This case study is a documentation of localised gendered and youth perspectives regarding food-(in)security, capabilities, rights and freedom. This dissertation explores localised youth and gendered perceptions of food-security by applying Amartya Sen‟s capabilities approach. The research is situated within the village of Mboza, the peri-urban locale of Ndumo, and the town of Jozini, oriented within the Makhathini region of the Pongola floodplain of Northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. In this context, perceptions of capabilities, rights, and food-security are seemingly based on normative views of rights aligning with South Africa‟s constitutional first and second generations rights. Additionally, it is noted that perceptions and aspirations are impacted by socio-historical and economic dynamics that have resulted in segregated places and constrained opportunities. Practically and ideologically speaking, the state historically played a role in shaping these dynamics. Perceptions are further influenced by normalised capitalist ideals relating to consumption, socio-economic mobility, and success. The research explores whether post-apartheid South Africa‟s incorporation of a rightsbased approach to development has influenced expectations and thus affected perspectives on the roles of: the state, communities, and individuals; in securing the right to food. In this manner, perceptions of food, a primary need necessary for a quality of life with dignity, may be extended to assess the degree of politicisation of basic needs by people in this context. South Africa has undergone a liberal democratic transition and embraces the ideology of human rights. However, the right to food, and the “expansion of the „capabilities‟ of persons to lead the kind of lives they value—and have reason to value”1 lays enmeshed within the rural development dilemma, the language of human rights and freedoms, and the developmental objectives of the South African State. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

The main purpose of the study described in this report was to better understand the lived experiences of refugees from Burundi and Rwanda living in the inner city of Durban and facing xenophobia. This study was motivated by available research evidence that xenophobia is a widespread phenomenon, together with the researcher’s own experience of living as a refugee in South Africa. The investigation was guided by ‘structural social work theory’ and used a qualitative descriptive approach. The sample of the study, purposively selected using snowball sampling technique, consisted of ten adult refugees from Burundi and Rwanda who had been granted refugee status in South Africa. As a data collection tool, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the participants. To ensure trustworthiness, criteria of credibility, dependability, confirmability and transferability were taken in account. The study revealed that all the participants have fled their respective countries due to ethnic conflicts and on-going civil wars. Traumatised by the experience that had led to their flight, all ten participants were found to have been re-traumatised further along the flight, and symptoms of post-traumatic stress syndrome were common. It was possible to demonstrate that this background experience undermined participants’ ability to cope with xenophobia. Xenophobia was found to feature in the form of both interpersonal and structural violence, the latter consisting of both social and economic marginalisation and exclusion. According to the research participants, the prevailing xenophobia in South Africa can be attributed to a number of interconnected factors including: the impact of South Africa’s apartheid history on attitudes of South Africans towards black foreigners, coupled with a general lack of knowledge about who are refugees; high levels of violence coupled with an apparent social acceptability of crime; as well as the negative statements of the media about foreigners in general and refugees in particular. Against this background, participants indicated a range of coping strategies, including the following: escape from identity; psychological and social withdrawal; living in overcrowded inner city areas to cut costs of living and minimise risks of exposure to xenophobic violence; embracing self and informal employment. Based on the study findings, this research report concludes with the proposition of a number of recommendations towards curbing xenophobia in South Africa and enabling refugees to overcome past traumatic experiences, integrate and become active contributors to South Africa’s economy, in line with the qualifications that they may have attained prior to flight. To this end, contributions are required of everyone concerned with the refugees’ integration including the South African government, the media, the social work profession, the refugees themselves, as well as the communities amongst which they live. Much more research needs to be done to increase social workers’ understanding of the needs of refugees and of xenophobia, and to guide appropriate professional responses. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.