The African traditional religious landscape : an examination of the role of traditional leaders in the fight against HIV and AIDS in Chipinge, Zimbabwe

This study examines the role of traditional leaders, as custodians of culture, in the fight against infection with the HI virus and the AIDS pandemic in the Chipinge District of Zimbabwe. The research aims to assess traditional leaders’ knowledge of HIV and AIDS and its causes. It also examines some traditional practices to determine whether they expose people to HIV and AIDS, and it evaluates the traditional leaders’ roles in curbing the pandemic. From a phenomenological standpoint – and grounded in the African traditional religious landscape – the study uses a survey research design. A convenient sample of 18 participants for the study consisted of 3 chiefs and 5 headmen who completed a questionnaire as well as 5 village heads and 5 elders who were interviewed and involved in four focus-group discussions (FGDs) that provided a variety of insightful information. The study identifies promiscuity as a major cause of HIV infection in communities. The results show that traditional leaders discourage barika and kuputsa as being harmful traditional marriage practices. Furthermore, the study indicates that traditional leaders encourage behavioural change amongst the youth and adults alike to curb the spread of HIV and that the pandemic could possibly be contained if government fully empowered the traditional leaders. The research has value in attempting to minimise the spread of HIV if communities discontinue harmful cultural practices. Therefore, donor agencies involved in intervention projects concerning the HIV and AIDS pandemic and government should work closely with traditional leaders who wield considerable power in areas under their jurisdiction to arrest the spread of the HIV and AIDS pandemic in the Chipinge district in Zimbabwe.The study presented here is based on research for my PhD: ‘An examination of Shona traditional beliefs and practices in light of HIV and AIDS and its ramifications for mitigation and care’ – promoted by Professors A. Groenewald and H.J.C. Pieterse in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Pretoria.http://www.ve.org.zaam201

The African Religious Landscape : an examination of Shona traditional beliefs and practices in light of HIV and AIDS, and its ramifications for mitigation and care

This study examined traditional Shona beliefs and practices in light of HIV/AIDS in the rural communities of the Chipinge District in Zimbabwe. The focus of the study was to examine selected Shona traditional beliefs and practices, and evaluate how they respond to the HIV/AIDS threat. The study aimed to examine the traditional beliefs and practices that people in Chipinge rural communities still practise, have stopped practising, or have modified due to the encroachment of HIV/AIDS into the communities’ socio-moral space. It also aims to discuss the traditional beliefs and practices that are safe and those that expose people to HIV infection, in addition to the communities’ knowledge about HIV/AIDS. Grounded in the traditional Shona religious landscape, and from a phenomenological perspective, the study utilised a qualitative survey research design. Using purposive and snowball sampling procedures, 72 study participants, knowledgeable in the Shona people’s traditional beliefs and practices, were selected. The study used non-scheduled structured interviews and a questionnaire, with both closed and open-ended questions, to gather data from the participants. Most participants defined HIV/AIDS as a blend of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) that take time to treat. They believed that AIDS results from ‘pollution’ caused by sexual intercourse with ‘unclean’ women, while a few attributed it to having unprotected sex with an infected partner. Results show that kuputsa (pledged or child marriage), barika (polygamy), and kugara nhaka (wife inheritance) are harmful marriage practices that expose people to HIV infection. As old habits die hard, the study suggests modifications to such marriage practices, where people willing to be involved should take an HIV antibody test. Given that information about HIV/AIDS is communicated through posters and pamphlets written in English, it would benefit the community, if the Ministry of Health and Child Care could provide information in the Ndau language.Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2017.University of Pretoria Postgraduate BursaryOld Testament StudiesPhDUnrestricte