The thesis offers an original sociological understanding of intermediary Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in the modern world. This is pursued through a study of NGOs and land reform in contemporary Zimbabwe. The prevailing literature on NGOs is marked by a sociological behaviourism that analyses NGOs in terms of external relations and the object-subject dualism. This behaviourism has both ‘structuralist’ and ‘empiricist’ trends that lead to instrumentalist and functionalist forms of argumentation. The thesis details an alternative conceptual corpus that draws upon the epistemological and theoretical insights of Marx and Weber. The epistemological reasoning of Marx involves processes of deconstruction and reconstruction. This entails conceptualizing NGOs as social forms that embody contradictory relations and, for analytical purposes, the thesis privileges the contradiction between ‘the global’ and ‘the local’. In this regard, it speaks about processes of ‘glocalization’ and ‘glocal modernities’ in which NGOs become immersed. The social field of NGOs is marked by ambiguities and tensions, and NGOs seek to ‘negotiate’ and manoeuvre their way through this field by a variety of organizational practices. Understanding these practices necessitates studying NGOs ‘from within’ and drawing specifically on Weber’s notion of ‘meaning’. These practices often entail activities that stabilize and simplify the world and work of NGOs, and this involves NGOs in prioritizing their own organizational sustainability. In handling the tension between ‘the global’ and ‘the local’, NGOs also tend to privilege global trajectories over local initiatives. The thesis illustrates these points in relation to the work of intermediary NGOs in Zimbabwe over the past ten years. Since the year 2000, a radical restructuring of agrarian relations has occurred, and this has been based upon the massive redistribution of land. In this respect, local empowering initiatives have dramatically asserted themselves against globalizing trajectories. These changes have posed serious challenges to ‘land’ NGOs, that is, NGOs involved in land reform either as advocates for reform or as rural development NGOs. The thesis shows how a range of diverse ‘land’ NGOs has ‘handled’ the heightened contradictions in their social field in ways that maintain their organizational coherence and integrity.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science (Geographical Information Systems and Remote Sensing) at the School of Geography, Archaeology & Environmental Studies. Johannesburg, 2016. / The purpose of this research was to quantify the impact of the land reform programme on land use and land cover changes (LULCC) in Chipinge district situated in Manicaland Province of Zimbabwe. The Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) of 2000 was selected as the major cause of LULCC in the district. This research addresses the problem of knowing and understanding if there was LULCC in the district before and after the enactment of the FTLRP in the year 2000. The research objectives of this study were as follows: to investigate the impact of the FTLRP of 2000 on land use and land cover in Chipinge district; to test the use of Landsat earth observation data in quantifying the changes on land use and cover from 1992 to 2014 in Chipinge district and to predict LULCCs in the year 2028 in Chipinge district. The methodology for detecting the impact of LULCC was based on the comparison of Landsat MSS, TM, ETM+ and OLI/ TIRS scene p168r74 images covering Chipinge district taken on diverse dates in five different years. In order to prepare the Landsat images for change detection analysis, a number of image processing operations were applied which include radiometric calibration and atmospheric correction. The images were classified using the Support Vector Machine (SVM) and evaluation was done through accuracy assessment using the confusion matrix. The prediction of LULCC in the year 2028 was modeled by the Markov Chain Analysis (MCA) and the Cellular Automata Markov Chain Analysis (CA MCA) so as to show land distribution in the future. The results show that agricultural farmland, estates and area covered by water bodies declined whilst there was an increase in built-up areas, forest land and bare land since the enactment of the FTLRP. The prediction results show that in the year 2028, there will be a decrease in the amount of land covered by water bodies, forest and agricultural farmland. There will be an increase in the amount of built-up in the year 2028 as a result of population growth. It is the recommended in this study that better remedies be put in place to increase forest cover and also the use of high resolution images in further studies. There should be exploration of the relationships between LULCC, socio-economic and demographic variables would develop more understanding of LULCC. The study also recommends the preparation of a proper land use plan to deal with a reduction in the growth of settlement which is vital in the planning and management of social and economic development programs. / LG2017

The Schools and Colleges Permaculture (SCOPE) Programme in Zimbabwe has developed a process for use by schools in planning for the sustainable management of their land. The process is called Integrated Land-Use Design (ILUD) and is based on Permaculture principles. The ILUD process has so far been implemented in 54 pilot schools where it has been used to facilitate the re-design of the school grounds through the active participation of the students, staff and parents. The aim of this research was to investigate what environmental learning takes place during the implementation of the ILUD process and related activities, with a view to informing the improvement of the process. The research was conducted within the interpretive paradigm with particular use being made of the Symbolic Interactionist theoretical framework to explore the social situations in which the ILUD process has been applied. A purposive sample of two schools and five form 4 (grade 11) pupils from each school was selected for the study. The main data collection method was the structured interview. Other data were collected from nonparticipant observations and the analysis of documents, particularly photographs. The data was analysed using the constant comparative method. The findings point towards a significant contribution from the Permaculture activities to the environmental knowledge, environmental management skills and the positive environmental attitudes of the pupils. The work done at the two schools indicates the usefulness of the ILUD process as a tool for environmental action in the schools but its application in the communities was found to be limited by constraints such as lack of resources and the limited capacity of teachers to work in the field of adult education and training. It is recommended that Permaculture should be integrated into the secondary school curriculum if the momentum of the progress made so far is to be maintained. The SCOPE Programme itself needs to be strengthened for its work with communities. There is, for example, a need for adult education and training methods if the introduction of ILUD to the communities is to be successful.

This thesis examined the evolution and transition of agrarian labour relations in the aftermath of Zimbabwe‘s radical land redistribution, which reconfigured the agrarian structure in terms of landholdings, production practices and labour markets from 2000. Despite the importance of agrarian labour as source of livelihood for the largely countryside based population, insufficient academic attention has been paid to its evolution following the land reforms. Specifically to the mobilisation, organisation and utilisation of wage and non-wage labour against background of the changed land ownership patterns, agrarian policies and macro-economic conditions. Historical-structural approaches rooted in Marxist Political Economy informed the analysis of the new agrarian labour relations since in former Settler colonies such as Zimbabwe these were based were based on a historical context of specific land-labour utilisation relations created by land dispossession and discriminatory agrarian policies during the colonial and immediate independence period. Beyond this, gender issues, intra-household relations, kinship, citizenship and the agency of the workers were taken into account to understand the trajectory of labour relations. Detailed quantitative and qualitative empirical research in Goromonzi and Kwekwe districts, as well as from other sources demonstrated that a new agrarian labour regime had evolved to replace the predominant wage labour in former large-scale commercial farms. There has been a growth in the use of self-employed family farm labour alongside the differentiated use of wage labour in farming and other non-farm activities. Inequitable gender and generational tendencies were evident in the new agrarian labour regime. The new labour relations are marked by the exploitation of farm workers through wages that are below the cost of social reproduction, insecure forms of employment and poor working conditions. While their individual and collective worker agency is yet to reverse their poor socio-economic conditions. Various policy interventions to protect their land and labour rights are thus required. The study shed light on the the conceptual understanding of agrarian labour relations in former Settler economies, including the role of land reforms in the development of employment, and how the peasantry with enlarged land access are reconstituted through repeasantisation and semi-proletarianisation processes. / Public Administration and Management / D. P. A.