Zimbabwe stands at the crossroads. The economy is in meltdown, buffeted by structural adjustment, the AIDS epidemic, Zimbabwe’s involvement in the DRC war and political turmoil over the land question. As life becomes ever more precarious, what livelihood strategies are open to rural people? Can recent institutional interventions improve the livelihoods of vulnerable Zimbabweans?

An Institute of Development Studies study, based on research in the lowveld of the southeast, helps throw light on how one group of Zimbabweans access land, water and wildlife.

Part of the IDS Sustainable Livelihoods in Southern Africa (SLSA) programme, the report focuses on the Shangaan people who live on the borders of Mozambique and South Africa. Though their arid land is officially designated as only suitable for extensive ranching, rain-fed production of sorghum, millet and maize is significant in good years. The devastating impact of severe drought in 1991-1992 on livestock numbers is still felt. A long tradition of wage labour to the mines of the Witwatersrand has ended as South Africa cracks down on immigration. ‘Border jumpers’ engaged in illegal farm work are now lucky to return with more than a few consumer durables.

Wildlife management is massively politicised. One of the last acts of colonial land alienation was to clear communities from the Gonarezhou National Park. NGOs working in the area have a conservationist mandate and like the government are wedded to the CAMPFIRE ethic of disbursing hunting revenue to communities. In practice, however, meagre cash disbursements are regarded as small recompense for loss of agricultural land and damage to crops from protected wildlife. For locals the park represents unredressed theft of ancestral land. There is similar resentment against ‘conservancies’ - privately owned ranches now amalgamated into huge profit-making wildlife parks. Amidst the turmoil of 2000, locals invaded the largest conservancy to hunt and gather timber.

Among the other developments highlighted in the report:

• Decentralisation, despite significant donor support, has ground to a halt. Rural Development Councils, denied any revenue base and unsupported by line ministries, have become moribund.
• Village development councils have collapsed as ‘traditional’ authorities (often of dubious legitimacy) have been reinstated.
• Rampant inflation has encouraged a shift from monetary trade: buckets of sorghum, in the remote area of Chikombedzi have become a unit of currency.
• Difficulty in determining the actors behind recent land seizures or identifying the back stage discourse accompanying public posturing.

Themes for future SLSA research needs to examine:

• Poverty and vulnerability: Who are the rural poor? What is the full range of rural livelihood activities in the area?
• Water: What is the impact of water sector reforms at local level? Can the goal of equity in relation to the asset of water be achieved? How do households and communities make water choices?
• Wildlife: Do wild resource management policies support or constrain livelihoods? How does the wildlife industry impact local governance? Is wildlife conservation compatible with poverty alleviation?

Source(s):
Zimbabwe Country Paper, Sustainable Livelihoods in Southern Africa (SLSA) Working Paper 3, December 2000 Full document.

Funded by: UK Department for International Development

id21 Research Highlight: 1 May 2001

Further Information:
Solomon Mombeshora
Department of Sociology
University of Zimbabwe
Box MP 167
Mount Pleasant
Harare
Zimbabwe

Tel: +263 4 303211 x1331
Fax: +263 4 333407
Contact the contributor: solomon@harare.iafrica.com

University of Zimbabwe

Will Wolmer
Institute of Development Studies
University of Sussex
Falmer
Brighton BN1 9RE
UK

Tel: +44 (0)1273 606261
Fax: +44 (0)1273 621202/691647
Contact the contributor: w.wolmer@ids.ac.uk

Institute of Development Studies (IDS), UK

Other related links:
CAMPFIRE focuses on conservation in rural Africa

Livelihoods Connect - creating sustainable livelihoods to eliminate poverty

IISD advances policy recommendations to make development sustainable

NRM Africa focuses on community-based natural resources management

WWF works towards sustainable wildlife management

UNU features research on the Environment and Sustainable Development

SD Gateway provides an introduction to Sustainable Development