Browsing by Author "Lubombo, Musara."

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Discontinuity without change? the place and discourse of colonial memory in Zimbabwe’s post- Mugabe Zanu-PF politics.
(2024) Kupeta, Noah.; Lubombo, Musara.; Dyll, Lauren Eva.
Zimbabwean politics are notably complex and difficult to understand, even by scholars with a strong interest in African affairs with a long institutional memory of the historical determinants of the independence and post-independence struggles within Zimbabwe. Through the lens of political culture and functional theory campaign communication, this qualitative inquiry titled “Discontinuity without change? The place and discourse of colonial memory in Zimbabwe’s post-Mugabe ZANU-PF politics” scrutinizes the colonial narratives in the political discourses in Zimbabwe’s ruling party ZANU (PF) following the Robert Mugabe era intending to understand how colonial memory shapes the party’s the ideological foundations and policy directions. The study draws on eight speeches delivered by former president Robert Mugabe during the 2002 elections, as well as speeches by his successor and current president Emmerson Munangagwa during the 2018 election campaign. It also incorporates insights from key informants within ZANU (PF), Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), Zimpapers, and Alpha Media Holdings (AMH) to explore the role of media in influencing the nuanced interplay between historical legacies, political discourse, and contemporary governance. By examining the ebbs and tides of electoral politics in Zimbabwe spanning nearly decades through the prism of post-colonial memory, the study concludes that while Mnangagwa’s ascendance as President hinted at a departure from his predecessor’s politics, there is a notable continuity in the streams of colonial memory that informed ZANU-PF electoral strategies. This underscores how political discourses and power dynamics during elections are deeply entrenched within the broader context of Zimbabwean politics and pan-African pursuit of of self-determination (Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo), identity and independence. Despite certain shifts in Mnangagwa’s ‘New Dispensation’ that deviate from Mugabeism, the persistence of colonial memory underscores its pivotal role in shaping the principles and practices of representative democracy within Zimbabwe. The media’s influence in (re)shaping post-Mugabe discourse sheds light on the implications of memory appropriation in contemporary Zimbabwean political communication.
Possibilities and limitations of Zazi community dialogues for social change to women in Zululand.
(2016) Mkhize, Siphetho Witness.; Dyll, Lauren Eva.; Lubombo, Musara.
From Modernisation to Participatory Development paradigm, development scholars and agencies have influenced changes in knowledge and practice in the field of economic development and public health communication. Such changes transpired due to realisation of short comings in development outcomes owing partly to critical social factors involved in the facilitation of social change programs. This precipitated adoption of different approaches and strategies from across disciplines which seek to promote participation of targeted beneficiaries in development process. Be that as it may, knowledge and practice of participatory communication still lacks standard qualifying criterion for facilitation of social and behaviour change. Meanwhile, social dialogue as participatory communication process and platform for human development has been applied and criticised for failing to consider critical social factors to facilitation of social and behaviour change. This indicates that social dialogue is not an automatic solution to human/social development. It is in this context that this study sought to examine possibilities and limitations of Zazi community dialogues (Zazi dialogues) in facilitating behaviour change among women in Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal. The findings suggest that Zazi community dialogues are consistent with principles of community dialogue facilitation espoused in the Communication for Participatory Development (CFPD) model initially developed by Figueroa and colleagues (2002). Representation of key stakeholders and women in Zazi dialogues, combined with effective application of critical pedagogical practices create possibilities for critical awareness development for behaviour change among the women. This is not least because they were able to collectively identify causes and effects of their challenges and explored possible solutions. However, persistent unfavourable social circumstances variably affecting married and unmarried women were noted as factors limiting their possibilities of changing behaviour successfully.
(Re)positioning communication for enhanced multidrug-resistant tuberculosis treatment adherence in South Africa: towards an integrated communication model for young women.
(2019) Mugoni, Petronella Chipo.; Lubombo, Musara.; Govender, Eliza Melissa.
Tuberculosis (TB) is a significant public health threat in South Africa, which has been the leading cause of natural mortality over many years (Statistics South Africa 2018; Statistics South Africa 2017; ENCA 2015a). Although TB has been largely eradicated in the Global North and available literature explains how this was achieved, in developing countries like South Africa incidence of not only TB, but drug-resistant forms of the disease continue to grow (Shah et al. 2017). There are many explanations for these trends, including unavailability of less noxious anti-TB medications, serious side effects and lengthy treatment timelines, drug stock-outs, context-determined structural, socioeconomic, cultural and gender-based barriers to treatment adherence and inadequate or ineffective patient and community education about the disease (Shringarpure et al. 2016). Concerns occur on the backdrop of health systems that overly privilege biomedical responses to TB, to the detriment of all other interventions. Scholars protest that ‘The TB literature is written almost entirely from a biomedical perspective, while recent studies show that it is imperative to understand lay perceptions to determine why people who seek treatment may stop taking treatment’ (Cramm et al. 2010:2). Extant literature acknowledges the unsuitability, on its own, of the biomedical approach to reducing burdens of TB in epidemic countries like South Africa (Daftary et al. 2015). This recognition is accompanied by impetus to develop and apply theory-based strategies to encourage long-term adherence to TB treatment. Scholars insist that there are several health behaviour theories with potential to improve understanding in this area (Daftary et al. 2015; Munro et al. 2007). This research responds to the question of how health communication and promotion strategies can practically contribute to improving multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) treatment adherence and clinical outcomes among a defined vulnerable population in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa. It aims to contribute knowledge to the under-researched area of non-biomedical responses to sub-optimal adherence to long-term DR-TB treatment in high TB/HIV burden areas (O’Donnell et al. 2017). Primary qualitative data was collected through focus group discussions and key respondent interviews with 20 purposefully selected participants in eThekwini Metro, KwaZulu-Natal, from March to September 2018. Ten of the participants comprised the case study of this research; culture-sharing young women, many of them isiZulu-speaking, aged 18 to 34 years from low socioeconomic communities being treated for MDR-TB at one public hospital in the Metro. The study proposes a ‘how to’ for MDR-TB health promotion in high burden areas. vii It finds that vulnerable young women's sub-optimal adherence to MDR-TB treatment is exacerbated by patriarchy, stigma and cultural beliefs and practices. Culturally prescribed family collaborative approaches to health-seeking among Zulu people urge for the incorporation of female elders, intimate male partners and older children into young women’s treatment. In contexts like eThekwini Metro where many MDR-TB patients demonstrate strong cultural beliefs and practices, emphasising biomedical treatment for individual patients as the denominator of treatment requires reconsideration. Findings also suggest that MDR-TB programmes would benefit from borrowing from HIV communication interventions by implementing standardised individual, couples’ and family counselling at intervals during the nine to 36 months of treatment to enhance patients’ adherence. Consideration should also be given to engaging traditional health practitioners as important partners in health promotion. Further, educating patients and communities about MDR-TB treatment should be bolstered through health promotion and communication via school curricula, culturally proximate television and radio (soap operas, dramas and hard news) programmes and Facebook and WhatsApp. Social media is important because it allows for low-cost group, one-on-one and anonymous exchanges and discussions of health information.
Transcending GIPA : towards an Ubuntu framework for mainstreaming participation of South African people living with HIV (PLHIV) in social change communication for HIV prevention.
(2015) Lubombo, Musara.; Dyll, Lauren Eva.
HIV/AIDS is a significant health, social, political and economic challenge whose devastating impact on development and subsequent threat to the human, national and global security is well documented. Early responses to the HIV epidemic are known to have dislocated people living with HIV (PLHIV) at the margins of society, crystallising them as patients who need treatment, care and support (Osborne, 2006). This thesis focuses on participation of PLHIV in social change communication for HIV prevention, an aspect that has only recently been acknowledged in the HIV response. It explores how South African PLHIV experience and perceive the framework guiding participation of PLHIV - the Greater involvement of people living with HIV/AIDS (GIPA) - which by virtue of it being a product of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has become accepted as universal. The objective of the thesis derives from issues that arise from the dialogue between extant theory and local practice and thoughts about what constitute positive social change communication for HIV prevention and how such change can be achieved. To achieve this objective, thirteen AIDS Activists based in KwaZulu-Natal were interviewed to make sense not only of the ways in which they configure involvement of PLHIV in the HIV response but also to understand the philosophy that informs such configurations. The findings suggest that South African AIDS Activists predicate their involvement in the HIV response on visible participation, placing emphasis on serostatus disclosure as a signal for safer intentions meant to protect other people from HIV infection. They regard confidentiality of one’s serostatus as negating feasible gains that could be realised from the HIV response involving PLHIV. However, this configuration of participation is contrary to GIPA guidelines which, based on individual rights, provide for the involvement of PLHIV without necessarily disclosing their serostatus (UNAIDS, 2007). The study concludes that GIPA’s emphasis on individual rights atomises people and presents challenges for HIV prevention in local communities where cultural beliefs are such that individual health is inseparably bound to other people. It also considers the AIDS Activists’ configuration of participation as bearing hallmarks of Ubuntu, an African worldview which perceives humans as relational beings who have weighty duties towards each other (Mbiti, 1969; Metz, 2007a/b). The study, therefore, proposes an Ubuntu model for future design and implementation of social change communication for HIV prevention with South African PLHIV in a manner that can not only account for their worldview and cultural frames through which they make behavioural choices but can also allow for the creation of a conducive environment for their visible participation in social iv change communication for HIV prevention. That the model has been developed from the perspective of local people demonstrates the importance of regarding local realities and frameworks that members use to make sense of their lives as the basis upon which interventions must be formulated.