This study investigated the role of social capital in the development of rural non-farm enterprises in the Chimanimani district of Zimbabwe. The specific objectives of the study were to explore the use of social capital by small-scale rural non-farm entrepreneurs in the establishment and expansion of their enterprises and in the coordination of intra-enterprise activities. The study isolated the principal social capital for enterprise development from the most important social networks used by the entrepreneurs. The research aimed to generate knowledge that will improve policy on entrepreneurship development as well as to contribute to the academic debate on the role of social capital in economic development. While it is a fact that small-scale non-farm enterprises are critical for rural livelihoods diversification, how entrepreneurs overcome obstacles to the establishment, expansion and coordination of their intra-enterprise activities is still to be fully investigated. Moreover, whereas previous research has shown that social capital facilitates economic growth in various ways; little is known about such the use of social relationships in rural non-farm enterprises. This is shown by disjointed approaches to entrepreneurship development programmes and subsequent unsatisfactory economic outcomes from the small-scale enterprise sector in Zimbabwe, which is yet to achieve the desired economic growth to improve rural household welfare. This study surveyed 130 small-scale rural non-farm entrepreneurs from the Chimanimani district, using a combination of positivist, phenomenological and case study research approaches to capture both quantitative and qualitative data. The data was analysed using a hybrid of quantitative and qualitative data analytical techniques in order to get a description as well as a deeper understanding of the role of social capital in enterprise development. The principal component analysis model was used to isolate the principal forms of social capital that stimulate enterprise development in the district. This model established that personal networks, collaborative networks, active participation in social activities and investment in group activities account for most of the variability among rural non-farm enterprises. The research established that social networks with friends, relatives and business partners were very useful in the various stages of enterprise development. Business partners and non-governmental organisations were the major sources of capital needed to expand enterprises. The research also established that rural non-farm entrepreneurs mainly employ relatives and friends to facilitate intra-enterprise coordination. To further facilitate such coordination, they also engage in various activities that build and consolidate social networking at their enterprises. The results also showed that there were some differences in the use of such networks between male, female and family-owned enterprises, indicating gender differences in the use of social capital for enterprise development. However, although social networks may be productive in the initial stages, they may have long-term effects on the sustainability of enterprises in terms of overall employment creation and productivity. For one, they might lead to discrimination against potential employees who might not be connected to the entrepreneurs. Moreover, there is a danger of over-socialising the workplace, which could be counter-productive and hinder the bringing in of new ideas and innovation. Such over-centralisation of activities in rural enterprises could also be counter-productive in the event that the owner of the enterprise is incapacitated and unable to continue making important decisions. The study contributed to the debate on the role of social capital in economic development by using rural non-farm enterprises in the Chimanimani district of Zimbabwe, unlike previous studies that have dealt mainly with urban-based or farm-based enterprises. It also revealed useful insights into the gender dimensions of social networks used by entrepreneurs. This is particularly important for the design of enterprise development programmes where social capital issues are to be factored in. However, deeper understanding might be gained if similar studies are carried out in a different location to ascertain the results’ consistency over time, or even by applying the same methodology to entrepreneurs in a similar line of business. In the final analysis, researchers on social networks and entrepreneurship development should not lose sight of the fact that entrepreneurs will revert to the social capital available to them as long as there are failures in existing formal economic institutions. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / unrestricted

The thesis focuses on the Ndau people of Chimanimani, Zimbabwe. Contact with Westerners brought significant changes to their marriage practices. South Africa General Mission (SAGM) missionaries required Ndau people to conduct church (“white”) weddings for their marriages to be recognised by the church. This has caused a problem whereby Ndau Christians marry traditionally/customarily and yet still have to conduct church weddings. The church has not rethought its position on the necessity for having this duplication of marriages. The thesis sought to develop an in-depth understanding of Ndau people’s perceptions and experiences on the connection between and the necessity for both marriages in Chimanimani, Zimbabwe. Data regarding Ndau people’s understanding of marriage practices was collected using in-depth semi-structured and focus group interviews. Following a qualitative research design, the study used the phenomenological approach to collect data and postcolonialism as the research paradigm. Using these, twenty individual and five focus group interviews were conducted. Seven themes emerged from the data. These covered marriage practices of the Ndau, the most preferred way of marriage, various reasons for having church weddings, perceived relationship between the two marriages, different views on the sufficiency of traditional marriages, thoughts on the expenses of church weddings, and how participants married and reasons thereof. The findings showed that Ndau Christians conduct church weddings for several reasons. These are because they:  want to celebrate their marriages  desire God’s blessings when they convert to Christianity. It is regarded as God’s biblical requirement  understand it as a church requirement/rule  get church teaching that encourage church weddings  need recognition and acceptance in the church as well as general social recognition  associate Christianity with Westernisation vi  regard it as a deterrent to unfaithfulness and polygyny  regard church weddings as having wider official recognition than traditional marriages and  want associated material advantages. The conclusion states that there is neither a theological nor a biblical basis for requiring Ndau Christians to have church weddings. Using a postcolonial hybrid approach, the thesis suggests a merging of the two marriages into one ceremony. More recommendations were given and the church was challenged to be more responsive to its people’s struggles. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D. Litt. et Phil. (Religious Studies)

A presente pesquisa analisa a produção do território de conservação sob as influências de diversos atores localizados a diferentes escalas de poder e gestão. A partir da abordagem de Territorialização – Desterritorialização – Reterritorialização, analisa-se a passagem de Chimanimani como uma área comunitária, formada por várias comunidades, cuja identidade encontra-se sacralizada nos diversos locais sagrados da área, para um território de conservação, que implicou na (re)estruturação do espaço para atender ao ecoturismo e a conservação. As transformações que ocorreram e que estão ocorrendo em Chimanimani são parte de um processo global, iniciado nos finais da década de 80 com a introdução dos Programas de Reabilitação Econômica. Estas transformações submeteram o local ao global e deslocaram a comanda da área para outras escalas de poder e gestão. As transformações pelas quais Chimanimani foi passando implicaram numa transição da agricultura como a base de sobrevivência para o ecoturismo. A dependência ao ecoturismo como a atividade que melhor compatibiliza a exploração dos recursos naturais numa área de conservação parece não encontrar um enquadramento na dinâmica da atividade turística em Moçambique, que tem como preferência o turismo de “sol e praia”. Como dinamizar o turismo em áreas de conservação é um desafio para a realidade moçambicana, cujas condições dificultam o desenvolvimento do ecoturismo em áreas distantes da região costeira. Dentro desse dilema, propõe-se o Turismo Social como uma possibilidade para o desenvolvimento do turismo nas áreas de conservação. / This research analyses the production of the conservation territory under influences of various actors located at different scales of power and management. From the approaches Territorialization – Desterritorialization – Reterritorialization, we analyze the transition of Chimanimani as a community area, formed by several communities, whose identity is enshrined in the various sacred sites of area, to a conservation area, which resulted in (re)structuring space to answer conservation and ecotourism. Transformations that occurred and are occurring in Chimanimani are part of an overall process, begun in the late 80’s with the introduction o Economic Rehabilitation Programs. These changes submitted the place to the global and moved the command of the area for other scales of power and management. These transformations which Chimanimani are involved implicated a transition of the agriculture as the survival base for the ecotourism. The dependence on ecotourism as the activity that better reconcile the exploration of natural resources in an area of conservation does not seem to find a framework in the dynamics of tourism in Mozambique, which is preferably tourism “Sun and sand”. How to boost tourism in conservation areas is a challenge for the Mozambican reality, whose conditions make it difficult to ecotourism development in remote areas far from the coastal region. In this dilemma, it is proposed Social Tourism as a possibility for the development of tourism in conservation areas.

A presente pesquisa analisa a produção do território de conservação sob as influências de diversos atores localizados a diferentes escalas de poder e gestão. A partir da abordagem de Territorialização – Desterritorialização – Reterritorialização, analisa-se a passagem de Chimanimani como uma área comunitária, formada por várias comunidades, cuja identidade encontra-se sacralizada nos diversos locais sagrados da área, para um território de conservação, que implicou na (re)estruturação do espaço para atender ao ecoturismo e a conservação. As transformações que ocorreram e que estão ocorrendo em Chimanimani são parte de um processo global, iniciado nos finais da década de 80 com a introdução dos Programas de Reabilitação Econômica. Estas transformações submeteram o local ao global e deslocaram a comanda da área para outras escalas de poder e gestão. As transformações pelas quais Chimanimani foi passando implicaram numa transição da agricultura como a base de sobrevivência para o ecoturismo. A dependência ao ecoturismo como a atividade que melhor compatibiliza a exploração dos recursos naturais numa área de conservação parece não encontrar um enquadramento na dinâmica da atividade turística em Moçambique, que tem como preferência o turismo de “sol e praia”. Como dinamizar o turismo em áreas de conservação é um desafio para a realidade moçambicana, cujas condições dificultam o desenvolvimento do ecoturismo em áreas distantes da região costeira. Dentro desse dilema, propõe-se o Turismo Social como uma possibilidade para o desenvolvimento do turismo nas áreas de conservação. / This research analyses the production of the conservation territory under influences of various actors located at different scales of power and management. From the approaches Territorialization – Desterritorialization – Reterritorialization, we analyze the transition of Chimanimani as a community area, formed by several communities, whose identity is enshrined in the various sacred sites of area, to a conservation area, which resulted in (re)structuring space to answer conservation and ecotourism. Transformations that occurred and are occurring in Chimanimani are part of an overall process, begun in the late 80’s with the introduction o Economic Rehabilitation Programs. These changes submitted the place to the global and moved the command of the area for other scales of power and management. These transformations which Chimanimani are involved implicated a transition of the agriculture as the survival base for the ecotourism. The dependence on ecotourism as the activity that better reconcile the exploration of natural resources in an area of conservation does not seem to find a framework in the dynamics of tourism in Mozambique, which is preferably tourism “Sun and sand”. How to boost tourism in conservation areas is a challenge for the Mozambican reality, whose conditions make it difficult to ecotourism development in remote areas far from the coastal region. In this dilemma, it is proposed Social Tourism as a possibility for the development of tourism in conservation areas.

A presente pesquisa analisa a produção do território de conservação sob as influências de diversos atores localizados a diferentes escalas de poder e gestão. A partir da abordagem de Territorialização – Desterritorialização – Reterritorialização, analisa-se a passagem de Chimanimani como uma área comunitária, formada por várias comunidades, cuja identidade encontra-se sacralizada nos diversos locais sagrados da área, para um território de conservação, que implicou na (re)estruturação do espaço para atender ao ecoturismo e a conservação. As transformações que ocorreram e que estão ocorrendo em Chimanimani são parte de um processo global, iniciado nos finais da década de 80 com a introdução dos Programas de Reabilitação Econômica. Estas transformações submeteram o local ao global e deslocaram a comanda da área para outras escalas de poder e gestão. As transformações pelas quais Chimanimani foi passando implicaram numa transição da agricultura como a base de sobrevivência para o ecoturismo. A dependência ao ecoturismo como a atividade que melhor compatibiliza a exploração dos recursos naturais numa área de conservação parece não encontrar um enquadramento na dinâmica da atividade turística em Moçambique, que tem como preferência o turismo de “sol e praia”. Como dinamizar o turismo em áreas de conservação é um desafio para a realidade moçambicana, cujas condições dificultam o desenvolvimento do ecoturismo em áreas distantes da região costeira. Dentro desse dilema, propõe-se o Turismo Social como uma possibilidade para o desenvolvimento do turismo nas áreas de conservação. / This research analyses the production of the conservation territory under influences of various actors located at different scales of power and management. From the approaches Territorialization – Desterritorialization – Reterritorialization, we analyze the transition of Chimanimani as a community area, formed by several communities, whose identity is enshrined in the various sacred sites of area, to a conservation area, which resulted in (re)structuring space to answer conservation and ecotourism. Transformations that occurred and are occurring in Chimanimani are part of an overall process, begun in the late 80’s with the introduction o Economic Rehabilitation Programs. These changes submitted the place to the global and moved the command of the area for other scales of power and management. These transformations which Chimanimani are involved implicated a transition of the agriculture as the survival base for the ecotourism. The dependence on ecotourism as the activity that better reconcile the exploration of natural resources in an area of conservation does not seem to find a framework in the dynamics of tourism in Mozambique, which is preferably tourism “Sun and sand”. How to boost tourism in conservation areas is a challenge for the Mozambican reality, whose conditions make it difficult to ecotourism development in remote areas far from the coastal region. In this dilemma, it is proposed Social Tourism as a possibility for the development of tourism in conservation areas.