppliers’ experiencing economic upgrading, farm owners’ employees may experience social upgrading. The idea of social upgrading stems from the International Labour Organisation's Decent Work Agenda, which promotes workers' rights and conditions globally. In the agricultural sector, there is a growing trend of producers (in the global south) employing undocumented immigrant farmworkers. Free market economists perceive these immigrants' employment in the agricultural value chain as a progressive step for immigrants to step out of poverty. This study employs a qualitative research method to analyse social upgrading for immigrant workers in the citrus GVC. This is done by examining the selected workers' working and living conditions against the key pillars of the Decent Work Agenda. Using the critical GVC framework and a Marxist orientation, this study seeks to show that the use of migrant (especially undocumented) labour in the agricultural value chains is not empowering immigrants in the global south but is essentially a strategy of securing cheap and docile labour for profit maximization. While this can be said for local South African workers as well, the migrant workforce is peculiar as their fragile citizenship in South Africa makes them a less resistant labour force to farm owners labour law violations. This study's findings validate this contention, as they show that immigrants employed in the citrus industry in the Eastern Cape are subjected to several Decent Work deficits. The findings also show that these immigrants have no access to mechanisms of empowerment and are barely surviving from their earnings. , Thesis (MSocSci) -- Faculty of Humanities, Sociology, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
The impact of minimum wages on human resource management practices in the hospitality industry: a case study of selected firms in Polokwane, Limpopo Province
- Authors: Nkoana, Lekgoa Julia
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Minimum wage -- South Africa , Minimum wage -- Sociological aspects -- South Africa -- Polokane , Minimum wage -- South Africa -- Polokane -- Case studies , Hospitality industry -- South Africa -- Polokwane , Hospitality industry -- Sociological aspects -- South Africa -- Polokwane , Hospitality industry -- South Africa -- Polokwane -- Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSci
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/167188 , vital:41445
- Description: This thesis sought to identify and isolate the impact of the minimum wage in the hospitality industry of Polokwane. To achieve this, qualitative research methods were used. These methods enabled an in-depth understanding of minimum wages. Thus in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted as they provided detailed information by enabling the researcher and the participant to have an informal, but expressive conversation about the minimum wage. Contrary to the assumptions of orthodox economics, which claim minimum wages create a ‘shock’ resulting in job losses, this research found that the minimum wage was absorbed causing few disruptions in existing work and employment relations in the selected establishments. This capacity to absorb the minimum wage is largely the outcome of informal labour relations policies and practices.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Nkoana, Lekgoa Julia
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Minimum wage -- South Africa , Minimum wage -- Sociological aspects -- South Africa -- Polokane , Minimum wage -- South Africa -- Polokane -- Case studies , Hospitality industry -- South Africa -- Polokwane , Hospitality industry -- Sociological aspects -- South Africa -- Polokwane , Hospitality industry -- South Africa -- Polokwane -- Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSci
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/167188 , vital:41445
- Description: This thesis sought to identify and isolate the impact of the minimum wage in the hospitality industry of Polokwane. To achieve this, qualitative research methods were used. These methods enabled an in-depth understanding of minimum wages. Thus in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted as they provided detailed information by enabling the researcher and the participant to have an informal, but expressive conversation about the minimum wage. Contrary to the assumptions of orthodox economics, which claim minimum wages create a ‘shock’ resulting in job losses, this research found that the minimum wage was absorbed causing few disruptions in existing work and employment relations in the selected establishments. This capacity to absorb the minimum wage is largely the outcome of informal labour relations policies and practices.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
A gendered analysis of conditional cash based transfers: a case study of Puntland Technical Vocational Skills Training Programme, Somalia
- Authors: Chitombi, Rumbidzai
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Puntland Technical Vocational Skills Training Programme , Transfer payments -- Somalia -- Case studies , Economic assistance, Domestic -- Somalia , Economic development -- Social aspects -- Somalia , Women -- Somalia -- Social conditions
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/167335 , vital:41469
- Description: As part of the worldwide development system, conditional cash transfer (CCT) programmes have become an increasingly popular policy and development approach in seeking to address poverty, especially in developing countries. Under the CCT programmes, beneficiaries are given assistance in the form of either cash or cash vouchers after fulfilling certain obligations of the development programme, such as attending training, enacting proper health care, or ensuring regular school attendance of children. The programmes have been described as a ‘double-edged sword’ since they aim to address poverty and, at the same time, reduce reliance on government largesse. In this regard, they are seen as potentially effective, and more empowering, alternatives to more traditional social assistance programmes whereby poor people receive welfare assistance in the form of ‘in kind’ and ‘unconditional’ assistance, receiving this as either food or shelter commodities, and without having to meet any conditions in doing so. This ‘traditional’ way of assisting poor people has largely been criticised for creating a dependency syndrome amongst the beneficiaries. In certain cases, CCT programmes focus specifically on women, either in receiving the cash transfer or in meeting the conditions attached to the programme, or both. In this context, considerable debate exists in the scholarly literature about the effects of such CCT programmes on the situation and status of women, specifically in terms of possibly empowering women. While some scholars claim that these programmes enhance the human and financial assets of women, others argue that focusing specifically on women, and as care-givers within households, tends to reproduce gender-based inequalities and subordination. Since gender equality and female empowerment are now key issues in global development spheres, and at national levels, this thesis aims to contribute to literature on the effects of CCTs on gender and women’s empowerment. This is pursued by way of a gendered perspective on CCTs as a development methodology for empowering women with reference to Somalia, using the Puntland Technical Vocational Skills Training programme as a case study. This programme focused, in the main, on internally-displaced people in Somalia, with a particular emphasis on women in meeting the programme conditions (i.e. participating in a training programme) and in being the cash recipients. The study used both quantitative and qualitative approaches for data collection and analysis, focusing on sixty selected beneficiaries who participated in the Puntland Technical Vocational skills training programme in Somalia from 2013. The thesis examines the prevailing structures (including cultural dynamics and socio-economic factors) in Somalia which lead to women’s subordination, notably in the light of significant internal displacement because of war and conflict and the emergence of internally-displaced camps. On this basis, from a gendered perspective, there is a critical appraisal of the manner in which the Puntland CCT programme affected women’s subordinate status, including how it may have led to the restructuring of gendered relations at both household and community levels. In offering this appraisal with reference to the Puntland programme, the thesis argues that women’s subordination and, by extension, women’s empowerment, is multi-faceted, and that continuity and change along the dimensions of subordination is often uneven and contradictory. Further, as also demonstrated in the Puntland case study, women’s subordination (as a social totality) is not a totalising system, such that women regularly make use of gaps in the system as opportunities to enhance their well-being without confronting the totality of the system.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Chitombi, Rumbidzai
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Puntland Technical Vocational Skills Training Programme , Transfer payments -- Somalia -- Case studies , Economic assistance, Domestic -- Somalia , Economic development -- Social aspects -- Somalia , Women -- Somalia -- Social conditions
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/167335 , vital:41469
- Description: As part of the worldwide development system, conditional cash transfer (CCT) programmes have become an increasingly popular policy and development approach in seeking to address poverty, especially in developing countries. Under the CCT programmes, beneficiaries are given assistance in the form of either cash or cash vouchers after fulfilling certain obligations of the development programme, such as attending training, enacting proper health care, or ensuring regular school attendance of children. The programmes have been described as a ‘double-edged sword’ since they aim to address poverty and, at the same time, reduce reliance on government largesse. In this regard, they are seen as potentially effective, and more empowering, alternatives to more traditional social assistance programmes whereby poor people receive welfare assistance in the form of ‘in kind’ and ‘unconditional’ assistance, receiving this as either food or shelter commodities, and without having to meet any conditions in doing so. This ‘traditional’ way of assisting poor people has largely been criticised for creating a dependency syndrome amongst the beneficiaries. In certain cases, CCT programmes focus specifically on women, either in receiving the cash transfer or in meeting the conditions attached to the programme, or both. In this context, considerable debate exists in the scholarly literature about the effects of such CCT programmes on the situation and status of women, specifically in terms of possibly empowering women. While some scholars claim that these programmes enhance the human and financial assets of women, others argue that focusing specifically on women, and as care-givers within households, tends to reproduce gender-based inequalities and subordination. Since gender equality and female empowerment are now key issues in global development spheres, and at national levels, this thesis aims to contribute to literature on the effects of CCTs on gender and women’s empowerment. This is pursued by way of a gendered perspective on CCTs as a development methodology for empowering women with reference to Somalia, using the Puntland Technical Vocational Skills Training programme as a case study. This programme focused, in the main, on internally-displaced people in Somalia, with a particular emphasis on women in meeting the programme conditions (i.e. participating in a training programme) and in being the cash recipients. The study used both quantitative and qualitative approaches for data collection and analysis, focusing on sixty selected beneficiaries who participated in the Puntland Technical Vocational skills training programme in Somalia from 2013. The thesis examines the prevailing structures (including cultural dynamics and socio-economic factors) in Somalia which lead to women’s subordination, notably in the light of significant internal displacement because of war and conflict and the emergence of internally-displaced camps. On this basis, from a gendered perspective, there is a critical appraisal of the manner in which the Puntland CCT programme affected women’s subordinate status, including how it may have led to the restructuring of gendered relations at both household and community levels. In offering this appraisal with reference to the Puntland programme, the thesis argues that women’s subordination and, by extension, women’s empowerment, is multi-faceted, and that continuity and change along the dimensions of subordination is often uneven and contradictory. Further, as also demonstrated in the Puntland case study, women’s subordination (as a social totality) is not a totalising system, such that women regularly make use of gaps in the system as opportunities to enhance their well-being without confronting the totality of the system.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Mental health, where are we now?: a sociological analysis of the integration of mental health into primary healthcare in the Kingdom of Eswatini
- Authors: Dlamini, Zenanile Zoe
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Mental health services -- Eswatini , Psychiatric hospitals -- Eswatini , Primary health care -- Eswatini , Mentally ill -- Services for -- Eswatini , Mental health policy -- Eswatini
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSci
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/96269 , vital:31256
- Description: This is a qualitative study exploring the integration of mental health into primary healthcare in the Kingdom of Eswatini. Primary healthcare forms the basis of any healthcare service provision. Primary Healthcare for mental health is an essential component of any well-functioning health system. Making mental healthcare available in primary healthcare allows for early detection and early treatment while it is still easier and cheaper. Purposive sampling was used to recruit nursesand a government official in the Hhohho region in the Kingdom of Eswatini.The study found that there are major challenges in the primary health care clinics, and this negatively affects the WHO (2001) proposal on mental health integration into primary health care. This finding is similar to other low-income countries’ challenges in mental health integration into primary health care. The impact of neo-liberal policies on healthcare in Eswatini is explored and it is clear these policies impact the ability of the Ministry of Health to provide health care. The study also drew on the symbolic interaction perspective to understand the meanings that nurses attach to mental illness and their experiences mental health care.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Dlamini, Zenanile Zoe
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Mental health services -- Eswatini , Psychiatric hospitals -- Eswatini , Primary health care -- Eswatini , Mentally ill -- Services for -- Eswatini , Mental health policy -- Eswatini
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSci
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/96269 , vital:31256
- Description: This is a qualitative study exploring the integration of mental health into primary healthcare in the Kingdom of Eswatini. Primary healthcare forms the basis of any healthcare service provision. Primary Healthcare for mental health is an essential component of any well-functioning health system. Making mental healthcare available in primary healthcare allows for early detection and early treatment while it is still easier and cheaper. Purposive sampling was used to recruit nursesand a government official in the Hhohho region in the Kingdom of Eswatini.The study found that there are major challenges in the primary health care clinics, and this negatively affects the WHO (2001) proposal on mental health integration into primary health care. This finding is similar to other low-income countries’ challenges in mental health integration into primary health care. The impact of neo-liberal policies on healthcare in Eswatini is explored and it is clear these policies impact the ability of the Ministry of Health to provide health care. The study also drew on the symbolic interaction perspective to understand the meanings that nurses attach to mental illness and their experiences mental health care.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Understanding the role of social capital in enhancing community resilience to natural disasters: a case study of Muzarabani District, Zimbabwe
- Authors: Kasimba, Rosemary
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Social capital (Sociology) -- Zimbabwe , Natural disasters -- Zimbabwe -- Social aspects , Resilience (Personality trait) -- Zimbabwe , Food security -- Climatic factors -- Zimbabwe , Social sciences -- Network analysis , Cooperativeness -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60292 , vital:27763
- Description: The central focus of the study was to seek an understanding of the role that Social Capital plays in enhancing the resilience and adaptive capacity of the community to floods and droughts in Muzarabani District of Northern Zimbabwe. The study was conducted in two of the wards in Muzarabani District namely Chadereka and Kapembere. In addition, the study sought to understand the coping and adaptation strategies employed by the most vulnerable groups such as the elderly, child heads, women and single heads of households. The specific objectives of the study were: to understand the effects of floods and droughts on residents’ livelihoods and food security, examine residents’ perceptions on droughts andfloods and to document community-based strategies utilised by women, child-headed families and the elderly to improve their livelihood and food security in the face of floods and droughts, explore different types of Social Capital that exist in the study area especially with regard to household resilience to disasters, comprehend the basis of residents’ resilience to floods and droughts and the extent to which vulnerable groups rely on Social Capital when coping with these disasters and to examine the repercussions of residents’ strategies on the community’s institutional structures. The study was informed by Social Capital theory and the social network analysis. Social Capital plays a pivotal role in enhancing the resilience of the community to floods and droughts. Different types of Social Capital that exist and help people to deal with floods and droughts include linking, bonding, and bridging and victim Social Capital. Inhabitants within and outside villages support each other. Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and the government are also working hand in hand with community members to reduce the negative impacts of floods and droughts. Volunteerism, generalised reciprocity and mutual understanding are also at the centre of interventions. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches to achieve its objectives. Questionnaires, focus groups discussions, observations, transect walks, key informant interviews and some participatory methods were used to collect data. SPSS, content and thematic analysis were used to analyse data. The study found that floods and droughts negatively impact on human security, causing acute food shortages, intensifying poverty, spread of water related diseases, increasing divorce rates, children dropping out of school, reduced livestock and crop production, family disintegration, chaos in religion, exacerbating local unemployment as well as negatively affecting the wellbeing of community members. On a positive note, floods in Chadereka cause the deposition of alluvial soils that are good for crop production. However, in Kapembere, volunteerism is not very common; inhabitants are not yet trained about the concept. Community members have also formed cooperatives where they would give each other money or grain. In Chadereka, women have formed a mother-support-group to assist children with food in schools. Strategies being employed by the most vulnerable groups include casual labour, joining cooperatives, migration, taking children from school, hiring out cattle, selling of assets, riverine farming, growing drought-resistant crops, making use of indigenous knowledge systems, skipping meals and exploiting natural resources among others. Some women have resorted to prostitution to increase their resilience to floods and drought impacts such as poverty and acute food shortages. The elderly also hire out their cattle. They also rely on support from the government and NGOs. There are a number of challenges faced by residents in dealing with floods and droughts. Community social relationships, migration, casual labour and the sale of assets are the basis of the people’s resilience against the impacts of floods and droughts. The study identified the following issues which all stakeholders involved could take note of: the government should not always be suspicious of disaster-risk reduction strategies implemented by NGOs as this scares away some of them that are willing to offer untied or unconditional assistance; timely and impartial distribution of agricultural inputs to inhabitants would be extremely useful. Moreover, the government needs to provide resources that support local organisations (formed by the local people) to assist the most vulnerable people in communities. Community leaders, together with the government and NGOs, are encouraged to hold awareness campaign programmes that dispel tribal and ethnic stereotypes, to promote local Social Capital among members of the community. Further investigations in the following areas are critical: A more comprehensive assessment of the determinants of resilience to droughts and floods in Zimbabwe is necessary.A study on the challenges faced by the disabled people and women in polygamous marriages and how they are adapting to floods and droughts, needs to be conducted and a critical investigation on the Zimbabwean government’s strengths and weaknesses in enhancing the resilience of the community to floods and droughts is necessary among others.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Kasimba, Rosemary
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Social capital (Sociology) -- Zimbabwe , Natural disasters -- Zimbabwe -- Social aspects , Resilience (Personality trait) -- Zimbabwe , Food security -- Climatic factors -- Zimbabwe , Social sciences -- Network analysis , Cooperativeness -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60292 , vital:27763
- Description: The central focus of the study was to seek an understanding of the role that Social Capital plays in enhancing the resilience and adaptive capacity of the community to floods and droughts in Muzarabani District of Northern Zimbabwe. The study was conducted in two of the wards in Muzarabani District namely Chadereka and Kapembere. In addition, the study sought to understand the coping and adaptation strategies employed by the most vulnerable groups such as the elderly, child heads, women and single heads of households. The specific objectives of the study were: to understand the effects of floods and droughts on residents’ livelihoods and food security, examine residents’ perceptions on droughts andfloods and to document community-based strategies utilised by women, child-headed families and the elderly to improve their livelihood and food security in the face of floods and droughts, explore different types of Social Capital that exist in the study area especially with regard to household resilience to disasters, comprehend the basis of residents’ resilience to floods and droughts and the extent to which vulnerable groups rely on Social Capital when coping with these disasters and to examine the repercussions of residents’ strategies on the community’s institutional structures. The study was informed by Social Capital theory and the social network analysis. Social Capital plays a pivotal role in enhancing the resilience of the community to floods and droughts. Different types of Social Capital that exist and help people to deal with floods and droughts include linking, bonding, and bridging and victim Social Capital. Inhabitants within and outside villages support each other. Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and the government are also working hand in hand with community members to reduce the negative impacts of floods and droughts. Volunteerism, generalised reciprocity and mutual understanding are also at the centre of interventions. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches to achieve its objectives. Questionnaires, focus groups discussions, observations, transect walks, key informant interviews and some participatory methods were used to collect data. SPSS, content and thematic analysis were used to analyse data. The study found that floods and droughts negatively impact on human security, causing acute food shortages, intensifying poverty, spread of water related diseases, increasing divorce rates, children dropping out of school, reduced livestock and crop production, family disintegration, chaos in religion, exacerbating local unemployment as well as negatively affecting the wellbeing of community members. On a positive note, floods in Chadereka cause the deposition of alluvial soils that are good for crop production. However, in Kapembere, volunteerism is not very common; inhabitants are not yet trained about the concept. Community members have also formed cooperatives where they would give each other money or grain. In Chadereka, women have formed a mother-support-group to assist children with food in schools. Strategies being employed by the most vulnerable groups include casual labour, joining cooperatives, migration, taking children from school, hiring out cattle, selling of assets, riverine farming, growing drought-resistant crops, making use of indigenous knowledge systems, skipping meals and exploiting natural resources among others. Some women have resorted to prostitution to increase their resilience to floods and drought impacts such as poverty and acute food shortages. The elderly also hire out their cattle. They also rely on support from the government and NGOs. There are a number of challenges faced by residents in dealing with floods and droughts. Community social relationships, migration, casual labour and the sale of assets are the basis of the people’s resilience against the impacts of floods and droughts. The study identified the following issues which all stakeholders involved could take note of: the government should not always be suspicious of disaster-risk reduction strategies implemented by NGOs as this scares away some of them that are willing to offer untied or unconditional assistance; timely and impartial distribution of agricultural inputs to inhabitants would be extremely useful. Moreover, the government needs to provide resources that support local organisations (formed by the local people) to assist the most vulnerable people in communities. Community leaders, together with the government and NGOs, are encouraged to hold awareness campaign programmes that dispel tribal and ethnic stereotypes, to promote local Social Capital among members of the community. Further investigations in the following areas are critical: A more comprehensive assessment of the determinants of resilience to droughts and floods in Zimbabwe is necessary.A study on the challenges faced by the disabled people and women in polygamous marriages and how they are adapting to floods and droughts, needs to be conducted and a critical investigation on the Zimbabwean government’s strengths and weaknesses in enhancing the resilience of the community to floods and droughts is necessary among others.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Perceptions and experience of school violence among teachers and learners within a black township in the Sarah Baartman District, Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Ndemka, Sibulela
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: School violence South Africa Eastern Cape , Teachers South Africa Eastern Cape Attitudes , High school students South Africa Eastern Cape Attitudes , High school students Conduct of life , High school students Economic conditions , High school students Social conditions , Social constructionism South Africa Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/190760 , vital:45025
- Description: In exploring the knowledge/awarness of school violence within the teacher and student school relationship. The principal objective of the study was to investigate the perceptions and experiences of school violence among teachers and learners by reference to a public high school in a historically black African, working class township in the Sarah Baartman District Municipality, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. The high school was chosen for its geographical location within the community and relative nature of shared stories of violence within the surrounding vicinity. The conceptual, theoretical, and analytical frameworks underpinning this study is social constructionism theory, expanding from the theoretical claim that violence is socially constructed through the process of socialisation and institutionalization. The study reviewed relavant literature on violence in South African schools highlighting the relationship of school violence to current social and educational challenges and crises and the impact that school violence has on learners, teachers, and communities. The research methodology employed is qualitative and evidence was derived through semi-structured in-depth interviews. A sample male and female teachers and learners were recruited through networking. The researcher recruited participants outside the school and through participant referrals to uncover intricacies of school violence drawing on relevant literature in relation to the dynamics of this social and institutional problem. Data was analysed and thematically presented in line with the research objectives. The study findings imply that school violence is complex and gendered. Arguing that cultural, socio-economic, family, community, and social interpersonal factors account for school violence in South Africa. Male teachers and students mostly bieng the victims and perpetrators, implicating this behaviour to a culture of toxic masculinity and shared complicities as contributing factors to school violence. In addition, the study found that the change in status and expectations of boys who return from initiation sometimes provoked violence between initiated learners and adults who did not accord them the respect expected post-initiation. , Thesis (MSocSci) -- Faculty of Humanities, Sociology, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
- Authors: Ndemka, Sibulela
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: School violence South Africa Eastern Cape , Teachers South Africa Eastern Cape Attitudes , High school students South Africa Eastern Cape Attitudes , High school students Conduct of life , High school students Economic conditions , High school students Social conditions , Social constructionism South Africa Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/190760 , vital:45025
- Description: In exploring the knowledge/awarness of school violence within the teacher and student school relationship. The principal objective of the study was to investigate the perceptions and experiences of school violence among teachers and learners by reference to a public high school in a historically black African, working class township in the Sarah Baartman District Municipality, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. The high school was chosen for its geographical location within the community and relative nature of shared stories of violence within the surrounding vicinity. The conceptual, theoretical, and analytical frameworks underpinning this study is social constructionism theory, expanding from the theoretical claim that violence is socially constructed through the process of socialisation and institutionalization. The study reviewed relavant literature on violence in South African schools highlighting the relationship of school violence to current social and educational challenges and crises and the impact that school violence has on learners, teachers, and communities. The research methodology employed is qualitative and evidence was derived through semi-structured in-depth interviews. A sample male and female teachers and learners were recruited through networking. The researcher recruited participants outside the school and through participant referrals to uncover intricacies of school violence drawing on relevant literature in relation to the dynamics of this social and institutional problem. Data was analysed and thematically presented in line with the research objectives. The study findings imply that school violence is complex and gendered. Arguing that cultural, socio-economic, family, community, and social interpersonal factors account for school violence in South Africa. Male teachers and students mostly bieng the victims and perpetrators, implicating this behaviour to a culture of toxic masculinity and shared complicities as contributing factors to school violence. In addition, the study found that the change in status and expectations of boys who return from initiation sometimes provoked violence between initiated learners and adults who did not accord them the respect expected post-initiation. , Thesis (MSocSci) -- Faculty of Humanities, Sociology, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
Oversight mechanisms and service delivery: a case study of municipal public accounts committee oversight of electricity services in Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality
- Authors: Mpofu, Sibabalwe
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Municipal services South Africa , Local government South Africa , Local service delivery , Public sector , Oversight , Economics Sociological aspects , Government accountability South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/408671 , vital:70515
- Description: Over the last few years, there has been a notable increase in popularity in the use of cannabidiol (CBD) as a form of alternative medicinal treatment for various illnesses. CBD, a by-product of the cannabis plant, is an isolate and does not contain the psychoactive agent, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Endometriosis and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) are chronic reproductive health sicknesses that are increasingly experienced by women. In the absence of cures, biomedical treatment for these diseases aim to manage symptoms, for example; heavy bleeding, heightened levels of pain, and insomnia. CBD offers an alternative to women who feel that biomedical interventions are no longer able to maintain their health and well-being. CBD positions itself as a natural remedy claiming to be safe and effective. This research study, mainly through qualitative data collection, focused on experiences of Zimbabwean and South African women living with endometriosis and/ or PCOS, who have turned to CBD to manage their symptoms. The importance of this study was to position itself within patients’ lived experiences. The research study found that CBD indeed has numerous benefits, including pain management, alleviating stress, and anxiety. Through the emergent themes from the data, it became clear that women are marginalised and treated unequally in the biomedical healthcare sphere. Feminist Anthropology and Structural Violence was applied to analyse the data collected to explore the patriarchal nature of the biomedical healthcare system and the experiences that women have, which has led them to turn to alternative treatments. , Thesis (MSocSci) -- Faculty of Humanities, Sociology, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-14
- Authors: Mpofu, Sibabalwe
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Municipal services South Africa , Local government South Africa , Local service delivery , Public sector , Oversight , Economics Sociological aspects , Government accountability South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/408671 , vital:70515
- Description: Over the last few years, there has been a notable increase in popularity in the use of cannabidiol (CBD) as a form of alternative medicinal treatment for various illnesses. CBD, a by-product of the cannabis plant, is an isolate and does not contain the psychoactive agent, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Endometriosis and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) are chronic reproductive health sicknesses that are increasingly experienced by women. In the absence of cures, biomedical treatment for these diseases aim to manage symptoms, for example; heavy bleeding, heightened levels of pain, and insomnia. CBD offers an alternative to women who feel that biomedical interventions are no longer able to maintain their health and well-being. CBD positions itself as a natural remedy claiming to be safe and effective. This research study, mainly through qualitative data collection, focused on experiences of Zimbabwean and South African women living with endometriosis and/ or PCOS, who have turned to CBD to manage their symptoms. The importance of this study was to position itself within patients’ lived experiences. The research study found that CBD indeed has numerous benefits, including pain management, alleviating stress, and anxiety. Through the emergent themes from the data, it became clear that women are marginalised and treated unequally in the biomedical healthcare sphere. Feminist Anthropology and Structural Violence was applied to analyse the data collected to explore the patriarchal nature of the biomedical healthcare system and the experiences that women have, which has led them to turn to alternative treatments. , Thesis (MSocSci) -- Faculty of Humanities, Sociology, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-14
A social capital analysis of citizen participation and service delivery in metropolitan government in Zimbabwe: the case of Glenview, Harare since 2013
- Authors: Sachikonye, Tafadzwa I
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Social capital (Sociology) -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Municipal services -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Local government -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Public administration -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Citizen particpation -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Local government --Citizen participation -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Harare (Zimbabwe). City Council
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/96236 , vital:31253
- Description: Significant challenges exist in contemporary Zimbabwe with regard to urban government, including with specific reference to citizenship participation and service delivery capacities. One of the crucial factors considered in the existing literature when examining urban government is the extent to which the central government intrudes in the affairs of urban government. This is particularly important given that, in recent years, many urban governments have been controlled by the main opposition party in the country. In this context, the thesis offers a critical examination of urban government in contemporary Zimbabwe by focusing on urban government in Harare (the capital) and, even more specifically, on the high-density, low-income area of Glenview. Harare is one of two metropolitan urban areas in Zimbabwe, along with Bulawayo, and is governed by the Harare City Council. While the central state’s relationship with urban governments (including Harare) in Zimbabwe is important, and is examined in this thesis, the primary concern is how this and other factors affect citizenship participation and service delivery in Harare. In pursuing this, the thesis draws upon social capital theory (including questions around trust and networks) to facilitate a critical analysis of urban government, citizenship participation and service delivery in Harare and Glenview specifically. The fieldwork for this thesis involved a qualitative research methodology, including informal interviews with relevant local stakeholders in Harare and associated documents. The thesis concludes that localised political, social and other contextual factors in Harare undercut the prospects for meaningful citizenship participation (with forms of social exclusion existing) and that this has negative implications for effective and efficient service delivery mechanisms.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Sachikonye, Tafadzwa I
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Social capital (Sociology) -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Municipal services -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Local government -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Public administration -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Citizen particpation -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Local government --Citizen participation -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Harare (Zimbabwe). City Council
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/96236 , vital:31253
- Description: Significant challenges exist in contemporary Zimbabwe with regard to urban government, including with specific reference to citizenship participation and service delivery capacities. One of the crucial factors considered in the existing literature when examining urban government is the extent to which the central government intrudes in the affairs of urban government. This is particularly important given that, in recent years, many urban governments have been controlled by the main opposition party in the country. In this context, the thesis offers a critical examination of urban government in contemporary Zimbabwe by focusing on urban government in Harare (the capital) and, even more specifically, on the high-density, low-income area of Glenview. Harare is one of two metropolitan urban areas in Zimbabwe, along with Bulawayo, and is governed by the Harare City Council. While the central state’s relationship with urban governments (including Harare) in Zimbabwe is important, and is examined in this thesis, the primary concern is how this and other factors affect citizenship participation and service delivery in Harare. In pursuing this, the thesis draws upon social capital theory (including questions around trust and networks) to facilitate a critical analysis of urban government, citizenship participation and service delivery in Harare and Glenview specifically. The fieldwork for this thesis involved a qualitative research methodology, including informal interviews with relevant local stakeholders in Harare and associated documents. The thesis concludes that localised political, social and other contextual factors in Harare undercut the prospects for meaningful citizenship participation (with forms of social exclusion existing) and that this has negative implications for effective and efficient service delivery mechanisms.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Embodied difference in manhood: A sociological analysis of the intersection of visible physical impairments and manhood among Xhosa men in the Eastern Cape
- Authors: Sipungu, Thoko Andy
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Masculinity South Africa Eastern Cape , Sex role South Africa Eastern Cape , Sex role Psychological aspects , Men with disabilities South Africa Eastern Cape , People with disabilities Social conditions , Xhosa (African people) South Africa Eastern Cape Social life and customs , Male domination (Social structure) South Africa Eastern Cape , Circumcision Social aspects South Africa Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/191658 , vital:45145 , 10.21504/10962/191658
- Description: In this thesis, I outline possible answers to the question of what it means to be a Xhosa man living with a visible physical impairment. Drawing on 17 one-on-one in-depth interviews and through an interpretive phenomenological thematic analysis, this thesis explores the intersection of physical disabilities and manhood masculinity in Xhosa men in selected rural areas in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The intention for this study is to better our understanding concerning the creation, negotiation, maintenance, and recreation of manhood identities by traditionally circumcised Xhosa men in the Eastern Cape who by birth, accident, or illness find themselves at the intersections of masculinity and physical disability. Research notes that the bodies of men with disabilities serve as a continual reminder that they are at odds with the expectations of the dominant manhood cultures. The main argument from this area of research is that men with disabilities are outside the hegemony because they undermine the normative role and shape of the body in Western cultures. However, this line of argumentation stands in sharp contrast to arguments that the hegemony in Xhosa manhood masculinity is primarily and conclusively achieved by having a traditionally circumcised penis without any consideration of the full embodiments of men. Therefore, this study, in the first instance, seeks to bring embodiment into the analyses of manhood by focusing on physical disability amongst traditionally circumcised Xhosa men. Through an embodied theoretical approach to their disabilities that accounts for the corporeal experience of impairment, and theories of masculinity that centre the context, this thesis establishes, in the first instance, the significance of embodiment in doing Xhosa manhood. Concerning the research aims and objectives, this study sheds light on what it means to be a Xhosa man living with visible physical impairment. In this regard, the original findings are classified according to each research aims and objective, as outlined below. Concerning the first research aim, I found that the participants struggle to speak about their bodies outside of physical labour/work despite their impairments. I explain their inability to talk about their disabled bodies by looking at traditional Xhosa initiation as a grantor of equality and sameness. Secondly, I argue that there is a higher premium on social bodies rather than physical bodies in this context, thus their inability to speak about their conditions. Lastly, I make connections between the participants’ inabilities to talk about their bodies and the lasting impact of colonial and apartheid histories. Concerning the second research aim, I explore ways and strategies they employ to respond to and negotiate Xhosa manhood masculinity's dominant cultural demands. In this regard, I note that the participants who acquired their impairments after initiation consider their disability as a second initiation because they see it as having set them back to square one regarding their manhood responsibilities. In contrast, the participants who acquired their disabilities post-initiation saw initiation as a gateway to a more respectable personhood status. I also note that there is an emergence of alternative Xhosa manhood masculinities. Lastly, I also found that contrary to western scholarship on disability and manhood, the participants distinguish between threatened manhood identity versus threatened status as a man. I outline how they arrive at this distinction. In terms of researching the last research aim, this thesis explores how the participants negotiate their ‘embodied difference’ in mundane everyday living. I explore their taken-for-granted routines in doing and being disabled Xhosa men every day. In this regard, this study presents original and interesting findings regarding sex and intimacy, social interactions and sociability, and everyday home living. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Sociology, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
- Authors: Sipungu, Thoko Andy
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Masculinity South Africa Eastern Cape , Sex role South Africa Eastern Cape , Sex role Psychological aspects , Men with disabilities South Africa Eastern Cape , People with disabilities Social conditions , Xhosa (African people) South Africa Eastern Cape Social life and customs , Male domination (Social structure) South Africa Eastern Cape , Circumcision Social aspects South Africa Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/191658 , vital:45145 , 10.21504/10962/191658
- Description: In this thesis, I outline possible answers to the question of what it means to be a Xhosa man living with a visible physical impairment. Drawing on 17 one-on-one in-depth interviews and through an interpretive phenomenological thematic analysis, this thesis explores the intersection of physical disabilities and manhood masculinity in Xhosa men in selected rural areas in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The intention for this study is to better our understanding concerning the creation, negotiation, maintenance, and recreation of manhood identities by traditionally circumcised Xhosa men in the Eastern Cape who by birth, accident, or illness find themselves at the intersections of masculinity and physical disability. Research notes that the bodies of men with disabilities serve as a continual reminder that they are at odds with the expectations of the dominant manhood cultures. The main argument from this area of research is that men with disabilities are outside the hegemony because they undermine the normative role and shape of the body in Western cultures. However, this line of argumentation stands in sharp contrast to arguments that the hegemony in Xhosa manhood masculinity is primarily and conclusively achieved by having a traditionally circumcised penis without any consideration of the full embodiments of men. Therefore, this study, in the first instance, seeks to bring embodiment into the analyses of manhood by focusing on physical disability amongst traditionally circumcised Xhosa men. Through an embodied theoretical approach to their disabilities that accounts for the corporeal experience of impairment, and theories of masculinity that centre the context, this thesis establishes, in the first instance, the significance of embodiment in doing Xhosa manhood. Concerning the research aims and objectives, this study sheds light on what it means to be a Xhosa man living with visible physical impairment. In this regard, the original findings are classified according to each research aims and objective, as outlined below. Concerning the first research aim, I found that the participants struggle to speak about their bodies outside of physical labour/work despite their impairments. I explain their inability to talk about their disabled bodies by looking at traditional Xhosa initiation as a grantor of equality and sameness. Secondly, I argue that there is a higher premium on social bodies rather than physical bodies in this context, thus their inability to speak about their conditions. Lastly, I make connections between the participants’ inabilities to talk about their bodies and the lasting impact of colonial and apartheid histories. Concerning the second research aim, I explore ways and strategies they employ to respond to and negotiate Xhosa manhood masculinity's dominant cultural demands. In this regard, I note that the participants who acquired their impairments after initiation consider their disability as a second initiation because they see it as having set them back to square one regarding their manhood responsibilities. In contrast, the participants who acquired their disabilities post-initiation saw initiation as a gateway to a more respectable personhood status. I also note that there is an emergence of alternative Xhosa manhood masculinities. Lastly, I also found that contrary to western scholarship on disability and manhood, the participants distinguish between threatened manhood identity versus threatened status as a man. I outline how they arrive at this distinction. In terms of researching the last research aim, this thesis explores how the participants negotiate their ‘embodied difference’ in mundane everyday living. I explore their taken-for-granted routines in doing and being disabled Xhosa men every day. In this regard, this study presents original and interesting findings regarding sex and intimacy, social interactions and sociability, and everyday home living. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Sociology, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
“Why me, Lord?”: some social factors associated with the receipt of a donor heart in South Africa
- Authors: Hartle, Raymond
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Heart -- Transplantation -- Social aspects , Heart -- Transplantation -- Recipients -- Psychology , Heart -- Transplantation -- South Africa , Chronic diseases -- Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSci
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/146265 , vital:38510
- Description: Since the first human-to-human heart transplant in the world was performed by Prof Chris Barnard in Cape Town in 1967, heart transplantation has become the gold standard to treat people suffering from end stage heart failure. This thesis explores heart recipients’ perceptions and experiences of their chronic heart illness before and after transplantation. It examines the medical experience in terms of the clinical diagnosis, the standard of communication about the illness and the proposed treatment, and the post-transplant regime. It also reflects how recipients make sense of heart disease and learn to live with a transplanted heart. The thesis also shows the extent to which the recipients’ culture and individual identity impact such complex medical issues as end stage heart failure and transplantation. Qualitative research was undertaken in private sector heart transplant programmes in South Africa. The study is underpinned by Mishel’s (1990) uncertainty theory as well as by social constructionism.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Hartle, Raymond
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Heart -- Transplantation -- Social aspects , Heart -- Transplantation -- Recipients -- Psychology , Heart -- Transplantation -- South Africa , Chronic diseases -- Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSci
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/146265 , vital:38510
- Description: Since the first human-to-human heart transplant in the world was performed by Prof Chris Barnard in Cape Town in 1967, heart transplantation has become the gold standard to treat people suffering from end stage heart failure. This thesis explores heart recipients’ perceptions and experiences of their chronic heart illness before and after transplantation. It examines the medical experience in terms of the clinical diagnosis, the standard of communication about the illness and the proposed treatment, and the post-transplant regime. It also reflects how recipients make sense of heart disease and learn to live with a transplanted heart. The thesis also shows the extent to which the recipients’ culture and individual identity impact such complex medical issues as end stage heart failure and transplantation. Qualitative research was undertaken in private sector heart transplant programmes in South Africa. The study is underpinned by Mishel’s (1990) uncertainty theory as well as by social constructionism.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Competing policy imperatives in Post-Apartheid South Africa: An analysis of the effects and larger significance of ESKOM restructuring on the South African automotive industry, 2005-2014
- Authors: Sibuyi, Lucas Nkosana
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Eskom (Firm) , South Africa Colonial influence , Electric power Conservation South Africa , Electric utilities Government ownership South Africa , Electric utilities Privatization South Africa , Import substitution South Africa , Government business enterprises South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192911 , vital:45278 , 10.21504/10962/192911
- Description: The state has played an indispensable, major role in the industrialisation of South Africa, and its transformation from an economy of agriculture and mining to one based on manufacturing and services by the 1970s. Large state-owned corporations in communications and transportation, finance, industry and power have been key to this process, which also involved an extensive (and racist form of) import substitution industrialisation (ISI) from the 1920s. The 1970s saw a shift towards neoliberal policies, first under the National-Party-led apartheid government and then under the African-National-Congress-led democratic government formed in 1994. Since the 1980s, this restructuring has profoundly affected state-owned enterprises (SOEs), including the monopoly electricity utility ESKOM, and manufacturing industries, such as the automotive sector. This thesis examines the evolution of and interaction between different areas of neoliberal policy, and their evolution over time through a consideration of the relationship between the restructuring of SOEs and manufacturing, with a focus on ESKOM and autotomotives respectively. Relying on interviews with senior officials, policymakers, union leaders and industrialists, as well as primary documents, the study examines the responses of OEMs in South Africa (BMW, Ford, General Motors, Mercedes Benz/Daimler, Nissan, Toyota and Volkswagen) to ESKOM’s actions, and analyses the root of these actions. It argues that while restructuring has been framed by a common framework, policy development and implementation is not coordinated or cohesive. ESKOM, for example, gutted investment in electricity and maintenance generation capacity to become profitable and create space for Independent Power Providers (IPPs) – neoliberal measures for which it was rewarded and lauded. This took place at a time when national policy emphasised the need to grow manufacturing and attract direct investment by creating an investor-friendly climate resting on infrastructure. It also took place when the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) rolled out highly successful plans – also praised and rewarded – to help adjust automotives to open markets; the sector grew much larger than under ISI, while other sectors like textiles collapsed. ESKOM’s measures, however, led to a rapid decline in the capacity and stability of the power system, and directly contradicted the drive to expand and globalise manufacturing, in which automotives was now the leading edge. Corruption in the utility worsened, much of it through subcontracting measures rooted in neoliberal reforms, but this did not cause the basic problems. It is argued that this situation of competing policy imperatives reflects deeper, long-term problems in the South African state, including contradictory policies, uneven capacity and a lack of coordination. For example, there was no coordination between the DTI and stakeholder departments that regulate ESKOM, being the shareholder ministry, the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) and its policy ministry, and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE). These types of problems did not start postapartheid, and post-1994 reforms have not adequately addressed them. What exists is not a “developmental” state, as policymakers hope, but a fractured state of an intermediate type that combines “developmental” and “predatory” features in a oneparty dominant system in which lines between ruling party and state blur, and state resources are leveraged for elite class formation. Such was the case under apartheid skippered by the NP, with Afrikanerisation, and it continues today post-apartheid under the ANC with BEE. Major reforms are needed, but not just in SOE governance or budgets, as many have suggested. If we are to take the nation forward, the basic design of the state must be reformed. The state needs professionalised, coherent policy-making and implementation, proper coordination of state entities and hard decisions. It should manage high levels of public infrastructure, guarantee political stability and credit ratings, and provide policy certainty and predictability. Without big reforms it will remain a chronic underperformer. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Sociology, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
- Authors: Sibuyi, Lucas Nkosana
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Eskom (Firm) , South Africa Colonial influence , Electric power Conservation South Africa , Electric utilities Government ownership South Africa , Electric utilities Privatization South Africa , Import substitution South Africa , Government business enterprises South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192911 , vital:45278 , 10.21504/10962/192911
- Description: The state has played an indispensable, major role in the industrialisation of South Africa, and its transformation from an economy of agriculture and mining to one based on manufacturing and services by the 1970s. Large state-owned corporations in communications and transportation, finance, industry and power have been key to this process, which also involved an extensive (and racist form of) import substitution industrialisation (ISI) from the 1920s. The 1970s saw a shift towards neoliberal policies, first under the National-Party-led apartheid government and then under the African-National-Congress-led democratic government formed in 1994. Since the 1980s, this restructuring has profoundly affected state-owned enterprises (SOEs), including the monopoly electricity utility ESKOM, and manufacturing industries, such as the automotive sector. This thesis examines the evolution of and interaction between different areas of neoliberal policy, and their evolution over time through a consideration of the relationship between the restructuring of SOEs and manufacturing, with a focus on ESKOM and autotomotives respectively. Relying on interviews with senior officials, policymakers, union leaders and industrialists, as well as primary documents, the study examines the responses of OEMs in South Africa (BMW, Ford, General Motors, Mercedes Benz/Daimler, Nissan, Toyota and Volkswagen) to ESKOM’s actions, and analyses the root of these actions. It argues that while restructuring has been framed by a common framework, policy development and implementation is not coordinated or cohesive. ESKOM, for example, gutted investment in electricity and maintenance generation capacity to become profitable and create space for Independent Power Providers (IPPs) – neoliberal measures for which it was rewarded and lauded. This took place at a time when national policy emphasised the need to grow manufacturing and attract direct investment by creating an investor-friendly climate resting on infrastructure. It also took place when the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) rolled out highly successful plans – also praised and rewarded – to help adjust automotives to open markets; the sector grew much larger than under ISI, while other sectors like textiles collapsed. ESKOM’s measures, however, led to a rapid decline in the capacity and stability of the power system, and directly contradicted the drive to expand and globalise manufacturing, in which automotives was now the leading edge. Corruption in the utility worsened, much of it through subcontracting measures rooted in neoliberal reforms, but this did not cause the basic problems. It is argued that this situation of competing policy imperatives reflects deeper, long-term problems in the South African state, including contradictory policies, uneven capacity and a lack of coordination. For example, there was no coordination between the DTI and stakeholder departments that regulate ESKOM, being the shareholder ministry, the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) and its policy ministry, and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE). These types of problems did not start postapartheid, and post-1994 reforms have not adequately addressed them. What exists is not a “developmental” state, as policymakers hope, but a fractured state of an intermediate type that combines “developmental” and “predatory” features in a oneparty dominant system in which lines between ruling party and state blur, and state resources are leveraged for elite class formation. Such was the case under apartheid skippered by the NP, with Afrikanerisation, and it continues today post-apartheid under the ANC with BEE. Major reforms are needed, but not just in SOE governance or budgets, as many have suggested. If we are to take the nation forward, the basic design of the state must be reformed. The state needs professionalised, coherent policy-making and implementation, proper coordination of state entities and hard decisions. It should manage high levels of public infrastructure, guarantee political stability and credit ratings, and provide policy certainty and predictability. Without big reforms it will remain a chronic underperformer. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Sociology, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
“When the rainbow is enuf”: black postgraduate women’s experiences and perceptions of higher education and institutional culture – a case study of Rhodes University
- Authors: Gamedze, Ayanda
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Rhodes University , College students, Black -- South Afrca , Women college students, Black -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147215 , vital:38605
- Description: This thesis sets out to investigate the perceptions which Black postgraduate students hold of the present-day toward Historically White Universities (hereafter referred to as HWUs) in South Africa as unique sites from which to investigate institutional culture and the legacy of educational marginalisation. Black women are of particular focus because of the interlocking nature of social inequalities that uniquely influence their comparable experience in the academy. Rhodes University, a top-ranked traditional university provides the institutional site for this investigation into HWUs. This thesis seeks to further explore the suggestion that desegregation of South Africa's institutions of higher learning have meant access, but not always acceptance. The paper explores what Black women students perceive to be Rhodes University's institutional culture and its impact on their lived realities. Subsequently, these women have learned who they are, and what place they occupy in South Africa today, through navigating a space not necessarily accommodating to Blackness and difference. There exists a plethora of literature on the issues which Black women scholars systematically encounter daily in the academy, in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond. Nonetheless, there needs to be a further inquiry on the question of belonging of Black womanhood in HWU post the student-led movements of the past few years that have renewed the challenge to South Africa's colonial past, its neoliberal present, and its scourge of gender-based violence. This paper captures an ongoing conversation around the role of Black women in addressing transformation in HWU. As a Black woman in an HWU, I found myself wondering whether there are certain experiences students like me have in common – realities with nuances we call to identify with to some extent. I collected data from six Black women with whom I conducted interviews, and used it to compile this report and its analysis. I believe that the social significance of this study speaks to the importance of hearing the stories of subaltern groups that are positioned in spaces of privilege, yet continue to be defined by the disadvantage of their gender, race, and various other factors.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Gamedze, Ayanda
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Rhodes University , College students, Black -- South Afrca , Women college students, Black -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147215 , vital:38605
- Description: This thesis sets out to investigate the perceptions which Black postgraduate students hold of the present-day toward Historically White Universities (hereafter referred to as HWUs) in South Africa as unique sites from which to investigate institutional culture and the legacy of educational marginalisation. Black women are of particular focus because of the interlocking nature of social inequalities that uniquely influence their comparable experience in the academy. Rhodes University, a top-ranked traditional university provides the institutional site for this investigation into HWUs. This thesis seeks to further explore the suggestion that desegregation of South Africa's institutions of higher learning have meant access, but not always acceptance. The paper explores what Black women students perceive to be Rhodes University's institutional culture and its impact on their lived realities. Subsequently, these women have learned who they are, and what place they occupy in South Africa today, through navigating a space not necessarily accommodating to Blackness and difference. There exists a plethora of literature on the issues which Black women scholars systematically encounter daily in the academy, in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond. Nonetheless, there needs to be a further inquiry on the question of belonging of Black womanhood in HWU post the student-led movements of the past few years that have renewed the challenge to South Africa's colonial past, its neoliberal present, and its scourge of gender-based violence. This paper captures an ongoing conversation around the role of Black women in addressing transformation in HWU. As a Black woman in an HWU, I found myself wondering whether there are certain experiences students like me have in common – realities with nuances we call to identify with to some extent. I collected data from six Black women with whom I conducted interviews, and used it to compile this report and its analysis. I believe that the social significance of this study speaks to the importance of hearing the stories of subaltern groups that are positioned in spaces of privilege, yet continue to be defined by the disadvantage of their gender, race, and various other factors.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Understanding defiant identities: an ethnography of gays and lesbians in Harare, Zimbabwe
- Authors: Muparamoto, Nelson
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Gays -- Zimbabwe , Gays -- Abuse of -- Zimbabwe , Homosexuality -- Zimbabwe , Homosexuality -- Political aspects -- Zimbabwe , Homosexuality -- Social aspects -- Zimbabwe , Homosexuality -- Religious aspects -- Zimbabwe , Homophobia -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67720 , vital:29133
- Description: Over the years, western and local media have mediated a narrative of a thoroughly homophobic Zimbabwe, not the least emanating from the former president Robert Mugabe’s ongoing homocritical utterances which recurrently generated global news stories. The country does indeed have a protracted history characterised by various forms of attacks on Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe, its membership, and the general lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. A dominant discourse has framed homosexual identities as on or beyond the border of what is acceptable, giving the clear message that they should not be tolerated. However, the narrative needs a more nuanced analysis than what has been popularised. That homophobia has played a significant role in Zimbabwe is of great import, but it is not and cannot be all there is to say about LGBT lives in the country. And, while scholarship on Zimbabwean homosexualities has engaged with debates about its indigeneity, morality and acceptability, it has as of yet not significantly explored the lived realities of non-heterosexual individuals from their own point of view. This thesis aims to begin doing exactly that, addressing the experiences of same-sex loving and attracted individuals in Harare. Drawing on ethnographic sociology, the thesis focuses on understanding how gay and lesbian identities are constructed, negotiated and experienced within an environment that is in many ways overtly homophobic, where, for example, the risk for social exclusion is considerable. It explores what characterises and shapes gay and lesbian identities in Harare in an attempt to interrogate how they reinforce, modify and challenge dominant social categories and relate to globally circulating queer identity categories. The thesis demonstrates that the construction of identities among same sex loving people in Harare variously draws on both locally and globally circulating ideas and insights. The thesis reveals that beyond the considerable attacks on homosexual identities in Zimbabwe, the intersection of local and international discourses on gay and lesbian identities produces identities that are to varying degrees emergent, fluid and perhaps fragmented. Despite attempts to expunge non-heterosexuals from Zimbabwean citizenry by drawing borders on the basis of sexual orientation, same sex loving individuals in Harare have defiantly expressed, negotiated and managed their sexual identities. The thesis describes and analyses things like dating patterns, decision making in same sex relations as well as family and religious experiences. Invoking Goffman’s concept of self-presentation enables one to understand how participants expressed themselves in the midst of like-minded or homo-tolerant individuals and how they deployed themselves in ‘spaces’ considered homocritical or where resentment was likely to be provoked by them openly expressing their sexual orientation. Crucially, same-sex loving and attracted individuals are agentic individuals who have variously stretched the traditional meanings associated with gender and sexuality in a context characterised by heteronormativity. This thesis usefully deploys Giddens’ (1991, 1992) theorisation of late modernity as characterised by conditions allowing a profusion of competing and sometimes contradictory identity discourses which offers the opportunity for self-reflexivity and identity negotiation. This helps us to understand the defiant identities. Whereas western circulating identity politics tout ‘coming out of the closet’, for most of the participants overt indiscriminate disclosure was to be avoided with participants therein deploying strategies that would help them to remain closeted to some family members as well as in religious circles. The consequences of ‘outing’ or disclosure are ostensibly not straightforward but complex, thus requiring a nuanced analysis that goes beyond the binary categories framed as either negative or positive. The thesis shows that experiences of same sex loving people in their families are complex rather than simply situated on the polar ends of either rejection or acceptance. Whilst dominant discourse has depicted religion as fuelling homophobia as it depicts a Christian identity and queer identities as incompatible, the thesis also explores how some participants challenge the borders drawn in religious circles and maintain a relatively active religious life but not always without conflict.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Muparamoto, Nelson
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Gays -- Zimbabwe , Gays -- Abuse of -- Zimbabwe , Homosexuality -- Zimbabwe , Homosexuality -- Political aspects -- Zimbabwe , Homosexuality -- Social aspects -- Zimbabwe , Homosexuality -- Religious aspects -- Zimbabwe , Homophobia -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67720 , vital:29133
- Description: Over the years, western and local media have mediated a narrative of a thoroughly homophobic Zimbabwe, not the least emanating from the former president Robert Mugabe’s ongoing homocritical utterances which recurrently generated global news stories. The country does indeed have a protracted history characterised by various forms of attacks on Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe, its membership, and the general lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. A dominant discourse has framed homosexual identities as on or beyond the border of what is acceptable, giving the clear message that they should not be tolerated. However, the narrative needs a more nuanced analysis than what has been popularised. That homophobia has played a significant role in Zimbabwe is of great import, but it is not and cannot be all there is to say about LGBT lives in the country. And, while scholarship on Zimbabwean homosexualities has engaged with debates about its indigeneity, morality and acceptability, it has as of yet not significantly explored the lived realities of non-heterosexual individuals from their own point of view. This thesis aims to begin doing exactly that, addressing the experiences of same-sex loving and attracted individuals in Harare. Drawing on ethnographic sociology, the thesis focuses on understanding how gay and lesbian identities are constructed, negotiated and experienced within an environment that is in many ways overtly homophobic, where, for example, the risk for social exclusion is considerable. It explores what characterises and shapes gay and lesbian identities in Harare in an attempt to interrogate how they reinforce, modify and challenge dominant social categories and relate to globally circulating queer identity categories. The thesis demonstrates that the construction of identities among same sex loving people in Harare variously draws on both locally and globally circulating ideas and insights. The thesis reveals that beyond the considerable attacks on homosexual identities in Zimbabwe, the intersection of local and international discourses on gay and lesbian identities produces identities that are to varying degrees emergent, fluid and perhaps fragmented. Despite attempts to expunge non-heterosexuals from Zimbabwean citizenry by drawing borders on the basis of sexual orientation, same sex loving individuals in Harare have defiantly expressed, negotiated and managed their sexual identities. The thesis describes and analyses things like dating patterns, decision making in same sex relations as well as family and religious experiences. Invoking Goffman’s concept of self-presentation enables one to understand how participants expressed themselves in the midst of like-minded or homo-tolerant individuals and how they deployed themselves in ‘spaces’ considered homocritical or where resentment was likely to be provoked by them openly expressing their sexual orientation. Crucially, same-sex loving and attracted individuals are agentic individuals who have variously stretched the traditional meanings associated with gender and sexuality in a context characterised by heteronormativity. This thesis usefully deploys Giddens’ (1991, 1992) theorisation of late modernity as characterised by conditions allowing a profusion of competing and sometimes contradictory identity discourses which offers the opportunity for self-reflexivity and identity negotiation. This helps us to understand the defiant identities. Whereas western circulating identity politics tout ‘coming out of the closet’, for most of the participants overt indiscriminate disclosure was to be avoided with participants therein deploying strategies that would help them to remain closeted to some family members as well as in religious circles. The consequences of ‘outing’ or disclosure are ostensibly not straightforward but complex, thus requiring a nuanced analysis that goes beyond the binary categories framed as either negative or positive. The thesis shows that experiences of same sex loving people in their families are complex rather than simply situated on the polar ends of either rejection or acceptance. Whilst dominant discourse has depicted religion as fuelling homophobia as it depicts a Christian identity and queer identities as incompatible, the thesis also explores how some participants challenge the borders drawn in religious circles and maintain a relatively active religious life but not always without conflict.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Former farm workers of foreign descent in communal areas in post-fast track Zimbabwe : the case of Shamva District
- Authors: Chadambuka, Patience
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Migrant agricultural laborers -- Zimbabwe -- Shamva District , Agricultural laborers, Foreign -- Zimbabwe -- Shamva District , Land reform -- Zimbabwe , Belonging (Social psychology) -- Zimbabwe -- Shamva District , Social integration-- Zimbabwe -- Shamva District , Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP)
- Language: English
- Type: thesis , text , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/178420 , vital:42938 , 10.21504/10962/178420
- Description: Land and ethnicity continue to condition contestations in relation to belonging amongst rural Zimbabweans. The colonial era defined Zimbabwe’s land politics in a highly racialised and ethnicised manner. Racially, the colonial era gave birth to white-owned fertile farm lands, while blacks (or Africans) were resettled in agriculturally-unproductive Reserves, later referred to as communal areas in the post-colonial era. Though they were initially created with a segregatory and oppressive intent bent on disenfranchising native Africans, the Reserves became a definitive landscape embedded in ethnic and ancestral belonging for the autochthonous Natives. The Reserves were created exclusively for autochthonous Africans, and the colonial administration ensured that foreign migrant Africans recruited mainly as covenanted labour from nearby colonies would not be accommodated and consequently belong in Reserves. Migrant Africans were instead domiciled in white commercial farms, mines and urban areas, and deprived of land rights accorded to the autochthones. In the case of white farms specifically, the labourers experienced a conditional belonging (to the farm). This overall exclusionary system was later inherited and maintained by the post-colonial Zimbabwean government, up until the year 2000. Zimbabwe’s highly documented Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) from the year 2000 did away with the entrenched racial bifurcations of land, as white commercial farms became fast track farms. However, it did not undercut the existence of communal areas. The FTLRP had a profound effect on the lives of commercial farm workers, particularly those of foreign origin who had no other home or source of livelihood to fall back on after fast track displacements. Some though sought to move into communal areas, from which they had been excluded previously. Within this context, most scholarly studies of the post fast track period ignore the plight of former farm workers especially those that moved to, and into, communal areas. This ethnographic study, specifically of former farm workers of foreign origin in Shamva communal areas, therefore seeks to contribute to Zimbabwean studies in this regard. It documents and examines the perceptions, practices and lived experiences of former farm workers of foreign origin now residing in the Bushu communal areas of Shamva, and how they interface with Bushu autochthones in seeking to belong to Bushu. This is pursued by way of qualitative research methods (including lengthy stays in the study sites) as well as through the use of a theoretical framing focusing on lifeworlds, interfaces, belonging, othering and strangerhood. Key findings reveal that belonging by the former farm workers in Bushu entails a non-linear and convoluted process characterised by a series of contestations around for instance land shortages, limited livelihood strategies and cultural difference. This project of belonging does not entail assimilation on the part of the former farm workers, as they continue to uphold certain historical practices, leading to a form of co-existence between the autochthones and allochthones in Bushu. In this way, the former farm workers seem to develop a conditional belonging in (and to) Bushu, albeit different than the one experienced on white farms in the past. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Sociology, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
- Authors: Chadambuka, Patience
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Migrant agricultural laborers -- Zimbabwe -- Shamva District , Agricultural laborers, Foreign -- Zimbabwe -- Shamva District , Land reform -- Zimbabwe , Belonging (Social psychology) -- Zimbabwe -- Shamva District , Social integration-- Zimbabwe -- Shamva District , Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP)
- Language: English
- Type: thesis , text , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/178420 , vital:42938 , 10.21504/10962/178420
- Description: Land and ethnicity continue to condition contestations in relation to belonging amongst rural Zimbabweans. The colonial era defined Zimbabwe’s land politics in a highly racialised and ethnicised manner. Racially, the colonial era gave birth to white-owned fertile farm lands, while blacks (or Africans) were resettled in agriculturally-unproductive Reserves, later referred to as communal areas in the post-colonial era. Though they were initially created with a segregatory and oppressive intent bent on disenfranchising native Africans, the Reserves became a definitive landscape embedded in ethnic and ancestral belonging for the autochthonous Natives. The Reserves were created exclusively for autochthonous Africans, and the colonial administration ensured that foreign migrant Africans recruited mainly as covenanted labour from nearby colonies would not be accommodated and consequently belong in Reserves. Migrant Africans were instead domiciled in white commercial farms, mines and urban areas, and deprived of land rights accorded to the autochthones. In the case of white farms specifically, the labourers experienced a conditional belonging (to the farm). This overall exclusionary system was later inherited and maintained by the post-colonial Zimbabwean government, up until the year 2000. Zimbabwe’s highly documented Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) from the year 2000 did away with the entrenched racial bifurcations of land, as white commercial farms became fast track farms. However, it did not undercut the existence of communal areas. The FTLRP had a profound effect on the lives of commercial farm workers, particularly those of foreign origin who had no other home or source of livelihood to fall back on after fast track displacements. Some though sought to move into communal areas, from which they had been excluded previously. Within this context, most scholarly studies of the post fast track period ignore the plight of former farm workers especially those that moved to, and into, communal areas. This ethnographic study, specifically of former farm workers of foreign origin in Shamva communal areas, therefore seeks to contribute to Zimbabwean studies in this regard. It documents and examines the perceptions, practices and lived experiences of former farm workers of foreign origin now residing in the Bushu communal areas of Shamva, and how they interface with Bushu autochthones in seeking to belong to Bushu. This is pursued by way of qualitative research methods (including lengthy stays in the study sites) as well as through the use of a theoretical framing focusing on lifeworlds, interfaces, belonging, othering and strangerhood. Key findings reveal that belonging by the former farm workers in Bushu entails a non-linear and convoluted process characterised by a series of contestations around for instance land shortages, limited livelihood strategies and cultural difference. This project of belonging does not entail assimilation on the part of the former farm workers, as they continue to uphold certain historical practices, leading to a form of co-existence between the autochthones and allochthones in Bushu. In this way, the former farm workers seem to develop a conditional belonging in (and to) Bushu, albeit different than the one experienced on white farms in the past. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Sociology, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
The impact of labour legislation on selected small firms in Mbombela (Nelspruit)
- Authors: Dlamini, Sikhulile Blessing
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: Labor laws and legislation -- South Africa , Small business -- Law and legislation-- South Afric , Small business -- South Africa -- Mbombela -- Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSci
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/170781 , vital:41959
- Description: This study uses the theoretical framework of industrial relations pluralism, to study and analyse the impacts of labour legislation on six small firms (employing less than 50 workers) based in Mbombela (formerly Nelspruit), Mpumalanga province, South Africa. The analysis is based on the viewpoints of six managers and how they see the impacts of labour legislation on their respective firms. The analysis is aided by utilising theory and literature to make sense of the manager perspectives on the topic. Also, utilising a qualitative research design to collect and analyse the data, the study presents diverse findings in terms of how the participants perceived and experienced certain types of legislation. Some managers believed that the benefits of labour legislation outweighed the costs. While others believed the exact opposite. At an overall level, the study revealed that most of the participants were not as severely affected by labour legislation as might be expected; given the scarcity of resources in most small firms. This was partly because of various coping strategies and practices (mostly involving the use of informal procedures) that were adopted by the firms. Also, some small firms who aimed at expanding their businesses strategised to adopt some formal procedures and practices in order to easily absorb labour legislation and subsequently mordenise their businesses in the process. While a few firms persisted with more informal customs as they appeared cost-effective and necessary in their particular market positioning.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021
- Authors: Dlamini, Sikhulile Blessing
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: Labor laws and legislation -- South Africa , Small business -- Law and legislation-- South Afric , Small business -- South Africa -- Mbombela -- Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSci
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/170781 , vital:41959
- Description: This study uses the theoretical framework of industrial relations pluralism, to study and analyse the impacts of labour legislation on six small firms (employing less than 50 workers) based in Mbombela (formerly Nelspruit), Mpumalanga province, South Africa. The analysis is based on the viewpoints of six managers and how they see the impacts of labour legislation on their respective firms. The analysis is aided by utilising theory and literature to make sense of the manager perspectives on the topic. Also, utilising a qualitative research design to collect and analyse the data, the study presents diverse findings in terms of how the participants perceived and experienced certain types of legislation. Some managers believed that the benefits of labour legislation outweighed the costs. While others believed the exact opposite. At an overall level, the study revealed that most of the participants were not as severely affected by labour legislation as might be expected; given the scarcity of resources in most small firms. This was partly because of various coping strategies and practices (mostly involving the use of informal procedures) that were adopted by the firms. Also, some small firms who aimed at expanding their businesses strategised to adopt some formal procedures and practices in order to easily absorb labour legislation and subsequently mordenise their businesses in the process. While a few firms persisted with more informal customs as they appeared cost-effective and necessary in their particular market positioning.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021