The social capital influences of land reform beneficiaries and communal farmers on satellite schools in Zimbabwe.
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Date
2016
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Abstract
The aim of present study was to establish the social capital influences of the land reform
beneficiaries and communal farmers on satellite schools in Zimbabwe. The study was motivated by
the allocation of land through the Fast Track Land Reform Programme in areas previously without
social services leading to the birth of satellite schools. The literature reviewed in this study
revealed that land reform in Zimbabwe has mainly been explored using the political, human rights,
livelihoods, and agricultural productivity perspectives while neglecting the social capital
perspective. Thus, this study was guided by the social capital theories as espoused by Bourdieu,
Coleman and Putnam to unpack the influences of land reform beneficiaries and communal farmers
in Zimbabwe on satellite schools. This study’s research design adopted a multiple case study
approach. The study utilised two communities, one composed of land reform beneficiaries and
another made up of communal farmers. The triangulated data were collected through semistructured
interviews and focus group discussions held at satellite schools in the Masvingo district.
The purposively selected participants consisted of twelve farmers, four village heads and two
satellite school heads making a total sample of eighteen participants. The study revealed that the
social capital of both Tiro land reform beneficiaries and Sambo communal farmers influence
satellite schools through voluntary resource mobilization and voluntary information sharing.
However, the study revealed that there were disparities in the social capital influences of land
reform beneficiaries at Tiro and communal farmers at Sambo. The study further revealed that the
land reform beneficiaries at Tiro engaged more with satellite schools as compared to communal
farmers at Sambo due to differences in the proximity of their homesteads, social networks, nhimbe
(work party), homage and indebtedness to the government, shared meaning and goals, social norms
and their resource base. Future researchers should pursue the implications of social capital on
well-established schools in Zimbabwe.
Description
Doctor of Philosophy in Education. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2016.
Keywords
Theses - Education.