The politics and symbolism of the #ThisFlag in Zimbabwe

In the context of the hashtag movement #ThisFlag, this paper examines the sensual affects drawn from flag symbolism and why the Zimbabwean flag is policed by the state. It uses the symbolism and politics of the hashtag movements by focusing on Evan Mawarires national lament and the Zimbabwean flag. It employs a literary and discursive analysis of Mawarires lament using desktop research on the contestations surrounding the flag. It shows that in dominant nationalist discourses, the flag is imaged as the land/nation and feminised to warrant it utmost respect, protection, sanctity and re/productive capacity. On the other hand, the #ThisFlag has made use of the flag to resist and subvert grand and naturalised dominant discourses of nationalism and citizenship to foster new imagi/nations of the nation. The use of the flag by the movement provoked ZANU-PFs ownership of the national flag, which is quite similar to and has been drawn from the flag of the party, hence the movement was challenging the identity of the party, its ownership and its relevance. The paper shows the fluidity of symbols and symbolic meanings and why #ThisFlag had symbolic radical power and the possibilities of using the states and ZANU-PFs cultural tools to challenge ZANU-PFs hold on national knowledge and power. It contributes to our understanding of both state-power retention and how subaltern voices can uncover the agency of subjects within the very instruments of control incessantly used by dominant regimes.http://www.up.ac.za/en/political-sciences/article/19718/strategic-review-for-southern-africahj2021Historical and Heritage Studie

Decentering nationalism: Representing and contesting Chimurenga in Zimbabwean popular culture

Philosophiae Doctor - PhDThis study seeks to uncover the non-coercive, intricate and insidious ways which have generated both the 'willing' acceptance of and resistance to the rule of Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF in Zimbabwe. I consider how popular culture is a site that produces complex and persuasive meanings and enactments of citizenship and belonging in contemporary Zimbabwe and focus on 'agency,' 'subversion' and their interconnectedness or blurring. The study argues that understanding nationalism's impact in Zimbabwe necessitates an analysis of the complex ways in which dominant articulations of nationalism are both imbibed and contested, with its contestation often demonstrating the tremendous power of covert forms of resistance. The focus on the politics of popular culture in Zimbabwe called for eclectic and critical engagements with different social constructionist traditions, including postcolonial feminism, aspects of the work of Louis Althusser and Michel Foucault. My eclectic borrowing is aimed at enlisting theory to analyse ways in which co-optation, subversion and compromise often coexist in the meanings generated by various popular and public culture forms. These include revered national figures and symbols, sacrosanct dead bodies and retrievals, slogans and campaign material, sport, public speeches, the mass media and music. The study therefore explores political sites and responses that existing disciplinary studies, especially politics and history, tend to side-line. A central thesis of the study is that Zimbabwe, in dominant articulations of the nation, is often constituted in a discourse of anti-colonial war, and its present and future are imagined as a defence of what has already been gained from previous wars in the form of "chimurenga." I argue that formal sites of political contestation often reinforce forms of patriarchal, heterosexist, ethnic, neo-imperial and class authoritarianism often associated only with the ZANU PF as the overtly autocratic ruling party. In turning to diverse forms of popular culture and their reception, I identify and analyze sites and texts that, rather than constituting mere entertainment or reflecting organized and party political struggles, testify to the complexity and intensity of current forms of domination and resistance in the country. Contrary to the view that Zimbabwe has been witnessing a steady paralysis of popular protest, the study argues that slogans, satire, jokes, metaphor, music and general performance arts by the ordinary people are spaces on which "even the highly spectacular deployment of gender and sexuality to naturalize a nationalism informed by the 'efficacy' of a phallocentric power 'cult' is full of contestations and ruptures.

Independent and combined effects of improved water, sanitation, and hygiene, and improved complementary feeding, on child stunting and anaemia in rural Zimbabwe: a cluster-randomised trial.

BACKGROUND: Child stunting reduces survival and impairs neurodevelopment. We tested the independent and combined effects of improved water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), and improved infant and young child feeding (IYCF) on stunting and anaemia in in Zimbabwe. METHODS: We did a cluster-randomised, community-based, 2 × 2 factorial trial in two rural districts in Zimbabwe. Clusters were defined as the catchment area of between one and four village health workers employed by the Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Child Care. Women were eligible for inclusion if they permanently lived in clusters and were confirmed pregnant. Clusters were randomly assigned (1:1:1:1) to standard of care (52 clusters), IYCF (20 g of a small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplement per day from age 6 to 18 months plus complementary feeding counselling; 53 clusters), WASH (construction of a ventilated improved pit latrine, provision of two handwashing stations, liquid soap, chlorine, and play space plus hygiene counselling; 53 clusters), or IYCF plus WASH (53 clusters). A constrained randomisation technique was used to achieve balance across the groups for 14 variables related to geography, demography, water access, and community-level sanitation coverage. Masking of participants and fieldworkers was not possible. The primary outcomes were infant length-for-age Z score and haemoglobin concentrations at 18 months of age among children born to mothers who were HIV negative during pregnancy. These outcomes were analysed in the intention-to-treat population. We estimated the effects of the interventions by comparing the two IYCF groups with the two non-IYCF groups and the two WASH groups with the two non-WASH groups, except for outcomes that had an important statistical interaction between the interventions. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01824940. FINDINGS: Between Nov 22, 2012, and March 27, 2015, 5280 pregnant women were enrolled from 211 clusters. 3686 children born to HIV-negative mothers were assessed at age 18 months (884 in the standard of care group from 52 clusters, 893 in the IYCF group from 53 clusters, 918 in the WASH group from 53 clusters, and 991 in the IYCF plus WASH group from 51 clusters). In the IYCF intervention groups, the mean length-for-age Z score was 0·16 (95% CI 0·08-0·23) higher and the mean haemoglobin concentration was 2·03 g/L (1·28-2·79) higher than those in the non-IYCF intervention groups. The IYCF intervention reduced the number of stunted children from 620 (35%) of 1792 to 514 (27%) of 1879, and the number of children with anaemia from 245 (13·9%) of 1759 to 193 (10·5%) of 1845. The WASH intervention had no effect on either primary outcome. Neither intervention reduced the prevalence of diarrhoea at 12 or 18 months. No trial-related serious adverse events, and only three trial-related adverse events, were reported. INTERPRETATION: Household-level elementary WASH interventions implemented in rural areas in low-income countries are unlikely to reduce stunting or anaemia and might not reduce diarrhoea. Implementation of these WASH interventions in combination with IYCF interventions is unlikely to reduce stunting or anaemia more than implementation of IYCF alone. FUNDING: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, UK Department for International Development, Wellcome Trust, Swiss Development Cooperation, UNICEF, and US National Institutes of Health.The SHINE trial is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (OPP1021542 and OPP113707); UK Department for International Development; Wellcome Trust, UK (093768/Z/10/Z, 108065/Z/15/Z and 203905/Z/16/Z); Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; US National Institutes of Health (2R01HD060338-06); and UNICEF (PCA-2017-0002)

An investigation into the effectiveness of Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) : a case study for Zimbabwe.

Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.This study sought to investigate the effectiveness of initial public offerings (IPOs) on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE), as an investment option in comparison to their seasoned matching firms and to establish why an investor would prefer buying into an IPO and not into already trading matching firms. The study also sought to determine the extent of IPO underpricing and to establish if there is a relationship between underpricing and the long-run performance of IPOs. This study further sought to establish the reasons behind the investors' over-optimism in IPOs despite their uncertainty as well as to establish the factors governing the success or failure of IPOs. A matching firm was judgementally selected for each of the IPOs listed on the ZSE during the period 1997 to 2002, for the purposes of comparing the short and long-run buy and hold returns. Returns for the 15 qualifying IPOs and 15 seasoned matching firms were analysed and the share price performance compared in event windows of 30 days, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, 4 years and 5 years from the respective IPO dates. Questionnaires were also administered on a sample of 50 major stock market investors comprising stockbrokers, mutual funds, insurance companies, pension funds and merchant banks to test various theoretical propositions on these IPOs. Consistent with Majaya (2002) and Mutsigwa (2004), this study finds that there is substantial underpricing of IPOs in Zimbabwe with an average of 28% underpricing. This paper also finds that IPOs in Zimbabwe leave money on the table as a result of underpricing. The study finds that IPOs offer higher short-run returns than their seasoned matching firms and consistent with Brav and Gompers (1997), that there is no difference between the long-run performance of IPOs and that of their seasoned matching firms. This study finds no evidence of a relationship between underpricing and long-run IPO performance. The study also finds that the market condition, the timing of placement of an IPO and the firm size and age are some of the key factors determining the success or failure of an IPO and that oversubscription of IPOs on the ZSE is attributed to the size of the bourse which is too small, to cope with the demand for IPO shares. This study concludes that IPOs are risky investment and recommends that investors should carry out detailed analysis on the future prospects of an IPO before buying shares. Ascertaining the true value of a share may help the investor decide whether or not to invest in an IPO. The study recommends that the ZSE management should explore the possibility of setting up an exchange for small capitalisation stocks and that they should remove some of the restrictive listing requirements to enable more companies to list and access capital for expansion and other projects in a country already starved of foreign direct investment due to economic sanctions

Rereading the Zimbabwean “land question” : gender and the symbolic meanings of “land”

As the source of all food production, land in southern Africa has been highly contested. Using a variety of texts that express themes relating to land, I show that in Zimbabwe, in the face of massive political competition, land became the foundation for reform and national sovereignty in dominant nationalist, patriarchal and gendered discourses. I demonstrate that cultural texts centred on land have been embodied and generated in familial troupes, revealing dominant gendered and sexualised overtones that naturalise land ownership and particular land uses. At the same time, these texts reveal symbolic violence meted out on particular bodies. This discursive analysis of texts examines the gendered and sexualised discourses associated with Zimbabwe’s national reforms and security, where the imagining of the security, protection and sanctity of land has been driven by nationalist ideas about its centrality in the healthy (re)production of obedient social and national subjects.https://upjournals.co.za/index.php/GQ2023-09-01am2023Historical and Heritage StudiesCentre for Sexualities, AIDS and Gender (CSA&G

An investigation into the effectiveness of Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) : a case study for Zimbabwe.

Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.This study sought to investigate the effectiveness of initial public offerings (IPOs) on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE), as an investment option in comparison to their seasoned matching firms and to establish why an investor would prefer buying into an IPO and not into already trading matching firms. The study also sought to determine the extent of IPO underpricing and to establish if there is a relationship between underpricing and the long-run performance of IPOs. This study further sought to establish the reasons behind the investors' over-optimism in IPOs despite their uncertainty as well as to establish the factors governing the success or failure of IPOs. A matching firm was judgementally selected for each of the IPOs listed on the ZSE during the period 1997 to 2002, for the purposes of comparing the short and long-run buy and hold returns. Returns for the 15 qualifying IPOs and 15 seasoned matching firms were analysed and the share price performance compared in event windows of 30 days, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, 4 years and 5 years from the respective IPO dates. Questionnaires were also administered on a sample of 50 major stock market investors comprising stockbrokers, mutual funds, insurance companies, pension funds and merchant banks to test various theoretical propositions on these IPOs. Consistent with Majaya (2002) and Mutsigwa (2004), this study finds that there is substantial underpricing of IPOs in Zimbabwe with an average of 28% underpricing. This paper also finds that IPOs in Zimbabwe leave money on the table as a result of underpricing. The study finds that IPOs offer higher short-run returns than their seasoned matching firms and consistent with Brav and Gompers (1997), that there is no difference between the long-run performance of IPOs and that of their seasoned matching firms. This study finds no evidence of a relationship between underpricing and long-run IPO performance. The study also finds that the market condition, the timing of placement of an IPO and the firm size and age are some of the key factors determining the success or failure of an IPO and that oversubscription of IPOs on the ZSE is attributed to the size of the bourse which is too small, to cope with the demand for IPO shares. This study concludes that IPOs are risky investment and recommends that investors should carry out detailed analysis on the future prospects of an IPO before buying shares. Ascertaining the true value of a share may help the investor decide whether or not to invest in an IPO. The study recommends that the ZSE management should explore the possibility of setting up an exchange for small capitalisation stocks and that they should remove some of the restrictive listing requirements to enable more companies to list and access capital for expansion and other projects in a country already starved of foreign direct investment due to economic sanctions

“Even God gave up on them” : a deconstruction of homosexuality discourses in Zimbabwe’s online locales

Gay or queer relationships in Zimbabwe remain a site of discursive contestation. The rise in human rights advocacy has re/located the subject within the human rights premise, shifting the discussions away but not disconnected from the religious, political and cultural representations. This paper examined the societal constructions and attitudes toward homosexuality by analyzing Twitter exchanges that followed the disclosure on the 21st of September 2018, by a teacher (Neal Hovelmeier) of St John’s College in Zimbabwe, that he was gay. The disclosure prompted substantial online and offline debates on gay and queer relationships (what is popularly known as homosexuality in Zimbabwe) and produced two discursive divisions. The first division was against homosexuality and galvanized support across cultural, political, traditional, religious and social constructions. Though less popular, the other division found support from within the gay or queer community itself, the global North diplomatic missions resident in Zimbabwe, liberal left-leaning and some civil society organizations. The former’s key feature is societal resistance to homosexuality which is constructed by way of inferences to Christianity and traditional belief systems about binary gender and sex categories and sexual relations. The latter has constructed homosexuality from the premise of human rights, acceptance and tolerance.https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wjhm202022-06-29hj2021Centre for Sexualities, AIDS and Gender (CSA&G