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Item Open Access The incorporation of indigenous knowledge in land reform projects: the Basotho Letjhabile and Maolosi Trust agricultural projects(University of the Free State, 2009) Akenji, Maghah Josephine; Cawood, S.; Nel, P.J.Indigenous peoples around the world have sought knowledge of physical reality throughout the ages. Their understanding of the physical universe is codified in their knowledge systems. However, often the content of agricultural information in less developed countries is devoid of inputs from the indigenous people. It is based on the need to modernise agriculture without consideration of the goals and strategies of indigenous people. Indigenous agriculture, however, as it was originally applied prior to colonisation and apartheid, as is the case with South Africa, can neither be fully resumed nor would it satisfy the world food needs and recession crisis of the ever-increasing world population. It will, however, if taken on a solemn note, have a significant impact on the world food production (World Bank 2005). Despite the enormous value of IKS in the sustainable management of natural resources, the world has suffered and continues to suffer from a profound loss of indigenous peoples, rural groups, and their knowledge about the natural world, which has been constructed from their intimate ties to land and place. This loss has been accompanied by neglect and the marginalisation of their practices and beliefs often figured as inferior forms of knowing that should be replaced by universalised knowledge derived from the western scientific traditions (Hardison 2005). This study is an exploration of how indigenous knowledge, which has been marginalised over the years, is incorporated in Land Reform Projects of agricultural development. It is an attempt to help indigenous people regain the value of their knowledge. Employing a multidisciplinary method, the work presents an analysis of indigenous knowledge practices in agricultural land reform projects (Basotho Letjhabile and Maolosi Trust), and how indigenous knowledge contributes to sustainability and transformation with these two community projects.Item Open Access Ukuthwasa initiation of amagqirha: identity construction and the training of Xhosa women as traditional healers(University of the Free State, 2009-05) Mlisa, Lily-Rose Nomfundo; Nel, J. P.; Pretorius, E.English: The study explores ukuthwasa initiation process amongst amaXhosa women in the Eastern Cape Province. The focus is on the training of women amagqirha in three areas in the Eastern Cape. The study looks at how the women are trained as amagqirha and how they construct their multifaceted identities during their tedious five-year training process. The Komanisi iphehlo is used as a paradigmatic model school for the training of amagqirha. The ritual of ukuthwasa is analysed as a transformational practice that operates changes in those who undergo it. A brief review of the interface between ukuthwasa and Christianity is included and reflections in specific historical and socio-cultural contexts are provided. AmaXhosa have been shaping and reshaping their ethnicity, religious culture, their identities and political systems during the course of political instability and economic and social-cultural challenges, including challenges during the democratic government. Such challenges affected amaXhosa as a nation and their religious life, as traces of such can be observed in transformations that have affected ukuthwasa practice. The study reveals the structure of the training process and incidents that led to the evolution of ukuthwasa, ritualism, symbolism, myth or magic and possible inexplicable realities of the world of ukuthwasa, to reveal the epistemologies and existential realities of ukuthwasa and female experiences. The polymorphism of ukuthwasa demands the use of various theoretical approaches to explain the process and practice of ukuthwasa. Consequently, that led to the use of a triangulation approach as a method of choice to collect, analyse and interpret the data. The grounded theory method was used. The life histories of four trainers and the spiritual journey of the researcher are used as retrospective data to explain the process, existential experiences and practice of ukuthwasa. In total, 115 participants, including amagqirha, faithhealers, public community members, family members of those who thwasa, initiates and key public figures have been interviewed through structured and unstructured interviews. Verification and soundness of data collected are maintained by means of verifying data through focus groups. Results reveal that the amaXhosa experience ukuthwasa as a cultural initiation process that helps in nurturing, awakening and stimulating the person’s umbilini (intuition), which is an inborn gift used in divining. Umbilini is the only skill used to assess, diagnose and treat their clients and patients. Therefore amagqirha use inductive ways of assessing their clients. Through ukuthwasa initiation, women are able to understand their ‘self’ better. Ukuthwasa also instils maturity and opens up insights into their other gifts such as ‘leadership’ skills. In that way, ukuthwasa enhances their identities. In addition, amaXhosa understand ukuthwasa as a reality and an inborn gift that runs in families. The result is also that ukuthwasa is a complex and abstract phenomenon that unfolds as a long process and is never completed fully in its entirety; only death relieves a person from its demands. It is fraught with various crises and to reject it is to invite continuous crises and ultimately madness and death; the best way is to accept it. To treat ukuthwasa as a possession and as a psychological phenomenon or syndrome is to underestimate the primary factor of the inborn disposition’s importance as cultural text and cultural discourse. Variations in the structure and procedures carried out in ukuthwasa are identified within the cultural group and other Nguni cultures, as well as at national and international level. Furthermore, there is an inevitable interface between ukuthwasa and Christianity. The amaXhosa believe in one, universal world. The infusion of cultural doctrines with Christian values leads amagqirha to construct their multiple identities as amagqirha, faith-healers, powerful healing women as well as women leaders in the cultural and Christian healing profession.Item Open Access Continuity and change: an evaluation of the democracy-foreign policy nexus in post-apartheid South Africa(Faculty of the Humanities, University of the Free State, 2010-09) Hudson, HeidiIf foreign policy is viewed as an “intermestic” arena where the external meets the internal, then it becomes possible to see how internal domestic factors drive foreign policy making. In this context the democracy-foreign policy nexus and the role of governmental and non-governmental foreign policy actors help to reconcile ideals and interests and put foreign policy contradictions into perspective. The desirability of democratic participation in foreign policy is taken as a given, but agency has to go beyond representation to include issues of participation and political dialogue. The focus of this article is the democratic deficit of the Mbeki foreign policy (1999-2008), with some reference to the Zuma administration. The way in which foreign policy was personalised under the presidency of Mbeki was instrumental in closing the space for meaningful participation in the foreign policy processes. The article concludes that democratic foreign policy making is impeded by an overall deterioration in the quality of democracy in post-apartheid South Africa. It further contends that there is more continuity than change across the Mbeki and Zuma administrations’ policy orientations (both domestic and foreign) and warns that the challenges which Mbeki faced in terms of democratic consolidation may be exacerbated in the Zuma period if certain demons are not tackled head on.Item Open Access A study of rituals performed at two sacred sites in the eastern Free State(University of the Free State, 2011-11) Mensele, M. S.; Malete, E. N.; Nel, P. J.Oral tradition and diverse literary sources in Sesotho indicate that African peoples have for centuries been performing rituals for different purposes at the sacred sites, such as caves within their communities as well as their families. Ritual performance has served the Basotho well as a means of celebrating their religious beliefs and communication with God through ancestors (Machobane and Manyeli, 2001: 4). This study, therefore, takes its cue from this common African ritual tradition and aims to examine different rituals performed at the two sacred sites in the Eastern Free State, namely, Badimong near Rosendal and Motouleng near Clarens. These two caves were selected because of their prominence within the Basotho cultural tradition and history. The study mainly highlights the classification of rituals and the use of local language as a mode of typification of different ritual performances. The Sesotho names given to rituals and their meaning have been communicated in Sesotho and in English. Variations in the structure of rituals have been examined and highlighted including how and where as well as when the given rituals are performed. The significance of each ritual performance is also dealt with in the study. Interpretation of the Sesotho language used in ritual performance is important as interviews were conducted in Sesotho and later translated into English while still serving the purpose of the survey in classifying the major kinds and Sesotho names given to ritual performances at the two sacred sites. In this way, the study retains its aim to categorize and classify types of rituals performed at the two sacred sites specified while examining the role of language in ritual performance together with the structure and significance of rituals. The major research questions were: What is the extent and nature of rituals performed at sacred sites in the Eastern Free State? How can the rituals at the sacred sites be classified so that the local user community’s conceptualization is fully acknowledged? The major research questions directly relate to a survey and clarification of rituals performed at the sacred sites mentioned. Notion was taken that the classification of rituals cannot be done without an exploration of the different rituals in terms of their space, time, actors, audience, structure and materials. All in all, the research design is basically an explorative survey of rituals performed at the two sacred sites mentioned in the Eastern Free State. This study, therefore, employed a qualitative-explorative approach. An increased popularity of the two caves also provided an ideal opportunity to explore a wide range of rituals within centralized geographical localities. The research findings indicates that ritual activities at the sacred sites need to be taken seriously due to their association with ancestral and religious Basotho beliefs which have been an integral and is still said to be an important part in the cultural, spiritual and religious beliefs of most local user communities of the sacred sites under study. The recommendations made are that more literary sources should be made available in which ritual activities at sacred sites are not merely elaborated upon as superstitious or traditional African dilemma but as healthy, informative, religious and valuable practice that should be acknowledged and contextualized with the respect that it deserves. It is also recommended that the two major sacred sites mentioned should be preserved and maintained as sources of African Traditional Indigenous Knowledge in the Eastern Free State.Item Open Access The rhetorical imprint from a constructivist perspective(Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2014) Cawood, Stephanie; De Wet, Johann C.The rhetorical imprint, ideal for probing the rhetoric of a single rhetor, is defined as a unified set of characteristics that function at the manifest and latent levels of rhetoric. From a constructivist viewpoint, this concept is indicative of individual conceptual processes and structures. The constructivist lens is derived from George Kelly’s construct theory and his conception of a personal construal system governing human cognition and communication. Constructs develop from primitive constructs derived from human biology, while construct development is bound to embodied experience where the body mediates individual experience and provides content to the primitive constructs. The personal construal system resides in the cognitive unconscious and has a deep-seated and complex metaphorical structure, which is reproduced in the rhetorical imprint. A rhetorical imprint is dynamic and will evolve in concert with the personal construal system to make sense of the world, while remaining internally coherent. In a constructivist understanding of communication, sophisticated personal construal systems produce sophisticated communication, a crucial element of the rhetorical imprint. The rhetorical imprint corresponds to the classical canon of inventio where habitual topoi, metaphorical mental common-places from where available means of persuasion are sought, leave an indelible impression of a rhetor’s individuality in rhetoric.Item Open Access Land reform and poverty alleviation in Mashonaland East, Zimbabwe(University of the Free State, 2014-01) Makunike, Blessing; Kondlo, KwandiweThe study is an investigation into the linkage between, landownership and poverty alleviation in Mashonaland East Province of Zimbabwe. The focus is directed by the fact that in Zimbabwe, the poorest live in rural areas. The problem of rural poverty has been attributed, in part, to lack of access to land due to historical imbalances arising from colonialism. The objective of this study is to find out how the livelihoods of those who were resettled have been transformed. Despite heated debate among scholars on Zimbabwe’s controversial land reform, a systematic investigation of the relationship between access to land and poverty alleviation in Zimbabwe is generally weak; consequently, there are gaps in the analysis of land occupation processes and what is required for sustainable agrarian livelihoods. Indeed, the programme of land reform is crucial to the resolution of rural poverty. It is, therefore, important that such a programme be implemented in a fair, just and sustainable manner in the interest of all the stakeholders within the ambits of the law and constitution of Zimbabwe. The approach followed in the discussion can be described as moving from the macro to the micro in that the thesis covers broad but very important contextual issues about the political history of the land question in Zimbabwe and then narrows down to a discussion of land reform and poverty in Mashonaland East. The theoretical position of the study is that the land question in Zimbabwe is by and large, a political issue. The key argument is that distribution of society’s scarce resources in Zimbabwe is primarily informed by political calculations rather than non-partisan concerns for alleviation of poverty at the grassroots of society. Land is finite and therefore a scarce resource and its redistribution has largely been informed by political calculations rather than consistent criteria to deal with the plight of the rural poor based on measured levels of need and poverty. The politicization of land reform in Zimbabwe has a lot to do with the reproduction of power of the ruling ZANU-PF political elites. Poverty in Zimbabwe emanates from lack of access by the poor majority to resources and other material means of life. The theoretical perspective is that government’s decisions on who gets land leads to poverty as the vulnerable groups and less politically connected are not always prioritized for access to land. The research paradigm used is the sustainable livelihoods approach, which is influenced by qualitative methodology. It emphasizes the complexity of rural class structures and the contingency of individual agency. This approach has, at its center, the individual or individual households, and tries to understand how each household derives its livelihood. The theory of justice is also partially used to inform the assessment of the social character of land reform beneficiaries, in relation to grievances, the procedure of the reform, the social organization of beneficiaries, and the intended impact of the reform. Because of the economic and political environment in which the study was done, simple random sampling was used to select respondents for discussions and interviews. This approach was justified because it gave each unit an equal chance of being chosen. But the study is based, on the overall; on a case study method hence the findings may have limited generalization to contexts outside Mashonaland East. The narrative of the Zimbabwean state is that the land reform programme met its targets. Resettlement benefited a broad set of people. However empirical evidence examined during the research shows that there was no significant reduction in rural poverty levels, beneficiary selection was not done in a just, fair and transparent manner and productivity was generally low. The thesis argues that the land reform programme in Zimbabwe is in a crisis characterized by a lack of transparency and presided over by a state that is itself unclear about the redistribution strategy that it wants to pursue. There is an ambiguous implementation plan as well as inadequate capacity enhancing policy parameters that are vital to enable a fair and objective evaluation of the whole programme.Item Open Access Exploring narratives of women in leadership in post-conflict societies(University of the Free State, 2014-07-04) Morojele, Naleli; Gobodo-MadikizelaIn 2014 Rwanda had the highest representation levels of women in a national legislature. South Africa ranked eighth in the world. This is in the context of diverse women’s representation levels around the world and regionally. As a result of this diversity there is a growing academic interest and literature on women and politics. Since attaining these relatively high representation levels Rwanda and South Africa have become the subject of a growing body of research on women and leadership in Sub-Saharan Africa. This study contributes to this area of research on women and politics. The aim of this study was to gather life narratives of women in political leadership in Rwanda and South Africa in order to understand the significance of life experiences in paths to leadership and motivations as women leaders. A qualitative methodology was used as it enables for a contextual and temporal analysis of social phenomena. Women political leaders from Rwanda and South Africa were interviewed about their life experiences, how they entered politics and/or government, and they were also asked about their views on instruments such as gender quotas, as well as their views on criticisms of women’s leadership in their countries. This study found that while not all women leaders benefit from gender quotas they overwhelmingly support them as a means of increasing women’s representation where patriarchal gender ideologies and structural gender inequalities exist. It was also found that women leaders’ personal experiences are the result of the context within which they occur. These are experiences that are a result of their social locations in the societies in which they grew up. Their social locations in specific contexts influenced them in terms of their access to education, their professions, and their entries into politics. For some of these women it led to the development of a consciousness of the different kinds of inequalities that exist in society and the need create a country in which racial, gender and class inequalities do not exist (South Africa). For other women it is a realisation of the necessity of having an efficient government and a growing economy to promote peace and maintain a stable society and the importance of using woman as a resource to achieve this objective (Rwanda).Item Open Access A history of marriage and citizenship: Kalanga women’s experiences in post-colonial Botswana until 2005(University of the Free State, 2015-02) Sechele, Unaludo; Phimister, I. R.; Spence, D.English: This study examines Kalanga women‟s experiences in relation to marriage and citizenship legislation in Botswana between 1966 and 2005. The analyses of the study are based on legislation affecting all women in Botswana, but are specifically focused on a group of rural women of Kalanga origin. A number of legislations in Botswana affected the Kalanga women, but the emphasis of this study falls on the Citizenship Act (1984), leading to its amendment in 1995, and the Abolition of Marital Power Act (2004). The Citizenship Act (1984) had to be amended because it discriminated against women as it rendered the passing on of citizenship to children patrilineal. The Abolition of Marital Power Act (2004), on the other hand, came about as a result of oppression that married women faced as they did not have rights and were considered minors as per common and customary law. This study also traces the events of the Unity Dow case, and the extent to which it helped improve the status of Kalanga women. Dow took the government to Court in 1990 as she believed that she too had the right to pass citizenship on to her children despite the fact that she was married to a foreign citizen. The High Court and the Court of Appeal ruled in her favour as the Act itself contradicted the country‟s constitution. Kalanga women who faced the same challenge as Unity Dow benefited from the court ruling. After the Government lost the case it was forced to amend either the Citizenship Act (1984) or the constitution. Amending the constitution so as to allow gender discrimination was not an option. This was because the world had started to pay attention to women‟s rights in Botswana. The patriarchal nature of the Kalanga ethnic group, gave men marital power. Hence, this study examined how the Abolition of Marital Power Act (2004) improved the status of women in their families and examined whether they benefited from the newly instituted Act.Item Open Access A history of mining in Broken Hill (Kabwe): 1902-1929(University of the Free State, 2015-02) Mufinda, Buzandi; Phimister, I. R.; Koorts, L.English: This study has attempted to write a history of the Broken Hill mine in the period from 1902 to 1929. Despite the mine being the first large enterprise to be opened in Zambia, its history is largely unknown. Much of the information on which this dissertation is based was derived from archival research, primarily in the National Archives of Zambia in Lusaka; the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Archive in Ndola; and the Livingstone Museum in Livingstone. Chapter one introduces the study. Chapter two examines the origin and development of the Broken Hill mine from 1902 to 1913. During this period, the productiveness and profitability of the Broken Hill mine was hampered by the problems of treatment of complex ores, expensive railway freights and the irregular supply of labour. In 1914 the First World War started and Chapter three traces the impact of the war on Broken Hill mine. The war was largely responsible for delays in the delivery of materials for the construction of a new treatment plant and furnaces. Because of the influenza epidemic, the mine closed towards the end of the year. However, the war also provided opportunities for the mine to increase its production, sales and profits. In particular, the war led to a high demand for lead and zinc; an increase in the price of base metals; further reduction on railway rates by the Rhodesia Railways Company and the good prices of lead and zinc in London. This was a boost to increase the supply of the metals. Yet, the Rhodesia Broken Hill mine failed to make the most of such opportunities largely because of the recurring problem of treating complex ores. During the war, considerable effort was devoted to lead-zinc experiments, as the mine searched for better methods of treating the ores. In fact the mine was only once able to supply lead to Britain’s Ministry of Munitions. Chapter four covers the position of the Broken Hill mine between 1919 and 1929. The period after the end of the war witnessed a tremendous increase in production, sales and profit margins. There was also greater infrastructure development at Broken Hill than ever before. Although between 1902 and 1929 production in terms of quantity and quality, sales and profits never reached hoped-for figures, they did roughly triple after the end of the war. This was made possible by the fact that Broken Hill mine was increasingly able to utilise cheap black labour, as well as cheap hydro-electric power. At the same time, the ores became richer even as the price of spelter increased. In the 1920s, Broken Hill mine benefited from a low cost of production per ton of lead and zinc and a selling price per ton that was nearly double the cost of production. Indeed, Rhodesia Broken Hill mine enjoyed lower production costs than most of mines in the world.Item Open Access The colonial archive and contemporary chieftainship claims: the case of Zimbabwe, 1935 to 2014(University of the Free State, 2015-07) Bishi, George; Phimister, I. R.; Williams, R.English: This thesis focuses on the uses of the colonial archive in contemporary Zimbabwe by people and families claiming chieftaincy. It uses five selected case studies: Chidziva in Masvingo, Sanyanga and Mutsago in Manicaland, Seke in Mashonaland East, and Musaigwa in Mashonaland Central Provinces of Zimbabwe. All these cases submitted written claims reports to the Ministry of Local Government for consideration for traditional leadership positions. These claims were made after Zimbabwe’s Fast Track Land Reform of 2000. At the same time, the government empowered traditional leaders to win their support against the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). As a result of these developments, claimants to chieftaincy also emerged. To convince Local Government officials, claimants were expected to submit elaborate claims reports showing their genealogies, family trees, chieftaincies histories and territorial boundaries. It is in these circumstances that claimants resort to the National Archives of Zimbabwe (NAZ) looking for their histories in the colonial archive. Claimants hire ethnographers, archaeologists and historians to document their family or clan histories. Claimants and contracted historians both rely on colonial documents for evidence. They also use oral evidence to compliment archival evidence or to dispute it if the colonial record does not support the claimant’s case. In the light of these contemporary claims to chieftaincy, this dissertation discusses the establishment of the NAZ, not only as a site of ‘national memory’ but also as a strategic research institution so far as chieftaincy is concerned. It analyses the generation of archival sources, their acquisition and accessibility governed by access regimes at the NAZ and how this subsequently affects chieftaincy research. The dissertation discusses the nature and usefulness of archival sources claimants used to document claims reports. In the process, this study suggests supplementary sources within and without NAZ repositories that are overlooked by historians. The study also explores the dynamics of claims to chieftaincy in present day Zimbabwe. While some chieftaincy succession disputes predate colonialism, others are a product of colonial legacies. The study situates itself within the broader literature, the so-called indigenous historiography that emerged in the 1990s. It focuses on how indigenous peoples in countries such as Canada, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Malaysia filed land claims. They used customary rights, colonial treaties and archives for evidence to justify their claims. However, this thesis argues that archives can be used for political and social benefits by claimants of chieftaincy in Zimbabwe.Item Open Access Foreign capital, state and the development of secondary industry in Southern Rhodesia, 1939-1956(University of the Free State, 2015-07) Gwande, Victor Muchineripi; Phimister, I. R.; Van Zyl-Hermann, D.English: This thesis is a detailed historical study that examines the nature and extent of foreign capital investment in Southern Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe) between 1939 and 1956, with particular focus on the development of secondary industry. A number of scholars have commented that, with the exception of South Africa, no country was as dominated by foreign capital as Southern Rhodesia. However, this claim has not been investigated empirically in great depth. The study therefore offers an account of the development of secondary industry and also demonstrates the penetration of foreign capital into this sector. This thesis argues that, while the development of secondary industries had gathered momentum during the war years, the inflow of foreign capital into secondary industries really increased during the post-war period. The trend in foreign capital inflows and the expansion of industries was consolidated by the establishment of the Central African Federation in 1953. The increase in manufacturing production occurred alongside the establishment of new industrial ventures initiated by European immigrants and local residents. In the same period influential British and South African companies took over existing small local concerns resulting in concentration of industrial production in the hands of few, big corporations. Most foreign capital came from Britain and South Africa and to a lesser extent, from the United States of America and Italy. Foreign capital came in the form of foreign direct investment or local take-overs or in a small measure through immigrants. This thesis also addressed foreign capital’s relations and partnership with the Southern Rhodesian state during this time in funding basic services and facilities pertinent to industrial development. The role of foreign capital in Southern Rhodesia’s industrialisation process was also considered in relation to the contemporaneous phenomenon of Import Substitution Industrialisation (ISI), as well as the influence of South Africa, and it concluded that industrialisation in Southern Rhodesia displayed many of the tenets of ISI as observed in Latin America.Item Open Access Fast track land reform in Matepatepa commercial farming area, Bindura district: effects on farm workers, 2000 – 2010(University of the Free State, 2015-11) Kufandirori, Joyline Takudzwa; Phimister, I. R.; Pilossof, R.English: This dissertation examines the effects of Zimbabwe’s Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) on farm workers from 2000 to 2010. It looks at how farm workers fared during and after the process and how they dealt with the new conditions that ensued. It examines the nature of their relationships with their new employers and how the conditions under which they were employed changed and the impact of such changes on their livelihoods. The thesis also surveys the conditions of farm workers who took up other sources of livelihood after the land reform programme. It uses a case study of Matepatepa Commercial Farming area as a window to investigate the impact of the land reform exercise on farm workers in Zimbabwe. Matepatepa is located about 22 kms north of Bindura, Mashonaland Central’s provincial capital. The thesis mainly utilises narratives from farm workers in Matepatepa to explain the nature of their participation in the land reform programme and examines their relationship with some of the players who were central to the process, for example, war veterans, the government and other peasant farmers. In order to obtain a clearer understanding of the effects of the reform on farm workers’ livelihoods, the study also focuses on their conditions before the land reform and how they nurtured and developed their relations with their employers. It investigates the impact of the FTLRP in the context of the wider nature of Zimbabwe’s political and economic environment and assesses the impact of Zimbabwe’s political economy in shaping farm workers’ reactions to the changes brought about by the land reform exercise. The study acknowledges the fraught political background within which the land reform programme was carried out and consequently investigates the effect of such a background in determining the parameters within which farm workers could manoeuvre.Item Open Access Financing rebellion: the Rhodesian state, financial policy and exchange control, 1962-1979(University of the Free State, 2015-11) Nyamunda, Tinashe; Phimister, I. R.; Cohen, A. P.English: This thesis examines the history of finance and exchange control under the Rhodesian Front (RF) government between 1962 and 1979. Outlining the background to Southern Rhodesia’s incorporation within Britain’s imperial network from 1890 to 1962, the study’s primary focus is on how the Colony emerged from the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in 1963 to reconstitute a financial system capable of operating independently from Britain. The Rhodesian case study illustrates the antagonism between British financial interests and colonial financial policies. The political impasse over the Rhodesian question centered on finance as a tool of coercion by London, and conversely, as a rebel bulwark against the metropole. Following UDI in 1965, financial and economic sanctions were imposed by Britain and subsequently the United Nations (UN). The various settlement negotiations that ensued were unsuccessful in stopping the rebellion until the Lancaster House Conference in 1979. The process whereby Rhodesia survived sanctions by the use of financial measures supported by strategic political alliances and trade arrangements with South Africa and Portugal is clearly examined. It was not until the escalation of the guerrilla struggle in the 1970s that the rebel monetary system began to buckle. The study traces the measures taken by Britain and the UN to end the Rhodesian rebellion, including the effects this had on London as well as the geopolitical implications for Southern Africa, notably South Africa and Zambia. It utilizes primary material from Zimbabwean, South African and British archives to determine the different strategies involved and their effects on Britain and Rhodesia. The thesis also discusses the extent to which broader international events influenced developments in Rhodesia, for example, the collapse of the Bretton Woods financial system in 1971, the oil shock in 1973 and the global economic recessions which they triggered and their effects on the Colony. Central to this analysis is how Salisbury’s financial administration was coordinated by a Ministerial Economic Coordination Committee to sustain the different elements of the Rhodesian rebellion at different stages until a point was reached when the only option was compromise at Lancaster. Not limited to an examination of the effects of sanctions, the thesis is a study of a neglected area of Zimbabwean and general economic history: colonial financial systems in their transition to a postcolonial state.Item Open Access ‘Mabhurandaya’: the Malawian diaspora in Zimbabwe: 1895 to 2008(University of the Free State, 2015-11) Daimon, Anusa; Phimister, I. R.; Oelofse, M.English: This thesis historicizes the connections between identity, marginality and agency amongst an African diasporic community in Zimbabwe. It uses the case of people of Malawian ancestry or Mabhurandaya as a window into examining how their experiences in Zimbabwe, from the 1890s until the inception of the Government of National Unity in 2008, were shaped by various dynamics. More specifically, it situates and historicizes the place of identity in the marginalization of the Malawian diaspora in Zimbabwe and their counter-initiatives in managing and adapting to challenges. Having come into Zimbabwe initially as migrants under the colonial labour migration (Chibaro/Mthandizi) system before gradually settling down permanently as part of a diasporic minority, some Malawian descendants carved a niche for themselves in what became their permanent ‘home’. Malawian identities emerged and were constructed, imagined, as well as contested in various spaces across Zimbabwe. Fluid and multiple identities were fashioned or negotiated based on foreign ancestry, migration experiences, ethnicity, gender, class, education and unique socio-cultural motifs. Officially dubbed ‘native aliens’ by the Rhodesian state and later simply as ‘aliens’ by the post-colonial state, or more commonly as Mabhurandaya by the Zimbabwean indigenes, Malawian communities became an integral component of Zimbabwean social, economic and political history. Nonetheless, the colonial and post-colonial state historically marginalised migrant descendants with diasporas living as minorities in states of unbelonging. At the same time, the Malawian diaspora exerted individual and collective agency to cope and adapt to the several challenges and anxieties they faced in Zimbabwe. They made their own history, and found ways to assert and express themselves. Their experiences were not homogenous but were multi-layered, varying according to gender, age, education, occupation and settlement. They were also multi-dimensional and often cyclical in nature, manifesting themselves in intricate life cycles of marginality and agency over time. The thesis provides a critical and historical analysis of the above dynamics, which is empirically grounded in specific case studies across Zimbabwe.Item Open Access The impact of the Second World War on Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), 1939-1953(University of the Free State, 2015-11) Tembo, Alfred; Phimister, I. R.; Spence, Daniel OwenEnglish: The thesis explores the impact of the Second World War on colonial Zambia. The situation faced by the British government during the hostilities required a collective effort to fight a total war against the Axis powers. A supreme effort was demanded not only by Britain and her Allies, but also of Britain in partnership with her Empire. This is a study of how the colony of Northern Rhodesia went about the process of organising its human and natural resources on behalf of the imperial government. Thematically-organised, the thesis begins with the recruitment of personnel for the Northern Rhodesia Regiment. It explores the role of traditional authority and government propaganda but also brings to the fore African agency. It also argues that some sections of the African and European populations were opposed to the colony’s war effort. The colony’s contribution to the Allied war effort was also extended to the supply of base metals to the Allies. Its mining industry came to operate like an appendage of the British war economy, with the imperial government buying the commodity at a controlled price. Furthermore, Northern Rhodesia supplied rubber and beeswax following the fall of Allied-controlled South-east Asian colonies at the hands of the invading Japanese in early 1942. Just as the colony’s mining industry had become important to the Allies in wartime, the mines came to play an even more significant role in the reconstruction of the battered British economy post-war. The new relationship was based on the need for Britain to have access to the very valuable copper industry’s dollar-earnings, especially following the devaluation of sterling. As the City of London lost its importance as the world’s financial centre, the copper companies also shifted their offices to central Africa. This movement was accompanied by growing settler political influence which eventually led to the creation of the Central African Federation. Just as the war affected the British home front, so too, it did that of Northern Rhodesia. The war impacted the lives of ordinary people through commodity shortages, profiteering, inflation, hoarding, and the black market. The colonial government responded by taking an active role never before witnessed in the history of the colony to control these vices. The thesis ends with a discussion on the demobilization process in which African servicemen felt cheated by an Empire-wide system of racial hierarchy. Although expanded government propaganda machinery contributed to the growth of an African political voice, most ex-servicemen remained concerned about personal affairs, and directed their frustration at their traditional leaders who were active in the recruitment process. Contrary to older arguments, African servicemen did not play an active role in nationalist politics. On a wider historical plane, through a detailed examination of the economic, political, military, social, and agricultural sectors of Northern Rhodesia this thesis is the first major study of the impact of the Second World War on the colony. In so doing, this thesis significantly modifies a number of historiographies and opens up space for creating a more comprehensive history of the Second World War in Africa. Lastly, this thesis also helps to broaden imperial historical debates by its examination of the “second colonial occupation” of Northern Rhodesia after the war.Item Open Access Chiefs and government in post-colonial Zimbabwe: the case of Makoni District, 1980-2014(University of the Free State, 2015-11) Nkomo, Lotti; Phimister, I. R.; Masakure, C.English: This study explores the relationship between chiefs and government in Zimbabwe during the period 1980-2014. It examines how the interactions between chiefs and government evolved over three and a half decades, with specific reference to the Makoni District of Manicaland Province. The abovementioned relationship was marked by three broad phases, namely 1980-1986, 1987-1999 and 2000-2014. The phases corresponded with variations in the political climate. These changes carry the central theme of the study, namely the way in which the relationship was informed by changing political imperatives. As the case of Makoni District reveals, chiefs were rejected by the independence government in 1980 for their perceived role as anti-nationalists; they were courted when political challenges began to appear in the late 1980s; and they were effectively co-opted when more powerful political threats emerged in 1999 with the rise of strong opposition politics. The defining features of the relationship evolved around the chiefs’ power over land and judicial affairs. At first, the chiefs were stripped of their judicial and land powers when their relationship with the government was characterised by hostility. These powers were restored when the government needed the chiefs’ political support. Using the case of Makoni chiefs, the aim of the study is to show how the ZANU PF government initially rejected and later co-opted chiefs in its administrative and political system for its hegemonic convenience.Item Open Access Urban protest, citizenship and the city: the history of residents' associations and African urban representation in colonial Harare, Zimbabwe(University of the Free State, 2015-11) Chitofiri, Kudakwashe; Phimister, I. R.; Roos, N.English: This thesis is an account of social movements in the African part of the city of Salisbury in colonial Zimbabwe. It explores how the emergence and character of the “Location”, as shaped by segregatory policies which viewed Africans as temporary sojourners in the city, influenced the development of African urban social movements. In doing so, it argues that the reluctance of the colonial authorities and business to invest in basic infrastructure and social services for the Location was the core reason why Africans organised themselves for the improvement of conditions in their segregated part of the City. Seeing themselves as permanent dwellers long before this fact was acknowledged by municipal authorities, many Africans came gradually to understand their collective strength. The emergence of African urban movements was thus a result of a realisation by Africans of the strength of the collective in confronting colonial authorities. This study argues that African trade unions and labour organisations were influenced by the state of affairs in the townships to become mouthpieces for all African urban dwellers. Even later nationalist organisations became de facto township residents’ associations because of the centrality of urban grievances for African Location residents. Investigating the impact of the Depression and the Second World War on the direction and character that African urban representation assumed in the post 1940s period this thesis argues that it was the conditions brought about by increased African urbanisation such as overcrowding and other accompanying urban ills that led to the emergence of, and increase in, narrowly focussed African urban representative unions and associations in the post war period. The thesis also assesses the operations of residents’ representative groupings in an environment of heightened national struggle for independence. It refocuses debates on African agency by exploring “African voices” in the urban arena as they engaged with colonial authorities about the manner in which the Location was imagined, arranged and managed. It captures moments of organised confrontation with colonial authorities by African urban residents organisations from 1908 when the first African Location was created in Salisbury right up to independence in 1980. Paying due regard to the changing and different attitudes of successive colonial governments and local authorities over time and space, the thesis examines the impact of such shifts on the nature and form of African representation.Item Open Access Acquisition, ownership and use of natural resources in South Eastern Zimbabwe, 1929-1969(University of the Free State, 2015-12) Ndumeya, Noel; Phimister, I. R.; Masakure, C.English: This study examines patterns of natural resources distribution and land use in south eastern Zimbabwe, originally known as Melsetter, and later Melsetter and Chipinga Districts. The study focuses on land utilisation, water, game and indigenous timber uses from 1929 to 1969. Prior to white occupation of this area, Africans owned and used these resources under precolonial communal tenure systems. The means by which these resources were seized, particularly in what became the white settler areas of the Melsetter and Chipinga Highlands, is traced from the mid-1890s onwards. Thereafter changing ownership and land use transformations are examined in detail among the diverse inhabitants of this region. African livelihood experiences during the Great Depression of c 1929-1939 are closely analysed, and their agency is brought out through the ways in which they challenged colonial policy. In the pre-1945 era, although the best land had already been alienated, Africans continued to use these resources as labour tenants. That the Melsetter District had great agricultural potential partly explains why it attracted white settlement as early as the mid-1890s. The study also analyses why, when compared to other white settled districts, for more than fifty years after colonial occupation, Melsetter remained an agriculturally backward and undercapitalised settler region. After the Second World War, parts of the region were transformed by the acquisition of land by corporate timber concerns. In the 1960s, coffee growers who arrived mostly from east Africa settled in parts of this region. By embarking on commercial coffee production, they had a significant impact on the agricultural history of the area. These secondary land acquisitions are explored at three levels; firstly, as a local reflection of changing global political and economic conditions; secondly, the intensive use of land resources, and how this had a direct impact on the Africans who formerly utilised this land as tenants and, thirdly; changing African reactions especially where this led to direct confrontation. These historical developments are examined within the broad context of the heterogeneous societies inhabiting this region.Item Open Access A survey of sacred sites and construction of sacredness of space in the Free State(University of the Free State, 2016) Moephuli, John Thabo; Nel, P. J.English: The research presented in this thesis focuses on the nature and extent of sacred sites in the Eastern Free State, namely Mautse, Motouleng, Modderpoort and Oetsi. An explorative survey was required because of the lack of evidence of the locations as well as their cultural and spiritual bearing. To achieve this objective, a working model with descriptive categories has been devised and employed in such a way as to allow comparisons between the sites. Apart from the inventory, an attempt has also been made towards a conceptual analysis of the modes of sacred ascriptions to the sites by user communities. The opening chapter of the thesis addresses the general background of sacred sites. In the general background a distinction is drawn between sites that have assumed status of being historical commemorative sites or group heritage sites, e.g. The National Women’s Monument in Bloemfontein and localised sacred sites in the Eastern Free State that are deemed as living heritage with active community and individual involvement. The thesis reflects the Heritage Resource Act of 1999 as a mechanism that defines living heritage with respect to cultural practices and indigenous knowledge entrenched in user communities. The context of the sacred sites in question has an influence on the history of the Caledon Valley in which the four sites are situated. The thesis shows that the Caledon Valley was riddled with tribal contestations between the Basotho and Boers because it was a fertile region. The methodology employed in this study is ethnographic and this relates to field research at the sites, it is descriptive, explorative and analytic. Furthermore, the thesis addresses the literature review with respect to the views of scholarly input in the subject of sacrality. The second chapter addresses the general outline of the descriptive categories of the thesis; they range from the geography/topography of the sites to the external dynamics of the sites and the conceptions of sacrality as perceived by the user communities. Pictures of the physical localities at the four sites are reflected in the chapter, which exposes the memo-history of the tribes of Mohokare as well as oral transmissions of the history of the sites. The status and significance of the sites are dealt with as cultural and religious expressions of the user communities. The thesis shows that the significance of the sites is anchored on the authority of the ancestors. Various ritual dynamics of the sites are reflected in the thesis, the evidence of “ritual making” at the localities is primordial but the study shows popular support for ritual performances by cultural and religious practitioners. The third chapter deals with data analysis and interpretation of the information obtained from informants in the fieldwork interviews. These interviews are extensively captured in the Addendum of the thesis. The presentation of data is aligned to the field interviews carried out at the sites with the research informants/participants. The thesis shows that obtaining information about a locality requires language proficiency of the site and respect for the informant who gives the data. The data obtained from fieldwork shows an entwinement of cultural practices with religious work at the sites from the apostolic faith movement, other i[dependent Christian groups and indigenous belief systems. Chapter four focuses on the comparative nature of the sites in accordance with the working model presented in chapter two. The thesis in this chapter addresses similarities and dissimilarities of the topography, the comparison of the sites’ impressions, site internal localities similarities/dissimilarities, the history, memo-history and legends of the sites are compared. It also focuses on the ascription of sacrality to the sites, which is generated through the Ancestors who in their spiritual authority assign a spot and or place to perform a ritual. The thesis addresses the aspect of sacrality as the core dimension that describes the sacred work of the sacred locations. The fifth chapter is a response to the research questions posed in chapter one, these questions addresses the nature of sacred sites and the determination of sacrality to the sites. The thesis further addresses the distinctive features of the sites in the Mohokare region and the similarities between commemorative sites like the National Women’s Monument in Bloemfontein and the sites under investigation in the study. The site image transformation of the sites relates particularly to Mautse and Motouleng and is important to the user communities. This aspect relates specifically to the on-going erection of buildings/dwellings on the grounds of the above-mentioned sites. The thesis further focuses on the complex theories of sacrality offered by distinguished scholars namely, Eliade, Smith, Turner and Sheldrake. The theoretical conclusions maintain that sacrality should be valued in relation to the context of the sites and that the complex nature of ascription of sacrality should be honoured. Furthermore, a critical analysis of the scholarly views on the determination sacrality is engaged in this chapter. The outcomes of the research process in this study have signalled a need to engage all stakeholders at the sites, local government and heritage agencies to design protective regimes and rehabilitation programmes for the healthy outlook of the sites. Finally, the tribes that claim exclusive rights to the sites and the physical localities must be further engaged to determine legitimate ownership of the sites. The spiritual ownership and the physical ownership must be probed further.Item Open Access Perceptions and attitudes regarding “corrective rape” among lesbian students at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein(University of the Free State, 2016) Moleko, Nnuku E.; Lake, N.Post-apartheid South Africa is a country filled with conflicting ideas. While the Constitution enshrines the rights of sexual minorities, homophobic attitudes tend to reflect discriminatory behaviour within society. Homosexuality has been defined as un-African and news reports suggest that black lesbians are a particularly vulnerable minority in the country. While much research has focused on violence directed against black lesbians living in South African townships, this study focuses on the lived experiences of black lesbians in a university environment. South African Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are considered safe spaces where students can express their sexuality more freely. For this reason I have chosen to examine the realities of an under-researched community, black lesbian students at the University of the Free State (UFS). The study has relied on a qualitative research design and semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight participants who come from different backgrounds but all study at the UFS. Data was transcribed and a thematic analysis was used to identify themes. Prominent themes that emerged during this process include: 1) silence around lesbian identity, 2) visibility and lesbian identity, 3) physical environment and lesbian identity.
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