Philosophiae Doctor - PhD
http://hdl.handle.net/11394/3259
2024-03-29T06:13:46ZCivil society and citizen participation in governance processes in Zimbabwe, 1997-2010
http://hdl.handle.net/11394/10598
Civil society and citizen participation in governance processes in Zimbabwe, 1997-2010
Mapuva, Jephias
The deteriorating political environment in Zimbabwe, especially from the mid-1990s culminated in the emergence of pro-democracy CSOs that sought to engage the authoritarian to encapsulate democratic principles and enhance citizen participation in governance processes in Zimbabwe, especially from 1997 to 2010. The case studies are the Combined Harare Residents ' Association (CHRA), the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) and the Zimbabwe Human Rights Organization (ZimRights). Interviews and questionnaires conducted on CSO secretariats and members and complemented by documentary analysis presented as qualitative and quantitative data respectively. Data is drawn from a cumulative total of 300 tasks. The analytical framework is drawn from debates around the interconnectedness between democracy, governance, civil society and citizen participation provide.
Philosophiae Doctor - PhD
2011-01-01T00:00:00ZMechanisms for facilitating trust and sense of belonging as aspects of social cohesion in local government: Exploratory case studies of the City of Cape Town and the City of Ekurhuleni
http://hdl.handle.net/11394/9190
Mechanisms for facilitating trust and sense of belonging as aspects of social cohesion in local government: Exploratory case studies of the City of Cape Town and the City of Ekurhuleni
Khaile, Fundiswa Thelma
More than twenty-five years after the end of the apartheid system of government and its
statutory segregation, South African communities continue to reflect high levels of racial and
social divisions. The prevalence of these issues has reinforced an environment characterised
by high levels of inequality, weak social cohesion, exclusion and segregation emanating from
an untransformed and unjust spatial legacy. To respond to these challenges, municipalities as
the sphere of government closest to communities are expected, among other things, to facilitate
trust and a sense of belonging in order to realise a cohesive society.
Philosophiae Doctor - PhD
2022-01-01T00:00:00ZSocial media, protest and citizen participation in local government: A comparison between the City of Cape Town and Johannesburg metropolitan municipalities: 2010 to 2017
http://hdl.handle.net/11394/9126
Social media, protest and citizen participation in local government: A comparison between the City of Cape Town and Johannesburg metropolitan municipalities: 2010 to 2017
Maseko, Maxwell Makhangala
This study’s central focus is to assess how various classes of people in in distinct localities across Cape Town and Johannesburg use social media in citizen participation concerning municipal governance processes. While largely drawing on interviews, the study also uses quantitative descriptive data. While some scholars believe that social media use will contribute to civic decline, others think that it has a role to play in re-invigorating civic life. This study has found that there is a gap in understanding important differences in the ways various classes in different contexts mobilise and adapt social media and that the capacity of the “poor” and their social movements to engage as collective citizens using social media has been understated. The wealthy social movements rely more on litigation and money power. Each social group adapts social media to suit its socio-political imperatives and context. South Africa’s major municipalities still lean towards traditional spaces of citizen participation and bureaucratic insulation.
Philosophiae Doctor - PhD
2022-01-01T00:00:00ZUrban Housing Policy in Zimbabwe and its Institutional Structures: Reflecting on the Housing Challenge in Harare, 1980-2020.
http://hdl.handle.net/11394/8946
Urban Housing Policy in Zimbabwe and its Institutional Structures: Reflecting on the Housing Challenge in Harare, 1980-2020.
Poshai, Leon
This thesis is a contextual analysis and reflection of the urban housing policy making process in
post-independence Zimbabwe, buttressed by empirical research. The focus of the thesis is on
understanding the nature and characteristics of the urban housing policy in Zimbabwe and how its
formulation and implementation processes are influenced by institutional structures embedded in
urban councils. The thesis relates to institutional structures such as the vision and mission
statement, the institutional hierarchy of authority, discipline systems, principles and value systems,
rules and operational codes of conduct as well as the institutional culture. Central to this thesis is
an exposition of how these institutional structures influence and regularise the activities of urban
housing policy actors in Zimbabwe’s urban councils. The research proceeds from a global
analytical perspective of the evolution of urban housing challenges to a conceptualisation of urban
housing policy. The thesis describes how Zimbabwe’s urban areas are the main hubs of economic
activities and labour magnets for the country’s economically active population – a situation that
has generated housing shortages, resulting in widespread residential overcrowding and the
proliferation of irregular settlements that lack basic services like piped water and electricity.
Moreover, the thesis elaborates on how the urban housing situation in Zimbabwe has put urban
local authorities under the spotlight as they are expected to not only be responsive to the
institutional requirements but also advance proactive planning measures to deal with persisting
housing predicaments in the country. Principally, these contextual measures constitute urban
housing policies which are formulated and implemented as guiding frameworks for the
development of programmes, projects and strategies to combat the persisting urban housing
challenges. Qualitative methods namely, key informant interviews and focus group discussions
were used to collect data. Twenty-five key informants were purposefully selected and interviewed
to provide analytical insights into urban housing policy formulation, its implementation and how
is influenced by institutional structures. Given the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, some of the
key informant interviews were telephonic. The study found that while institutional structures are
the functional operatives of urban housing policy decision making in Zimbabwe, they have
contributed to the formulation of inconsequential urban housing policy and the implementation
thereof. The research also found that urban housing institutions in Zimbabwe have a politicised
and inflexible institutional structures which makes it difficult for these institutions to formulate
appropriate housing policies to provide adequate housing to the people. As the research revealed,
institutional structures have generated regularised channels of policy decision-making and this has
become institutional weaknesses against successful urban housing policy making in Zimbabwe.
This dent is compounded by limited financial resources to implement the designed housing
projects. The study established that ineffective urban housing policy formulation and
implementation has left the majority of urbanites with severe shelter shortages, socio-economic
deprivation, thereby undermining their daily livelihoods. The thesis proposes that delinking urban
housing institutions from political control and structural impediments can facilitate innovation in
urban housing policy making and contribute substantively to the improvement of housing
provision in urban Zimbabwe.
Philosophiae Doctor - PhD
2021-01-01T00:00:00Z