A case study of the Trans-Cultural Psychosocial Organisation (TPO) in Northern Uganda and the Hero Book Project working with forcibly displaced child soldiers as examples of an alternative healing to the PTSD model.

This study focuses on the Hero Book Project and the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO) as alternative healing strategies to the PTSD model among abducted and forcibly displaced child soldiers in Northern Uganda. It is argued that these therapies are African centered since they have taken into consideration the social, economic and political experiences of African child soldiers displaced by war by economically empowering children in the reintegration process. Whilst the approaches of African trauma practitioners may be questioned on handling and providing the needed services, TPO/Hero Book project have managed to break the silence and reinforce the resilience surrounding children coming back home from war and integrating them into their communities. They had understood trauma as a community problem hence rebuilding community social and economic structures open avenues for abducted and displaced child soldiers to cope with their wartime sufferings

Politics, privileges, and loyalty in the Zimbabwe national army

In postcolonial Africa, the military has become an actor in politics, often in ways that can be described as unprofessional. This paper focuses on the manner in which the Zimbabwean National Army (ZNA) has become heavily politicized since independence, directly supporting the regime of President Robert Mugabe while denigrating the opposition political party. The military metamorphosed, to all intents, into an extension of President Mugabe’s political party, the ZANU-PF. I argue that even though the military is expected to subordinate itself to a civilian government, the ZNA is highly unprofessional, in- and outside the army barracks. The ways in which politics came to be mediated by army generals, as “war veterans” serving in the military, directly influenced not only how soldiers who joined the army in postindependence Zimbabwe were promoted and demoted, but how they lived their lives as soldiers in the army barracks. This article is based on fifty-eight life histories of army deserters living in exile in South Africa

Soldiers in exile: the military habitus and identities of former Zimbabwean soldiers in South Africa

Philosophiae Doctor - PhDAfter analysing stories of 44 former soldiers from Zimbabwe (39 army deserters and 5 who resigned from the army), I argue that even though they were disillusioned by the Zimbabwe National Army's conduct both in war and during peacetime deployment, in exile in South Africa they continue to hold on to their military identities. While in many studies trained soldiers are presented as capable of becoming civilians in post-combat life, my thesis points to the difficulties associated with such a process. Even though scholars present military identities as fluid, I argue that it is also deeply embodied and expressed through ‘bodily disposition’. In substantiating my argument, I employ Bourdieu’s (1990) theory of habitus and field, to reveal how what was learned in the military is difficult to unlearn. I argue that the practice of clinging onto a soldierly identity is a social and economic resource for the former soldiers who became my research participants. The soldierly habitus is social because of its capacity to elicit and provide a bonding space in the absence of a supportive exile host community. It is a financial resource in the sense that it represents military skills that enable these former soldiers to access productive work in the formal and informal markets. I argue that, even though these former soldiers have the capacity to engage in violence, they have remained disciplined, while skillfully deploying their ‘soldierly-ness’. Although these former soldiers experience nightmares of, for instance, having killed in war, they continue to ‘soldier on’ in their exile context. They journey between two different, but complementary, spaces of healing, the Pentecostal churches and a soldier-in-exile support group. Even so they remain dissatisfied with what both spaces have to offer. The two spaces, with different kinds of support for the former soldiers, present seemingly contradictory results which the soldiers themselves try with limited success to integrate, in rebuilding their lives. They do not find conclusive healing in either space and continue to experience nightmares, while perceiving such a situation as part of the soldiering ‘self’: an on-going military life outside the barracks. Methodologically, I employed qualitative research methods. I utilised ethnographical tools which included the life history approach, field conversations and group discussions in order to understand the exiled soldiers’ past and how and why they have remained stuck in their military past. Having been a soldier in the Zimbabwe National Army myself for more than 10 years, I explain why I found it interesting, yet complex, to study my comrades. The interviews were done in the IsiNdebele and ChiShona languages, with a few done in English. The choice of language was influenced by each former soldier’s preference

Politicization and resistance in the Zimbabwean national army

While the dominant discourse in Zimbabwe on and about soldiers is that they are perpetrators of political violence, this does not always reflect the lived experiences of soldiers who joined the army in post-independence Zimbabwe. Based on army deserters’ narratives emerging from 44 life history interviews and two focus groups, this article argues that not all soldiers have been supportive of President Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF. Rather, ZANU-PF had to work quite hard to ensure the political loyalty of its soldiers, who often resisted and challenged ZANU-PF political coercion

Militarised minds : the lives of ex-combatants in South Africa

This article focuses on how ex-combatants in South Africa remain militarised. Identities which were forged through resistance continue to be reproduced in different ways in post-conflict society. Military identity is a source of status and recognition in the everyday lives of ex-combatants, either as ‘defenders of the community’ or for individual gain. While some may argue that there is no such thing as military identity, the group of ex-combatants interviewed remained attached to such an identity and saw themselves as having a particular role in their communities. While studies, particularly in Africa, present ex-combatants as if they can be easily transformed into civilian life, this article considers the difficulties of such a process. The argument is that it is a complex matter to demilitarise ex-combatants’ minds in a highly unequal and militarised community. Sixteen life history interviews were collected, 11 with APLA ex-combatants and five with Zimbabwean army deserters

Military corruption in war: stealing and connivance among Zimbabwean foot soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (1998-2002)

Review of African Political Economy, Vol. 44, No. 154, 2017, pp. 611-623This article examines the ways in which Zimbabwean foot soldiers engaged in military corrupt activities, stealing army rations from the trenches to resell in neighbouring civilian communities and Congolese soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The practice became widespread among and between senior and junior officers. However, this practice did not end with the war; rather it was carried over from the DRC war to the Zimbabwean army barracks. The article contends that the practice of stealing army rations was a deeply unprofessional practice. The article draws from life history stories of Zimbabwean former soldiers who deserted the army and are now living in South Africa

Gangs : spatialities and socialities in South Africa

Abstract: The “making” of gang relationships has remained at the periphery of research, yet it is critical in understanding the continuity and sustainability of gangsterism in different contexts. This paper examines the ways in which young men involved in gang violence forge and sustain their relationships in the streets of a black township in South Africa. I argue that the “making” of gang relationships is never easy; rather, it is characterised by violence within and outside gang membership. The article asserts that, within gangs, violence is a technique which sustains their relationships, as it acts as a source of social and emotional support—especially in a context characterised by fractured families as well as social and economic marginalisation. The paper draws from an ethnography of walking the township streets, being in gang streets, talking to gang members, engaging with and observing young men involved in gang violence

Brief 13 : mass desertion of soldiers from the Zimbabwe National Army in post-2000 crisis; a call for amnesty

While there has been mass desertion of soldiers from the Zimbabwe national army in the post-2000 crisis, the only response by the army has been to implement punitive measures, including the arrest, court martial, indefinite detention whilst awaiting trail and imprisonment of deserters. Such a response has not been productive but has instead led to deserters seeking refuge in neighbouring countries. Whilst army deserters acknowledge that desertion is a military offence a reconsideration of the plight of these men is important. This is a problem that remains beyond the life span of the Zimbabwe Unity government. One of the ways in which the government of Zimbabwe can effect change, particularly the president of Zimbabwe working with the ministry of defence, is to give these army deserters an amnesty which would allow them to live in Zimbabwe without fear of being arrested by the military police or military intelligence. Many security practitioners have argued that these are trained men who can easily revert back to their violent ways to survive; hence, political attention needs to focus on these men, not in punitive ways but by means of reconciliation through the granting of amnesty

The use of heroism in the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) intra-party factional dynamics

Much of what we know about Zimbabwe's liberation war heroes and heroines is associated with the Zimbabwe African Notional Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF)'s recognition of individuals who defended its hold on power. However, of late, an upsurge in factionalism in the party has resulted in increasing reference to heroism as a means to exert factional dominance. An understanding of how this had been done can be used to explain ZANU-PF factional dynamics

The use of heroism in the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) intra-party factional dynamics

Much of what we know about Zimbabwe's liberation war heroes and heroines is associated with the Zimbabwe African Notional Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF)'s recognition of individuals who defended its hold on power. However, of late, an upsurge in factionalism in the party has resulted in increasing reference to heroism as a means to exert factional dominance. An understanding of how this had been done can be used to explain ZANU-PF factional dynamics. Current studies call for the study of factionalism to focus on intra-party group dynamics instead of the traditional organisation forms of factions. It is in this context that this study argues that survival or fall of factions within (ZANU-PF) is framed around issues of heroism that is around one's perceived contribution or non-contribution to the liberation struggle. This article demonstrates this growing phenomenon in ZANU-PF by analysing five well-known ZANU-PF veteran leaders whose status has been reshaped by new political moments as factionalism intensified. In light of rising factionalism, we argue that, war hero/heroine status in ZANU-PF is not permanent, but is highly shaped by obtaining factional political moments.http://www.up.ac.za/en/political-sciences/article/19718/strategic-review-for-southern-africa/am2018School of Public Management and Administration (SPMA