Doctoral Degrees (Centre for Africa Studies)

Permanent URI for this collection

http://hdl.handle.net/11660/522

Browse

Now showing 1 - 20 of 37

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.
Open Access
‘Angels and Demons’? the Dutch Reformed Church and Anticommunism in Twentieth Century South Africa
(University of the Free State, 2021-11) Fourie, Ruhan; Koorts, Lindie; Du Toit, Jackie; Fevre, Chris
Afrikaner memories of apartheid are filled with images of an omnipotent communist threat, or the so-called Rooi Gevaar (Red Peril). This thesis explains why and how the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa (DRC), the organisation with the widest reach and deepest influence in the everyday lives of Afrikaners, played a significant role in perpetuating an anticommunist imagination amongst twentieth century Afrikaners. It fills a lacuna in the historiography of South African anticommunism, which has up until now been confined to a state-centric approach. Drawing on international theoretical frameworks, this thesis expands the dynamics of South African anticommunism beyond a Cold War-paradigm and embraces the flexibility of the phenomenon. The DRC acts as a lens into the intricacies of South African and, more specifically, Afrikaner anticommunism. It offers an original account of South African anticommunism by integrating a wide range of archival sources from the DRC’s extensive records, those of the Afrikaner-Broederbond (AB), and personal collections of key roleplayers, including Nico Diederichs, Koot Vorster, and Piet Meyer, into a single chronological narrative. This thesis argues that the DRC formed the backbone of Afrikaner anticommunism throughout the twentieth century. It illustrates that the church was not always the main driver, nor was its influence consistent. However, as a vessel of moral anticommunist propaganda, the DRC fulfilled a critical role in legitimising overt opposition to and suppression of ‘communism’ in all its perceived manifestations, including black dissent, whilst also creating an Afrikaner imagination – even at times a moral panic – in which the volk remained convinced of the ever-present communist threat, and of its own role as a bulwark against communism. Anticommunism, argues this thesis, functioned as a vehicle for nationalist unity (and uniformity), a paradigm for Afrikaner identity, and a legitimiser of the volk’s perceptions of its imagined moral high ground.
Open Access
Botswana-South Africa economic relations: a history, 1966-2014
(University of the Free State, 2019-02) Sechele, Unaludo; Graham, Matthew; Phimister, Ian; Frank, Sarah
English: This thesis examines economic relations between Botswana and South Africa from 1966 to 2014 from Botswana’s perspective. It begins by describing different historical junctures in the economic history of the two countries, including but not limited to, the renegotiation of the Southern African Customs Union in 1969, which was required after the independence of the British High Commission territories, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. It suggests that though the renegotiated agreement was far from ideal, it was better than the original 1910 agreement. The thesis examines Botswana’s transition from a pastoral economy to one based on minerals, particularly diamonds from 1966 and 1972. It argues that Botswana’s tremendous economic growth in this period was buttressed by the partnership between the Botswana government and De Beers, a large South African mining company. Working together, their partnership formed Debswana, one of the biggest diamond companies in the world. This period was touted as Botswana’s economic miracle, but Botswana’s economic dependence on South Africa was never far from the surface, something the apartheid regime took advantage of in the 1980s. Expectations after 1994 of a fundamentally changed economic relationship between the two states were soon disabused. Overall, the thesis questions the extent to which Botswana escaped from the shadow cast by its vastly bigger neighbour, South Africa.
Open Access
Caregiving: a feminist perspective on the lived experiences of caregivers in Harare
(University of the Free State, 2021-10) Mahomva, Sarudzai; Bredenkamp, I. M.; Lake, N. C.
In the light of the exponential increase in the population of the elderly, studies have predicted the care crisis of this population group unless adequate measures are taken. This qualitative gender-sensitive case study, which is guided by the symbolic interactionism perspective, argues that one of the possible ways of circumventing the likely elder “care crisis” is to delineate the ‘who’, ‘how’ and ‘why’ of unpaid elder care work in a family setting. Studies from Zimbabwe report on “families” taking care of the elderly. What is not well reported is exactly who does what, how and why within the family setting in an urban environment. What is known is that women are the primary caregivers, and they are also reported as disproportionately affected by poverty and disease (Zimbabwe Census, 2012). However, some studies report on adverse outcomes that are accumulated over the life course, when women place the needs of others before themselves. This study set out to determine the socio-cultural factors amongst other factors that influence who the caregivers are in families and interpret how such socio-cultural practices possibly contribute to placing unpaid family caregivers at risk of poverty. Participants aged 60+ who have cumulative experience as caregivers and receivers were purposefully selected to narrate their experience and to shed light on the nature of agency and adaptive strategies that they deploy in the family provision of elder care. One-on-one life course interviews and participant observation were deployed. Concepts from (1) the life course theory, (2) feminist care conceptual frameworks and (3) feminist intersectionality theory were integrated to formulatea conceptual framework that binds separate areas of the study (gender, care and ageing) into a unified approach. The constructivist grounded theory methodology that guided this study is useful when extant theory does not adequately explain phenomena under study and when developing theory that explains action or social interaction. The findings suggest that care is provided through a family care network. Four main caregiver roles that work in tandem to propel the elder care family network were identified. Family birth order and not gender is prioritised in the elder care decision-making process. Caring masculinities and caring femininities were also identified in this study. Such findings contribute to the development of social policies informed by participants’ primary needs, expectations, and concerns. The findings suggest the necessity to expand the notion of social citizenship by possibly exploring some of the indigenous ethics of care practices such as ‘zunde ramambo’ as described in this study.
Open Access
Conflict and cooperation: "new farmers" in Zimbabwe, 2000-2015
(University of the Free State, 2019-02) Kufandirori, Joyline Takudzwa; Pilossof, R.; Mseba, A.; Passemiers, L.
English: This thesis explores the Fast Track Land Reform Program (FTLRP) in Mashonaland Central Province, Zimbabwe from 2000 to 2015. It investigates the impact of continuous lawlessness and new farmer relations on productivity and land use after the implementation of the FTLRP. It argues that the FTLRP ushered in an unprecedented shift in Zimbabwe’s agriculture landscape which radically transformed society, as new farmers walked into commercial land without structured or sustained support. The thesis explores how the political strategy adopted by the government from the year 2000 onwards to acquire land from the white owners continued to haunt the new farmers as there was no effort by the government to reconstitute institutions and laws that would guarantee respect and protection of property after the invasions. The government adopted a strategy that ignored existing laws that countered occupations and enacted laws to protect the occupiers. As such, the new farmers were vulnerable to the same anarchic political climate that had been faced by their white counterparts during the farm seizures. The thesis, therefore, argues that from the inception of the FTLRP to as late as 2015, insecurity occasioned by the general lawlessness commonplace at the time shaped the manner in which new farmers related to each other and was a major constraint to increased productivity. It contends that farmers had to cope with a new set of challenges that required major configurations in relations. The result was that the lawlessness, coupled with loopholes inherent within government policy on land allocation and resettlement, shaped the nature of relations that emerged in the new farming landscape. The thesis offers a comprehensive account of land use patterns and conflict among newly resettled farmers. It examines how the FTLRP brought about clashes amongst new land occupiers in the new agrarian terrain. It assesses how these struggles impacted on productivity and land use. The thesis also acknowledges the fact that relations amongst the farmers have not only been confrontantional but have also been characterised by instances of cooperation. It, investigates how new farming patterns and demands have called upon the farmers to conjure up innovative ways of relating to each other especially in the context of the fragility occasioned by the lawlessness that pervaded the period. This thesis, therefore, considers relations amongst the new farmers and persistent lawlessness as crucial in assessing land use and production in the resettlement areas.
Open Access
Corrective rape and black lesbian sexualities in contemporary South African cultural texts
(University of the Free State, 2017-01) Lake, Nadine Catherine; Björklund, Jenny
The increased visibility of black lesbian identities in South Africa has been met with a severe backlash in the form of what activists term corrective rape. South African newspapers started to report on the incidence of this phenomenon in 2003 with black lesbians emerging in newspaper discourse as particularly vulnerable victims. The term corrective rape has been used to define rape that is perpetrated by heterosexual males against lesbian women in order to ‘correct’ or ‘cure’ them of their lesbian sexuality. The increased recognition of lesbian, gay, transgender and intersex rights in post-apartheid South Africa has meant increased visibility for sexual minorities but has simultaneously been marked by an increase in homophobic discourse and violence. Newspapers have reported on the brutal nature of corrective rape and have given sensationalised accounts of these rapes and violence. Black lesbian women have thus entered into the public sphere in post-apartheid South Africa as victims of homophobic rape and violence. Discourse in mainstream media or the printed press has contributed to the framing of black lesbians as unintelligible victims. Contemporary scholarship on black lesbians has consistently referenced the violence associated with their identity. The primary aim of the study is to clarify how lesbian women are represented in cultural texts and to identify counter discourses that focus on lesbian agency and desire, which is less commonly associated with their sexuality. Previous research on corrective rape has largely focused on the intersection between black lesbian identity and sexual violence as well as men and masculinities in a post-apartheid context. While this study deems it important to highlight prominent debates and media representations of black lesbian sexuality in South Africa it considers it important to resist the reproduction of narratives that associate black lesbian women with sexual violence. This study turns to literature in the post-apartheid context to examine how narratives of sexual violence challenge representations of women as objectified victims of violence. Rozena Maart’s novel The Writing Circle forms an important part of the literature chapter in this study. The recognition of oppression in women’s narratives of sexual violence and resistance on the part of the female characters in the novel constitute central counter discourses. The thesis also examines an autobiography and its potential to lend inclusion to the narratives of those formerly excluded on account of their race, gender and sexual identification. An analysis of Zandile Nkunzi Nkabinde’s poignant autobiography illustrates the power of narrations of lesbian agency to undermine the gender norms that historically have restricted representations of black lesbian identity. The study examines how lesbian identities can be reconceptualised in public lesbian cultures or in queer archives. An archive of lesbian belonging that features in this study includes the portraits of lesbian women and their narratives in the work of visual activist and photographer Zanele Muholi. The narratives of survivability, mourning and belonging in Muholi’s archive uncovered and identified in this study assist in raising consciousness around the multiplicitous nature of black lesbian sexuality in Africa and beyond.
Open Access
Democratisation and state-building in Lusophone African states: the cases of Cape Verde and Mozambique
(University of the Free State, 2021-11) Canhanga, Nobre De Jesus Varela; Steyn-Kotze, Joleen; Cawood, Stephanie
Despite promising prospects to political transition towards a democracy, over the last 25 years, Lusophone African states, achieved very different political and economic outcomes in relation to democratization and human development. This thesis investigates the cases of Cape Verde and Mozambique to explore the political transition and democratization processes in both countries to determine what factors support and/or undermine democratization, development, and political stability. The focus of the study is within the institutionalist scholarly tradition, thus considering the correlation between political institutionalism and economic and human development. While Cape Verde has consolidated democratic rule, Mozambique embraces authoritarian rule and became increasingly undemocratic, thus consolidating a form of political hybridity. Drawing on institutionalist and structuralist theories, this study engages quality of democratic institutions and socio-economic indicators in Cape Verde and Mozambique. The research demonstrates that for an effective transition and consolidation of democracy, institutions matter; and they shape the procedural and substantive elements of deepening democracy as well as quality of governance; which are seen as critical elements of economic and human development and quality of governance. In Mozambique, with strong Marxist ideology and military influence the ruling elite captured the state, controlled political and economic power and maintained authoritarian rules that undermine state-building in the democratic tradition and democratic transition. In Cape Verde, political institutions were more inclusive, allowing for greater voice, accountability and control of corruption and consequently democratic consolidation.
Open Access
Deviance and colonial power: a history of juvenile delinquency in colonial Zimbabwe, 790-c.1960
(University of the Free State, 2016-02) Mhike, Ivo; Phimister, I. R.; Law, K. V.
English: This thesis is the first comprehensive study of juvenile delinquency in colonial Zimbabwe. Based on a detailed reading of archival sources generated by central government in various departments, urban municipalities, and autobiographies, it reconstructs important dimensions in the labelling and treatment of juvenile delinquency between 1890 and 1960. In doing so, it explores the socio-political development of Southern Rhodesian society and demonstrates the diversity and shifting notions of what constituted deviance and delinquency during this period. Taking issue with the existing historiography which narrowly focuses on black juvenile delinquency this thesis challenges the notion that racial distinctions overshadowed all else in the construction of juvenile delinquency, arguing that delinquency transcended race and was equally influenced by the analytical categories of class, gender and ethnicity. Through analysing the state’s ideas regarding juvenile institutions and rehabilitation, it plots the contours of the shifting notions of what constituted social and colonial order. While some Southern African historiography discusses aspects of white juvenile delinquency and racial heterogeneity, this study demonstrates how delinquency is a prism that refracts on the deep divisions within white society. It suggests a different view of empire relations by exploring the fissures within groups and the limits of racial co-operation. In addition, this thesis takes important steps toward historicising the development of childhood in colonial Zimbabwe; in doing so, it significantly modifies a number of historiographies, and opens up space for creating a more comprehensive history of childhood and youth in Africa.
Open Access
Differenciating dysfunction: domestic agency, entanglement and mediatised petitions for Africa's own solutions
(University of the Free State, 2018-07) Nzioki, Mutinda (Sam); Keet, Andre; Konik, Inge
Africa’s optimistic expressions of a reawakening, a rising, to its own solutions remain nervously alive, albeit haunted by the reversals that quenched all previous enthusiasms concerning a rebirth. Still, this study draws creative impetus from African wisdom voiced in the Akamba idiom, Mbéé ndì Mwéné (No one can claim ownership of what lies ahead/the future). Being so, this study proceeds as a contemporary re-entering into part of the existing terms which calibrate the question of how to get Africa right. This process obliges consultations with earlier African voices and ideas that committed to ‘own solutions’ to post-independence problems, or rather more unflatteringly, ‘dysfunctions’. As a contemporary inquiry, this effort contends that posing adequate questions that can get to the heart of present normative life or public culture – as Lewis Gordon and Achille Mbembe put it – requires thinking in African scholarship and practice proceeding in ontological commitments which enable sharper specification of Africa’s difficult situations: for instance, bursts of ethno-religious violence, perilous migrations, xenophobia/Afrophobia, and corruption. However, seeing that many an Africanist scholarship makes these very claims, key to this challenge are the terms and approaches developed for sharper specification and adequacy, as these relate to locating, affirming and/or disregarding numerous important processes immediate to Africa’s conditions. In this regard, key concepts in this study are Africarise, differenciation, mediatisation, ground, and our way, with the central approaches being co-theorisation and relatedly, transversalism which involves creative interconnection with ideas and practices. Further still, because current life has increasingly seen mediatised expressions dominate social production, sharper specification of Africa asks of this African scholarship to connect with other generative grammars and methods of encountering Africans and Africanity. Those connections draw on established concepts that have often spoken Africa, alongside African ideas whose capacity remains un-utilised, as well as mediatised expressions in the street. However, while this process of connections and openings will unveil ugly clashes and contradictions, it offers even greater cause for affirmingpossibilities in Africa’s future.
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.
Open Access
Government, community and the university in Africa today: the case of the National University of Lesetho
(University of the Free State, 2017-01) Mushonga, Munyaradzi; Hudson, H.; Wilkinson, A. C.
This study is an investigation into relations of power between government, community and the university in Africa today. The purpose of the study is to examine the nature of contestations and contradictions among triadic actors in respect of the university in Africa today. The principal research question it seeks to address is: what kind of contestations and contradictions of normative and ideological principles take place in the Triad of government, community and the university, via the case study of the National University of Lesotho (NUL)? Key objectives of the research included developing a new interpretive framework for the study of Africa and African Studies; examining how triadic contestations are a product of history; showing the preponderance of discourses of representation in universities in Africa today; and analysing the various forms of resistance immanent in universities in Africa today, occasioned by pervasive and dispersed power. To attempt to address the principal question and to meet the stated objectives, the thesis deploys key pillars of Postcolonial Theory (PC) namely representation, hybridity, agency and resistance together with the decoloniality variant through the power-knowledge-being-discourse nexus to examine relations and technologies of power in the interplay between the Government of Lesotho (GOL), the Community (global and local) and the National University of Lesotho (NUL) from 1945 to 2014. A triangulated approach was adopted in this study. Data was collected from several archival and secondary sources as well as from a wide cross-section of informants from the GOL, the Community and NUL. Multiple methodological strategies were used to collect such data – observation, interviews and unstructured questionnaires. Data was then analysed qualitatively using the grounded theory approach together with content, textual and discourse analysis methods. Theoretically and conceptually, the study suggests new approaches and new dimensions to Africa and African Studies and Higher Education Studies (HES) in order to enhance our understanding of contemporary African politics and society particularly in the 21st century. It makes a case for seeing the relations between state and non-state actors as complex, constitutive and interconnected transactions in net-like spaces which are forever evolving due to the ubiquity of „power to‟, „power with‟ and „power within‟. Findings of the study show that there are complex contestations and contradictions of both normative and ideological principles among triadic actors – not only over the meaning and purpose of the university in Africa today, but also over its control and governance. This I have demonstrated by, first, providing a theoretical/conceptual framework as well as a historical context for interpreting and understanding these contestations; and second, by empirically validating the preponderance of discourses of representation and „othering‟, hybridity, agency and resistance in the Triad in general, and in a Higher Education (HE) institution (NUL) in particular, across space and time. On the basis of these findings, I call for a constructive reading of PC which must be complemented by decoloniality theory, hence proposal for a new interpretive framework, the Integrated Postcolonial Framework (IPCF) that can respond better to complex relations of power. I also highlight some limitations of the study and also make some recommendations for further research in order to bring to the fore more concrete data regarding the purpose and mission of a university in Africa in a fast decolonising yet globalising environment.
Open Access
A history of archives in Zambia, 1890-1991
(University of the Free State, 2019-02) Simabwachi, Miyanda; Koorts, Lindie; Du Toit, Jackie; Holdridge, Chris
English: This thesis examines the significant role of national archives’ legislative framework, and of archival practices of appraisal, preservation and management, in the creation, positioning and formation of an identity for Zambia’s archives under different government systems between 1890 and 1991. In so doing, it describes the procedures involved in the creation of archives and demonstrates the diversity and the shifting notions of the nature and importance of archives for bureaucracies and different government systems. While the British South African Company administration pioneered the process of generating records through administrative operations, their appreciation of records and archives was largely functional and devoid of devising a formal policy for standardising permanent preservation and collection practices. A conceptual shift to archives as sources of precedents and of colonial histories, prompted successive administrations of British colonial government and the federal government of Rhodesia and Nyasaland to devise a system of centralisation of permanent archives and the formulation of legislation denoting the nature of the archives and their safe preservation – thus changing the power dynamic lodged in the archives. In the postcolony, an understanding of archives as custodian of national histories attracted intensive state interest and control through reviews of colonial archives legislation and strategic decentralisation of the archiving system. This thesis argues that Zambia’s archives have a history linked to changing administrative structures, legislative frameworks and archival perceptions and practices. It argues that the nature and position of Zambia’s archives in government, and hence its history, evolved over time with shifts in administration, legislation, archival professionalisation and practices of preservation and management and changes in the perception of archives.
Open Access
A history of Rhokana/Rokana Corporation and its Nkana Mine Division, 1928-1991
(University of the Free State, 2018-02) Munene, Hyden; Phimister, I. R.; Van Zyl-Hermann, D.; Money, D.
English: This dissertation is a detailed historical account of the corporate structure, labour relations and profitability of the Rhokana Corporation and its Nkana mine. Thematically and chronologically organised, it starts with the discovery of viable ores on the Copperbelt in the late 1920s, which attracted foreign capital from South Africa, Britain and the United States of America, prompting the development of the Nkana mine and the formation of the Rhokana Corporation in the early 1930s. The study concludes with the re-privatisation of the Zambian mining sector in 1991. It draws heavily from primary data housed in the Mineworkers’ Union of Zambia, National Archives of Zambia, United National Independence Party Archives and Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Archives, as well as interviews with key players in the Zambian copper mining industry. In doing so, the thesis contributes to the historiography of the political economy of the copper industry in Zambia. While the subject’s existing historiography has examined themes of corporate structure, labour relations and profitability in isolation and for relatively short periods when assessing the development of the Northern Rhodesian/Zambian mining sector, this thesis combines all three themes in Rhokana/Nkana’s history, investigating them over a long time period in order to construct a detailed historical perspective. The dissertation argues that Rhokana for a time was the most important mining entity in the Northern Rhodesian/Zambian mining industry. Rhokana was both an investment firm on the Copperbelt and a mining company through Nkana mine. The Corporation was consulting engineer to the mines owned by Rhodesian Anglo American Corporation on behalf of its parent company, the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa. It also invested in certain of the mines owned by the Rhodesian Selection Trust. Rhokana contributed significantly to the development of the copper industry in Zambia. Its corporate and labour policies influenced the Copperbelt as a whole. Employing the largest labour force in the mining sector, Rhokana spearheaded the labour movement on the Copperbelt. Its Nkana mine was also the largest producer of copper in the Northern Rhodesian mining industry between 1940 and 1953, and contributed hugely to the war economies of Britain and the United States of America. Throughout its history, Nkana was also a major source of cobalt. After nationalisation of the mining sector in 1970, Rhokana surrendered its investments in the wider copper industry, but remained central to the Copperbelt’s smelting and refining operations, owning the biggest metallurgical facilities in the industry. Through all of this, Rhokana’s corporate strategy evolved over time, as the Corporation cooperated with key stakeholders in the copper industry in order to safeguard its operations and profitability.
Open Access
A history of the production of statistics in Zambia, 1939-2018
(University of the Free State, 2021) Santebe, Mbozi; Money, Duncan; Phimister, Ian; Dande, Innocent; Dee, Henry
This thesis examines the development of statistics in Zambia in the period 1939-2018. It builds on studies concerned with the quality of data produced in Africa by unravelling the main forces that shaped the making of numbers. The thesis argues that external forces such as British colonial rule, and later the United Nations, donor countries and regional organisations shaped data priorities and funding of statistical enquiries. The United Nations also dominated the formulation of concepts, methods and classifications used to collect and process data. Nonetheless, internal dynamics also played a role in statistical development as the local environment determined the availability of requisite data and the application of international frameworks. Besides, locally-based statisticians made critical choices and decisions in data collection and processing while political players at times censored the circulation of data and the implementation of statistical reforms. The thesis further contends that statistical development was uneven across subjects and time. From the aftermath of the Second World War to the 1970s, the construction of national accounts and related indices expanded while other datasets received little attention. Whereas the production of statistics generally declined in the 1980s in the context of the economic crisis and the one-party state, some datasets were sustained in the same period. Furthermore, the onset of Structural Adjustment Programmes and the Poverty Reduction Strategy tilted statistical priorities towards data on human welfare and social indicators. The thesis also argues that the quality of statistics was uneven depending on the availability of required data. Often, statistics were weakened by the inadequacy of requisite information that complicated data processing and dissemination. Such difficulties negatively affected policy making, public service delivery, as well as local and international development programmes that often depended on incomplete data.
Open Access
The impact of the gender policy in a higher education institution in Mozambique: the case study of the University Eduardo Mondlane
(University of the Free State, 2023) Magaua, Natália Helena; Griffin, Gabriele; Paulo, Margarida; Lake, Nadine; Cawood, Stephanie
The aim of this thesis was to analyze the impact of the implementation of the Gender Policy at the University Eduardo Mondlane. For this purpose I conducted a qualitative study, gathering original empirical data through questionnaires, focus group discussions, and individual interviews. My research participants were University Council members, Gender Unit employees, gender focal points, and selected academic community members (postgraduate students, administrative staff, and lecturers). These participants were purposively selected based on their presumed knowledge of the subject of study. I conducted thematic analyses on 13 individual interviews with University Council members, four focus group discussions (two with the Gender Unit employees and two with Gender Focal Points), and 27 questionnaires applied to selected members of the UEM academic community. Overall, my findings show that the Gender Policy has been unsystematically implemented at UEM for a variety of reasons that emerge from my data.
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 Owen
English: 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.
Open Access
The India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) collective and the socio-political construction of security
(University of the Free State, 2017-02) Van Rooyen, Frank Charles; Hudson, Heidi
English: The focus of this thesis is on the formation and functioning of the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) collective. The study aims towards an understanding of whether and to what extent the IBSA collective is socio-politically constructed with respect to its security collaboration. At the outset it should be noted that the concept of ‘security’ as used in this study reflects post-Cold War trends in security thinking and regionalism. As such, IBSA’s security collaboration is placed in the context of evolving debates and practices related to regional security community-building and the fostering of human security. The IBSA collective’s constituted form of security shows the oppositional forces of national needs and the challenges of working towards global equity, all the while providing (contested) leadership positions from within the global South. On one hand this may help to ensure greater equity in world affairs, while on the other hand vested and parochial national interests detract from this effort. These paradoxes highlight the hybrid nature of the IBSA collective’s composition, an enduring theme in the study. This forms the context from which the study embarks. In the debate that surrounds the degree and manner in which IBSA can attempt to shape and enhance the elements of human-centric security, the study conceptually derives an integrated approach that is founded upon critical social constructivism and postcolonialism, compacted in the shape of ‘pillars’ that lay out a conceptual framework diagram. The synthesised theories are empirically applied to three functional areas of cooperation – maritime trade, energy and defence cooperation – through the consistent application of the ‘pillars’ noted above. The qualitative case study design highlights the inclusion of issues that enhance trustworthiness, so that the study can ascertain if associated aspects of human security with sectoral IBSA cooperation have been enhanced. With respect to maritime trade cooperation the study finds minimal yields, although the causal link between increased intra-IBSA trade and IBSA trade cooperation efforts could not be established for certain. In terms of energy cooperation, the study determines that adequate projects have come on stream, and that the complexity of the issues requires time for knowledge transfers. The study finds that the defence cooperation presently effects a minimal enhancement of physical and/or military security, but that its very nature makes long-term dividends probable. All three (of sixteen) IBSA working groups place emphases on constitutive discourse, dialogue, socialisation and identity-formation. They not only symbolise the tenets of social constructivism at work – from the bottom up – but also define trilateral relations and provide continuity and strength to the IBSA socio-political structure. The study thus provides greater understanding of the IBSA collective’s security collaboration. It confirms that – to varying gradations – sectoral cooperation enhances aspects of regional human security, and shows that the IBSA collective has had embryonic successes at international level, where great potential lies.
Open Access
Inkatha and the National Party, 1980-1989
(University of the Free State, 2016-01) Houldsworth, Adam; Phimister, I. R.; Roos, Neil
English: This thesis explores Inkatha and National Party politics in the period 1980-1989, focusing particularly on the relationship between them. It considers the nature of both parties’ political outlook, their objectives and how they sought to achieve those objectives. It asks what sort of relationship each party sought with the other and what significance they attached to this. It undertakes a detailed comparison between the politics of Inkatha and the National Party, thereby bringing each into clearer perspective. It is a leitmotiv of accounts of Inkatha that its politics were paradoxical and ambiguous. This thesis offers a clearer understanding of Inkatha’s ambiguous politics by providing the first characterization of the coherent philosophical assumptions which underpinned Inkatha’s politics and were reflected in aspects of its politics which, prima facie, appear irreconcilable or inconsistent. It is argued that Buthelezi, Inkatha’s leader, articulated a conservative political outlook which resembled that of philosopher Edmund Burke. It is contended that this form of Burkean conservatism was expressed not only in Inkatha’s criticisms of the African National Congress and revolutionary radicalism, but also in its opposition to National Party ideology and policy. By presenting the distinctive and coherent political outlook of Inkatha, this thesis poses a challenge to the reductionism of many prominent accounts which seek to understand the party solely in terms of its interests and the tactics employed in the pursuit of those interests. A better corroborated account is provided of Inkatha’s political priorities and how these reflected the changing circumstances of power contestation. New illustrations are offered of how Inkatha’s priorities and its perception of practical realities manifested themselves in its political approach towards both the National Party and the ANC. Previously unstudied Government documents are used to give novel insights into the politics of PW Botha’s National Party. It attempts to show in greater detail the fundamental differences of approach and objectives with Inkatha, and to reveal that these contrasts remained stark despite apparent shifts in the National Party’s politics in the second half of the 1980s. These unused documents are utilized in a clearer characterization of the politics of senior National Party cabinet minister Chris Heunis, which highlights many significant differences with the approach of his party leader, and a number of noteworthy similarities with Inkatha politics. This underscores the contingency of politics in the upper echelons of the National Party, and is particularly significant given that Buthelezi expressed hope for the emergence of more reformist tendencies within the National Party. However, it is argued that even Heunis did not attach the same degree of significance to Inkatha, and envisage the same role for it, that Buthelezi sought. Despite significant differences in their political approaches, both Heunis and PW Botha increasingly perceived a solution to the problems amongst young, urban Africans to be crucial to achieving their objectives. In the second half of the 1980s, they both believed that changing economic and demographic realities, in combination with heightened African radicalism, had rendered Inkatha unable to provide the type of leadership for Africans that was crucial for the National Party to resolve its political difficulties. This thesis suggests that Buthelezi’s failure to persuade the National Party to adopt his preferred approach to political change was not due solely to his stark political differences with PW Botha.
Open Access
Interethnic conflict and the role of traditional leaders in the truth and reconciliation programme in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo
(University of the Free State, 2021-11) Tembo, Emmanuel Tavulya-Ndanda; Mulumeoderhwa, Maroyi; Cawood, Stephanie
This empirical research was built on the failure of military operations, and formal peacebuilding processes sought to curb the interethnic conflicts revolving around the issues of land, citizenship and political power in the North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This study focused on the truth and reconciliation process designed by the Amani Programme in 2008 for the eastern provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu. It probed the role of the traditional leaders in the said programme for the period between 2008 and 2018. In order to establish its argument, this case study relied on data collected from eleven focus groups and thirty interviews purposively selected. Focus group discussions were conducted among members of CBOs, civil society, field NGOs, church leaders and members of field organisations, while interviews were conducted with traditional/ethnic leaders, church leaders, UN officials, government officials, and members of the civil society. Theoretically, this study used Lederach’s Conflict Transformation Theory and peace education. On the one hand, from the transformative viewpoint, the study's findings revealed that peacebuilding processes failed because they did not consider the local context of North Kivu, which endorses the full participation of the grassroots leadership represented by traditional leaders. On the other hand, this study found that informal and formal education for peace is still insufficient in the province. Clearly, there is a need for change, which is possible if a bottom-up approach is adopted where traditional leaders become the initiators of the reconciliation programme. It is worth noting that traditional leaders have the attribute to manage and distribute land as land question is one of the underlying causes of ethnic conflict in North Kivu. The engagement that restores the bami in their status as peacemakers can significantly change communities’ attitudes and perceptions. There is a strong need to engage the community in more workshops and meetings for reconciliation at the communal level.
Open Access
International diplomacy and big business in Namibia: the case of the Rossing Uranium mine
(University of the Free State, 2021-11) Ashipala, Saima Nakuti; Money, D.; Munene, H.; Phimister, I. R.; Quinn, S.
In the 1970s, Rio Tinto Zinc’s Rössing Uranium mine became a symbol of injustice for Namibian nationalists and international opponents of South African rule. Yet, counter-intuitively, the mine survived decolonisation in Namibia virtually unscathed and was re-imagined as part of modern, independent Namibia. How did this come about? This dissertation answers this central question by exploring the development of the Rössing Uranium mine during the colonial and early post-colonial period. The aim of the study is to present a detailed understanding of the strategies adopted by big business in response to changes in the political and economic environment in Namibia. It does so through a case study of big business and diplomacy in the establishment and operations of the Rössing Uranium mine under colonial rule and decolonisation. The study begins with a discussion on the pioneering stage in the history of uranium production in Namibia, which culminated in the transfer of the mining rights from the entrepreneurial prospectors to the British multinational corporation RTZ. The study concludes with an examination of Rössing Uranium’s public relations exercise which was adopted in anticipation of the impending political change in the territory. Keywords: Big Business, Diplomacy, Namibia, Rössing, Uranium.