Search

Linguistic and cultural anxieties have characterized the Ndebele language and culture due to the various hegemonies the people have gone through. The Ndebele as a nation were born out of the Mfecane migrations. In their migration up north they encountered various linguo-cultural groups that posed the risk of possible linguistic and cultural attrition. Upon settling in what is known as Zimbabwe today, the speakers of Ndebele were a minority among other language groups which they had conquered militarily. Both colonial conquest and the subsequent Shona triumphalist and nationalist discourses and policies placed Ndebele in a disadvantaged social and political position which threatened its existence. This paper establishes that all these factors fed into the Ndebele linguistic anxiety, which is manifested in various tense encounters, especially on social media platforms. Data for the study were collected through observations and unstructured interviews. Using the prisms of linguistic purism ideologies and linguistic analysis, the paper analyzes the attitudes towards and the grammar of the various renditions of the toponym. The paper establishes that, while political tensions foment the linguistic tensions around the phonology and morphology of the toponym, there are some idiosyncrasies that are influenced by the mother tongues of speakers and this creates some of the transphonological and morphological changes that infuriate Ndebele speakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the temporal, spatial and structural linkages between the informal economic enterprises (IEEs) that have grown and spread in Bulawayo, the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and their formal economic counterparts, as well as the impact of the IEEs on the shaping and restructuring of the urban economy. To achieve this, the paper deployed a mixed methods approach which utilised survey and phenomenological case studies on the formal and informal economic enterprises in Bulawayo. The results of this study highlight the linkages between the informal and formal economic enterprises and the impact of political and economic ideology on such linkages, illustrating the spatial layering and patterning of both formal economic enterprises and IEEs in Bulawayo. The main contribution of this paper is its exposition of the impact of political and economic policies of the Zimbabwean nation-state on urban economic enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a qualitative study of the consumption of uMthunywa, a Zimbabwean state-controlled tabloid newspaper. It focuses on its Bulawayo readers, who constitute the bulk of the paper's readership and particularly explores the meanings and relevance of its content to their everyday lives. The study establishes that the paper constitutes a forceful alternative mediated sphere that cements a regional identity and accommodates feelings of belonging among a readership that feels disenfranchised and neglected by the 'power bloc'. The newspaper has (re) kindled a relationship with readers through its use of the vernacular language, isiNdebele, and the coverage of community issues that resonate with the readers' everyday lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper contends that the covid-19 pandemic has reconfigured how cities manage urban marginality within Zimbabwe. The pandemic enabled cities to push everyday mundane practices away from the centre of the city to the margins of the cities through securitisation and criminalising informal activities within the centre. The paper's methodological underpinnings are hinged on a six month ethnography within Bulawayo (Zimbabwe's second largest city). The paper maintains the view that managing urban marginality in the context of covid-19 must be framed within the binary of two opposing forces – governing institutions (the government and municipality) and the low-income residents. Using covid-19 as a pretext of "curbing the pandemic" governing institutions have pushed informal economic activities from the centre through employing law and force; on the other hand low-income residents have found eclectic means to counteract the measures imposed to constrain their agency. Finally, the paper suggests that covid-19 has reconfigured how cities manage urban marginality through pushing everyday informal practices to the periphery and how the low-income residents deploy their agency to counteract confinement hence managing urban marginality can be understood as a two-way process involving governing institutions and the low-income residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on Bulawayo, the second largest city in Zimbabwe, this paper shows that the growth of urban informality can be explained by shifts in the Zimbabwean economy. These shifts include the corporatist socialist ideology phase (1980-1989), the era of neoliberal economic policies (1990-1997) and the return to restrictionism and reign of predatory politics (1998-present). Instead of triggering economic growth, these changes led to falling industrial production and declining levels of growth, leading to unemployment. This provided a fertile ground for the growth of the informal sector, such as informal street traders (informal traders). Utilising a qualitative study of 200 informal street traders in Bulawayo, who were purposively sampled between June and December 2013, the paper argues that the presence of such traders in Bulawayo is a form of both covert and overt resistance to the local and central government. Such a response by the informal traders highlights resistance and resilience, first to the economic crisis and secondly to the local and central government, which failed to meet their employment needs. This resistance has taken surreptitious forms, such as dodging municipality police patrols or staying hidden from the regulatory regimes (weapons of the weak), but has also graduated beyond this, taking the form of open defiance of and resorting to legal means to fight the regulatory regimes (beyond weapons of the weak). In this way, the paper offers a nuanced analysis of the enduring presence of street traders in a setting where there is a vibrant and repressive regulatory regime. Further, because urban informality is an integral part of urbanisation in the Global South, there is need for strategies that progressively integrate these economic actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deploys theories of social performance as a lens to engage and examine narratives of resistance in Amakhosi Theatre Productions' Workshop Negative. It locates and frames Amakhosi Theatre Productions' Workshop Negative as a personal and community narrative inscribed with agency. Deploying the social theories of performance and the narrative of resistance approach as an analytical framework, this paper analyses and critiques Workshop Negative as a representation of everyday lived experiences and meaning-making in the community as well as undertake a nuanced reading of the Zimbabwean socio-cultural and political landscape under which this narrative (work) was created, produced and performed. This article critiques Workshop Negative's aesthetic playmaking methods as narrative techniques of storying its members' lives, voices and that of the community. In essence, I seek to understand how members of Amakhosi Theatre Productions aesthetically made meaning of their lives and illustrated these narratives in Workshop Negative. I argue that Amakhosi Theatre Productions' situatedness in the community enabled them to aesthetically create and perform narratives located in the everyday lived experiences of the Bulawayo community. In so doing, I submit that Amakhosi Theatre Productions' plays such as Workshop Negative linked personal stories with the big story narratives of Bulawayo and/ Zimbabwe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence from household surveying in December 2005 in Harare and Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, indicates that a wide network of international migrant remitters are ameliorating the economic crisis in Zimbabwe by sending monetary and in-kind transfers to over 50 per cent of urban households. The research combines quantitative measurement of scale and scope, with demographic and qualitative narrative to build a holistic picture of the typography of receiving and non-receiving households. A complex set of interrelated variables helps to explain why some households do and others do not receive income and goods from people who are away, and the economic and social extent of their subsequent benefit from them. Moreover, the mixed methods approach is designed to capture inter-household and likely macroeconomic effects of how households receive their goods and money; and of how they subsequently exchange (if applicable), store and spend it. Evidence emerges of a largely informal, international social welfare system, but one which is not without adverse inter-household effects for some. These include suffering exclusion from markets suffering from inflationary pressures, not least as a result of other people's remittances. This paper explores the role of remittances, within this internationalised informal welfare system which we can map from our household survey, in reframing vulnerability and marginalization differentially among and between our subject households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban household food insecurity has become a widespread dilemma in Zimbabwe. The paper investigates the extent to which various in-kind transfer programmes in two Bulawayo townships Zimbabwe, have attempted to enhance access to adequate food by poor urbanites. It also pays attention to the influence of in-kind transfers on food consumption behaviours in two ways: first, in relation to the number of meals consumed and second, in increasing quantities of food consumed by poor households. Data was collected through 10 key informant interviews, 50 semi-structured in-depth interviews and 237 questionnaires. Contrary to popular beliefs, we find that in-kind transfer programmes in the two townships have not meaningfully alleviated household food insecurity due to the distribution of incomplete food baskets, distances to distribution points, targeting systems, quantities of food items received and irregular distributions. We recommend the allocation of more resources for alleviating urban poverty and food insecurity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Countries steadfastly pursue academia as a necessary step towards socio-economic development, which places a mandate on institutions of higher learning to stir host-country economies through university deliverables. In Zimbabwe, this entails the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development's 'doctrine' spelling out the philosophy of 'Education 5.0' which emphasises teaching/learning, research, community engagement, innovation, and commercialisation of goods and services. However, academic dishonesty, such as that through 'sexually transmitted marks' (STM), threatens the realisation of such mandates. Although the norm is that such sexual transactions are initiated by academics, evidence shows students also initiate such relationships. Consequently, efforts to eliminate this threat to academic integrity should not only focus on lecturers, but also be extended to students. This paper contributes towards unmasking experiences of STM between male lecturers and female students, female lecturers and male students, and female students and male students, as determined from former university students and university alumni in Bulawayo. Exposing these practices allows for open consultation and adoption of good practices from similar institutions worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on a research project done in the retail sector in Zimbabwe in the Bulawayo metropolitan province. The research noted that disputes between employees and employers unavoidably arise because of differing class interests. Because of the inevitability of these class disputes between labour and capital, there is need for the state to put in place labour dispute resolution mechanisms that are cost effective and also flexible in terms of procedure and speed. The Zimbabwe Labour Act (28.01), as amended, provides a framework for resolving labour disputes through arbitration. The research sought to investigate the effectiveness of the labour arbitration process in Zimbabwe. The three main criteria for evaluating effectiveness of arbitration, namely accessibility, speed and expertise, were subjected to an empirical test in the Zimbabwean context. The article concludes that the labour arbitration system in Zimbabwe is largely ineffective due to reasons of prohibitive costs, complexity of procedures and the perceived incompetence of arbitrators. The lack of transparent arbitrator appointment criteria also compromises the arbitration system in Zimbabwe. The research further revealed that, though arbitration can serve a very good purpose as an alternative to costly and lengthy litigation, its effectiveness relies to a great extent on its flexibility and transparency as well as the qualifications, expertise and integrity of the people who preside over it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the various management problems experienced at the site of Old Bulawayo, one of the leading cultural heritage sites associated with the pre-colonial Ndebele Kingdom and the colonial process in Zimbabwe. The development of the project was aimed at generating revenue by the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe in response to the government of Zimbabwe's move to stop parastatal organizations from depending on government funding for their operations and salaries. The partial reconstruction of the site as a theme park has been dogged by controversial management approaches, competing versions of its significance and interpretation of the past. By developing the project, the Zimbabwean government had hoped to gain political mileage in Matabeleland, a region considered to be marginalized with the project being viewed as a revival of the long lost Ndebele culture and tradition. The management problems discussed in this paper, and its neglect over the recent years, resulted in its total destruction by wild fire in August 2010, casting doubts if the site is ever to be reconstructed once again. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the tabloid press in Africa has often been criticized for undermining the normative functions of journalism and depoliticizing readers, there has been little attempt to theorize the reasons for its rapid growth in popularity. Drawing on qualitative research methods, principally qualitative content analysis and indepth interviews, with Bulawayo readers of the Zimbabwean vernacular (isiNdebele) tabloid newspaper uMthunywa, this article argues that such media can serve an important journalistic and cultural role. In particular, as this article will demonstrate, they can provide politically and economically marginalized readers with an alternative public space or sphere in which to articulate issues pertinent to their lived social, political, and economic realities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the absence of social (public) assistance in Zimbabwe, poor urban households faced with idiosyncratic shocks rely largely on networked households and informal groups, and to a lesser extent on donors. This paper utilizes original household survey data collected in Bulawayo in the second quarter of 2014. A two-stage cross-sectional sample design was used. In the first stage, three out of 21 suburbs were randomly selected, namely Matshobana, Sizinda and Sokusile. In the second stage, 100 households from each township were systematically selected to yield a sample size of 300 households. We contribute to the literature in the following main ways: firstly, we provide a detailed examination of the nature of material exchange in mutual assistance networks; secondly, we undertake an econometric analysis of determinants of receipt of assistance through such networks; and thirdly, we provide an analysis of the role of networks in determining the receipt of external emergency relief. The results show that elderly- and female-headed households are especially likely to receive food as gifts and less likely to receive cash as loans compared to households headed by adult males. In the event that all households in a mutual assistance network are stressed, recourse is sought, via information received in burial societies, by means of emergency food relief provided by external agents such as faith-basedand non-governmental-organizations. In this context, the ability of the group to pass information to all networked households - poor and non-poor - is important. We find evidence for this and further show that the network strength, measured by the size of the burial society, seems to be related to the receipt of emergency relief. Households headed by young males have little recourse, as they neither belong to mutual assistance networks nor are they targeted for emergency relief. In the event of a systemic risk, households use information obtained through burial societies to access emergency relief. Policy interventions need to consider groups of households that may be falling through the cracks of mutual assistance network and community support, not only in Zimbabwe, but also in other developing nations lacking comprehensive social protection systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports the results of an investigation conducted in Cowdray Park suburb, Bulawayo City, Zimbabwe, about the challenges of household waste management under circumstances of local government incapacity to provide effective and efficient services. Also, the article discusses the challenges that the majority of residents in this suburb grapple within their attempts to use alternative waste management methods that evidently do not meet the required environmental standards. "Based on a combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques, a total of 40 households from Terminus, Esigayweni, Garikai and Alpha in Cowdray park suburb were surveyed using questionnaire; also, officials from Bulawayo City Council (BCC) too were interviewed". SPSS was used to analyse data and produce summary statistics in tables, graphs and charts. Additionally, observations were conducted in order to generate field reports, and photographic evidence was compiled. The article finds that BCC has continuously failed to provide adequate, regular, effective and efficient waste management services, particularly refuse collection. As a result, the majority of residents were forced to adopt alternative means of waste disposal, most of which were not environmentally friendly. Among other methods, residents relied on burning, burying, composting, recycling or reusing and illegal dumping, the collective impact of which has been to create excessive illegal dumps in the streets, drainage systems and such other sensitive areas. Residents' waste management efforts notwithstanding, the environment of illegal dumping in these suburbs has been associated with health risks and hazards. The article concludes that this state of affairs would persist if national government does not provide support to local authorities to ensure that it could mount educational campaigns, implement and enforce all applicable legislation, secure adequate resources for safe and adequate waste management as well as embark on innovative techniques, in collaboration with the private sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I argue that Bulawayo's representation of precarity in her novel helps us decolonize representations of mobility in African literature. In Bulawayo's novel, mobility undergirds the global presence of Africa and frames African identities in a cosmopolitan purview. Yet, the cultural trajectory of African migrants unveils practical realities within the nation state that shape expressions of cultural belonging in Afrodiasporic contexts. The novel's presentation of poverty, abjection and dislocation limits the possibilities of an Afropolitan engagement with Darling's experience in the diaspora. Her joyful, yet, precarious childhood in Zimbabwe and the illusion of an abundant life in the United States show that the postcolonial nation state and the US racial state remain unprecedented forces that constraint the fluidity of people of African descent's identities. The metaphoric representation of her condition as a prisoner not only questions her mobility but also her difficult experience as a migrant in the United States underscores her struggles to belong in a racialized American society. Thus, the protagonist's precarious position in her homeland and her host-land reveals the restrictive power of the state and challenges a romantic description of life in both the Global North and the Global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper assesses the extent of water scarcity at household level and the resultant environmental health impacts in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city. The paper is based on two separate surveys that were undertaken in low and high income suburbs between June 2007 and January 2008. The first survey investigated the extent and impacts of water scarcity at household level. Data was collected by means of a household questionnaire, key informant interviews, review of clinic records and physical observation. The second survey assessed microbial levels in the main water sources and was complemented by examining water-related disease profiles. Water scarcity was found to be more severe in low income than in high income suburbs. This was a consequence of the city’s skewed water distribution policy which favoured the former and failure by residents of the latter to invest in safer water alternatives. Per capita water consumption in both suburbs was below internationally recommended levels. Microbial assessment indicated presence of coliforms in water obtained from the tap and alternative sources at levels above WHO and Zimbabwean standards. Water scarcity resulted in an increase in the incidence of water-related diseases and environmental contamination. The evidence suggests that water scarcity in Bulawayo represents a huge cost to residents and the environment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper describes a process-oriented approach to culturally competent evaluation, focusing on a case study of an evaluation of an HIV/AIDS educational program in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. We suggest that cultural competency in evaluation is not a function of a static set of prescribed steps but is achieved via ongoing reflection, correction, and adaptation. The aim of these processes is to attain the "best fit" possible between evaluation goals, methods, and cultural context. Three main ingredients in a process-oriented approach to culturally competent evaluation are discussed: collaboration, reflective adaptation, and contextual analysis. In addition, since evaluators face constraints set by funders and other stakeholders, we suggest that cultural competence is best viewed as a continuum. An evaluator's goal should be to "move across the continuum" in order to achieve the highest level of cultural competency possible given the unique parameters of every evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Perennial water problems, precipitated by increased water demand in Bulawayo, the second largest city in Zimbabwe, has prompted the consideration of a wide array of strategies from demand management and water conservation measures to exploitation of alternative water sources. One of such strategies in the latter category includes recycling of blue water for both potable and non-potable purposes. This paper examines the existing reclaimed water system with a view at revamping the existing infrastructure to maximise reclaimed water use for purposes that are amenable to water of lower quality. It is a generally accepted practice to avoid the use of water of high quality for purposes that can tolerate a lower grade, unless it is in excess in amount [. Planning for water reuse. Journal of AWWA 65(10)]. The reclaimed water is assessed in terms of its quality and quantity vis-à-vis possible uses. Perceptions and expectations of both current and identified prospective consumers are examined and discussed, in addition to the feasibility of accommodating these identified prospective consumers in an expanded network. Apart from enhancement of the existing infrastructure, the paper highlights the need for social marketing and education in order to realise the optimum benefits of this alternative water source. The cost implications of implementing the proposed project are evaluated, including suggestions on suitable tariff structure and an allocation distribution that achieves equity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The main aim of this article is to unravel the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on Catholic education at the Catholic University of Zimbabwe (CUZ), Bulawayo campus. The research, qualitative in nature, has been guided by the importance of Catholic education nationally. It has interrogated the effects of COVID-19 on that educational system. It does emerge quite prominently that Catholic education is key, and it is important in the lives of many citizens. The researcher establishes that the distinctive features of Catholic education have been part of the Bulawayo campus community. It is also shown that the implications of COVID-19 have been at two extremes. The researcher has managed to establish problems that were created by the pandemic such as the disruption in liturgy, learning and living daily life in an environment inspired by Jesus Christ. Furthermore, the history of the Catholic presence in Zimbabwe has played an important role in developing citizens, from the colonial era to the present day. The practices rooted in the principles of the church have been lived and practiced by many. Post-COVID-19 life slowly returned, and the researcher has managed to unravel factors that previously affected the lives of students and members of staff. Respondents highlighted changes and improvements in their well-being following the easing of lockdown (since March 2023) in relation to the values of Catholic education. Life in the "new normal" has brought hope as worship through Mass and other platforms of human contact have led to the cross-fertilisation of ideas amongst members of the university. The Catholic education features that were affected by the pandemic have been restored. In that regard, it can be argued that the restoration of traditional ways of doing things—the post-COVID-19 era—has brought hope to the CUZ community in Bulawayo and that it will produce men and women who will be morally upright citizens. Such citizens will use their knowledge to better the world following the principles acquired from a Catholic Education. Recipients of Catholic education have expressed optimism in the importance of being part of the Catholic community in its multi-faceted dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic affected the construction industry in numerous ways. However, contextual empirical studies that enable derivation of interventions are yet to be undertaken. This study investigates the perceptions of construction professionals relative to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and responses on the construction sector in Zimbabwe. The study adopted a quantitative design which entailed the distribution of a web-based questionnaire among construction professionals, architects, construction/project managers, engineers and quantity surveyors from construction and consultancy firms in Bulawayo and Harare. The data were analysed based on the descriptive and inferential statistics. The results show that the COVID-19 pandemic and responses had significant effects on the construction sector. The pandemic affected the construction sector through nine main pathways; the top five being loss of income for workers, project implementation delays, job losses, increased health and safety risk, and project suspensions. Through identifying the main pathways in which the COVID-19 pandemic affected the construction industry, the study provides important insights to policymakers, construction stakeholders and researchers to plan targeted interventions or policies to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on the sector. However, because of the small sample, the study results are indicative and care should be taken when generalising the results to a large population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complex clients' requirements and numerous construction industry challenges require an interrogation of the quantity surveyor's competencies. This article reports on a study that sought to determine the expected competencies of quantity surveyors and to establish statistically significant differences in ranking due to quantity surveyor designations. A questionnaire survey research design was employed to collect the primary data. Quantity surveyors from all quantity surveying firms and those working for construction companies in the major cities of Harare and Bulawayo in Zimbabwe participated in the study. Eight components were revealed through factor analysis, with the highest ranked component consisting of project finance control and reporting, sustainability issues and conflict avoidance management and dispute resolution procedures. While the traditional competencies of effective financial control and conflict management remain vital, sustainability issues have also become a priority. Hence, continuous professional development programmes and curricula redesigns that cater for these competencies are essential. A statistically significant difference due to the consultants' and contractors' quantity surveyor designations was revealed, indicating a differentiation of their roles. Thus, relevant weighted competency assessment frameworks also need to be instituted. However, owing to the exploratory nature of the study, only views of quantity surveyors were considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluates precipitation trends in the upper Mzingwane sub-catchment (UMS) of Zimbabwe using ten World Meteorological Organization (WMO)'s Expert Team for Climate Change Detection Monitoring and Indices climate indices. Trend analysis for variables such as annual total precipitation, extremely wet days, consecutive wet and dry days is analysed. The UMS is of strategic socio-economic significance in terms of water security and sustenance to livelihoods in this region and the city of Bulawayo. The analysis is undertaken at four stations: Bulawayo Goetz, Filabusi, Mbalabala and Matopos National Park (MNP), for the period 1921–2000. In general, no statistically significant trends were detected for all indices in all stations (with the exception of MNP (in the westernmost extent of UMS)) which showed significant increasing (decreasing) trends for most dryness (total precipitation) extreme indices. This is indicative of persistent drying coupled with a shift towards shorter very wet periods with more intense precipitation in the past twentieth century. There is also an indication of a general north to south-western declining precipitation gradient during the past ~ 69 years over this region. These findings are not only useful in explaining the historical evolution of observed extremes and their associated socio-economic impacts but also present a baseline for comparative follow-up studies assessing the twenty-first century and future trends in precipitation extreme events in the UMS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite the availability of a range of contraceptive methods, young people around the world still face barriers in accessing and using them. The use of digital technology for the delivery of health interventions has expanded rapidly. Intervention delivery by mobile phone can be a useful way to address young people's needs with regard to sexual and reproductive health, because the information can be digested at a time of the recipients' choosing. This study reports the adaptation of an evidence-based contraceptive behavioural intervention for young people in Zimbabwe. Methods: Focus group discussions and in depth interviews were used to evaluate the 'fit' of the existing intervention among young people in Harare, Zimbabwe. This involved determining how aligned the content of the existing intervention was to the knowledge and beliefs of young Zimbabweans plus identifying the most appropriate intervention deliver mode. The verbatim transcripts were analysed using a thematic analysis. The existing intervention was then adapted, tested and refined in subsequent focus group discussions and interviews with young people in Harare and Bulawayo. Results: Eleven key themes resulted from the discussions evaluating the fit of the intervention. While there were many similarities to the original study population, key differences were that young people in Zimbabwe had lower levels of personal and smart mobile phone ownership and lower literacy levels. Young people were enthusiastic about receiving information about side effects/side benefits of the methods. The iterative testing and refinement resulted in adapted intervention consisting of 97 messages for female recipients (94 for male), delivered over three months and offered in English, Shona and Ndebele. Conclusions: Young people in Zimbabwe provided essential information for adapting the existing intervention. There was great support for the adapted intervention among the young people who took part in this study. The adapted intervention is now being implemented within an integrated community-based sexual and reproductive health service in Zimbabwe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological developments, especially social networks, have brought about changes in social and educational conditions. These technological developments also apply to the reading habits of secondary school learners. The general purpose of this study is to examine the adoption of social networking sites in cultivating the reading habits of secondary school learners in Bulawayo Metropolitan province in Zimbabwe. The study employed a multiple-case study with 14 focus groups, consisting of 210 learners. Data was collected through interviews with eight school librarians and analysed thematically. The key findings revealed that learners are using different types of social networks, including WhatsApp, Facebook, Watt pad, Pinterest, and YouTube to connect with friends and family and keep abreast with the latest events. The study further revealed the positive effects of using social networking sites, such as the availability of up-to-date reading materials that can be easily shared amongst learners. However, these sites were not fully used by learners for reading. The findings also showed that some learners spend approximately five hours on social media for entertainment purposes and this has a negative effect on their reading habits. The study then concluded that learners are using social networks, but mainly for social engagement purposes. If guided, they could use social networking sites to cultivate and enhance their reading habits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Lack of basic sanitation systems threaten environmental and human health in low income urban communities. In 2005, the Government of Zimbabwe carried out a cleanup exercise in urban areas involving the destruction of illegal structures which left many people homeless. As a solution to this problem, the government embarked on an extensive housing construction exercise on unserviced land; the ‘Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle’ development programme. The objective of this paper was to investigate the sanitation status in one such area (Cowdray Park Extension, Bulawayo) and determine a sustainable sanitation system for the improved collection of wastewater from the unserviced low income urban area. The study was carried out between October 2010 and February 2011. The sanitation status as well as the residents’ preferences for improved sanitation and the economic set up of the community for the study area was determined through use of questionnaires to the residents. The local authority was then consulted to recommend sanitation facilities and system for the area that met regulatory requirements. A literature study identified sanitation options that were applicable to low income and high density urban areas. The baseline survey found that 61% of the people in the study area lacked sanitation facilities and practiced open defecation. The majority of the residents (70%) preferred ‘flush and discharge’ system sanitation facilities, which was in line with the local council’s requirements. On-site sanitation options were found not to be feasible as per the council regulations and the findings of the literature study, for areas with a high density of houses. Therefore a sewerage system was designed using the conventional sewerage design approach as well as the simplified sewerage design approach in order to determine the collection system that would best meet the needs of the community. In conclusion, the community was in dire need of a sanitation system and a waterborne offsite sanitation system was found to be a feasible option. The simplified sewerage system was found to deliver the same hydraulic benefits for collecting wastewater as the conventional but was 33% cheaper to construct and hence more affordable for the community. It was recommended that stringent environmental monitoring of the sanitation system be put in place to minimise any potential environmental impacts. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Bulawayo is the second largest city in Zimbabwe with a population of nearly one million people. It is located on the watershed of Umzingwane and Gwayi catchments. The former is part of the Limpopo basin, while the latter drains into the Zambezi basin. Bulawayo has a good potential of economic development but has been stymied by lack of sufficient water. The city currently relies on five surface sources in the Umzingwane catchment where it has to compete with evaporation. The well field from the Nyamandlovu aquifer in the Gwayi catchment, which was constructed as an emergency measure during the 1992 drought, is currently not operational. Alternative water supply sources are far and expensive. A multilinear regression model was developed to analyse and quantify the factors affecting water consumption. It was found that per capita water consumption is very low, indicating suppressed demand. Water rationing, tariffs, rainfall, population growth and gross domestic product are the main factors influencing water consumption in Bulawayo. Assuming that these factors will continue to be influential, future water consumption was projected for intensive, regular and slack water demand management. Future water consumption was then compared with the current water supply capacity in order to determine the date by which the next water supply source is required. With slack demand management, the Nyamandlovu well field should have been operational by 2003, while by the year 2007 an additional source of water is required. With intensive demand management and assuming low population growth, current capacities may suffice to satisfy the suppressed demand until the year 2015, by which time Nyamandlovu wells should be operational again. The additional water supply sources that are currently being considered for Bulawayo (namely the Zambezi water pipeline; Gwayi Shangani dam; Mtshabezi dam; Lower Tuli dam; and Glass block dam) were then compared with an alternative water source not yet contemplated, namely drawing groundwater from Umguza, part of the Nyamandlovu aquifer. The paper then provides details of the Umguza alternative, which was designed at pre-feasibility level by Mkandla [Mkandla, N., 2003. Bulawayo water supplies: Umguza well field as a sustainable alternative for the next decade. Unpublished M.Sc. WREM dissertation. University of Zimbabwe, Harare]. All alternative additional water supply sources were compared in terms of their Net Present Values. It was found that Umguza well field is the least-cost alternative to meet additional water demand. The Umguza alternative will be able to satisfy water demand for a period of six to ten years. Thereafter, the second least-cost alternative, namely Gwayi Shangani dam, must be on stream. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In response to funeral expenses, which drastically affect household consumption, many families in developing countries enter into formal and/or informal funeral insurance arrangements. Using new household survey data collected in the city of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, we investigate the effectiveness of these arrangements in insuring food consumption and household non-financial assets against funeral expenses. We find that informal funeral insurance, especially when combined with formal insurance, effectively insures household assets from funeral shocks. Households that own more than one item of the same asset prefer to sell assets rather than destabilise food consumption, in the event that funeral insurance is inadequate or not available. Households without multiple of the same asset prefer to retain their assets and destabilise food consumption. We also show that the funeral insurance of households in Bulawayo partially insures food consumption. Our findings suggest that households have a hierarchy of preferred coping strategies when they are either uninsured or not fully insured against shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines young people''s access to reproductive healthcare services via an urban youth advisory centre in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. The aim is to explain why teenagers do not always use existing health services. Data from exit questionnaires with users and focus groups with non-users are analysed to evaluate service accessibility. Analysis suggests that even where clinics are spatially accessible, barriers to access include temporal factors, lack of factual knowledge and stigmatisation. The paper concludes that spatial accessibility is not the only factor necessary to ensure equal access to health services. Recommendations are made towards tackling young people''s unmet needs for reproductive healthcare services. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Youth unemployment has emerged as a major policy issue in the recent past. Within policy circles two solutions have been proposed: first, investing in youth education, and second, incorporating youth into agriculture. Our thesis, backed by a long history of proletarianisation, is that perceptions of work and agriculture, which have become deeply entrenched in society, tend to undermine any prospects of educated youth engaging in agriculture-based livelihoods. We develop our argument by focusing on the experiences, responses and livelihood pathways of young university graduates in the city of Bulawayo. We show that young graduate youth prefer livelihood activities which maintain their status as educated citizens, and that agriculture does not confer such status. We argue that young graduates' aspirations and livelihood pathways are often dictated by societal attitudes and views of what is an acceptable occupation. In this regard, our thesis contradicts the widespread faith in agriculture placed by policymakers in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the 30th volume of the journal "Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies," and the articles published in the issue. The journal was started in the year 1980 as "Ecquid Novi: South African Journal for Journalism Research," by the founding editor Arnold de Beer with the purpose of serving South African scholars for debate and research output and to establish contact with the journalism researchers abroad. Academic research cannot claim neutral space due to intense intellectual sparring. The article by Hayes Mabweazara and Larry Strelitz on the popularity of tabloid newspaper "uMthunywa," in Zimbabwe. Another article by Muhammad Jameel Yusha'u discusses the use of investigative journalism to uncover corruption in Nigeria.

Urban greenery provide a variety of goods and services to city dwellers. A core one is amelioration of the urban heat island effect. However, the many estimates from temperate regions cannot be extrapolated to the tropics, where more empirical studies are required to guide urban planning and optimization of green infrastructure design and distribution. This study reports on the temperature differentials in fortnightly readings, in winter and summer, between 12 urban green spaces and the surrounding built-up urban matrix at increasing distances from each green space. Additionally, the value of energy costs saved for air conditioning by urban greenery was calculated. The mean difference in temperature between green spaces and neighbouring built-up areas was 3.6°C, and in summer ranged from 0.9°C to 6.1°C and in winter 0.9°C to 5.7°C. The cooling effects extended up to 1.7 km beyond the centre of green spaces. The magnitude of cooling increased slightly with increasing green space size. These cooling effects translated into a cost on energy saving of approximately US$532/household/yr. Given the weak economy and incomes in Zimbabwe, this saving is considerable and can contribute to the multiple motivations for more green spaces in the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to investigate the management of health records in the Bulawayo and Matabeleland South provinces in Zimbabwe. The objectives of the study were to understand how health records were being managed in the two hospitals, to establish the availability of, and analyse standard procedures and guidelines that informed both the National Archives of Zimbabwe (NAZ) and hospitals in managing health records. The study also sought to establish the level of professional training for health records management staff in hospitals under study. A qualitative case study design was employed and data was gathered through questionnaires, interviews, observation and document analysis. Data was analysed thematically based on the objectives of the study. The study revealed that the strategies for the management of health records in hospitals were inadequate. There were no documented health records management standards to guide the management of these records in hospitals. It was also established that the majority of health records personnel in hospitals did not possess records management qualifications. As a recommendation, the hospitals and NAZ should draft and implement health records management standards to provide guidance on the management of health records. Hospitals should employ staff with the requisite records management qualifications and offer them continuous training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the applicability of artificial neural network models in modelling univariate time series ambulance demand for short-term forecasting horizons in Zimbabwe. Bulawayo City Councils' ambulance services department was used as a case study. Two models, feed-forward neural network (FFNN) and seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average, (SARIMA) were developed using monthly historical data from 2010 to 2017 and compared against observed data for 2018. The mean absolute error (MAE), root mean square error (RMSE), and paired sample t -test were used as performance measures. Calculated performance measures for FFNN were MAE (94.0), RMSE (137.19), and the test statistic value p = 0.493 (>0.05) whilst corresponding values for SARIMA were 105.71, 125.28, and p = 0.005 (<0.05), respectively. Findings of this study suggest that the FFNN model is inclined to value estimation whilst the SARIMA model is directional with a linear pattern over time. Based on the performance measures, the parsimonious FFNN model was selected to predict short-term annual ambulance demand. Demand forecasts with FFNN for 2019 reflected the expected general trends in Bulawayo. The forecasts indicate high demand during the months of January, March, September, and December. Key ambulance logistic activities such as vehicle servicing, replenishment of essential equipment and drugs, staff training, leave days scheduling, and mock drills need to be planned for April, June, and July when low demand is anticipated. This deliberate planning strategy would avoid a dire situation whereby ambulances are available but without adequate staff, essential drugs, and equipment to respond to public emergency calls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Acta Structilia is the property of University of the Free State and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract For almost two weeks in April 1948 colonial Zimbabwe's two major cities, as well as smaller towns, mines and farms were convulsed by mass unrest. Although the causes of the General Strike have long been recognised as having their origins in the urban squalor and rampant inflation of the immediate post war era, there is little agreement about either its organisation or its significance. Recent interventions in the debate have tended to strengthen existing prejudices. This paper advances four linked propositions which radically reformulate previous positions: that, while the development of secondary industry and the related growth of colonial Zimbabwe's urban areas were both relatively large by the modest standards of Sub Saharan African, the scale was small in absolute terms; that these processes and their social consequences differed considerably between Bulawayo and Salisbury; that that the limited scale of these processes often meant that parochial concerns were more important than national issues; and that while all of this facilitated a greater degree of control over events in Bulawayo, if not in Salisbury, by an elite leadership than some writers have conceded, these events did not amount to a colony wide General Strike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the effectiveness of the 'rebuilding' programme known as Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle or 'Operation Live Well' in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second-largest city. The programme was the successor to the massive 2005 urban clean up operation that was codenamed Operation Murambatsvina. Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle was chaotic and further excluded the deserving victims of Operation Murambatsvina, some of whom were forcibly driven out of the city and dumped in transit camps from where they were dispersed to rural areas. Its implementation broke low-income housing delivery norms by imposing national housing committees headed by army personnel, over-ruling local authorities and ignoring public health by-laws. The outcomes of the programme included houses allocated to members of the army, the ruling party and their acquaintances, and buildings constructed on unsuitable land, without basic services such as water or sanitation, the occupation of which posed a disease risk. This worsened the already strained political relations between the city council and central government. The article argues that the rebuilding programme was merely a smokescreen intended to hide the national government's brutality towards the urban poor. The programme's politicised execution reflected a national government that was at war with both the urban poor and the local authority, which was run by the MDC opposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of social upbringing on the activity pattern of lion Panthera leo cubs was investigated at three sites. In this study, stimulus objects such as sticks, grass, fresh dung (elephant Loxondota africana, zebra Equus quagga, impala Aepyceros melampus, duiker Sylvicapra grimmia, kudu Tragelaphus strepsiceros, giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis and wildebeest Connochaetes taurinus) and cardboard boxes, were utilized in an enrichment program aimed at encouraging active behaviors of captive lion cubs at Antelope Park and Masuwe. Lion cubs at Chipangali were not behaviorally enriched. Activity patterns were recorded for 10 days at each site. We recorded moving, resting, playing, grooming, visual exploration and display of hunting instincts. We found that behavioral enrichment enhanced the active behaviors of captive lion cubs. Orphan-raised cubs spent more time moving, playing and displaying hunting instincts than mother-raised cubs, but the time spent grooming was similar across areas and suggests that grooming is not influenced by enrichment. Mother-raised cubs spent more time engaged in visual exploration than orphan-raised cubs and this could be a behavior acquired from mothers or a result of confidence to explore because of their presence. Activity patterns were different among time treatments across our three study sites. Based on these findings, we suggest that lion cubs raised in captivity could benefit from behavioral enrichment to encourage active behaviors essential for eventual reintroduction into the wild [Current Zoology 56 (4): 389-394, 2010]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2000s represent a period of unprecedented political and economic turmoil in Zimbabwe's history. This article constitutes an attempt to unpack one aspect of this crisis period: roadside currency trade. Beyond its political dimensions, the Zimbabwe crisis has been accompanied by a highly informal regime of accumulation. While there is a way in which this informality conflates with contemporary analyses of informality, the highly politicised and securitised nature of Zimbabwe's informality exhibits a state-power-accumulation-society complex that poses analytical challenges for more common conceptions of informality. It is argued here that roadside currency trade not only provided a survival enclave for Zimbabwe's urban poor but contributed to the sustenance and reproduction of a schizophrenic, militarised, dictatorial state in the midst of a historically unprecedented crisis. A network of roadside currency trade in the Central Business District (CBD) of Zimbabwe's second-biggest city of Bulawayo, cynically referred to by locals as the 'World Bank', is used to provide a glimpse into Zimbabwe's political economy of crisis. An investigation into the 'World Bank' shows that, although often ostracised by policy makers, roadside currency trade drew in its wake participants from a wider spectrum of Zimbabwe's society than one would contemplate at face value. At the same time, the study also reveals that cross-border trade was the single most important factor in buttressing this trade, at least in this studied part of the country, and not foreign currency remittances from the diaspora as is commonly assumed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focal mechanism solution of the 15th March 2008 earthquake (mb = 4.3) that occurred in tile Nyamandlovu area, northwest of Bulawayo City, Zimbabwe, has been determined from P-wave first motion polarities. Results shrew normal oblique left lateral faulting. The earthquake mechanism bears a signature that is almost identical to those of events recorded in the Zambezi Branch of the East African Rift Zone. Synthetic seismograms compared with observed data from regional stations were employed for depth determination. This event had a shallow depth of 5 km. Earthquakes in the area tend to occur either after a significant drought or a wet season of considerable length. The area is underlain by thick Karoo sandstones that form in aquifer of high potential water storage. These events are therefore most probably induced by pore -- pressure differentials in the underlying rock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contemporary social and political struggles between the city of Bulawayo and the Zimbabwean state over the control of water are reminiscent of earlier contestations during the first three decades after Bulawayo's establishment in 1894. During that period, the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) was locked in conflict with the Bulawayo Waterworks Company (BWC), a private concern, which won rights from the British South Africa Company (BSAC) to supply water to the fledgling colonial city in 1895. Supported by the city's white ratepayers, the Bulawayo municipality was successful in taking over the city's water supply in 1924. This article examines the conflict between the BWC and the BCC. It emphasises that the BCC's municipal power over Bulawayo was predicated upon water control, among other things. The article argues that, with the current postcolonial state's attempts to seize the role of water supply from the BCC, and hand it over to ZINWA - a parastatal created in the wake of the 1998 Water Act - the control of water in Bulawayo has come full circle. It further contends that the intensity of the recent (2007) opposition to ZINWA's overtures in Bulawayo has its antecedents in the rejection of the BWC by the municipality in the formative years of Bulawayo. When the BCC and the Bulawayo residents invoked the history of the city's ownership and infrastructural development of its water resources a century later, they were referring to the days when the municipality of Bulawayo took over water provision from the BWC. This sense of ownership was rooted in the work of their forefathers who had built and invested in a formidable reticulation structure. This conflict exemplifies the centrality of water to municipal power in both the colonial and postcolonial periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zimbabwean historians have not yet fully assessed the interaction of two problematic identities, ethnicity and nationalism, to determine whether the two can work as partners and successfully co-exist. This essay argues that, in Bulawayo during the period studied, ethnicity co-existed with and complemented nationalism rather than the two working as polar opposite identities. Ethnic groups provided both the required leaders who became prominent nationalist figures and the precolonial history, personalities and monuments that sparked the nationalist imagination. From the 1950s, ethnic groups expanded their horizons and provided platforms from which emerging African nationalists launched their agenda. Understanding these interrelationships will reshape our understanding of the workings of these two identities in a cosmopolitan town. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the production and performance of urban modern subjectivity in Vera's Bulawayo, as represented in her two final novels, Butterfly Burning and The Stone Virgins. The modern subject emerges from these fictions as an inherently restless one: railing against colonial containment and articulating its desire for an elsewhere, it finds expression in Vera's privileged tropes of music and trains; both traveling tropes, music and trains in these texts are rendered as figures through which movement across rural/urban and national boundaries is articulated. Honing in on these tropes, as well as those of the photograph and the street corner, Vera cracks upon the ambivalences infusing urban modernity in both colonial and postcolonial Zimbabwe. grappling with, and seeking not to subdue, the dissonance introduced by such ambivalence, the novels expose the fraudulent promises of colonial and national modernities, highlighting, in particular, their gendered logics. Vera's final novel, I argue, writes towards a utopian modernity yet to be realized. If modernity has been conceptualized and lived as a flight from the past, that towards which Vera writes draws upon memory to counter the homogenizing drive of the modern colonial or nation state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared to other themes, there is very little written about Africa's electrification history. This neglect has led one scholar to claim that, outside South Africa, electricity only emerged in sub-Saharan Africa towards the end of the first half of the twentieth century. Nothing is further from the truth. This article demonstrates that public electricity supplies became available in Bulawayo, colonial Zimbabwe's second largest city, as early as 1897 and subsequently developed to become the major source of power and lighting for industries and homes by the 1930s. The article has two major thrusts; first, it traces how the Bulawayo Town Council nurtured home electrical mechanisation by subsidising both electricity consumption and the purchase of electrical home appliances. Second, it demonstrates that this electrical modernisation was a parochial project that benefited white settler residents of the town almost to the total exclusion of Africans. It concludes that, while electricity was a luxury enjoyed by those who were privileged to use it, the town council also harnessed it to control and police the underprivileged in a way that accentuated racial segregation in the town. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From Christmas Eve of 1929 to the end of that year, Bulawayo was an ungovernable city marred by fights between Shona, on the one hand (perceived as a 'common enemy'), and forces that were predominantly Ndebele and groups sympathetic to them. A brilliant attempt to explain these clashes a generation ago, nevertheless falls short. This article seeks to revise the popular interpretation of this violence and re-contextualise it historically. A longer timeframe would give us an alternative view of the conflict. It also vindicates the ethnic interpretation of the violence that Phimister and van Onselen, concentrating on the then popular Marxist 'class struggle' paradigm, either minimised or failed to assess thoroughly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The calamitous effects of HIV in Africa demand novel approaches to prevention. Young people are an ideal target as early intervention may have long-term benefits. Given their high social status, professional soccer players may be effective in HIV education as role models and educators. In our study, professional soccer players provided HIV education in an interactive curriculum for 7th grade boys and girls in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Students in intervention classrooms demonstrated significant increases in knowledge and attitudes using pre-, immediately post- and five-month post-intervention surveys. There was a delayed increase in these factors among control students, suggesting a possible diffusion of information from their peers who received the intervention curriculum. Given these results and the magnitude of the HIV epidemic, this pilot program should be replicated in other communities in sub-Saharan Africa. Continual efforts should be made to rigorously evaluate the approach and improve its effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-independence Zimbabwe experienced three severe droughts within ten years, that is: 1982–1984, 1986–1987, and 1991–1992. The impact of these droughts was particularly severe on the urban poor as well as the overall economy of Bulawayo because of the perennially arid conditions that the city experienced since its establishment in 1894. This article explores four central propositions. First, that although independence theoretically ended restrictive and racialised access to water for the people of Bulawayo, it did not necessarily bring about increased water security. Second, that water crises persisted on a recurring basis. Third, that to a large extent these crises were man-made and linked to intense struggles over access to, and management of, water resources in postcolonial Zimbabwe. Fourth, that the conflicts were embedded in a larger set of ethnic and regional tensions which antedated the postcolonial period and were intensified by the ongoing ZANU–ZAPU political divide. The article documents the intense competition between the central government and the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) over water, and explores the social, economic, and political bases of this conflict between 1980 and 1994. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addresses cultural politics and policies around the Bulawayo Music Revival Show 1987 and the Zimbabwe Union of Musicians. Influences on cultural policies and production in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe during the decade after Independence; Reason for producing a national cultural policy in Zimbabwe; Information on the Bulawayo Music Revival Show 1987.

Examines the dimensions and shortcomings of the HIV/AIDS policies in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Incidence of AIDS; Characteristics of the national and local HIV/AIDS prevention programs; Historical background of the sexually transmitted disease.