Zimbabwe’s Economic Crisis and the Shebeen Sector in Bulawayo, 2007-08

by Melody Moyo and Nathaniel Chimhete Abstract Between 2000 and 2008 Zimbabwe experienced an economic crisis that reached its peak in 2007 and 2008. Africanists who have written about the informal sector in general and those who have written about the informal sector during periods of economic crises in particular have emphasized the inverse relationship […]

Inside the Land Occupations in Bindura District, Zimbabwe

by Kirk Helliker and Sandra Bhatasara Abstract Zimbabwe witnessed nationwide occupations of white commercial farms and other agricultural landholdings from the early months of 2000. At the helm of these land occupations were ex-guerrilla fighters (or war veterans) who were aggrieved by the slow pace of land reform since independence in 1980. Based on numerous case […]

Endangered Human Security in Cash Strapped Zimbabwe, 2007-2008

by Mediel Hove Abstract This article discusses human security in the context of cash shortages that Zimbabweans experienced between 2007 and 2008, not withstanding the fact that the human security facets were gradually threatened in the country following the introduction of the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme in 1991 and the establishment of the Movement for […]

Housing Cooperatives and the Politics of Local Organization and Representation in Peri-Urban Harare, Zimbabwe

by Innocent Chirisa, Marilyn Gaza, and Elmond Bandauko Abstract Housing cooperatives have emerged in the context of housing challenges in the urban areas as a strategy for securing low-‐‑cost housing accommodation in peri‑urban Harare. They constitute vehicles that allow people to pool resources and secure tenure. The paper explains the “politics of peri-urban housing” in contemporary Zimbabwe by looking […]

State Power, Land-use Planning, and Local Responses in Northwestern Zimbabwe, 1980s-1990s

by Pius S. Nyambara Abstract The paper seeks to understand the rationale behind the introduction of the villagization program in post-independence rural Zimbabwe between the 1980s and the 1990s with a particular focus on the Gokwe South District. This is particularly interesting in that similar programs in the colonial era generated resentment and faced resistance among […]

Allocation of Governmental Authority and Responsibility in Tiered Governance Regimes: The Case of the Chivi Rural District Council Landuse Planning and Conservation By-Laws

by Alois Mandondo Abstract The proper alignment of authority and responsibility within and between various levels of social organization is a fundamental governance problem. This study uses a review approach to critically interrogate the political economy of the allocation of environmental jurisdictions between the state, local communities and Rural District Councils in Zimbabwe. Rural District […]

Evolving Institutional Framework for Community-Based Natural Resource Management in Mozambique: A Case Study from the Choa Highlands

by Pekka Virtanen Abstract An increased role of local communities in natural resource management has recently been widely advocated as a solution to the problem of environmental degradation in the Third World. This conclusion is based on a broad debate on the role of endogenous institutions in which academics, politicians and practitioners working in southern […]

Participatory Natural Resource Management in the Communal Lands of Zimbabwe: What Role for Customary Law?

by Jennifer Mohamed-Katerere Abstract A widely held assumption about environmental management is that its success is dependent upon its relationship to the political process. This is expressed in the emerging but as yet inadequately defined concept of “environmental governance.” A recurring issue, in practice and in the literature, is the value and role of traditional […]

The Organizational Structures for Community-Based Natural Resources Management in Southern Africa

by Bruce Campbell and Sheona Shackleton Abstract Throughout Southern Africa there has been a move to decentralize natural resource management (NRM). Decentralization has taken many forms, resulting in different organizational structures for NRM. Fourteen case studies from eight countries can be classed into four types, depending on the key organizations for NRM: (1) district-level organizations; […]

Can We Be Engineers of Property Rights to Natural Resources? Some Evidence of Difficulties from the Rural Areas of Zimbabwe

by M. K. Luckert Abstract The desire for research to be policy relevant has caused many social science studies to have “engineering” dimensions. With respect to the engineering of property rights, economic approaches indicate that we require knowledge regarding the makeup of current property rights structures, how changes to current structures affect the use and […]

African Studies Quarterly

Tag: Zimbabwe