Unlicensed taxis in Zimbabwe's urban areas: The case for legalising an informal urban transportation system

ABSTRACT

Studies of informal urban transport modes have been carried out in several countries in Africa and Asia. Hardly any have been conducted in Zimbabwe. This study set out to establish the prevalence of an informal urban transport system and the rationale for its existence. The research was carried out in Masvingo and Harare. The study used qualitative approaches such as participation–observation, conversations with stakeholders and open-ended questionnaires. The data were summarised into tables and graphs. Among the findings were that an informal urban transport system is very active in both cities and that the existence of the system is justified due to the inadequate services provided for certain types of commuter. It is recommended that the vital role played by informal taxis should be recognised and managed. Specific routes could be mapped out for them, with a flexible licensing regime to match.     

Limited access to services for the urban poor in Windhoek,Namibia

The majority of the population living in the informal settlements of Windhoek, Namibia, have limited access to public municipal services. This paper integrates results from a sample of 97 randomly selected households, interviews with experts and community leaders and review of literature to describe and analyse the relationship between land tenure and municipal services in the informal settlements. Findings from our study show that formalised land tenure is a condition for households to access municipal services privately. However, 85% of the sample of the households in the informal settlements do not own land under current land tenure policy. Further, the need for communities ‘to own land’ seemed more immediate and pressing compared to water access, which is seen as a way to govern themselves towards raising funds for land acquisition. But lack of land ownership remains a constraint.     

The political economy of Zimbabwean Urban informality since 2000 – A contemporary governance dilemma

ABSTRACT

The article explores the urban informality dilemma in Harare through the lens of a political economy theory. It examines the typologies of urban informality, the influence of political economy on urban informalities, and informs decision-making to address the urban informality dilemma. A qualitative approach was used where secondary data were collected through document analysis and primary data from interviews with 20 purposively selected key informants. Surveys and in-depth interviews were conducted with 585 individuals engaged in informal activities. It emerged that urban informality in Harare takes on different forms and aside from the economic crisis, politics played a role in the emergence and proliferation of urban informality. The article provides insight into, and raises awareness with regard to key areas of concern on how power influences decision-making relating to urban informality. Therefore, the article provides a basis for policy formulation and institutional reforms for effective measures to curb urban informality.     

The use of longitudinal spatial analyses of informal settlements in urban development planning

Informal settlements are home to a substantial, and growing, proportion of the urban population of developing cities. In the majority of these countries, it is recognised that the only way of improving the quality of life of residents in these areas is through a process of in situ upgrading. However, the focus of this upgrading tends to be directed at the level of the individual settlement; rarely is the impact on the wider metropolitan area considered. This article addresses that wider perspective. It describes a longitudinal study of informal settlements in Cape Town over a five-year period. This study showed that informal settlements in the city will grow faster than new housing can be provided, thereby necessitating a radical shift in the current housing policy. The study then demonstrated that it is possible to determine discernible trends in the growth pattern of informal settlements, which will enable such settlements to be brought into the integrated development planning process for the city.     

Pirates and invaders: Land acquisition in urban Colombia and Venezuela

In Bogotá the poor purchase the land on which they build their homes; in Valencia they invade public and private land. Why are there such different attitudes on the part of the state in the two cities? Why indeed do the local authorities discourage land invasion in Bogotá but permit illegal subdivisions, while in Valencia invasion settlements aresometimes positively encouraged and usually serviced? Does the difference lie in the local political situations, in the nature of the land market, in the planning or legislative framework or in the attitudes of the poor? Whatever the exact cause one fact remains clear; both mechanisms provide the poor with sufficient land to maintain political stability and to prevent incursions into the housing areas of the rich. Such outcomes are encouraged by the policies of the local service and planning agencies. So successful are these mechanisms indeed, that rather than providing a threat to the political and economic system, invasions and pirate urbanizations actively support it.     

The efficiency of small and medium enterprises in informal metal manufacturing in Zimbabwe: Implications for stakeholders in the agricultural sector

This study uses the structure–conduct–performance framework to examine the structure and efficiency of small and medium enterprises in the informal metal manufacturing sector in Zimbabwe. Small and medium enterprises provide a lifeline to the country's resource-poor farmers, whose numbers increased exponentially after the agrarian reform in 2000. The study utilises nationally representative, enterprise-level data from five major towns (Harare, Chitungwiza, Bulawayo, Mutare and Rusape) in Zimbabwe. Various performance measures are applied at the industry level to assess efficiency, profitability and competitiveness; these include the Herfindahl–Hirschman index, concentration ratios, average yearly profits and Tobin's q ratio. The results indicate that small and medium enterprises in Zimbabwe are modestly efficient, profitable and competitive. These findings highlight the need to integrate informal metal fabrication activities into Zimbabwe's national economic development plans.     

Video evidencing and palmtop computer technology to support the formalisation of land rights

Technology can be used to improve the legitimacy, accuracy and currency of land tenure information in urban informal settlements, site-and-service schemes and rural land restitution cases. Video images of landholders providing testimony as to their rights, interests and obligations regarding land, and palmtop computers using icon-based graphic interfaces, are two such technologies. Video imaging has the advantage that respondents can describe unusual situations in the tenure system on camera that might not normally be recorded in a written document, and thus improve the completeness of the record. Palmtop computers that can be used by community members to collect socio-economic data are one of many tools that enable a community to work in partnership with the land administration authorities to improve the quality of land records. This article describes pilot studies of how video images were integrated into a geographic information system with spatially referenced socio-economic data collected with a palmtop computer linked to a hand-held Garmin II Plus receiver. These studies were conducted as a part of a research programme in land tenure and cadastral systems in a rural community and an urban informal settlement.     

Ecological self-image and behaviours for children living on the streets of Harare

ABSTRACT

The present study sought to explore the relationship between street childhood and adolescent ecological self-image. The research objectives were to investigate the nature of ecological self-image for street children and to determine the ecological behaviours for street children in Harare. A psycho-ethnographic research design was employed. The participants were 16 street-living adolescent children aged between 12 and 18 years and six key informants, all in Harare, Zimbabwe. A total of 22 participants took part in this study. Snowballing was used to recruit key informant interviewees, while purposive sampling was used to recruit participants for focus group discussions, in-depth interview, and participant and non-participant observations. Thematic content analysis was used for analysing the data. Data analysis revealed that the adolescent street children's ecological self-image is largely negative. These street children seemed to have estranged from their biological families to identify with the streets.     

农村建设用地整治存在问题及对策

农村建设用地整治是土地整治的重要内容,由于缺少专项法律体系约束,农村土地利用规划落后,地方政府忽视城乡统筹发展,农民集体利益遭到侵害和缺少多元融资渠道五大因素影响,现阶段农村建设用地整治出现了一系列问题,影响了农村建设用地整治目标的实现。为此,本文在深入分析农村建设用地整治存在问题的基础上,提出了完善法律法规,加强土地...     

Against the odds: Health care in an informal settlement in Durban

In Durban, one of the fastest-growing cities in the world, the demands of accelerated urbanisation, particularly with regard to health care, are compounded by the legacy of apartheid planning. This has resulted in health service provision being fragmented along racial, administrative financial and spatial lines. While urbanisation offers the promise of improved opportunities and a better lifestyle, the newly urbanised poor generally find themselves living in conditions which are detrimental to their health. The majority of newly urbanised blacks are forced to live in informal settlements which lack basic amenities such as water and sanitation – living conditions which create a whole network of ill health. This article examines health conditions in Canaan, an informal settlement in Durban. The focus will be on nutrition, sanitation, health status and access to health care delivery. The study revealed that Canaan did not have piped sewerage or indoor water. The diets of residents were lacking in protein and their main source of food was carbohydrates. The most prevalent disease was tuberculosis (TB), sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), asthma and diarrhoea. All these diseases, apart from the STDs, are related to poor socio-economic conditions.     

Expectative land rights, house consolidation and cemetery squatting: Some perspectives from Central Java

With more than 40% of the urban population of the Third World living in informal settlements, quasi- and extralegal adaptations have been utilized to appropriate land for housing. The most direct of these — squatting — has its inherent risks, however, for those who wish to improve their dwellings. Research has shown that house consolidation is more a function of resident perceptions than of strict legal categorization. This paper reports how such perceptions have triggered a greater rate of house consolidation among Javanese cemetery squatters than that in an adjoining area with formal land tenure.     

An integration of the livelihoods and asset-based community development approaches: A South African case study

This study provides an integrated framework and practice model of the sustainable livelihoods (SL) and the asset-based community development (ABCD) approaches. A household survey of a rural village in South Africa is used as a basis of analysis to demonstrate the application of the integrated approach. The results elucidate the vulnerability of the people and a range of inter-locking and multi-dimensional factors contributing to poverty in the community. The results also show people's assets, capabilities and activities which enable them to cope and survive despite constraints and shortcomings. It was found that the integrated SL/ABCD framework is a useful framework to understand the strengths of a vulnerable community in order to plan and implement sustainable community development strategies.     

Changing Land Tenure Arrangements and Access to Primary Assets under Globalization: A Case Study of Two Villages in Anglophone Cameroon

Abstract: This paper illustrates how, in relation to globalization, formal and informal land institutions are prone to generate conflict over land rights and examines the implications of such conflicts on security levels of access to primary assets for the poor in two villages in Cameroon — Vekovi and Ekona. The land laws in Cameroon are an outcome of its colonial heritage and exist alongside the communal tenure system. As the issue of land awareness comes to the fore, engendered partly by population pressure, relative price changes and the commoditization of land, conflicts develop: farmer–grazer conflicts in Vekovi, and farmer–farmer and indigenous people–state conflicts in Ekona. The rent‐seeking attitude of administrative and judicial authorities, who use inconsistencies in the dual tenure system, reduces the possibility of negotiating lasting solutions to land‐related conflicts in these villages. The social cost of this behaviour is not limited only to mutual distrust but also includes the opportunity costs of both time and financial resources mobilized by the parties in conflict to follow‐up legal procedures. The informal land tenure system generally operates in opposition to the national land laws in our case study villages, an atmosphere that generates or exacerbates conflict situations that create insecurity and restrict productivity‐enhancing investments. Land markets are more buoyant in Ekona, which is relatively more cosmopolitan and with farm‐to‐market roads that are fairly developed, than in Vekovi, which experiences net out‐migration and is poorly accessible. As a more homogenous society with strong traditional conventions, land transfer in Vekovi remains biased in favour of males, while Ekona enjoys gender neutrality in access to land. Conflict adjudication in the case study villages would be more legitimate if both formal and informal interpretations inform the land dispute settlement mechanisms.     

Economic incentives in the subsistence areas of South Africa and the need for reform

While land tenure reform within the subsistence areas of South Africa will not address fundamental black grievances about land inequality, it is essential that the land in these areas, as well as other agricultural land used for resettlement, be used in a productive and sustainable manner. This article examines the way in which discriminatory policies with respect to land distribution and public support, together with the high level of transaction costs under existing black tenure systems, have structured economic incentives within the subsistence areas, leading to the apparent under‐ and over‐utilization of arable and grazing land respectively. The potential for formal private tenure to reduce these constraints is then explored, while noting the necessity for property institutions to be both impartially administered and well adapted to the particular needs and resource constraints at the community level. Finally, a number of reforms which would increase the level of information provided by informal tenure are examined.     

Situation analysis of an informal settlement in the Vaal Triangle

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has indicated that urban poverty is found primarily in squatter settlements. At present one in seven (13,5 per cent) of all South African households live in informal settlements. The major research question is to what extent the interlocking micro-mechanisms identified by UNICEF as causes of malnutrition influence the nutrition and health of residents in an informal settlement in the Vaal Triangle. This question will be tested empirically against the UNICEF framework of immediate, underlying and basic causes of malnutrition. Pre-tested questionnaires were administered to 340 randomly selected care-givers. A previously validated quantified food frequency questionnaire was administered by trained enumerators as the test measurement, and 24-hour recall as the reference measurement, for dietary intake and food consumption patterns. The data were statistically analysed for means and standard deviations. The great majority of the respondents (nine out of ten) live in corrugated iron shacks, and overcrowding is common; 32 per cent live in two rooms or fewer, 44 per cent in three to four rooms and 24 per cent in more than four rooms. Thirty-one per cent of the households consisted of six or more members, 19 per cent of five members, 22 per cent of four members and 28 per cent of three or fewer members. The unemployment rate was 94 per cent for respondents and 80 per cent for their partners. Two-thirds of care-givers (69 per cent) have an income below R500 per month. The main health problems that were observed were chronic coughing (44 per cent) and headaches (54 per cent). The causes of these were not established. Diets were poor and consisted overwhelmingly of refined carbohydrates. The top 10 food items consumed were: stiff and soft maize meal porridge, brewed rooibos and leaf tea, coffee, mabela, white bread, crumbly maize porridge, carbonated cold drink and mageu. The daily intakes (mean and standard deviation) of various nutrients were: 4550?±?1993 kJ energy, 20?±?9 g protein, 21?±?21 g fat and 182?±?78 g carbohydrates. The results indicate that this is a poverty-stricken community with chronic household food insecurity and compromised nutrition. It is hoped that the knowledge gained from this survey will improve the planning and implementation of sustainable community-based interventions to promote urban household food security and combat nutrition-related diseases.     

Building resilient infrastructure in the face of climate change in African cities: Scope,potentiality and challenges

ABSTRACT

This article seeks to explain the capacity and limitations of African cities in building resilient infrastructure in the face of climate change. In this article, resilience means the ability of a social or ecological system to absorb disturbances while retaining the same basic structure and ways of functioning, the capacity for self-organisation, and the capacity to adapt to stress and change. To expose the capacity and limitations of African cities in building resilient urban infrastructure, the article presents comparative case studies on contemporary experiences in Harare, Nairobi, Abuja, Cairo and Johannesburg relative to the Latin American and Asian cities where resilient infrastructure practices are in vogue. We conclude that most African cities exhibit critical bottlenecks towards emulating the Asian prototypes. Corruption is among the key explanations for the shortcomings of African cities in the delivery of resilient infrastructure and services. Corruption and non-participatory approaches prevailing in most cities have only courted resistance by citizens in the reimbursement of loans obtained from both international and local financial houses.     

Risk amplification: HIV in migrant communities

The demography of both urban and rural South Africa is shaped by migration, with three unique patterns: labour-sending, labour-receiving and rural areas. This article explores the relationship between HIV risk and migration in South Africa. It identifies the urban informal settlements common in labour-receiving areas as key magnifiers of HIV risk, increasing the vulnerability of migrant workers in these townships. It examines the urban informal settlement, a unique social environment with distinctly high-risk behaviour dynamics, as a focal determinant of HIV. It proposes this framework as an extension of the migration–HIV dialectic beyond the traditionally unidimensional approach, to encompass a more contextualised discussion. This methodology, which uses the environment as an entry point to understanding behaviour and emphasises the importance of addressing the HIV–migration issue within a broader development perspective, has important implications for HIV programming in South Africa.     

Understanding urban poverty in two high-density suburbs of Harare,Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT

Urban communities are heterogeneous and averages mask inequities and deprivations among poor and rich urban communities. This article examines the situation of households residing in two low-income, high-density suburbs of Harare, Zimbabwe. The aim of the research was to contextualise urban poverty by looking at selected urban communities and vertically analysing the patterns and determinants of poverty. A household survey was administered to 1000 households and qualitative data were collected through focus group discussions and key informant interviews. The study found high levels of income poverty and also found differences in poverty experiences between the two suburbs. The major proximate determinants of poverty were large family size; low education level of the household head; lack of income from permanent employment; low cash transfers; and short length of residence in the suburb. Increasing household income consumption can be addressed through scaling-up industries, which would result in more quality employment.     

Kenya's focus on urban vulnerability and resilience in the midst of urban transitions in Nairobi

ABSTRACT

Addressing urban vulnerability requires an understanding of the underlying determinants of resilience for individuals, households, communities and institutions – to withstand shocks, to adapt and to change. Analysing urban resilience utilises the results of five rounds of the Indicator Development for Surveillance of Urban Emergencies surveys conducted in three informal settlements of Nairobi. Results show a significant deterioration in food security and household hunger in marginalised urban populations, with other deprivations including insecurity, negative coping behaviour and inadequate access to water and sanitation. Within slum populations, there was a significant variation in income and expenditure (p?<?0.05) with lowest income quintiles spending over 100% of their income on food. Significant gender disparities have been shown in lowest income quintiles, with female breadwinners earning 62% compared with male breadwinners (p?<?0.05). Recommendations from this analysis include establishing thresholds for vulnerability and concrete dimensions for measuring resilience that can initiate and guide related interventions.     

Deprivation among children living and working on the streets of Harare

ABSTRACT

This article investigates the extent of deprivation and vulnerability among children who live and work on the streets of Harare. A questionnaire survey was administered to 100 children in Harare's central business district; this was supplemented by in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The study found that these children suffered severe deprivation, in particular in terms of shelter and education. The majority of the children obtained their income from begging and selling small items. They were exposed to verbal, physical, sexual and emotional abuse by the public, as well as by other children and adults on the streets. Poverty was the main reason for the children being on the streets, while social factors such as family disintegration or the death of their parents also played a role. These push factors can be addressed through providing more social protection, cash transfers to families, and education and health assistance.