https://cris.library.msu.ac.zw//handle/11408/5517 2026-04-05T20:27:08Z 2026-04-05T20:27:08Z Mutanda Darlington https://cris.library.msu.ac.zw//handle/11408/6778 2025-09-26T10:45:56Z 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Insights into the impacts of Guerrilla violence in shaping war-time relationships in Rural Zimbabwe, 1966–1979 Authors: Mutanda Darlington Abstract: Using Zaka, a district located in Masvingo province, this study scrutinises the nature and dynamics of Zimbabwe's liberation war in the countryside. It focuses on the memories of the liberation war in Zaka to demonstrate how guerrilla violence defined guerrilla–civilian relations in rural Zimbabwe. The study shows that the liberation war in the countryside was a struggle for power, domination and influence right from the peasants, chimbwidos and mujibhas (young female and male guerrilla assistants respectively) to the lowest-ranked guerrilla up to the top general.

2025-01-01T00:00:00Z Mutanda Darlington Moses Changa Enock Ndawana https://cris.library.msu.ac.zw//handle/11408/6368 2024-11-20T13:24:02Z 2024-10-23T00:00:00Z

Title: When embracing gender equality endangers women: Experiences of public transport female conductors in Gweru Town, Zimbabwe Authors: Moses Changa; Enock Ndawana Abstract: This article examines the experiences of female conductors in the public transport sector, particularly the parastatal, Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (ZUPCO) regarding gender equality and women empowerment using the case of Gweru town. It employs the concept of women empowerment as its analytical framework and is based on qualitative research methods involving in-depth interviews with 15 participants comprising female conductors and male drivers. The article argues that the implementation of gender equality policies in the public transport sector without addressing misogynistic attitudes driven by patriarchal norms endangers women rather than empowering them. It found that ZUPCO female conductors experienced humiliating informal initiation into the job, negative labelling, inability to reconcile work and family and sexual abuse and harassment, which undermined the noble goal of enhancing gender equality in the public transport sector. Regardless of these negative effects, female conductors also enjoyed some degree of empowerment through employment and monetary gain, which gave them economic independence. The article concludes that the negative outcomes of embracing gender equality through women’s employment in the public transport sector outweighed the benefits.

2024-10-23T00:00:00Z Moses Changa Enock Ndawana Changa, M https://cris.library.msu.ac.zw//handle/11408/6353 2024-10-21T09:41:27Z 2024-09-15T00:00:00Z

Title: Social Capital and Agriculture Intervention Programmes: The Transformative Potential of Pfumvudza in Ward 24, Masvingo South, Zimbabwe Authors: Changa, M Abstract: Agricultural interventions are increasingly sought for in a world devastated by climate change. Such inter-ventions help to cushion farmers from the adverse impacts of climate change and thus, improving and trans-forming their livelihoods. Successful adaptation to, and implementation of new approaches to farming such as Pfumvudza/Intwasa, however, requires interaction and engagement with the social capital endowments of the local farmers in order to avoid duplicating failed, top-down rural development paradigms. Deploying social capital theory and based on a qualitative methodology, this study examines the role of social capital in agricultural innovation with particular reference to the Pfumvudza/Intwasa farming model implemented in Zimbabwe. Through unstructured interviews, focus group discussions and quasi-participant observation, the study found that social capital and agricultural innovation are inextricably linked. The article demon-strates that Pfumvudza benefited a lot from grassroots networks, organisations and interactions with far-reaching positive effects on rural development. Bonding capital at village level played a key role in reduc-ing the costs and labour associated with the agricultural intervention. At the same time, linking social capi-tal in the form of government agencies and non-governmental organisations provided the much-needed technical know-how. The study also shows the ‘dark side’ of social capital which relates to norms that are conservative and resistant to change. It recommends interfacing as a solution to negative social capital where the views and interests of various stakeholders are counterpoised

2024-09-15T00:00:00Z Changa, M Takesure Taringana Amos Zevure https://cris.library.msu.ac.zw//handle/11408/6352 2024-10-17T07:53:23Z 2024-08-01T00:00:00Z

Title: The role of traditional healers in conflict resolution in Zimbabwe, 1890‒1980 Authors: Takesure Taringana; Amos Zevure Abstract: This paper analyses the historical role of traditional healers (n’anga/chiremba) in conflict resolution in Zimbabwe. Historically, traditional healers occupied a powerful position in Zimbabwean society. Not only were they healers but they also handled social problems and contributed to peace and reconciliation. However, colonial rule in Zimbabwe (1890‒1980) ushered in a spirited challenge to the authority of traditional healers. They were ridiculed as fraudsters who perpetuated unfounded superstitions. Nonetheless, traditional healers continued to exist underground. Notwithstanding that, their role and contribution to peacebuilding remains on the fringe of academic inquiry. The question that this paper addresses is how and under what conditions traditional healers contributed to conflict resolution at the grassroots level. The paper focuses mostly on records of conflict and violence in court cases, underscoring how witnesses’ evidence brought attention to the role of traditional healers in reconciliation. It demonstrates the various contexts in which traditional healers' interventions were alluded to but ignored in the state’s attempts to administer justice. By digging up obscured and misrepresented evidence of traditional healers' practices in conflict resolution in the colonial archive and in-depth interviews, we unravel this understated but most crucial element in the process of conflict resolution in Zimbabwe since 1890.

2024-08-01T00:00:00Z Takesure Taringana Amos Zevure