Electronic Theses and Dissertations (PhDs)
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Item Water Grabbing?: Water Struggles over the Water Regulation of the Water Use Licenses of Coal Mines in Delmas, South Africa(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Loate, Lesego Lester; Wafer, AlexIn various international contexts, attention has been given to the impact of the water use of extractives on water bodies. Some of these discussions are on the role of water regulation of the water use of extractives in the impacts on water bodies contributing to water scarcity for other water users and thus extractives based water struggles. Literature teases out the dynamics of the regulation of the water use of extractives through the three elements of water struggle that mirror elements of water regulation. These discussions focus on the allocation of water rights, the diverse forms of (non)recognition of water users in regulatory rules and participation in regulatory processes and exercise of rules. This study contributes to this literature focusing on coal mining water struggles in Delmas, South Africa. Despite an extensive history in mining, a leading country in coal reserves, as well as a country often touted as water scarce; research in South Africa on extractives based water struggles, in general, and coal mining water struggles in particular is limited. This study uses a case study approach using three coal mines in Delmas to address this gap in discourse. The study is based on interview and focus group data from key informations. The thesis focuses on the role of water regulation in the water problem behind coal mining based water struggles. The study also interrogates the mechanisms water regulation’s in6luence on the water problem behind coal mining based water struggles in Delmas. This study 6inds unfair and unequal regulatory practices in allocation enabling extra-legal water use by coal mines and the failure to enforce the water use of coal mines. Water regulation inequitably bene6its coal mines whilst burdening agricultural water users with pollution. Thus the study argues the water regulation is central to the resultant normalisation of the potential of future water scarcity. Water regulation exposes agricultural water users to structural and future reality. The (dys)function of water regulation of coal mines is the outcome of coal-centric socionatural relations of water that facilitate the water use of coal mines and normalise water scarcity.Item Masjid Al-Nasaa: Women Call for an Islamic Elsewhere(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Hoosen, LeyyaMy research explores what it means to be a “Muslim woman” in South Africa in the digital age. More broadly, what does Muslimness and Religiosity mean? How do we enact these concepts and practices, and how do they inform our processes of identification? How does access to digital platforms allow a new way of engaging these forces? This research took place over the course of three years, starting in 2020, and was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. With the increased digitalisation that came with the pandemic, many activities had to shift to online platforms to survive. This also created a space where Muslim women were able to create virtual masjids and hold online prayers. I followed one such online Jumu’ah (Friday prayer) group and interviewed the women who attended. I also interviewed women from a women-led South African Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) on their experiences and relationships with Islam(s). While their relationships with Islam(s) and Muslimness were complex and nuanced, what echoed through all their narratives was that they felt called to Islam(s) in some way and their Islamic practice was a response to that call. In my thesis, I unpack this call and use it as a guiding conceptual and theoretical framework. Through the multifaceted nature of the call, and the different ways that the women are called to Islam(s), I explore what it means to respond to a call that is not bounded or territorial in its address. The thesis takes the form of a masjid (mosque) in its architecture: beginning with a preface that is named ‘Niyyah’ (intention); moving into the ‘Wudhu’ introductory chapter that provides the contextual and historical orientations for the research; and then proceeding to go through seven chapters, named after the minarets (spires) in a masjid complex. These seven core theoretical and narrative chapters unpack the call to Islam(s) that the women experience. The call ranges from a call to the Digital Islamic Elsewhere as an alternate semi-public, to a call beyond essentialised identifications (such as ‘Muslim’), a call that re-orients and queers notions of the ‘Muslim woman’, to a call that challenges a hegemonic ummah (transnational Islamic community) in favour of a multiplicity of ummah(s), a call that is hidden and opaque, and a call that is ensouled in its manifestation. These different frequencies of the call to Islam(s) echo and reverberate through the thesis as I unpack what it means to be a woman in Islam(s) in the digital age.Item A gendered inquiry into South Africa’s agrarian question and agro-food system trends(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Mabasa, Khwezi; Williams, Michelle; Cock, JacklynSouth Africa’s agrarian question has been shaped by the evolution of racial capitalism for nearly four centuries. Dispossession, commodification, and social stratification continue to characterise the country’s agrarian system and broader social structure. However, these three structural features exist in a 21st century finance-led racial capitalist system, which has decoupled socio-economic development from rural-based agrarian livelihoods and exacerbated uneven spatial development across the country. Sixty-seven per cent of the population resides in urban areas and deagrarianisation continues to expand. The country’s agro-food system is highly industrialised, with strong upstream and downstream linkages to other economic sectors dominated by large corporates along value chains. Yet these structural shifts, created through centuries of dispossession and racially segregated industrialisation, have not totally obliterated the role of agrarian livelihood practices in households or community social reproduction. This study used a gendered lens to explore the agrarian political economy structural changes mentioned above, drawing primarily on the experiences of black African women from low-income communities. The discussions elevate gendered socio-economic and sociological impacts of structural agrarian changes in South Africa, which are often underplayed in agrarian political economy literature focusing on transforming race or class relations. More importantly, the study examined the women’s individual and communal agentic agrarian livelihood practices. The main aim was to explore significant lessons for contributing towards debates on alternative agro-food systems in South Africa. Feminist and extended case methodology framed the overall methodological approach in the study, and data was obtained from semi-structured individual and focus group interviews. I relied on Marxist feminist and black feminist political economy literature to develop the study’s theoretical framework and analytical concepts. The central argument of the study is anchored on the following three points. Firstly, South Africa’s post-apartheid agro-food system structural change logic advances narrow agrarian transformation goals, which seek to change racial ownership patterns and integrate ‘emerging’ women farmers into existing commercial agro-food system market structures. This approach has led to negative gendered socio-economic impacts because it fails to address structural social reproduction dimensions that cause gender disparities in the first place. Secondly, black African women have created dynamic agrarian subsistence practices in response to their structural socio-economic challenges, which form part of multiple livelihood and income sources. Their contribution towards local economic v development through these subsistence livelihood practices is overlooked because it takes place outside formal markets. Thus, it is imperative to examine and study these livelihood practices with the aim of obtaining key lessons on how to support marginalised black African women who view agrarian development as an importance source of social reproduction in their communities. Thirdly, black African women-led agency goes beyond orthodox productivism approaches in studying agrarian and non-agrarian livelihood strategies. This study revealed other essential elements in the women’s agentic practices such as solidarity building, experiential learning, indigenous knowledge sharing and creating spaces for formulating women-led public policy demands.Item Shifts, Changes and Continuities in Heritage Commemoration and Memorialisation of the 21 March 1960 Sharpeville Massacre: 1960-2010(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Ngoaketsi, Joseph Mairomola; Lekgoathi, S.PThe Sharpeville Massacre was a key turning point in modern South African history. The massacre ended the non-violent civil rights-style political activism and flickered three decades of armed confrontation with the colonial apartheid regime. Most importantly, it became the catalyst for the declaration of apartheid as a crime against humanity by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in 1966. However, most of the studies on the massacre focus mainly on documenting the events of that day, and very little has been written about the historical re-presentations of the shooting beyond this. This study, therefore, aims to fill the lacuna in the re-presentation and observance of this event. It does so by not only complementing the existing literature but also looking at an area that has been grossly neglected, namely the diverse ways in which the killing has been observed over a period of five decades, starting from the 1960s to 2010. The study employs discourse analysis as well as critical and in-depth analyses of published secondary, historical and archival sources, including newspaper reports and commentaries on the 21 March Sharpeville Day commemorations. These sources are complemented by a large spread, and wide range of biographical sources, unstructured interviews, testimonials, informal discussions, and conversations with key local heritage activist respondents. The focus group consists of members of the Khulumani Support Group at the Sharpeville branch. The findings and conclusions of this study derive from observations of the anniversary commemorations of the massacre by ethnographic participants. The study utilises several theoretical frameworks, while the Life Narrative Interpretative theory of oral history lays the basis for this research venture. As the findings of this thesis bear out, the application of this theory converges oral history and collective memory studies. Other theories used in this study include Maurice Halbwachs’ theory of collective memory, which is located in nostalgia, individual testimony, oral history, tradition, myth, style, language, art, popular culture, and physical landscape. Émile Durkheim’s performance or ritual theory postulates that the past is represented and relived through rituals, and the relationship between the past and the present takes the form of a dramatic (re)presentation. The study observes that cultural rites conducted during memorialisation processes and annual observances of the Sharpeville massacre are marked by human arrangements of performances or viii ritual remembrances. The transitional justice theoretical discourse is applied in the study’s analysis of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission - a socio-political initiative devoted to fact-finding, reconciliation and memory culture. It concludes that memorialisation processes and rituals are communal reflexes for survivors of the Sharpeville Massacre and families of the victims. Contrary to assertions by notable Sharpeville Massacre historians, this day was not observed between 1964 and 1984, despite an international commemorative tradition that developed beginning from 1966. The study observes that during the 1960s, the Human Rights Society, an affiliate of the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS), commemorated Sharpeville Day even at the height of state repression. It demonstrates that it was the Black Consciousness Movement family of organisations that popularised the commemoration of Sharpeville Day, calling it Heroes Day during the 1970s. The observance of this day took the form of church services, cemetery visitations and political rallies. The study notes that with the formation of the Congress Movement-aligned civic structure in the form of the United Democratic Front, Sharpeville Day was used as a platform to openly defy the apartheid government and undermine its institutions. The 1990s was a period of political transition in South Africa, and the study analyses commemorations of the Sharpeville Massacre during this decade. In the context of the unbanning of liberation movements, observances of this day took place in a more politically tolerable landscape. During the first half of this decade, commemorations of Sharpeville Massacre revealed the deep-seated political and ideological differences between the African National Congress and Pan Africanist Congress former liberation movements turned political parties in the early 1990s after their unbanning. The study observes that this day was used during this period to garner support for the upcoming elections in 1994. Following the establishment of the Government of National Unity, the hegemonic impulses of the African National Congress overrode long-held traditions of how Sharpeville Day was observed. The study highlights that from the year 1995, 21 March started to be observed as an official public holiday, later transforming into Human Rights Day, instead of being a solemn commemoration, as was the case before the democratic dispensation. The study further observes that during this decade, court-like restorative justice bodies, such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, created a theatrical environment for victims of gross human rights violations. The ritualistic oral testimonies of those who appeared constituted a ix memorialisation process. Lastly, the study reveals that post-1994, Sharpeville commemorations possess distinct characteristics at the core of which are distortions of history, the watering down of other narratives and contributions, selective amnesia and the silencing of other voices on the part of the governing party. There are further contestations, grand narratives, commemorations, counter commemorations and counter-narratives regarding the memory of Sharpeville by both the African National Congress and the Pan Africanist Congress. In terms of material culture, the study highlights how this tangible feature of Sharpeville’s memory is characterised by official memorials and counter-memorials.Item YouTube: Video Commercialization, Value Creation and Identity(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2021-12) Dlamini, Gabby Sipho; White, HyltonSocial media has been blamed for promoting unrealistic flashy lifestyles and an increase in influencer brand marketing. The outcome of this is said to put extreme pressure on individuals to maintain a certain lifestyle to the detriment of their self, promoting a performance of life rather than real life experiences, resulting in the breakdown of social bonds. Yet social media platforms such YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and many others are growing at considerable rates, despite all the critiques. The thesis overall questions how YouTube vloggers turn the intangible value of activities in everyday life into monetary income by attracting online audiences to their vlogs. The research is located as part of transformations taking place in late capitalism, that used to characterise the organisation of labour and, therefore, society in nineteenth and twentieth-century iterations of modern capitalist society; and the changing concepts of “private” and “public” that are described as part of the technological development and integration into our everyday lives. This thesis traces the changing structures and relationships between YouTube, YouTubers and viewers as the economy of YouTube has continued to grow. Whilst influencer brand marketing and social media reach are popularly viewed as detrimental to the individual and society, this thesis argues against this general view. Instead, I argue that in the wake of influencer marketing and the financial economies, embedded within YouTube and other social media, new ways of being and belonging are being negotiated. This thesis, using ethnographic data, focuses on these new ways of being and belonging by explaining how ideas of value, suspicion, affect, and digital footprint are factors in creating online community ties and online identities that continue inside and outside of the online space.Item Decriminalising Sex Work: The Politics of Policy-Making in South Africa 1994 - 2019(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024-04-19) Gathercole, Corey Sarana Spengler; Dube, Siphiwe I.Sex Work in South Africa This thesis explores feminist viewpoints regarding sex work, delving into the intricate web of gender, race, and class within the unique historical context of South Africa (SA). Its central mission guiding the research was to identify, investigate, and shed light on the factors that had impeded the commitment and execution of sex work decriminalisation by the African National Congress (ANC) government. With a specific focus on the prevailing legislative framework in SA, which criminalised the sex industry, the thesis scrutinises the rationale behind this approach and assessed its suitability within the SA context. Additionally, it underscores the adverse repercussions of sex industry criminalisation on sex workers while questioning its effectiveness in achieving its intended goal of eradicating the sex work sector. Through a feminist lens, this research journey unraveled several root causes of the stagnation in SA's sex worker policy reforms. It explored the intricate dynamics of policy change, unveiling the stumbling blocks that hindered progress in the realm of sex worker policy. Given SA's distinctive historical landscape, characterised by a complex history of apartheid and racial inequality, the thesis argued that comprehending sex work in SA necessitated an examination of its inextricable connection to the country's socio-economic conditions. Moreover, the thesis conducts a comparative analysis of legislative frameworks in other countries where different approaches to sex work regulation had been adopted. Foucault's theory on the regulation of the body provides an invaluable framework for understanding the power dynamics at play within the context of sex work. It illuminates how the criminalisation of sex work was intertwined with exerting control over the female body, aligning with Foucauldian principles. The thesis investigates how these power dynamics sought to render those involved in sex work submissive, echoing traditional perspectives on body commodification. Drawing upon the history of SA and its tumultuous past, including the legacies of apartheid and the enduring effects of racial discrimination, this thesis contended that sex work in SA cannot be fully understood without considering its historical and socio-economic dimensions. It delves into the nuances of sex work policies in various countries, exploring models such as full decriminalisation, partial decriminalisation, and legalisation through both a feminist and Foucauldian lens. By examining these diverse approaches and their outcomes, the thesis provides valuable insights into the complex landscape of sex work regulation. As a comprehensive contribution to the study of existing legislative paradigms, this thesis addresses the pivotal question: "Why has the decriminalisation of sex work stalled in SA?" This inquiry gave insights into the complexities of policy change, the root causes of policy delays, and potential avenues for reforming sex work policy, all while considering the broader global context of sex work legislation and the implications of feminist and Foucauldian perspectives.Item Sustaining the Unsustainable? Political Accountability and Development in sub-Saharan Africa’s Resource Economies(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-07) Ndlovu, Xichavo Alecia; Alence, RodSub-Saharan Africa’s development challenge is to ‘sustain the unsustainable’–using non-renewable resources to initiate long-term development processes that outlive the short-term proceeds of resource extraction. Literature has highlighted how differences in political institutions help determine whether natural resources help or hinder development. However, there is disagreement on which political institutions account for the variations in development outcomes. This study clarifies whether political regimes, electoral competitiveness, and party institutionalisation matter for inclusive and sustainable development using a sample of all sub-Saharan African countries for which data is available from 1990 to 2018. Specifically, do democracies perform better or worse on average than non-democracies? Do electorally competitive democracies perform better or worse than dominant-party (but still multiparty) democracies? Do more institutionalised party systems perform better or worse than less institutionalised party systems? In general, how, if at all, do different political accountability mechanisms affect inclusive and sustainable development? The study uses ‘nested’ analysis, which combines cross-national statistical analysis and case studies of four resource-rich democracies in Africa: Ghana, Zambia, Namibia, and Mozambique. The cross-national analysis shows that party institutionalisation is the only political predictor for social inclusiveness, and all political variables do not improve or worsen economic sustainability. On the other hand, resource rents are negatively associated with social inclusiveness but do not predict economic sustainability. Meanwhile, the non-rent sectors contribute positively to both dimensions of development, highlighting the potential significance of income levels in explaining the cross-national development patterns in Africa. Evidence in the case studies shows that electorally competitive democracies outperform dominant party democracies on social inclusiveness. The risk of being removed from office incentivises incumbents to provide public goods and increase social welfare. However, the impact of political accountability mechanisms on economic sustainability is ambiguous and may depend on sectoral institutions, policies and actors. The study contributes to (and bridges) two groups of literature, one investigating the economic consequences of politics and institutions and another accounting for the resource curse. It also considers both the inclusivity and sustainability aspects of development and highlights contextual factors from case studies, often overlooked in cross-national analyses.Item Experiences of Youth in Agrarian Transformation in Rural South Africa: A Case of Greenplanet Primary Cooperative in Orange Farm(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022-03) Chibonore, Wilma Claris; Kariuki, SamuelThis thesis advanced a qualitative approach to analyse the practices, structures and rationalities that inform youth engagement in agriculture drawing on evidence from Orange Farm in Gauteng Province of South Africa. The study takes off on the premise that there is low generational renewal in agriculture as the older and ageing generation makes the majority of active farmers yet farming holds great potential for creating youth employment whilst youth engagement in agriculture secures food of the future. The study finds that youth (dis)engagement and (dis)interest in farming is directly related to the availability and easy access to everyday support structures particularly those provided by the state and observes that many young people are in fact interested in farming but are currently operating in a structurally disabling environment amidst poor state support which does not allow for growth or access to key resources. The study finds that youth interest in farming exists although these interests are largely skewed towards technologically advanced farming systems and against backward manual farming systems therefore contradicting existing discourse as well as challenging the general narrative and consensus that youths are not interested in farming or that youth interest in farming is waning. The thesis reveals that young farmers understanding, interpretation and engagement with agricultural technology is based on their levels of exposure, location and access to resources. Poverty, structural limitations and marginalization experienced by the youth contribute significantly to their reception and perception of agriculture as a whole. The thesis argues for an agrarian developmental state approach towards the strengthening of agricultural opportunities and the relevant institutional structures and resources such as land, stipends, extension services, training, technology and market allocation to support youth farming in rural South Africa where the economies are generally stagnant and youth unemployment very high. This study observes that young people as active citizens and through utilising individual agency have the capacity to drive their own innovations within the agricultural sector when awarded the platform, opportunity and support to do so. The study reveals that the young farmers are ‘millennials’ who use their youth agency to engage in social networking facilitated by use of social media as a powerful tool for unity and resistance against unfavourable farming environments. Lastly, two contradictory perspectives on the impact of COVID-19 emerge in this study, one of COVID-19 having presented opportunities for growth and success for the young farmers and another of the pandemic having further marginalized and disrupted the already struggling young farmers with both narratives being shaped directly and indirectly by the pre-existing structural challenges. Methodologically, empirical data was mostly gathered through face to face semi-structured interviews, focus groups and conversations with the young farmers with the remainder of interviews having been conducted virtually via Skype, WhatsApp chats and WhatsApp calls upon the emergence of COVID-19 which converged with this study. Participant observation occurred through attending farmers meetings, agriculture tours, engaging in some farming activities on some sites as well as being part of the young farmers WhatsApp group. The thesis also relied on published journals, statistical reports, media reports, policy documents as well as videos from the public hearings regarding the amendment of the South African Constitution to allow for expropriation of land without compensation in order to bolster the empirical findings.Item The ‘social life’ of digital money: User experiences of mobile money in Manzini, Eswatini and Masvingo, Zimbabwe(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-07) Mavodza, Emma; Katsaura, Obvious; Kenny, BridgetDigital financial service innovations have long been hailed as a catalyst for financial inclusion and empowerment for the unbanked (Beck, et al, 2007; Anderlone and Vandone, 2010; Johnson and Arnold, 2012; Lahaye, et al. 2015; Jack and Suri, 2016; Dermiguc-Kunt et al, 2018; World Bank, 2018;). However, most of these studies assume that the current state of exclusion and lack of access to transformative financial services is a natural state in these communities. While socio-anthropological perspectives have helped to acknowledge the place of money in the socioeconomic lives of communities (Granovetter,1985; Callon, 1998; Zelizer, 1997; Comaroff and Comaroff, 2005; 2010; 2012; Maurer, 2008; Dodd, 2014), digital financial service innovations remain a bewilderment to many who attempts to understand them. Therefore, to examine the social life of mobile money, I gathered data for this qualitative study (in 2018 and 2019) in selected informal markets in Manzini where money supply and financial institutions are stable but inaccessible to many and Masvingo where liquidity constraints are the new order of the day. My qualitative analysis of the social life of mobile money from the global South is based on the in-depth interviews, photo voice and observational data sets. Drawing from a range of literature and my empirical data on the social cultural aspects of money, I argue that mobile money usage in the informal market spaces was articulated and imagined through existing social meanings, and it was used within specific socio-cultural constraints. The thesis presents this through an examination of four overarching themes; namely, mobile money sociality at the backdrop of informality and precarity, mechanisms of building trust and solidarity, the gendered layers of mobile money usage as well as the subtle, unscripted ways employed by participants to resist subjectification and full financialisation of their everyday lives. An important finding of this study is how mobile money continues to play a critical role in the ways through which these communities’ monetary repertoires are produced, historicised, and reproduced. Drawing on the evidence I gathered, I argue that, despite their assumed vulnerability, informal market participants were not docile adopters of mobile money but rather active constructors of their own digital money usage footprints in ways not envisaged by the service providers at inception. They showcased great ingenuity through their established cultural habits and sacred traditions on money use. Therefore, instead of taking assumed and imagined vulnerability as incapacitation and lack of agency, this study has implication for financial policy that focuses on the individual and mundane financial practices of the unbanked as critical for building transformative financial behaviours among this resourceful population segment. This research contributes to an understanding of how informal markets workers make sense of mobile money as they incorporate it in alignment with existing social meanings and existing financial practices at the backdrop of socio-economic precarity. Therefore, I bring new qualitative evidence and analysis from the global South to expand the definition of social life of digital money and financial inclusion (Ahmad et al., 2020). The study also highlights how the ubiquitous proliferation of mobile money and its intimate ties to the social lives of the participants has precipitated the rise of new forms of voluntary, freely given unwaged, immaterial labour which is unconsciously performed by the users as a collective.Item Family Change and Child Maintenance Effect on Men’s Mental Health Outcomes in South Africa(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-10) Muchemwa, Marifa; Odimegwu, CliffordBackground: Mental health problems are increasing among men in South Africa, yet they remain inadequately studied, particularly within the context of observed family change in the country. National studies have identified the changes taking place in the family system such as increasing rates of divorce, cohabiting, non-marital childbearing, living alone, and delays in family formation. This has resulted in most children growing up in single-parent families, giving rise to child maintenance issues. The changing family situations together with complexities surrounding child maintenance may be pertinent to men’s mental health outcomes, hence the need to examine the nexus. This is important considering that men’s mental health has not been examined in the context of family change and child maintenance in the country. A lack of investigation in this area raises the following question: Do family change and child maintenance complexities contribute to men’s mental health outcomes? Methodology: An explanatory sequential mixed method was conducted to examine family change and child maintenance effects on men’s mental health outcomes in South Africa. The two mental health outcomes which were examined are depressive symptoms and Psychiatric or psychological disorders. The quantitative part of the research used longitudinal secondary data from the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) Waves 1-5 (2008-2017) with a sample size of 30 381 men aged 18 and older. The family change examined included a man’s transition from another marital status to being married, living with a partner, divorced, and multiple changes. It also encompassed men who transitioned from living with others to living alone. To analyse the data, the multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression and the General Estimating Equations (GEE) models were used. In the qualitative research, 30 men residing in Johannesburg were recruited using purposive and snowballing sampling methods. The men were interviewed using semi-structured in-depth interviews. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. Key Findings: Quantitative findings indicate that men who changed to cohabiting had an increased likelihood of experiencing depressive symptoms compared to those who did not go through a family change. Men who changed to live alone had an increased likelihood of experiencing both mental health outcomes compared to men who remained living with others. Men who became married had a lower likelihood of experiencing depressive symptoms than men who did not go through any family change. The qualitative findings show that it is not only family change, but its consequences linked to child maintenance complexities that is more stressful affecting men’s mental well-being. The consequences include being denied access and custody of the children. Trying to adjust to living away from their children and being excluded from the children’s lives by their ex-partners left men distressed. Quantitative findings show that men who paid child maintenance were less likely to experience psychiatric or psychological disorders than men who were not paying. However, from the qualitative findings, men who were paying child maintenance complained of how their partners gave them limited access to the children and only sought money from them making it appear as if it is the only role they can do for their children. Yet they wanted to be part of their children’s lives. Some of the men cried as they explained how being excluded from the lives of their children affected their health. Conclusions: The findings indicate that changing to live alone is a risk factor for both mental health outcomes. Men who changed to live with a partner (cohabiting) had an increased risk of experiencing depressive symptoms. Those who transitioned to be married across the five waves had a reduced likelihood of experiencing depressive symptoms. Child maintenance complexities that men encounter also affect their mental health. The complexities include undermining the fatherhood role through the exclusion in decision-making, denial of access to the children, and child custody. Policy recommendations: The findings imply that the changing nature of the family in South Africa characterised by increasing cohabitation and living alone affects men’s mental health. Men living alone and cohabiting require mental health support. Counselling should be done simultaneously with interventions that help men who are denied access to their children. Community programs that address mental health needs of men undergoing family change should be done. Including educational campaigns that raise awareness about mental health implications of family change and the importance of seeking help. Child access denial should be addressed, existing laws should ensure that both parents have equal access to the children. Crying in men should be normalized through public awareness campaigns that challenge traditional notions of masculinity. Interventions to assist men experiencing challenges to have access to their children should be carried out simultaneously with counselling as the findings highlight that men live with the pain of being denied access and custody of their children. Frontiers for Further Research: The findings showed that men were weak and powerless on matters to do with child access and custody for their children from previous relationships. Studies should be conducted which explore how the hegemonic masculinities are affected in the context of child maintenance and investigate how men feel when they experience challenges as fathers documenting their experiences regarding the various health problems, they have developed. There is a need to study gender differences in the context of family change and mental health in South Africa considering an increase in mental health problems and the changing nature of the family. The study findings show that depressive symptoms are concentrated more among young men than the elderly. Further research can be done that focus on male adolescents’ mental health.