Pro-poor adaptation to climate variability in semi-arid regions of Zimbabwe: the role of Ziziphus Mauritiana and network interventions in Muzarabani district

A Thesis submitted to the Faculty Of Science, at the University Of The Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor Of Philosophy in Geography and Environmental StudiesThe study seeks to interrogate the role that Ziziphus mauritiana plays, as a non- human actor, in building the adaptive and resilience capacity of poor people in Muzarabani of Zimbabwe through the lens of the Actor Network Theory (ANT) and Commodity Chain Analysis (CCA). The qualitative approach was largely used. Empirical evidence, which is largely the role that Zm plays in the adaptive capacity and resilience discourses on semi-arid space of Muzarabania as established by observations, interviews with diverse actors that included household heads, traditional leadership, civil society organisation (CSOs)and government department is presented in this thesis. The study revealed that there is a myriad of actors that form a complex web of adaptive and resilience capacity in Zm production, processing and marketing in Muzarabani. The analysis and discussion of the results places Zm into perspective, illustrating how Zm could enhance the adaptive capacity and resilience in Muzarabani if it were given the attention it deserves. Furthermore, the study revealed that local communities are not passive, as often portrayed, when they experience adverse weather conditions. Excluding them from processes that directly influence their day to day experience, for example the use of Zm, defeats all efforts to address environmental challenges. The case of Zm is argued with the lens of ANT. The study goes further “to unpack the black box” using ANT. Ultimately the research proposes the Actor Networked Eco-based Resilience Logic Model (ANELRM) as the framework that can catapult Zm to the right position in the adaptive capacity and resilience discourse in Muzarabani. The study further demonstrated another contribution to ANT that is it considers the natural resource Ziziphus mauritiana (Zm) as a non-linear commodity that needs to be followed closely to fully understand its contribution, contrary to the idea of taking natural resources as linear and static. ANT views power relations, not in terms of the physical power, but in terms of connections, offering a base to suggest it can, to some extent, address social inequality, exclusion and power dynamics which characterise local natural resource use. This is important to policy makers as they would understand better actors and the natural resources influencing community resilience after drought or floods. In context this will help government actors, like the Muzarabani Rural District Council, to come up with contextual policy measures and implementation efforts to address resilience challenges in semi-arid spaces of SSA, specifically in Zimbabwe.XL201

Development of a professional studies programme for Cape Town Teachers' College with particular emphasis on the problem of integrating aspects of theory and practice

Includes bibliographies.At a time when existing social and educational structures are rightly open to question and debate, the White colleges cannot escape the same scrutiny and evaluation. Such criticism must address not only the morality of separate provision for student teachers of different races, but must also raise questions concerning the preservation of the undergraduate route to the teaching profession and the justification for the teacher education offered at institutions such as the Cape Town Teachers' College (hereafter referred to as the College). This dissertation outlines the steps by which an enquiry which began as a modest attempt to give greater coherence to the components of the teacher education course developed into a deeper search to reconcile educational theory, subject knowledge and professional skills in the Professional Studies programme. Although many necessary and well-received changes were effected, there was a growing consciousness of the eclectic and piecemeal nature of such innovations. While most lecturers were united in their rejection of Christian National Education (CNE) as an underlying philosophy, there was need for an agreed matrix or core of assumptions about the nature and purpose of educational enterprise to give conceptual coherence and meaningful structure to the College task. Such a perspective was required to provide this basis and yet to retain sufficient width to preserve the rich diversity of opinion and outlook which are themselves enriching to an institution

A history of the growth and development of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Southern Africa, 1920-1960

From Introduction: The most natural divisions of time for this historical survey of the growth and development of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Southern Africa fall into three periods: (1) from 1920, when the African Division of Seventh-day Adventists was organized, to 1931, when it was reorganized under the name Southern African Division; (2) from 1931 to 1945, covering the period years of the Great Depression and Second world War; (3) from 1946 to 1960, the post-war. Attention is given in Chapter I to a certain phase of church development because the church had emerged at the highest level of Adventist organization, i.e. a Division. Although the first group of Adventists adopted the simplest form of organization in 1892 known as the South African Conference, the church was small and little known. The church at Division level therefore embarked on a programme of orientation and adaptation to gain recognition and make itself known everywhere. Closely allied to this was organization. Chapter II defines the organization of the church and explains how it was financed. The history of its organization and reorganization is also traced. Chapters III and IV deal with an era of expansion during the twenties in the establishment of missions, medical missions and training institutions, while new mission fields were entered and old mission fields were further developed. Chapters V and VI continue to trace the development of missions, mission fields, medical missions, and training institutions together with important changes in the medical and educational work. Further reorganization and new developments in the European church and African church are also outlined. The great emphasis on expansion and the development of institutions finally reached a point whereby "institutionalism" overtook "evangelism". Chapter VII discusses this problem and what was done to try and arrest it. Thus the history of the church is brought to an interesting turning point and climax in Part Two. Chapter VIII breaks from the common run of growth and development in missions, medical missions and institutions and traces the development of the principles and practice of the Adventist Church. The Southern African Division set itself the objective of full maturity in the establishment of a self-supporting, self-governing and self- propagating church in Africa. The history of these principles are covered together with the principles governing the reception of government grants-in-aid. Chapter IX deals with the analysis and development of the three-fold ministry of teaching, preaching and healing. These chapters in Part Three do not constitute a conclusion but simply give further insights in the growth and development of the church