Former farm workers living in compounds on resettlement farms in Mvurwi are some of the most marginalised people across the land reform farms. ‘Success’ is limited by a set of major structural constraints that individuals cannot overcome by themselves. We conducted success rankings in two farmworker compounds in Mvurwi – Hariana and Ruia D – involving 19 men and 23 women overall.
These were by far the most challenging of our success ranking workshops as participants rightly said that success is impossible for them. There are just too many barriers. They have little land (usually only 1ha); they are obliged to engage in exploitative labour arrangements; employment opportunities are seasonal and not guaranteed; living arrangements in former farm compounds are crowded with poor conditions and overall people feel marginalised due to their limited political standing, often not even accepted as ‘real’ Zimbabweans, as previous generations had come from Zambia, Mozambique and Malawi. Moreover, farmworkers are also cut off from off-farm opportunities, with many having limited education (often linked to low incomes). For others, the shock of losing family members through HIV/AIDS in the early 1990s and 2000s has had a long-lasting impact on the fortunes of some families (illustrated through lack of social networks). Drug and alcohol abuse amongst former farmworker communities was also seen as important in holding people back.
This article is from Zimbabweland, a blog written by IDS Research Fellow Ian Scoones. Zimbabweland focuses on issues related to rural livelihoods and land reform in Zimbabwe.