The impacts of game farming on worker’s livelihoods: a case of a private game reserve in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province
- Authors: Ngcoza, Nkosiphendule Mbasa
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Game reserves South Africa , Land use South Africa , Agriculture Economic aspects South Africa , Wildlife tourism , Rural development South Africa , Rural development Sociological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/425182 , vital:72217
- Description: Land use shifts from commercial agricultural farming to game farming through wildlife tourism, has been prevalent in post-apartheid South Africa. Scholars have argued that wildlife tourism to be more profitable than other forms of commercial farming. As such, game farming has been promoted as a community-engaged vehicle for rural development through the creation of better employment opportunities. This study explored the implications of these shifts on the livelihoods of farm workers living on the game farms. Unlike labour tenants, farm workers who live on the private game, earn a wage. However, farm workers’ accommodation on the game farm is dependent on them being employed on the farm. The aim of the study was to explore the impacts of game farms on the livelihoods of farm workers since the shift from commercial agricultural practices to tourism services in the form of private game reserves. A case study research design was used to gather in-depth information about the multiple realities of the participants, not only about their employment relationships, but also their experiences living on the property on which they are employed. I collected data mainly through semi-structured interviews. I also collected and analysed company documents. The study adopted a Sustainable Livelihoods Framework as a theoretical schema to analyse the livelihood assets readily available to the farm dwellers and the various livelihood strategies they used to make ends meet. The findings of the study revealed that residing on the game farm, although it provided access to free accommodation, tended to pose several challenges to the workers, including i) exploitative employment structures and ii) insecure land rights. The findings also revealed human capital development initiatives mandated for employees were not formally documented. As a result, employees were confined in their current employment. Consequently, the study revealed that participants who had been employed by the game farm for over a decade showed little evidence of enhanced livelihoods. The livelihood strategies of the participants were their basic employment wage, the use of money borrowing systems through stokvels, and informal trading such as selling sweets and chips in the game reserve villages where other workers live with their families. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Sociology, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-10-13
- Authors: Ngcoza, Nkosiphendule Mbasa
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Game reserves South Africa , Land use South Africa , Agriculture Economic aspects South Africa , Wildlife tourism , Rural development South Africa , Rural development Sociological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/425182 , vital:72217
- Description: Land use shifts from commercial agricultural farming to game farming through wildlife tourism, has been prevalent in post-apartheid South Africa. Scholars have argued that wildlife tourism to be more profitable than other forms of commercial farming. As such, game farming has been promoted as a community-engaged vehicle for rural development through the creation of better employment opportunities. This study explored the implications of these shifts on the livelihoods of farm workers living on the game farms. Unlike labour tenants, farm workers who live on the private game, earn a wage. However, farm workers’ accommodation on the game farm is dependent on them being employed on the farm. The aim of the study was to explore the impacts of game farms on the livelihoods of farm workers since the shift from commercial agricultural practices to tourism services in the form of private game reserves. A case study research design was used to gather in-depth information about the multiple realities of the participants, not only about their employment relationships, but also their experiences living on the property on which they are employed. I collected data mainly through semi-structured interviews. I also collected and analysed company documents. The study adopted a Sustainable Livelihoods Framework as a theoretical schema to analyse the livelihood assets readily available to the farm dwellers and the various livelihood strategies they used to make ends meet. The findings of the study revealed that residing on the game farm, although it provided access to free accommodation, tended to pose several challenges to the workers, including i) exploitative employment structures and ii) insecure land rights. The findings also revealed human capital development initiatives mandated for employees were not formally documented. As a result, employees were confined in their current employment. Consequently, the study revealed that participants who had been employed by the game farm for over a decade showed little evidence of enhanced livelihoods. The livelihood strategies of the participants were their basic employment wage, the use of money borrowing systems through stokvels, and informal trading such as selling sweets and chips in the game reserve villages where other workers live with their families. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Sociology, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-10-13
Gender and shifting urban property relations: the impacts of tenure upgrading on women’s access to land and housing in Mdantsane, South Africa
- Stofile, Zimkhitha Sphokazi https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1566-1376
- Authors: Stofile, Zimkhitha Sphokazi https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1566-1376
- Date: 2023-07
- Subjects: Women's shelters , Land tenure -- South Africa , Right to housing
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/28717 , vital:74556
- Description: A detailed empirical focus on the social impacts of progressive land policy shifts on women in Africa remains limited, particularly when it comes to urban property rights. This study examined contemporary dynamics of gender and access to urban property in the context of South Africa’s post-apartheid radical policy changes that attempt to address primarily the historical exclusion of blacks from urban property rights and housing. The thesis adopted a gendered approach to the concept of ‘access’ as an overriding concept to analyse the impacts of land tenure upgrading on women’s access to urban land and housing in Mdantsane, South Africa’s second-largest township. This study also adopts a liberal feminist perspective, particularly egalitarian liberal feminism (emanating from the works of John Stuart Mill) to explore how the post-apartheid progressive institutional and legal reforms have influenced the autonomy and power of women to access urban property rights. Through this perspective, the study also draws on several key theoretical concepts to put together a conceptual schema – a framework – that provides enhanced understanding of gendered dimensions of access to urban landed property (in this case housing). In many developing countries, there has been a shift from indigenous land tenure systems to private land ownership. These shifts were caused by several factors, including population pressure, rising land income, urbanisation, and land grabbing. International organisations such as the World Bank, the United States Agency for International Development and Department for International Development have expanded their land tenure reform programmes in developing countries from the 1970s until the late 1990s. These have suggested individualised land rights (land titling) as a precondition for investment, economic progress, poverty alleviation, and a framework for secure, transparent, and enforceable property rights. Gender equity became a growing concern among donor institutions that promote and fund titling and registration programmes. Land titling was viewed as a solution to bring an end to gender inequalities in land ownership. In South Africa, the Upgrading of Land Tenure Rights Act 112 of 1991 (ULTRA) was enacted for upgrading and converting ownership of certain rights granted in respect of land. The study used a case study of women in sections of Mdantsane. Qualitative methods, mainly in-depth interviews and life histories enabled the researcher to obtain detailed personal accounts of the historical and contemporary struggles of black women in accessing land and property in South Africa’s urban peripheries. The findings demonstrate that tenure upgrading produced differential outcomes among women in Mdantsane, and some diverse meanings that women attach to their land and houses in the context of tenure upgrading in post-apartheid South Africa. While tenure upgrading has guaranteed non-eviction for most house occupants (including women), it resulted in eviction for others. Male occupants, who secretly and fraudulently acquired the title deeds for family houses, displaced some of their women relatives. The study also established that these displacements were mostly done by those men who were regarded as heirs to property in many of the urban households. As such, they took most decisions about the formal registration of family homes, thus weakening the rights and power of women over urban property. Among the dominant meanings attached to land after tenure upgrading, women in Mdantsane generally viewed the ownership of urban property – no matter how small – as a form of empowerment, socially and economically. This study also found that after tenure upgrading, other women lost access to the accommodation they rented for more than a decade, even though they qualified to become the owners. In some instances, the politicians fraudulently sold the houses, and the occupants were thus displaced. Poor housing administration by the municipal officials was one of the reasons most occupants lost access to housing. In general, the results indicate that post-apartheid, urban land laws and policies afforded women better access to land and housing. Furthermore, in several instances, titling afforded women equal ownership rights as men compared to other tenure systems. Nonetheless, the history of exclusion still negatively affects women’s access to land and housing. Even in cases where they are not excluded, women still face social, political, and cultural constraints in acquiring urban land. Such a finding indicates that, gender-sensitive land laws and policies do not automatically lead to positive outcomes for women in South Africa’s urban peripheries. Therefore, the struggle for equal property rights does not begin and end with gender-progressive laws. Urban land policy should also grapple with past and contemporary obstacles in the implementation of legislation. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-07
- Authors: Stofile, Zimkhitha Sphokazi https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1566-1376
- Date: 2023-07
- Subjects: Women's shelters , Land tenure -- South Africa , Right to housing
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/28717 , vital:74556
- Description: A detailed empirical focus on the social impacts of progressive land policy shifts on women in Africa remains limited, particularly when it comes to urban property rights. This study examined contemporary dynamics of gender and access to urban property in the context of South Africa’s post-apartheid radical policy changes that attempt to address primarily the historical exclusion of blacks from urban property rights and housing. The thesis adopted a gendered approach to the concept of ‘access’ as an overriding concept to analyse the impacts of land tenure upgrading on women’s access to urban land and housing in Mdantsane, South Africa’s second-largest township. This study also adopts a liberal feminist perspective, particularly egalitarian liberal feminism (emanating from the works of John Stuart Mill) to explore how the post-apartheid progressive institutional and legal reforms have influenced the autonomy and power of women to access urban property rights. Through this perspective, the study also draws on several key theoretical concepts to put together a conceptual schema – a framework – that provides enhanced understanding of gendered dimensions of access to urban landed property (in this case housing). In many developing countries, there has been a shift from indigenous land tenure systems to private land ownership. These shifts were caused by several factors, including population pressure, rising land income, urbanisation, and land grabbing. International organisations such as the World Bank, the United States Agency for International Development and Department for International Development have expanded their land tenure reform programmes in developing countries from the 1970s until the late 1990s. These have suggested individualised land rights (land titling) as a precondition for investment, economic progress, poverty alleviation, and a framework for secure, transparent, and enforceable property rights. Gender equity became a growing concern among donor institutions that promote and fund titling and registration programmes. Land titling was viewed as a solution to bring an end to gender inequalities in land ownership. In South Africa, the Upgrading of Land Tenure Rights Act 112 of 1991 (ULTRA) was enacted for upgrading and converting ownership of certain rights granted in respect of land. The study used a case study of women in sections of Mdantsane. Qualitative methods, mainly in-depth interviews and life histories enabled the researcher to obtain detailed personal accounts of the historical and contemporary struggles of black women in accessing land and property in South Africa’s urban peripheries. The findings demonstrate that tenure upgrading produced differential outcomes among women in Mdantsane, and some diverse meanings that women attach to their land and houses in the context of tenure upgrading in post-apartheid South Africa. While tenure upgrading has guaranteed non-eviction for most house occupants (including women), it resulted in eviction for others. Male occupants, who secretly and fraudulently acquired the title deeds for family houses, displaced some of their women relatives. The study also established that these displacements were mostly done by those men who were regarded as heirs to property in many of the urban households. As such, they took most decisions about the formal registration of family homes, thus weakening the rights and power of women over urban property. Among the dominant meanings attached to land after tenure upgrading, women in Mdantsane generally viewed the ownership of urban property – no matter how small – as a form of empowerment, socially and economically. This study also found that after tenure upgrading, other women lost access to the accommodation they rented for more than a decade, even though they qualified to become the owners. In some instances, the politicians fraudulently sold the houses, and the occupants were thus displaced. Poor housing administration by the municipal officials was one of the reasons most occupants lost access to housing. In general, the results indicate that post-apartheid, urban land laws and policies afforded women better access to land and housing. Furthermore, in several instances, titling afforded women equal ownership rights as men compared to other tenure systems. Nonetheless, the history of exclusion still negatively affects women’s access to land and housing. Even in cases where they are not excluded, women still face social, political, and cultural constraints in acquiring urban land. Such a finding indicates that, gender-sensitive land laws and policies do not automatically lead to positive outcomes for women in South Africa’s urban peripheries. Therefore, the struggle for equal property rights does not begin and end with gender-progressive laws. Urban land policy should also grapple with past and contemporary obstacles in the implementation of legislation. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-07
Water Struggles and Rural People’s Experiences of Waiting in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province
- Authors: Twalo, Lindani
- Date: 2021-10
- Subjects: Water security , Right to water
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/21201 , vital:47394
- Description: This study examined water struggles and rural people’s experiences of waiting in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province. Primarily, it investigated how such struggles connect to people’s experiences of waiting for water services. In essence, the study demonstrates how experiences of waiting are profoundly shaped by subjective meanings that the rural people attach to water at a local level. Thus, the study connects rural water politics to contested meanings over natural resources in South Africa’s communal areas. The empirical analysis in this study goes beyond the largely urban focus in the focus in the politics of waiting – mainly in the informal settlements, slums and other urban peripheries. The study presents some of the less known struggles of rural dwellers, particularly their experiences of waiting for water service provision from the state. South Africa’s Constitution promotes the right to clean water. Despite all the progress made by the democratic government, it is still evident that people in deep rural areas of South Africa are in a very precarious situation when it comes to accessing clean water. The study utilised Auyero (2011) concept of the politics of waiting to examine the poor people’s experiences of waiting for water. The study adopted a case study of Lower Didimana village. The researcher conducted a range of qualitative research techniques – the key informant interviews, focus group discussions, observations and semi-structured interviews. The study found that rural residents of South Africa continue to wait for long periods for water service provision in the current democratic era. Moreover, they are still faced with severe challenges of accessing water; as a result, they are left with no better option but to use traditional ways of retrieving water. It also found that there are strong cultural and spiritual claims that rural dwellers attach to water. To them water is not just only a physiological need which could be addressed through efficient state service – the provision of sufficient tap water. Water is deeply connected in human existence. Just like land, water is a cultural as well as spiritual resource. As such, rural experiences of waiting are not limited to state agency and how the poor experience the state, but are also influences by local struggles over meanings of water. Finally, the study reveals the limitation in state policy on water provision, which is locked in a purely engineering use based paradigm, which mainly strives to address (technically) scarcity of drinking water. However, the findings of this study demonstrates that drinking is just one function of water. Although villagers try to mobilise to engage the state while waiting for water service they articulate other claims that connect to diverse water meanings. Such meanings are barely captured in contemporary literature on rural politics of water. As such, although water is increasing becoming scarce in rural South Africa and the state intervention is increasingly demanded, villagers’ experiences of waiting in Lower Didimana remain strongly connected to what water means to locals. , Thesis (MSoc Sci) (Rural Development) -- University of Fort Hare, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10
- Authors: Twalo, Lindani
- Date: 2021-10
- Subjects: Water security , Right to water
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/21201 , vital:47394
- Description: This study examined water struggles and rural people’s experiences of waiting in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province. Primarily, it investigated how such struggles connect to people’s experiences of waiting for water services. In essence, the study demonstrates how experiences of waiting are profoundly shaped by subjective meanings that the rural people attach to water at a local level. Thus, the study connects rural water politics to contested meanings over natural resources in South Africa’s communal areas. The empirical analysis in this study goes beyond the largely urban focus in the focus in the politics of waiting – mainly in the informal settlements, slums and other urban peripheries. The study presents some of the less known struggles of rural dwellers, particularly their experiences of waiting for water service provision from the state. South Africa’s Constitution promotes the right to clean water. Despite all the progress made by the democratic government, it is still evident that people in deep rural areas of South Africa are in a very precarious situation when it comes to accessing clean water. The study utilised Auyero (2011) concept of the politics of waiting to examine the poor people’s experiences of waiting for water. The study adopted a case study of Lower Didimana village. The researcher conducted a range of qualitative research techniques – the key informant interviews, focus group discussions, observations and semi-structured interviews. The study found that rural residents of South Africa continue to wait for long periods for water service provision in the current democratic era. Moreover, they are still faced with severe challenges of accessing water; as a result, they are left with no better option but to use traditional ways of retrieving water. It also found that there are strong cultural and spiritual claims that rural dwellers attach to water. To them water is not just only a physiological need which could be addressed through efficient state service – the provision of sufficient tap water. Water is deeply connected in human existence. Just like land, water is a cultural as well as spiritual resource. As such, rural experiences of waiting are not limited to state agency and how the poor experience the state, but are also influences by local struggles over meanings of water. Finally, the study reveals the limitation in state policy on water provision, which is locked in a purely engineering use based paradigm, which mainly strives to address (technically) scarcity of drinking water. However, the findings of this study demonstrates that drinking is just one function of water. Although villagers try to mobilise to engage the state while waiting for water service they articulate other claims that connect to diverse water meanings. Such meanings are barely captured in contemporary literature on rural politics of water. As such, although water is increasing becoming scarce in rural South Africa and the state intervention is increasingly demanded, villagers’ experiences of waiting in Lower Didimana remain strongly connected to what water means to locals. , Thesis (MSoc Sci) (Rural Development) -- University of Fort Hare, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10
Contested environmental knowledge: Struggles over meanings and uses of medicinal plants in Kabokweni, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa
- Authors: Mbeng, Emiline Oben Otang
- Date: 2020-09
- Subjects: Medicinal plants , Ethnobiology
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/21146 , vital:47143
- Description: The main aim of this study was to examine the meanings attached by locals to medicinal plants in Kabokweni, Mpumalanga and how such meanings tend to shape the character of local struggles over access to, use and even commercial benefits of medicinal plants. This study draws its theoretical schema from political ecology, especially ethnoecology where the goal is to elucidate environmental conflict, most especially in terms of contestations over knowledge, power and practice, as they relate to the meaning and control of medicinal plants in Kabokweni. The study, therefore, recognises the complex interconnections between nature and society through a careful analysis of what one might call the forms of access and control over resources and their consequences for environmental health and sustainable livelihood. In-depth interviews, oral histories and non-participant observation were used to collect data and thematic analysis was used to analyse the data into meaningful themes according to the research questions and objectives of the study. The study found that Swati medicinal plant names are not subjective, but depend on socio-cultural and pragmatic perspectives, and meanings shape local struggles over medicinal plants in Kabokweni. Four underlying discourses were identified from the analysis of local narratives on the meanings and uses of medicinal plants. Each discourse offered a noticeably different concept of medicinal plants and people-plant relationships. Firstly, the ‘sustainability discourse’ referred to the role of foresters and environmentalists in sustainably managing plant resources. Secondly, the ‘livelihood discourse’ was entrenched in the local culture and economy. Thirdly, the ‘knowledge discourse’ conceptualises medicinal plants predominantly in terms of species richness and natural processes, while the ‘economic discourse’ emphasised the economic potential of medicines derived from plants as their major concern. Powerful social actors who influenced decisions about use and management of indigenous medicinal plants controlled these discourses. Finally, the study argues that rural communities would continue harvesting natural resources, even if illegally. Hence, to avert conflicts between indigenous actors and environmental agencies, communities need to be integrated into management programs, so they can be aware of some crucial issues such as sustainable harvesting of medicinal plants. , Thesis (MSoc) -- Faculty of Social Science and Humanities, 2020
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020-09
- Authors: Mbeng, Emiline Oben Otang
- Date: 2020-09
- Subjects: Medicinal plants , Ethnobiology
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/21146 , vital:47143
- Description: The main aim of this study was to examine the meanings attached by locals to medicinal plants in Kabokweni, Mpumalanga and how such meanings tend to shape the character of local struggles over access to, use and even commercial benefits of medicinal plants. This study draws its theoretical schema from political ecology, especially ethnoecology where the goal is to elucidate environmental conflict, most especially in terms of contestations over knowledge, power and practice, as they relate to the meaning and control of medicinal plants in Kabokweni. The study, therefore, recognises the complex interconnections between nature and society through a careful analysis of what one might call the forms of access and control over resources and their consequences for environmental health and sustainable livelihood. In-depth interviews, oral histories and non-participant observation were used to collect data and thematic analysis was used to analyse the data into meaningful themes according to the research questions and objectives of the study. The study found that Swati medicinal plant names are not subjective, but depend on socio-cultural and pragmatic perspectives, and meanings shape local struggles over medicinal plants in Kabokweni. Four underlying discourses were identified from the analysis of local narratives on the meanings and uses of medicinal plants. Each discourse offered a noticeably different concept of medicinal plants and people-plant relationships. Firstly, the ‘sustainability discourse’ referred to the role of foresters and environmentalists in sustainably managing plant resources. Secondly, the ‘livelihood discourse’ was entrenched in the local culture and economy. Thirdly, the ‘knowledge discourse’ conceptualises medicinal plants predominantly in terms of species richness and natural processes, while the ‘economic discourse’ emphasised the economic potential of medicines derived from plants as their major concern. Powerful social actors who influenced decisions about use and management of indigenous medicinal plants controlled these discourses. Finally, the study argues that rural communities would continue harvesting natural resources, even if illegally. Hence, to avert conflicts between indigenous actors and environmental agencies, communities need to be integrated into management programs, so they can be aware of some crucial issues such as sustainable harvesting of medicinal plants. , Thesis (MSoc) -- Faculty of Social Science and Humanities, 2020
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020-09
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