Читать книгу Eating from One Pot - Sarah Mosoetsa - Страница 11

The emphasis of this book is on the stories of poor households rather than on analysis. Drawing on over 100 intensive interviews, the book provides a space in which multiple voices can speak. Chapters one, two and three provide a vivid picture of individual lives, perceptions and experiences. Chapter four uses evidence from the interviews in order to present a deeper analysis of the socio-economic context of contemporary South Africa. It also demonstrates the limitations of the sustainable livelihoods approach and specifically the ‘asset vulnerability framework’, which is widely accepted in the development literature (Rakodi, 1992, 1999; Beall, 2002; Francis, 2000; De Haan and Zoomers, 2005). Contrary to the conventional view, the study shows that households are not just places of consumption and leisure, but significant places of production and services, a significance that has increased considerably with the growing levels of unemployment, poverty and HIV and AIDS infections in the country. The book concludes with a summary of its key findings, arguing that poor households have become crucial but fragile sites of survival.

The book is based on in-depth qualitative research that was conducted in the two communities of Enhlalakahle and Mpumalanga at selected intervals in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Face-to-face interviews formed the core of the research. Pilot interviews, complemented by two focus group interviews, were undertaken initially in each of the research sites. Sixteen households in Enhlalakahle and thirteen households in Mpumalanga were selected for further study on the basis of these initial interviews. Forty-four semi-structured interviews were then conducted. This was followed by 29 oral history interviews with older women from the 29 selected households in the two townships. These were augmented by oral history interviews and fifteen key informant interviews with members of local community organisations, local leaders and government officials.

Participant observation was the key to collecting data. It was often the only research technique that was appropriate given the sensitivity of the household issues I was exploring and the need to gain people’s trust. Many of the respondents were reluctant to accept the use of a tape recorder. As a result, the household visits generally involved conversation and observation rather than note-taking and recording. In addition, all the household informants were guaranteed anonymity. Accordingly, pseudonyms have been used for them as well as for those informants from the community who requested not to be named. Community members are usually referred to in terms of their affiliation and/or role in the community.

Archival or documentary research and analysis also formed an important component of the research methodology. I examined the correspondence and documentation that related to land ownership, the renting and buying of houses, and work permits in the two areas. Newspaper articles from the archives of the Greytown Gazette and the Natal Witness proved especially valuable in enabling me to understand the broader political economy of the two townships. They were also important sources of information about the political violence and resistance that took place in the townships in the 1980s and 90s and the economic development of the two areas.

I also kept a fieldwork journal in which I recorded direct observations during household visits, interviews and informal discussions with community members. The journal also included my personal research process notes. These notes served three main purposes: they offered a way to evaluate direct observation or make inferences when I went over the notes later, they served as a source of data, and they helped me to relieve the stress that accompanied the process of participant observation. I also included analytical notes in the journal, which I used to record methodological issues and to plan the way forward.

The dynamics of the research process were often complicated. Entering people’s personal spaces and asking difficult questions such as, ‘How do you survive?’ required great sensitivity. I was overwhelmed by the way that people opened their homes to a stranger. Most of the people interviewed had experienced suffering and hardship. I found that they were willing to share their problems and frustrations with me. They also tested me by asking me questions. The interviews were conducted in the informants’ home language, isiZulu. This facilitated communication although differences in accent sometimes had to be overcome. We often laughed about how Setswana speakers (my home language), and particularly those from Gauteng (my home province), speak isiZulu differently to isiZulu speakers from KwaZulu-Natal.

Although the dichotomy between researcher and informant, between ‘us’ and ‘them’, often fell away during my interactions with the respondents, my level of education, my perceived class status and the fact that I came from Gauteng (a big urban and metropolitan area) were frequently seen as separating me in some way from the experience of local people. I could not possibly understand what they were experiencing, they intimated, because I was not poor, I was studying at a university, I could afford to travel and stay in KwaZulu-Natal, and I lived in Johannesburg, a comparatively rich city. People responded to me with expressions such as ‘you young people of today’, ‘you young girls’, and ‘you are too young to understand.’ Many people were initially suspicious and reluctant to talk to me or they would ask: ‘What’s in it for us?’ Later, though, they began to trust me and became willing to ‘educate’ me because of my ‘lack of knowledge.’

Ultimately, it was my direct experience of real people, the places in which they lived and their stories and silences that enabled me to write this book.

Notes

1 The official definition of unemployment only includes people within the economically active population aged between 15-64 who (a) were not employed in the reference week and; (b) actively looked for work or tried to start a business in the four weeks preceding the survey interview and; (c) were available for work, i.e. would have been able to start work or businesses in the reference week or; (d) had actively looked for work in the past four weeks but had a job or business to start at a definite date in the future and were available (StatsSA, 2009).

2 The concept of social reproduction refers to the unpaid work, performed chiefly by women, that enables societies to sustain themselves and maintain their economies. Class and gender inequities are maintained and entrenched in the process of social reproduction. Women perform most of the unpaid work, while men’s work is remunerated. In Who pays for the kids?, Nancy Folbre (1994) identifies three aspects of social reproduction: biological (child-bearing), general (cooking, cleaning, maintaining the physical and mental life of self and others) and socialisation (teaching of values, norms and roles). She concludes that the cost of social reproduction is borne by women and that the whole phenomenon works in favour of men. Isabella Bakker and Stephen Gill (2003) also define social reproduction in these terms but place more emphasis on the links between social reproduction (unpaid work) and production (paid work). They argue that no production can take place without social reproduction since it reproduces the labour force. Social reproduction, therefore, is integral to the reproduction of capital itself.

Social reproduction is always shaped by a complex set of historical factors that relate to the family, community, market and the state. Changes to social relations, the economic structure and state institutions all produce changes in the household, the site of social reproduction. Disruptions to the life of the household, such as those that are associated with unemployment and HIV and AIDS, produce a crisis of social reproduction.

3 Access rate amongst African children was 2 per 1,000 as compared to 48 per 1,000 for coloured children, 40 per 1,000 for Indian children and 15 per 1,000 for white children. The relatively low rate for white children can be attributed to the high income status of white people rather than to their ‘being denied access’ (Budlender et al, 2008:8).

4 It is estimated that the poverty gap in South Africa was 12.8 billion rand in 1999 (Bhorat, 2002).

5 A measure of income inequality and wealth equality between and within countries. A number between 0 and 1 is given, where 0 represents perfect equality and 1 corresponds with complete inequality.

6 The Human Development Index (HDI) is a UNDP index that measures a country’s average life expectancy at birth. The adult literacy rate and standard of living are measured by GDP per capita. The index can have a value between 0 and 1. Countries with an index over 0.800 are part of the High Human Development group. An index between 0.500 and 0.800 locates a country within the Medium Human Development group while countries with an index below 0.500 fall into the Low Human Development group.

7 The basic idea of social security is to use social means to prevent deprivation, and vulnerability to deprivation, through cash support, guaranteed employment and famine prevention (Dreze & Sen, 1989).

8 Former Minister of Finance, Mr Trevor Manuel: speech at launch of 2005/06 tax filing season (ANC Daily News Briefing, 2005). National Council of Provinces debate (Fin 24, November 28, 2004).

9 A BIG pilot project was started in 2008 in the village of Otjivero-Omitara by the BIG Coalition of Namibia. All residents over the age of 60 received a Basic Income Grant of N$ 100 a month without any conditions. The documented evidence revealed that the receipt of this grant had a positive impact on the lives of those who received it. The Assessment Report (DfSD & LaRRI, 2009) concluded that the BIG should be a universal national grant. It argued that in a single year, between 2007 and 2008: (a) the grant had made an effective contribution to community mobilisation and empowerment, (b) household poverty dropped significantly (with the food poverty rate decreasing from 76 percent to 37 percent), (c) the average household debt decreased from N$ 1,215 to N$ 772, (d) the rate of those engaged in income generating activities increased from 44 percent to 55 percent, (e) the overall crime rate fell by 42 percent. The report noted that the cost of a BIG would be substantial (2.2 per cent to 3.0 per cent of national income) but that Namibia had the capacity to find the additional resources needed to fund the grant.

10 Of the 5.5 million South Africans living with HIV, 14.8 per cent of them are women between the ages of 15 and 49 (UNAIDS, 2005). KwaZulu-Natal is estimated to have the highest HIV prevalence among ante-natal clinic attendees. About 39 per cent of pregnant mothers are reported to be infected. This supports the argument that AIDS is ‘a crisis for women.’ There is a growing number of women living with HIV and AIDS and women also have to care for the sick (Tallis, 1998).

11 This involved the removal of quantitative restrictions and reductions in tariffs to well below the WTO binding levels that South Africa had committed to in 1995 (see Chapter 3).

12 The political conflict between the IFP and UDF/ANC and its alliance partners, Cosatu began in the province in the mid-1980s and intensified in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This period was marked by massacres of people in ANC strongholds, in particular, and assassinations of members of ANC/UDF and Cosatu affiliated union members. IFP vigilantes (amabutho) orchestrated these and many other acts of violence. The political power and influence of the IFP was challenged by the formation of UDF in 1983 and Cosatu in 1986, both strong allies of the then banned ANC. The IFP also blamed the ANC for the killing of its leaders. It claimed that an ANC government would undermine traditional leaders, many of whom were IFP supporters (see Seekings, 2000; Hassim, 1990; Minaar, 1992; Gwala, 1992). The violence soon spread to other provinces where it was characterised by clashes between hostels dwellers (IFP members) and township residents (ANC supporters) (see Segal, 1992; Zulu, 1993). The Truth and Reconciliation Commission report concluded that the IFP was ‘the primary non-state perpetrator of gross human rights abuse in South Africa from the latter 1980s through to 1994.’ (Truth and Reconciliation Report, Volume Five, Chapter 6, Conclusion Number 119)

13 Border areas were formed in the 1960s. They were located on the borders of homelands (commonly known as bantustans). The idea was that industries should move as close as possible to where black workers lived; this would restrict urban migration and would encourage black workers to continue living in the homelands, where, in the view of the apartheid government, they belonged. Industries in the border areas were given tax breaks and were not required to provide minimum wages. The border areas formed a critical component of the industrial geography of the apartheid era.

14 In 1991, Pietermaritzburg accounted for 21 per cent of the area’s formal workforce. Three of the eight largest employers in the area were footwear manufacturers (Mosoetsa, 2001a). These companies provided 30 per cent of the jobs in the manufacturing sector The city has since shed a lot of jobs, particularly in the footwear sector. However, a few footwear factories, such as Eddels, still remain in the area. Between 2002 and 2004, Pietermaritzburg still contributed the most to the areas’ economy, but the manufacturing sector had declined dramatically. About 71 per cent of businesses in the district were located in the city and of these only 6.8 per cent were in manufacturing. Pietermaritzburg has become a ‘service city.’ 65 per cent of the businesses in the district are involved in sales and trade, real estate or offer business, social and personal services. Unemployment was estimated to be more than 50 percent in Pietermaritzburg in 2004 (Hickson and Oldham, 2002; Coetzee, 2004).