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Masters in Public Administration - MPA / This study attempted to examine the role that selected civil society groups played to promote citizen participation in governance processes. / South Africa

A research project submitted to the African Centre for Migration and Society in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Migration and Displacement March 2016 / Migration patterns in Zimbabwe and the Southern African region have historically been male led and dominated. Recently, however, there has been an increase in the participation of women in migration in search of improved work and education opportunities. This feminisation of migration has implications on normative understandings of motherhood, family and gender roles. In particular, it may necessitate renegotiation of family roles: fathers and other relatives may be tasked to take care of and nurture the children, whilst mothers find alternative ways to mother from afar, suggesting changes in mothers’ productive and reproductive roles. Against this backdrop, the study explores mothering experiences of Zimbabwean women living in Johannesburg who left their children in Zimbabwe, or who have had children in Johannesburg and then moved them to Zimbabwe. Participants’ perceptions about motherhood, the challenges they face and the ways they try to overcome them are examined. Special focus is on single mothers who are employed in the low skills labour market for two reasons: first their mothering role gains particular importance in light of the absence of the father to help with parenting. Second, given the nature of their employment, they tend to face resource constraints which do not permit full-time mothering. The study draws from literature on transnational motherhood and transnational families and in-depth semi structured interviews with eleven Zimbabwean mothers living and working in Johannesburg. Constructivist grounded theory was used to analyse the data. As a mother who travelled alone to study in Johannesburg and who has a child in Zimbabwe, I am reflective of my position throughout the research process. Findings indicate that while mothers displayed agency in their conceptualisations of motherhood in the context of migration, they nonetheless viewed the ideology of intensive motherhood, which portrays mothers as selfless and fully dedicating their time to taking care of children at home, as an ideal form of mothering. This created challenges for them as they viewed themselves as not adequately exercising their mothering role and subsequently falling short of being ‘good mothers’ despite the important role they play as significant contributors to the household income in Zimbabwe. / MT2017

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Development Studies March 2015 / The research report presents an analysis to, responses to and dynamics around the municipal water problems in Harare, Zimbabwe using the case of two residential suburbs namely Mabvuku and Greendale (one high density and the other one low density respectively). The key questions that inform this research report are as follows: How has the on-going urban water crisis affected residents‟ lives in the suburbs of Greendale and Mabvuku in the city of Harare, Zimbabwe?; how does party politics affect the delivery of municipal water in Greendale and Mabvuku?; and, what are the environmental consequences of the municipal water crisis? The findings from this study contribute immensely to an understanding of the consequences of and various issues and, the key players underlying the protracted problem of municipal water availability in the city of Harare. The study argues that the prevalence of partisan politics and political power struggles in Harare are at the heart of the municipal water problems faced by Mabvuku and Greendale. In this regard, the study critically interrogates the relationship between the central ZANU–PF government and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)-led local government and tries to understand the ramifications it is having on municipal water services. Interestingly the study also reveals that, despite the differences in coping strategies by residents of Mabvuku and Greendale, both locales have not been passive victims of the municipal water crisis. Instead, residents from both suburbs employ strategies according to their needs to ensure survival. However, despite some of the coping strategies (such as borehole and well drilling) significantly helping residents to manage and avert the water stress in light of the absence of municipal tap water, the study presents, explores and discusses the environmental consequences that are likely to happen as a result of the high concentration of these alternative water sources. / GR2017

Background: This study examined the relationship between mothers’ age at first birth and infant mortality in Zimbabwe. Childbearing at a significantly young age has been noted to be a predictor of infant mortality, as children born to young mothers are at a greater risk of early death. Methods: This is a cross-sectional, secondary study which uses the data from the Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey 2005-2006. The population of interest in this study are women of reproductive ages in Zimbabwe, who have had children within the last five years prior to the survey. A total of 4074 women are used as the sample in this study. The dependent variable is infant mortality, which is understood as the deaths of infants between the period of birth and their first birthday. The independent variables include demographic, socio-economic and reproductive characteristics of the women. The analysis of data was undertaken at three levels. Univariate analysis, binary logistic regression and multivariate logistic regression were conducted. In addition, stepwise logistic regression was applied to the multivariate analysis to analyse the relationship between the significant variables found in the study in relation to infant mortality. Results: This study confirmed an association between mothers’ age at first birth and infant mortality as infants born to mothers of 18 years and younger suffer higher risk of infant mortality, as they have a 33% increased risk in comparison to infants born to older women. This indicates the need for policy development focused on the issue adolescent childbearing and how childbearing can be delayed in Zimbabwe in order to reduce infant mortality. Furthermore the reproductive characteristics of the mother prove to have great impact on infant mortality within the country. Thus the importance of policies focused on women’s reproductive health care. Conclusions: This study confirms that mothers’ age at first birth is a central influential factor in infant mortality in Zimbabwe. Infant mortality cannot be isolated from the characteristics of mothers, in particular her age at first birth, as they are more often the primary care-givers thus have immense influence on whether the infants survive or not.

In most of Africa archaeological charcoal samples are often used to establish chronology through radiocarbon dating, but are rarely used to address why people may have selected specific wood taxa for particular purposes. This thesis is an enquiry into the palaeo-ethnobotanical and palaeoecological implications of charcoal assemblages dated to the late Holocene from the Great Zimbabwe and Chigaramboni sites, Zimbabwe. The research provided a more detailed picture of socio-economic utilization of wood, such as the use of woods for iron smelting, construction and domestic hearths. Previous excavations at Great Zimbabwe and Chigaramboni have produced large samples of charcoal at specific activity sites and at a few different depths thus giving a minor perspective of time. There was a wider selection of wood at Great Zimbabwe as compared to Chigaramboni. Charcoal samples analyzed in this thesis are a product of purposeful human action and they represent a subsample of the local vegetation and related human activities contemporaneous with the period of sites’ use. A substantial effort has been invested in the development of a modern vegetation reference collection database. This will go a long way in assisting future researchers in the region and is an extremely valuable and essential primary contribution to the development of wood charcoal studies in the region. Thirty different tree species were burnt at Great Zimbabwe and indicate the multipurpose nature of the settlement. In contrast only 14 species were exploited at Chigaramboni which is an iron and metallurgical processing site. The latter fuel woods were also used at Great Zimbabwe. Based on the cracks and fissures in the charcoal it is postulated that the firewood used in metallurgy were collected whilst they were wet. Since Spirostachys africana and Colophospermum mopane do not occur in the area today it is suggested that there was long distance movement of wood, particularly those with excellent construction qualities. It is quite possible that the inhabitants of Great Zimbabwe, or their trading partners, opted to travel long distances in order to collect those particular logs. The fuel woods used at the two sites occur in the region today so it is likely that the Miombo woodlands of Great Zimbabwe and Chigaramboni have not changed notably from the time of occupation by their original inhabitants to date. Based on the mesophytic species identified, such as Acacia robusta, Acacia sieberiana, Acacia xanthophloea, Acacia polyacantha, Acacia burkei, Faurea saligna, Schotia brachypetala, Kigelia africana and Parinari curatellifolia, it is concluded that the inhabitants of ancient Great Zimbabwe and Chigaramboni archaeo-metallurgical site experienced a mesic environment. New excavations of different occupation levels would be required to determine vegetation and climate fluctuations during the past but at present there is a moratorium on such disturbance of the historical sites.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, School of Social Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of International Relations Department of International Relations, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa / Although contemporary analysis of foreign policy now incorporate diverse issues originating from diverse subject areas, it has neglected the issue of change in foreign policy in favour of foreign policy continuity. This paper investigates the subtle changes that China has instituted in its foreign policy towards Africa. It argues that, these subtle foreign policy changes, although beneficial to China, have inherent negative implications on African states and signifies a manifestation of an active, assertive and confrontational Chinese foreign policy in future. In this investigation, China through the implementation of its moralistic five principles of peaceful development, the open door policy and its strategy of instituting policies that target states that it seeks to do business with, has managed to attract and solicit partnership from most African states. Sub-national institutions like the Forum on China Africa Cooperation, the Chinese military, think tanks, Exim Bank and individual Chinese provinces have been tasked to carry out and implement China’s Africa foreign policy. The FOCAC meetings have emerged to be the most important platform through which the notion of change and the main objectives of China’s Africa policy are expressed. There, exists numerous models which can be used to analyse foreign policy change but the paper adopts Eidenfalk’s extent of foreign policy change model to analyse the various issues, both domestic and international, that influence changes in foreign policy. For China, international more than domestic factors wield greater influence on foreign policy. As a result three strands of foreign policy change can be identified in China’s Africa policy i.e. from single aid to aid provided on a win-win basis, from ideological focus during the colonial period to pragmatic considerations and from non-interference to active engagement on the continent. Given the close relationship that had formed between China and most African states, changes identified above, will have negative political and economic consequences for African states. For instance, African states will no longer enjoy Beijing’s cushion against UN sanctions, weakening of African economies and identity crisis are all possible consequences of China’s evolving policy. Zimbabwe is dependent both economically and politically on China. It would follow that any form of change in China’s foreign policy will leave Zimbabwe exposed to the above effects. / MT2017

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Public Health-Social and Behaviour Change Communication, June 2013 / Since it was first discovered in the early 80s, HIV and AIDS has been a major cause of death the world over, most especially in Africa. Southern African, in particular, has the highest HIV prevalence rates in the world (UNAIDS, 2010) . The practice of multiple and concurrent partnerships (MCP) was identified as a key driver of HIV infection in this Region (SADC, 2006). It is against this backdrop that in 2009, a Zimbabwean organisation, Action Institute for Environment Health and Development Communication (Action), embarked on an HIV prevention campaign to encourage safer sexual behaviours by promoting the reduction in MCP. The social mobilisation component of the campaign was rolled out in partnership with five community-based organisations (CBOs), through which Action identified and trained community based peer educators on how to use its multimedia products as tools to facilitate dialogues around MCP. The dialogues were introduced in order to enable communities to discuss why they engage in MCPs and to determine for themselves the best ways to reduce their vulnerability to HIV.

Thesis (LLM. (Management and Law)) -- University of Limpopo, 2013 / Rural areas of Zimbabwe suffered acute shortage of banking services. Conventional banks feared high transaction costs and lack of collateral associated with this market segment. This research aimed at evaluating impact of microfinance on rural farming sector. Finding out the general banking and microfinance situation, appraising scheme impact and making recommendations were the research’s objectives. A descriptive research design was used. A population of 3,400 members constituting 289 Investment Groups (IGs) was used. Quota and purposive sampling were used to select 20 IGs and 154 individual respondents. Sample survey, Focus Group Discussions (FGD) and Key Informant Interviews (KII) were data collection methods. The survey findings showed that the five Department For International Development’s (DFID’s) Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA) asset bases increased more for the treatment than the control groups, signifying microfinance impact. Wealth ranking, meant to triangulate survey results, depicted upward mobility of groups; old ones transcending to rich categories while the new moved into top poor rank, also demonstrating impact. Further, scheme achieved women empowerment basing on their numerical predominance and improved self-confidence, signifying impact. The study recommends that Farmers’ Association of Community self-Help Investment Groups (FACHIG) resuscitated its savings component using the Self-Help Group (SHG) thrift approach to ensure scheme sustainability. In addition, climate change, a phenomenon which increased droughts, could have dampened impact. However, the research did not delve into this area, compelling a future study.

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