To conclude this series and give a flavour of some of the themes explored across the previous nine blogs, this post presents a series of five cases offering in-depth reflections on how livelihoods are composed across a range of activities and in response to a variety of challenges.
The cases highlight some of the experiences of different young people in our sample, both men and women, although the photos I am afraid are not linked to the cases. All are trying to put together a livelihood from different sources, with ‘projects’ with at least some access to land being absolutely central.
Case 1: JCH, Wondedzo, Masvingo
I was born at Morgenster Mission Hospital in 1994. I completed Form 4 at Wondedzo Secondary School in 2011, but I did not do well. I only passed ChiShona only – rurimi rwaamai (mother’s language) [laughing]. In 2012, I then enrolled for a marriage course. I married DB, whose parents have a self-contained plot in Wondedzo Wares Extension. We have three children, one boy and two girls. After I got married, I came to live with my parents-in-laws. In 2020, my parents-in-laws allocated us a piece of land on their plot to establish our own homestead and crop fields. We started by building a brick and thatch hut for sleeping, and we then took some rest. We struggled to build the hut because we had limited resources at our disposal. We moulded the bricks by ourselves, and it’s an arduous job to do. We had no money to hire a professional builder. So, my husband built the hut, even though he had no building experience before, and I was the ‘dhaka-girl’ (assistant builder). After building the wall, we then hired someone to do the roofing (using thatch) for us. In 2021, we then built another hut, which we now use for sleeping, and the older hut is now the kitchen. That time, my husband knew what to do as he had a bit of experience from building the first hut in 2020. From this experience, my husband is now a builder, and people hire him to build their houses. We farm independently. My parents-in-law gave us 2 ha of land in their plot to establish both a homestead and crop field. Of the 2ha, 1ha was cleared already while the other 1ha was uncleared. In 2019, we cleared 1ha of land. My husband and I cleared the crop fields by ourselves as we could not afford to hire labour. Today, we engage in dryland cultivation on 2ha of land. But my father said I can open as much as I can if I have the resources. In the last season (2023/24), we did not cultivate the crop fields because of lack of draft power. Together with my parents, we had 4 head of cattle, which we acquired after wielding scotch-carts and exchanging with cattle. However, all the cattle died due to January Disease. The previous season we borrowed draft power from my mother. Since 2014, I have been rearing broiler chickens. We started as a group of 10 young women, having been given start-up capital by the then Member of Parliament. This was a [ZANU-PF] party programme. Ideally, we were told to form groups of mainly friends and start broiler rearing. These broilers were kept here. We kept between 25 and 50 batches, depending with how many we were given by the MP. We sold the chickens locally. However, disputes erupted among the group members, and the group disbanded. After the disbandment of the group, I continued to rear broilers independently. However, in 2022, I abandoned the broiler project following a major loss. On my last batch, I experienced a high mortality rate, and most of my customers bought on credit and have not paid me as yet. My main source of income is brick moulding and trade in vegetables. I buy vegetables from local farmers such as amai Mazanhi and sell at the main road [Bulawayo-Mutare highway]. Our main challenge here is access to water so that we can also engage in horticulture. My husband is a wielder by profession, but if there is no business, he builds houses for others on a temporary basis. In 2020, we bought moulded bricks and exchanged with two female sheep. The flock has since increased to 6, but they are kept at my mother’s plot in Wendedzo extension. We also own a plough and scotch cart that my husband built by himself. In October 2022, there was a gold rush at Wondedzo mountain. We were not sleeping at night. A lot of people descended to the mountain, including MaShurugwi, as well as other gold panners from Kadoma and Mazowe, in search of gold. People came from all over Zimbabwe. Violence among gold panners erupted at the mountain, and the police was later deployed to deal with it. At the time, my second-born son was a toddler; so, I went with him to do gold panning. I remember running at a full speed with my son on my back after hearing gunshots from the police. At the time, we didn’t know how gold looked like, so we learnt all about gold there. After this experience, we got to the extent of going wherever there was a reported gold rush. Using income from artisanal gold mining in Wondedzo mountain, we managed to buy materials to build our own scotch-cart, purchased a wielding machine for USD140 and a ‘baby’ grinder for USD80. We also managed to buy a plasma TV, solar panel and a gas stove using proceeds from gold mining. When we realized that gold panning at Wondedzo was too risky, with the police beating up people found doing gold panning, we shifted to cooking and selling sadza at Wondedzo Business Centre. Our main customers were gold miners.
Case 2: CM, Vimbi, Matobo
I was born in 2003 and grew up here. I completed Form 4 in 2019, but I passed Ndebele only. After completing form 4, I stayed with my parents, helping them with farming. In 2020, I then did a Class 2 driving license course. My father sold two cattle and paid for the driving lessons. In January 2021, I then went to South Africa. I paid US$250 to malayisha for transportation and border jumping. Two months later, I found a job as a carpenter in Johannesburg. I returned home in December 2021 to apply a passport. My employers wanted a passport as we used to get contracts in gated estates with strict security protocols. Following my return, I struggled to raise the money to apply for a passport. So, I never returned to South Africa. In June 2022, I found a job as a farmworker in Inyati. We were growing tomatoes. In returned home in October 2022 to help my father to farm. In January 2023, I then found another job as a general hand at a hardware shop in Malaba village, earning ZAR2000 per month but left after 5 months. I then found another job as a taxi driver plying the Maphisa-Bulawayo route. However, I quitted the job a few months later because the car was not roadworthy hence, I was always paying bribes to the police at roadblocks or having breakdowns. In July 2024, I went to do artisanal gold mining in Inyati. However, I was just spending time in the bush for nothing as all the proceeds were going to the ‘sponsor’ who was taking the little money we were getting to cover his costs. In addition, there are a lot of gangs there who were often violent, making the place dangerous. Because of all this, I decided to return home. Upon my return, a friend of mine called me and told me to come in Maphisa, where I also did gold panning. I stayed there for a month, doing gold panning. However, there are so many shafts underneath the ground. So, one day as we were digging in our shaft, someone else’s collapsed and we could have easily killed people if they were also in their shaft. Luckily no one was in that shaft at the time. This made me scared, and therefore I decided to return home, where I am now doing piece jobs. Those mines in Maphisa are not safe at all.
Case 3: TN, Vimbi, Matobo
I was born in 2004 and grew up here. I was born in a family of nine, 7 girls and 2 boys. I dropped out of school in Form 3 in 2022 when I got pregnant. The man who impregnated me was working as a herder at MN’s homestead and is of Tonga ethnic group from Binga. When he realized that I was two months pregnant, he ran away and abandoned his herding job. Since then, he never returned to see his child, nor has he sent anything to us. He does not know his child. He last communicated with me when my daughter was 6 months old. Today, my daughter is one year and three months old. He does not support his child. I rely mainly on piece jobs locally such as cutting and fetching firewood and cleaning up other people’s homesteads. Having a child without support or employment is very difficult. [Aspirations] I aspire to get a job so that I can provide for my child. Since I am not educated, the only job that I can think of is working as a house-girl. I wish to do a short course in cooking if I get money. I do not want to go back to school because school is difficult.
Case 4: IM, Wondedzo Wares, Masvingo
I was born in 1994 in Gutu. My father used to work as a cook for the white farmer on this farm, and after land reform, he managed to obtain some land here. We later joined him in 2001. I completed schooling in 2012. I then got married to my parents’ son’s neighbours in 2013. After marriage, my parents-in-laws allocated us a portion of land within their stand to build a homestead and 1ha of land to engage in dryland cultivation. From 2020 to 2022, we also borrowed another 1ha of land from my mother. But we no longer do that because of lack of inputs. We grow maize, sunflower and nyimo. We sell sunflower ‘KuTrain’ market. In addition, we also have access to an irrigable plot owned by my husband’s brother’s plot. It’s a joint venture. My husband’s brother works as a nurse in Masvingo. He drilled a borehole and invested in water pumps, tank and irrigation pipes. My husband is unemployed and therefore works on the irrigation project on a full-time basis. They share the proceeds. I wish to do a lot of projects such as broilers, but access to capital is the main challenge.
Case 5: LM, Wondedzo Masvingo
I was born in 1992 in Chikombedzi and came here in 2000 when my parents got land here. I dropped out of school at Grade 7 in 2005. My father was a member of Apostles church and he firmly believed that we must work with our hands (self-employed, ‘mabasa emaoko’). So, he did not force us to go to school. If you chose not to go to school, he would not fight with you. You would spend the whole day helping him to make baskets. So, I learned to do ‘mabasa emaoko’ at a very young age. I would say my father was backward in his thinking. He did not value education. As a result, he taught us blacksmithing and basket making. In 2007, I started working with my brothers who were doing horticulture near Mutirikwi river. We were allocated the plot by the then councillor who is also a relative. I had my own few vegetable beds. We grew leafy vegetables and tomatoes and sold at ‘KuTrain’ market in Masvingo. Initially, we watered our crops using the ‘bucket’ system. Later, one of my brothers then bought a manual water pump. My oldest brother later drilled a borehole at the plot, and we continued working with him. In 2016, I bought my own engine (20HP) diesel-powered and irrigation pipes for a total cost of US$1500 using proceeds from horticulture. However, in 2022, water from the borehole was getting diminished. So, I approached the former councillor Mr M, and asked if I could use state land near Mutirikwi. As a youth, he agreed. I have 3.5ha of land under irrigation. Today, I grow leafy vegetables, wheat, tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelons and green maize. I sell my products in Nyika, Jerera, Masvingo, Shurugwi, Zvishavane and Bulawayo. I was allocated 2ha of land within my late parents’ plot. In 2022, I drilled a borehole (for US$1800) using proceeds from horticulture. In 2023, I bought a 30HP water pump for US$800, a smaller pump for US$500, and poly pipes (900mm x 200m) for US$600. I have 5 wives and 15 children.
This is the tenth and final blog in a series exploring young people and land in post-land reform Zimbabwe. The blog has been written by Ian Scoones and Tapiwa Chatikobo, with inputs from Godfrey Mahofa (data analysis), Felix Murimbarimba (field lead) and Jacob Mahenehene (field assistant), amongst others. This blog first appeared on Zimbabweland