Browsing by Author "Mukonoweshuro, Tonderai Fadzai"

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Barriers to the provision of basic sanitation in two selected informal settlements in Harare, Zimbabwe
(2014-07-11) Mukonoweshuro, Tonderai Fadzai
Historically, Zimbabwe’s urban population enjoyed high water supply and sanitation service levels and standards, having one of the highest coverage levels in Africa. However, over the last two decades, the quality of Zimbabwe’s urban water supply and sanitation services has slowly been eroded. The poor, displaced and disenfranchised Zimbabweans that occupy Harare’s informal urban settlements are vulnerable to challenges posed by unavailability of basic water and sanitation services. This qualitative research project, carried out between January and June 2013 in Harare’s Hopley and Retreat informal settlements, investigates factors that have been preventing delivery of basic sanitation services to residents in these two settlements. Presenting evidence from the two informal settlements of Hopley and Retreat, this research establishes that there is a complex relationship at play between policy processes, the prevailing political environment and the way in which institutions have responded to the problem of sanitation in these settlements. The study was undertaken towards the end of an era of a negotiated Government of National Unity between ZANU-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change, highlights the dominance of power and political contestation between the two parties that has spilled into policy decisions on basic service provision in the informal settlements. The deep rooted culture of political violence which characterised the political environment from 2000 onwards, with very little commitment to democratic processes, was instrumental in the development of Hopley settlement after the 2005 elections. At face value, ZANU-PF was providing displaced people with alternative accommodation. However, as Muzondidya notes, this along with other ZANU-PF strategies is ‘(c)onsistent with its hegemonic political culture… to engage in cosmetic political and economic reforms that will not result in further democracy or result in a loss of its historic monopoly over power…’ (Muzondidya in Raftopolous, 2013, p.50). Informal settlements are a relatively new phenomenon in Zimbabwe. However, since their inception, they have continued to grow, fuelled by ZANU-PF’s strategy to allocate unserviced residential stands in exchange for residents’ allegiance to the party, with the most recent illegal residential stand allocations taking place in Chitungwiza town in 2013. A close examination of Hopley and Retreat revealed that water and sanitation services provided in Zimbabwe’s informal settlements are typically inadequate or non-existent – a situation that has the potential for severe public health impacts. The emergency actions taken by Non-Governmental Organisations during the height of the 2008 cholera outbreak only provided short-term sanitation solutions. The research concludes that water and sanitation services in Zimbabwe’s informal urban settlements have come to this point, mainly due to the interacting forces of politics. These have influenced policy processes on decision-making, formulation and implementation of sanitation policies for informal settlements. Despite the political origins of several informal settlements, there is a notable absence of practical policies to tackle the issues posed by this development and a lack of institutions capable of instigating the plans needed for change.
Policy-making and institutional crisis: Formalizing artisanal gold mining in Zimbabwe from 2005 to 2017
(Policy-making and institutional crisis: Formalizing artisanal gold mining in Zimbabwe from 2005 to 2017, 2024) Mukonoweshuro, Tonderai Fadzai; https://orcid.org/ 0009-0000-6395-4758
Artisanal gold mining is a crucial economic activity in Zimbabwe that gained prominence in the post-2000 period when there was a defined shifting interest from agricultural activity by many people to artisanal gold mining, with over a million people engaged in the sector. Artisanal gold mining became a part of a large and complex informal economy, with the potential to address some of the economic challenges by providing the much-needed foreign currency for the ailing economy. However, like most countries, Zimbabwe struggled to regulate the sector to make it more efficient, economical, safe and environmentally friendly. Much existing research seems to suggest that policy on artisanal mining, while being a function of the state, is an instrument or arena of contestation among powerful groups within the state and society. Thus, the study answers the question, “In what ways did politics, power and institutional dynamics influence policy trajectories on artisanal gold mining in Zimbabwe between 2005 and 2017?” It further investigated the complex reality of politics and policymaking for informal (artisanal) gold mining in Zimbabwe, seeking to dissect underlying politics, power and institutional dynamics and how these influenced policy trajectories in this growing informal gold mining sector between 2005 and 2017. Through a case study approach, I collected qualitative data through in-depth individual interviews with key informants both nationally and at two mining sites in the District of Chegutu, in Mashonaland, Zimbabwe. By situating the study's findings within theories of informal economies, institutionalism, street-level bureaucracy and human securities, this thesis contributes to the consequences of informality as they relate to production and the miners 6 wellbeing and policy development for ASM. The other is the complex and non-linear reality of politics and policy-making concerning ASM and law enforcement agencies. The local case study demonstrates the struggles between networked actors in amplifying how informal gold mining policy has evolved and the particular effects on policy outcomes for informal gold mining in Zimbabwe. The study concluded that although politics had a bearing on the continued informalisation of ASM during the crisis period, the state actors occupying critical positions in shadow networks drove policy to maximize self-interest. At a local level, policy implementation met the agency of transitional actors, including small-scale artisanal miners, gold dealers, and traders. These networked actors also operated within their own unwritten rules and shaped their policies as they extracted or traded the gold. Therefore, a policy framework for formalizing ASM must be based on enforceable legal systems that provide accountability, transparency, and human rights.