Magister Philosophiae - MPhil (LAS) (Land and Agrarian Studies)

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Browsing by Author "Du Toit, Andries"

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    The comprehensive rural development programme as a vehicle for enhancing stakeholder participation in rural governance: a case study of Dysselsdorp in the Western Cape Province, South Africa
    (University of the Western Cape, 2014) Siyo-Pepeteka, Thembisa; Du Toit, Andries
    The thesis seeks to investigate the extent to which the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (CRDP) has succeeded in creating a platform for rural people, including marginalised groups, to be effectively involved in their development. Dysselsdorp was used as a case study in a qualitative approach in order to get an understanding of the experience, views and perceptions of stakeholders, particularly residents and government officials. Data was collected through qualitative research. In-depth interviews were held with relevant government officials, local leaders and ordinary residents and focus groups were held with residents, including local leaders. The research revealed that the involvement of residents in CRDP was limited to needs identification through information giving while needs prioritisation and decisions on implementation were done by government officials. Further, the research suggests that members of the local elite (those who had political connections and social status) captured most of the benefits (i.e. tenders and jobs). Therefore, CRDP in Dysselsdorp had failed to ensure that residents, especially the marginalised, participate fully in their own development. Instead, the status quo remains, where government officials and the elites as representatives of the people make decisions. This corresponds with mere tokenism, as illustrated in Arnstein’s Ladder of Participation Model. A number of factors contributed to the failure to ensure genuine stakeholder participation, including unrealistic expectations of job creation, the assumption of ‘collectivism’, political dynamics in the area and poor institutional design.
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    Grazing rights in communal areas of a post-independent Namibia: a case study of a grazing dispute in western Kavango region
    (University of the Western Cape, 2014) Muduva, Theodor Kupembona; Du Toit, Andries
    This dissertation aims at understanding the legal implications of a grazing dispute that was reported in the western Kavango Region a few years after Namibia’s Independence in 1990. This dispute which was between Ovawambo cattle owners and herders from the Ohangwena and Oshikoto regions and the local Vakwangali community members (represented by the UKTA) was reported in 1992 (other reports suggest that it might even have originated as early as the 1960s and 1980s), when it was said that the Ovawambo cattle owners and herders with their hundreds of cattle had entered into western Kavango “illegally” in search of grazing. The Ovawambo cattle owners and herders were first charged in 2005 and were eventually evicted in 2009. This dissertation looks at how legislation was used to deal with the conflict and investigates the impacts of the court order on all parties involved. The methodology employed during this study was predominantly qualitative, mainly utilising individual interviews and focus group discussions with the participants. This study found that the Government of Namibia had delayed acting on the grazing dispute for mainly political reasons. The study also found that many herders had indeed entered western Kavango Region illegally because they could not provide any letters of consent from the Ukwangali Traditional Authority (UKTA); many herders also admitted that there were no written agreements between themselves and the UKTA. The research also found that although the eviction orders were issued to all the herders, some still remained in the area; this selective application of the law rendered the eviction order somewhat ineffective. The study found that some local or affected community members were satisfied with the consequences of the eviction order and reported positive results regarding their farming activities such as better grazing and improved yields in their crop fields. Other community members, however, were disappointed by the refusal of certain herders to vacate the area, as well as by the failure of the government to ensure that all the herders had left the area.
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    Movement of Zimbabwean immigrants into, within and out of the farm labour market in Limpopo province of South Africa
    (University of the Western Cape, 2019) Kudejira, Denboy; Du Toit, Andries
    This thesis presents findings from ethnographic research conducted over a period of 17 months in the Blouberg and Molemole local municipalities of Capricorn District in Limpopo province with the aim of exploring mobility patterns of Zimbabwean migrants into, within and out of the South African farm labour market, and understanding how these movements are linked to access to food and other livelihood opportunities. Limpopo serves both as a transit province for Zimbabweans who wish to proceed further south to other provinces of South Africa and a destination for irregular migrants who live and work on white-owned commercial farms. Although constrained mobility, which results from their illegality and remoteness of farms from public services, limit their access to sources of food, irregular Zimbabwean migrants in Blouberg-Molemole area perceive that moving into South African farm labour has improved their food security and livelihood statuses. The South Africa farm labour market provides opportunities to earn income, and enables them to make long term investments in their families back home above immediate individual food security needs. Horizontal and vertical social networks established among Zimbabwean migrants in the Blouberg-Molemole area do not only serve the purpose of facilitating information sharing, but are also forms of social capital on which individual members depend on for their food security and livelihood needs.
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    (Re)constructed communities under land restitution : a case study of the Popela land claim
    (University of the Western Cape, 2015) Fokane, Tshepo Nnini; Du Toit, Andries
    This dissertation explores the notions of community identity as they relate to land restitution. Specifically, the dissertation examines how community is (re)constructed in the Popela case study by examining how the claimants (former labour tenants) have framed their experience of dispossession and their understanding of their rights in land. Oftentimes, claimant groups will articulate their shared history as it relates to the land, and within this narrative they will seek to highlight the legitimacy of their claim. In this regard, rural communities tend to submit claims for restitution on the basis of the forced dispossession of the tribe. In contrast, labour tenants’ claims for restitution are based on the dispossession of grazing and cropping rights linked to their labour as individuals. The dissertation explores how the Popela claimants have (re)constructed their community identity. It shows that their discourse is characterized by conflicting notions of community and belonging, and traces the connections between these contradictions and the concessions the claimants had to make in adopting definitions and terms that have been imposed on them. It argues that while claimants appear to have accepted the Constitutional Court’s view of the basis of their claim, a ‘hidden transcript’ of commitment to community identity still persists, carefully hidden from public view in order to be awarded restitution.
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    Surviving in a Socio-Economic Crisis: Strategies of Low Income Urban Households in Dzivaresekwa: Zimbabwe
    (University of the Western Cape, 2008) Magunda, Douglas.; Du Toit, Andries; Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences
    For close to a decade, Zimbabwe has experienced a protracted socio-economic crisis. Although it is affecting both rural and urban areas, major forms of formal safety nets by the Government and Non-Governmental Organisations have been confined to rural areas. On the other hand the virtual collapse of the formal food marketing system in urban areas and the high formal unemployment rates have contributed to increased vulnerability of low income urban households to food insecurity. Using qualitative research methods, the study set out to understand livelihoods of low income urban households in Dzivaresekwa. In particular strategies low income households employ to cope with the negative macro-economic environment prevailing in Zimbabwe.