When we last explored what was happening to young people across our field sites in 2016, the experience of ‘waithood’ was very evident (see our ROAPE paper for a discussion). This is a period between childhood and adulthood that can extend for years when it is impossible to establish oneself independently. You can’t get land, you have no job, you have no assets, you can’t get married, build a home and start a family and, as a result, you are reliant on parents for support. You are waiting…. for something to change but meanwhile getting older and still dependant.
In many ways in Zimbabwe, waithood is the consequence of a collapsed economy and a lack of land being offered for a new generation. As expressed to us in interviews in 2016, waiting causes stress and anxiety, sometimes depression and maybe escape and solace is sought through drugs. It is not positive or healthy, and young people blamed the government, parents and others for their fate.
It was interesting that the theme of ‘waithood’ was not so common in interviews during 2024. This is not because the economy has improved or that there is more land. In fact, the opposite is probably the case. Somehow the mood has changed. These younger siblings and relatives of those we interviewed before are perhaps more accepting that things will not get better any time soon, and instead there is a need to get on with life in whatever way is possible. After COVID alternatives had to be found. It is also because parents’ attitudes have changed. Now older, some infirm or ailing, and more in need of care and support, parents are now more accepting of children establishing homes on farms, and maybe taking on a subdivided plot.
In the past, parents who were involved in land invasions in the now A1 areas rejected the idea of subdivision and carving up the land to children, arguing that they didn’t want the land reform areas to become ‘like the communal lands’. These were the product of revolution: independent, commercial farms that were going to build a new agricultural base. Or so went the rhetoric. Today, many have abandoned this principled, idealistic stance in favour of a more pragmatic alternative.
Bringing children willing to farm onto the land means that inheritance and succession issues may be dealt with, and having others around allows for care and support in old age (see earlier blog). This is especially important in families where, often through the products of the resettlement, farmers invested significantly in education, and children of these original settlers have left, sometimes in the diaspora saying that they are won’t be coming back.
In those families with many kids in need of land, farms have become more like villages over time as more and more homes are established, a pattern seen emerging over time in some small-scale farming areas (the former ‘purchase areas’; see earlier blog series). As discussed in the earlier blog on mechanisms of land access there are varied patterns across our youth cohorts, with subdivision becoming increasingly common.
Gaining some access to land, means that young people today can establish themselves more easily, even if the land parcel is small and not sufficient to become a ‘farmer’ in the old sense (see earlier blog). Establishing ‘projects’ and combining with a variety of other activities is the norm (see later blog) and getting going is just a necessity, with the despairing option of ‘waithood’ rejected (although there are of course still many ‘at home’ and ‘doing retakes’, and ‘unable to get married’, as our data show).
Demographic changes: establishing homes and families
How then does this affect basic demographics? Data on age of marriage and age when a first child is born from our older and younger cohorts are shown in the tables below.
Table 1a. Demographic patterns among Cohort 1 (means)
| Masvingo | Matobo | Mvurwi | ||||
| Women | Men | Women | Men | Women | Men | |
| Age married | 19 | 21 | 21 | 23 | 20 | 22 |
| Age when had first child | 20 | 25 | 21 | 26 | 22 | 25 |
| Number of children | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Table 1b. Demographic patterns among Cohort 2 (means)
| Masvingo | Matobo | Mvurwi | ||||
| Women | Men | Women | Men | Women | Men | |
| Age married | 19 | 21 | 21 | 23 | 20 | 22 |
| Age when had first child | 19 | 22 | 20 | 23 | 20 | 23 |
| Number of children | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Comparing the two cohorts, the older one obviously has more children, but over time the age of marriage has not changed, although the age when the first child was born has declined across sites and genders (reflecting less ‘waiting’ perhaps). Looking across sites there are no significant differences, which is perhaps surprising given different cultural and educational contexts. Overall, men marry and have children slightly older than women on average, with the gap narrowing in the more recent cohort, again perhaps relating to changing dynamics of ‘waithood’.
Comparing national data from the DHS (Demographic and Health Survey) from 2015 (the 2023-24 DHS full report is not yet released) shows women in rural areas marrying at 18.8 years (median) and men at 24.8 years (median). Median age at first birth for rural women is 19.6 and increases with levels of education and wealth (ZIMSTATS and ICF International 2016, page 92). This pattern is more similar to the older cohort, as the younger cohort shows women have children (slightly) later and there are fewer differences between men and women at marriage age.
Establishing an independent homestead is an important step for a young person. Many previously complained that this was not possible because of lack of land and resources, with marriages being delayed as part of an on-going ‘waithood’. Comparing our two cohorts (Table 2), unsurprisingly, the younger cohort (Cohort 2) shows fewer independent homesteads established. Across sites, the percentage of people, both men and women, who have an independent homestead is especially low in Matobo, perhaps a reflection of the fact that many are migrating. By contrast in Mvurwi and Masvingo nearly 60% of women had an independent home in the older cohort and 44% and 34% in the younger cohort, mostly through marriage. Men have fewer independent homesteads, with a similar pattern across cohorts and sites. This reflects later age of marriage and the challenges of establishing independent homesteads through acquiring land, often through subdivisions in parents’ farms.
Table 2. Having own, independent homestead
| Masvingo | Matobo | Mvurwi | ||||||||||
| Women | Men | Women | Men | Women | Men | |||||||
| Obs | % | Obs | % | Obs | % | Obs | % | Obs | % | Obs | % | |
| Cohort 1 | 42 | 57% | 41 | 41% | 41 | 22% | 51 | 12% | 33 | 58% | 59 | 46% |
| Cohort 2 | 45 | 44% | 47 | 23% | 53 | 6% | 51 | 4% | 32 | 34% | 43 | 23% |
Getting on in difficult circumstances
Overall, our recent cohort of young people are seemingly less ‘stuck’ in a period of ‘waithood’ than those surveyed in 2016. This may not be to do with the economic context becoming better, but a sense that getting on is just a necessity, no matter how difficult.
Over time it seems young people have learned to construct a livelihood, become more practised at combining different options and have innovated in different ways. At the same time, the older generation has become more accepting of young people getting land and establishing themselves, recognising the importance of the next generation for caring and support and ultimately succession and carrying on with the farm. These attitudinal changes are not universal but emerged as a pattern in our latest round of interviews.
Changed perceptions are in turn feeding through into new livelihood strategies, altered demographic patterns and reconfigured gender relations among young people across our sites. Land remains central to these new ways of living, but its importance and role has changed significantly as generations move on in the land reform areas.
This is the seventh 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