Browsing by Author "Mubecua, Mandla Abednico"

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    A case study of gendered differences in land ownership in Nkomazi, Mpumalanga, South Africa
    (University of Zululand, 2021-09-22) Mubecua, Mandla Abednico
    South Africa has a dual land property rights system in which land can be distributed and owned under statutory or customary communal laws. The study aimed to understand gendered differences in land ownership in the Nkomazi Local Municipality in the context of such customary and statutory laws. It focused on how such gendered differences affect women and female farmers in the same community noting that globally, women were often oppressed by patriarchal and cultural systems. The study, therefore, relied on the legal pluralism theory which asserts that modern societies are not only governed under the power of the state but under pluralistic forces that hold different levels of acceptability to the people governed. It also relooked the feminist political ecology, a theory that relates gender to the access and ownership of natural resources including land. The study adopted a phenomenological research design guided by a critical theory paradigm that aims to empower repressed groups and transform societies. It took a qualitative research approach where data was collected from a sample of 37 participants who included male and female farmers, female residents who were not into farming, municipal and government officials and traditional leaders using semi-structured, face-to-face interviews. Collected data were analysed using thematic analysis on the Atlas.ti.8 software. The analysis generated seven themes leading to the conclusion that gendered land ownership differences are a reality in the Nkomazi Local Municipality. They manifest through differences in ease of land ownership between men and women, differences in land sizes, the security of tenure and access to training and support. Gendered land ownership differences result in gendered poverty and worsen the economic plight of women who rely more on the land than men. The study concludes that patriarchal traditional systems as institutionalised in customary law systems are the main force behind unequal access to land between men and women. While statutory laws and a gender-sensitive constitution have been crafted, the excessively overt application of customary law continues to deny women the rights to equality on land issues. The study recommended an implementation framework to resolve gendered land ownership differences and the discrimination of women on land issues. It also recommended the use of new land distribution opportunities to address land ownership inequalities, the codification of customary law, the enforcement of gender quotas on traditional councils and supporting women’s land-related activism as some of the possible solutions to the unbalanced land ownership structure in the Nkomazi Local Municipality.
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    The role of Non-Governmental Organisations toward addressing poverty in the Nkomazi Local Municipality in Mpumalanga
    (University of Zululand, 2018) Mubecua, Mandla Abednico
    The aim of this study is to assess the role of NGOs in addressing poverty, and it was conducted in the Mpumalanga province, under Nkomazi Local Municipality. This study situates the development of NGOs within the theoretical frameworks of Keynesianism, the neo-liberal economic system, and from the theory of NGOs as a third sector. The Keynesian system holds that increased government expenditure results in a corresponding increase in economic output. The Keynesians welfare system supports the active participation of government in the economy. However, at the height of the Keynesian economy, NGOs did not receive due attention. The policies of the Keynesian economy did not support NGOs until the role of the multilateral organisations rose to prominence, and it was then that NGOs gained recognition. Problems with Keynesian economics led to the emergence of neo-liberalism, and neo-liberalism shaped policy in a way that favoured economic growth through the Market. It was within the framework of neo-liberalism that NGOs arose to prominence. This occurred under the auspices of multilateral organisations which encouraged the rise of NGOs. However, the poor performance of the State and the Market, with regards to poverty and development gave rise to the emergence of NGOs as a third sector. Literature relating to this study further shows that the operation of NGOs as a third sector depended on factors such as leadership, management, adaptability, financial capacity, corruption, and accountability. The present study adopts a mixed-method approach. This entails the integration of positivism and interpretivism into a philosophy of post-positivism. Therefore, this study uses both qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative data was collected through structured interviews, while quantitative data was collected by questionnaires. The qualitative data were analysed by content analysis, the quantitative data were analysed by SPSS. The findings of this study show that NGOs mostly experience the following challenges: high staff turnover, mostly because of low wages; limited resources, and a lack of permanent structures from which to work. Even though NGOs experience these challenges, the results of this study show that the NGOs in the study area are able to adapt and work in an environment characterised by limited resources. Lastly, regardless of the challenges experienced by NGOs, this study shows that NGOs have a role in poverty reduction. In terms of recommendations, this study recommends that NGO sponsors should pay attention to the challenges relating to the buildings structures where NGOs’ operate. The study also recommends that NGO sponsors have to review the wages of NGO workers against the wages of retails workers. Moreover, it is further recommended that NGO staff needed to be capacitated by developing some skills, such as proposal writing. Lastly, this study recommends that NGOs develop new strategies for sustaining themselves, such as starting other income streams. All-in-all, the study concludes that NGOs in the Nkomazi Local Municipality play a meaningful role in addressing symptoms of poverty.