This thesis examines the history of domestic service in Zambia from the 1960s to the present day. Domestic service was one of the largest sectors of urban employment throughout this period and involved large numbers of men, women and children selling and buying labour in a variety of working arrangements. The sector has, however, received little scholarly or official attention, reflecting a broader historiographical neglect of informal sector employment and the female workers who predominate in this area of the economy. The lack of attention paid to domestic service by academics and policy-makers has considerably limited the questions that have been asked about who workers are and how processes of reproduction and production have been organized at a household and societal level in Zambia, both historically and in the present. Most immediately, in order to work outside of the home, earn money and access crucial resources, thousands of Zambians needed to find someone else to take care of their homes and children. Drawing on a wide range of source material, this study demonstrates the importance of domestic service to social and economic relations in post-colonial Zambia. The study centres on domestic service arrangements in black households in the capital city of Lusaka. It examines how and why men, women and children found work in service, how and why employers sought help with domestic and care labour, and the relationships that developed between these parties. The study illustrates the diversity of the sector, with working arrangements varying from seemingly-informal kinship-based labour relations at one end of the spectrum to formalised, contractual employment at the other. The study also explains the gendered and generational shifts that have reshaped domestic service over the last fifty years, drawing attention to the increased significance of women and female children's labour. Overall this thesis provides new insights into class formation, rural-urban dependencies, gender relations, and the nature of inequality in a post-colonial African city.

This study begins with a statistical survey setting out the parameters of Zambia's socio-economic decline in the 1980s. In order to unravel the complex reasons for the crisis, the study develops and employs an historical structural framework which emphasises the interconnectedness of historical, political, economic and social processes . Thereafter, an explanation of Zambia's political and economic development is presented as a background for understanding how and why the IMF came to play an increasingly decisive role in the management of the economic crisis in the 1980s. It is argued that patron-client politics in conjunction with a 'coincidence of interests' between local elite and international capital, entrenched the distorted mono-export dependent economy which, in turn, accelerated the economic decline and debt crisis of the 1980s. After presenting an overview of the Fund's philosophy and objectives, close attention is paid to the impact of SAPs on Zambia, especially in terms of how such policies as subsidy withdrawal, de-regulation and devaluation affected the economy, debt-reduction, health and education. While there is no incontrovertible evidence that adjustment policies caused the crisis, they have been largely ineffective in reversing Zambia's economic decline. In fact, due to the IMF's ahistorical and apolitical approach, any gains have been ephemeral and, in many instances, served to exacerbate the suffering of the population. Finally, Zambia's political structures have proved unable and unwilling to implement IMF reforms consistently and this underlies the central point that SAPs, as a strategy, cannot ensure long-term sustainable development.

This study attempts to present a comparative analysis of the implication of the IMF in Zambia and South Africa in its Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). In examining the IMF programme, the study focuses on the Fund's understanding of such economies and its prescriptions for development. It is argued that IMF's familiar orthodoxy will have disastrous consequences for South Africa's poor, disadvantaged and rural communities. Finally, the IMF's market-oriented policy prescriptions are likely to erode democracy and have devastating effects to people-centred development programmes such as the RDP.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Since 2000, Chinese FDI in Zambia has steadily increased. Focused predominantly on resource extraction, China is now the third largest investor in Zambia, after only the United States and South Africa. As the title suggests, this FDI is recognized as relevant to Zambia’s developmental discourse. However, with general development indicators, there is challenge in establishing immediate causality between (Chinese) FDI and development. To address this, this study employs Capability Approach development theory, which utilizes a framework to evaluate social and political realities. Utilizing this framework, key indicators are used to look more deeply into the discussion around China’s FDI for Zambia’s development. There has been a great deal of speculation as to potential costs and/or benefits Chinese FDI may offer Zambia. As China offers Zambia a partnership of non-domestic interference, unique from Zambia’s traditional western syndicates, debate is raised as to what influence it will have on Zambia’s developmental progress. With challenges including limited information, numerous potential indicators to utilize, and a large number of contributing voices, the debate thus far lacks a means for evaluating the substance of claims made within the context of national trends. This study reviews and evaluates the debate within the framework of seven key socioeconomic and political indicators. While within economic growth and infrastructure expansion Chinese FDI are shown to indicate a conduciveness to development, FDI is not shown to be conducive for market diversification, challenging corruption, or strengthening institutions. The study therefore shows that trends of Chinese FDI’s relevance to Zambian employment and state dependency to be mixed and that assessments will need to disentangle various Chinese activities and will also need to consider contradictory effects. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Sedert die jaar 2000 het Chinese direkte buitelandse belegging (DBB) in Zambië stelselmatig begin toeneem. Die groei is hoofsaaklik gekonsentreer in die hulpbron ontgunnings sektore. China is tans die derde grootste belegger in Zambia naas die Verenigde State van Amerika en Suid Afrika. Soos die titel van die tesis aandui, word DBB beskou as relevant tot Zambië se ontwikkelings dialoog. Aangesien die oorsaaklikheid tussen DBB en ontwikkeling nie maklik vasgestel kan word nie, word sleutel aanwysers gebruik om dieper in die gesprek rondom Chinese DBB ten opsigte van Zambiese ontwikkeling in te kyk. Tans is daar 'n groot mate van spekulasie aan potensiële risikos en/of voordele van Chinese DBB vir Zambië. China bied Zambië ‘n venootskap sonder inmenging in binnelandse beleid, anders as Westerse finansiering wat gekoppel word aan voorwaardes, en dit is wat die vraag lig; wat gaan die uiteindelikke invloed en effek wees op Zambiese ontwikkeling in die toekoms. Met uitdagings soos beperkte inligting, vele moontlikke aanwysers en ‘n groot aantal opinies, kort die debad tot dusver die vermoë om die waarde van argumente te evalueer binne die konteks van nasionale tendense. Hierdie studie evalueer die debat binne die raamwerk van sewe sleutel sosio-ekonomiese en politiese aanwysers. Chinese DBB word bevind om bevorderlik te wees ten opsigte van ontwikkeling in die infrastruktuur ontwikkeling- en ekonomiese groei sektore; dit word egter nie bevind as bevorderlik in terme van mark-diversifikasie, die teenkanting van korrupsie, of in die versterking van politieke instellings nie. Chinese DBB se invloed op indiensneming en op die afhanklikheid van die Zambiese staat toon gemengde resultate, en dat assesering verskeie Chinese aktiwiteite sal moet ontrafel en ook teenstrydigge effekte in gedagte moet hou.

Thesis (PhD (Economics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / Numerous theories have been constructed to provide reasons for economic growth differences between countries. As data became more readily available, cross-country empirical studies identified a set of variables that contributed to economic growth, including variables such as the investment in human and physical capital.