CHAPTER 6 TIME, FUTURISM, LIVELIHOOD, CAPACITIES AND CAPABILITIES
6.1 Introduction
This chapter builds on the previous chapter by focusing on the vulnerability of Tokwe Mukosi residents and the implications of that vulnerability on the livelihoods of the displacees. The idea is to locate this vulnerability in the context of the Sustainable livelihood Framework. Guyer (2007) and Jain’s (2007) conceptualization of time and temporality shall also be used to further illuminate the vulnerability of the said residents. In the subsequent sections, I then critique the last two theorists, particularly their failure to acknowledge agency and the livelihoods capacities and capabilities of the actors to act out of the temporalities. The section is premised on the realization that it has been more than half a decade since the Tokwe Mukosi villagers have been forcibly moved to the Chingwizi area. It therefore becomes prudent to unpack the strategies, capacities and capabilities used to sustaining their households given the huge strain on their livelihoods following their abrupt dislocation from their ancestral land in Chivi.
Time is critical to the philosophy and understanding of social dynamics but what happens to our ability move sequentially through time in the era of complicated governance and uncertainty becomes an even more reasonable concern (Cummingham 2014). Based on this critical component, interest on time, temporality and the futures has received considerable attention in the academia in recent times. In the beginning such interest was however limited to the realm of economics, following the triumph of Rostow’s theory, under the banner of modernization. The Neo-liberal philosophy which in essence was the revitalization of the modernization theory was also couched in time, temporality and the magnification of the future. In the religious sphere credit should be extended to Guyer (2007) in his work on evangelism, prophesy and the futures.
In health one should also acknowledge Jain (2007) and Cummingham (2014) for situating time, temporality and the future within the context of cancer illness or more appropriately what they termed ‘living in the prognosis’. In Anthropology, it would be a matter of injustice to ignore the work of James Ferguson on the expectations of modernity and the Copper-belt theory in Zambia.
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Understanding of forced displacements in the context of time, temporality and the future has however remained a grey area in the academia in general and sociology specifically.
In an attempt to fill this lacuna in sociological research, I therefore wish to situate the understanding of forced displacements at Tokwe Mukosi within the critical aspects of time, temporality and the futures. Importance will be attached on the understanding of the evacuation of the near past and the near future as articulated by Guyer (2017). Living in the prognosis by Jain (2007) will also be applied in line with the Sustainable Livelihood Framework. Of particular interest is the understanding of the flood victims as social actors who have fallen under the vulnerability context. What is at stake here is the issue of tautology because evacuation of the near future and prognosis can be interfaced with the vulnerability context as espoused by the sustainable Livelihood Framework. Firstly I need to unpack the first two before applying those concepts to the experiences of the Tokwe Mukosi flood victims at Chingwizi.
While focusing on religiosity, Guyer (2007) dwells on the evacuation or evaporation of the near past and the future through prophecy and evangelism. In many dire social situations, the near past and the near future are often strategically removed or erased from the current experiences.
Significance is then placed on the present but unpleasant situation as well as the far distant future. This has the net effect of inhibiting the potential of the people to aspire for better life while in their unpalatable present conditions. Their current situation, which in all earnest is dominated by suffering, poverty, social inequalities and conflict, is then presented in an attractive way as temporal, transitory and a normal human condition. The far distant future is then depicted as the ultimate destination characterized by happiness and prosperity. It means the destination is worth celebrating, thereby justifying the means (suffering) to achieving the end (prosperity).
There is therefore a bifurcated trajectory of time and the futures. The near future, as highlighted above is then privatized and the distant future which is dominated by prosperity is then made public and glorified. Again as a palliative measure, the present situation is romanticized and conceptualized as a necessary and ubiquitous path towards the desirable destination which is appearing in the horizon. Guyer (2007) contents that the evacuation of the near future is just as painful as death of the near past. The decline of the near future instills some sense of insecurity,
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abjection, dejection and despair for those exposed to these human made conditions (Ferguson 1998). The philosophy behind the current experience of the Tokwe Mukosi people at Chingwizi fits in well into the broader yet conservative discourse of austerity for prosperity (See John Mill 1806-1875). This has nonetheless been the philosophical mantra adopted by the new Emerson Mnangagwa administration in the Zimbabwean political economy in general.
While focusing on health, Jane (2007) reflects and corroborates the aforementioned view on the evacuation of the near past, the near future and temporality in the analogy of cancer illness. In what she terms ‘Living prognosis’ she says,
The prognosis activates terror—the shock of having harbored cancer, the fear of an unknown future seemingly presented through survival-rate numbers, the brush with a culture of death. But bizarrely, at the same moment, it dissolves that very terror in the act, its very function, of aggregation. The number itself imbricates one’s life into the inevitable and the universal; the number becomes the backdrop against which one can no longer locate the shape of one’s own life. The prognosis offers an abstract universal, moving through time at a level of abstraction that its human subjects cannot occupy, and in so doing it threatens to render us all (for we are all moving through the culture of cancer) inert. Simply a structure of and for our fantasies, the prognosis itself has no time for the human life and death drama. Pge 78.
This kind of feeling is evaluated as living in the time of in-between as bodies are engulfed with calculations of risks, sense their own borrowed space in vulnerability, (un) sure that the process is too beyond their control or whether there will be new forms of threats to be confronted as we navigate through the unknown (Cunningham 2014).
Of note is the fact that the state and the Tokwe Mukosi residents had contradicting perceptions in terms of time and the projected horizon in this dam project. The state was preoccupied with the projection of a distant horizon while the affected villagers had very little concern about the far horizon. Their interest was specifically on the evacuated near future and how to bring back the
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evacuated futures. Based on futurism which has always been the buzzword in Zimbabwe, the dam project is anchored on a combination of drivers of ‘development’. These prime movers of
‘development’ are also presented as the eventual destination which the citizenry, particularly the displacees should cherish. These are,
Technological development, modernity and rationality
Establishment of an agro-based town around the dam.
Generation of foreign currency through tourism
Hydro-electricity generation for Masvingo province.
Fishery and world life management
Sugarcane plantations in the Chiredzi and Triangle areas.
Small holder irrigation around the dam. (Commercial Farmers Union of Zimbabwe 2013).
These ‘valuable’ outcomes became the painful but necessary justification for the suffering bestowed on the Tokwe Mukosi people. These displaced persons are seen as only suffering in the interim but in future the whole nation will enjoy the benefits. Although the projected horizon up to the time I finished my field work was still blurred, there were some efforts made in that direction. As indicated in the last chapter the dam was officially commissioned in 2017, paving way for these other mega projects, at least from the state’s perspective. A state of the art road was constructed, linking the Tokwe Mukosi dam with the major highway road in Zimbabwe.
This idea was influenced by the desire to lure tourists and the need to establish an agro based town. To fulfill the fishery objective the state under the command fisheries program, which is a subset of the general Command Agriculture policy deposited over 200 000 fingerlings in the dam and more varieties would be added in future (The herald 14 August 2017). It was then planned that the department of Parks and World Life would then offer contracts to the people staying around the dam under the cooperative system. In my interview with an official from the said department, it was revealed that the locals would be offered contracts for fishing in January 2019. While this is a noble idea, very little has been done to ensure that the majority of those displaced by the dam would also benefit from this initiative. What is clear is that the Tokwe Mukosi villagers remain marginalized notwithstanding the projected and favorable horizon.
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The above mentioned objectives for the construction of the Tokwe Mukosi dam were the long term development projections by the state. These projections in a way have connotations of fantasy and futurism which are irresistible. The horizon has thus become more generalized, powerful and confident (Guyer 2007). This distant future has also been made public by being included in many government policies and the state media. The state is glorifying the construction of the dam project and the benefits subsumed but very little is said in terms of the unintended consequences of the dam project. The near future of the Tokwe Mukosi people which has been evaporated is of very little significance in the state’s desire to reach the projected horizon.
It should be underscored that the precarious situation at Tokwe Mukosi was not an event but a process. As articulated in the previous chapter, the movement from Chivi to Chingwizi, which was also the first phase of relocation, led to the dislocation of the villagers from the macro Zimbabwean political economy (evacuation of the near future). Such a precarious situation called for the need to embrace novel livelihood strategies, albeit with little resources for the affected residents. While I acknowledge the existence of alternative livelihood strategies in traditional Chivi area, the rural economies in this area were mainly anchored on subsistence farming, animal husbandry and market gardening. The floods that affected the Chivi area destroyed crops that were near the harvesting stage and marooned livestock. It became apparent that even before the relocations, these villagers were already facing serious food insecurity. The floods and the untimely relocations from the Chivi area therefore culminated in the disruptions of these livelihood strategies. This explains the unwarranted evaporation of the near future or the vulnerability context which the villagers are confronting at Chingwizi.
The vulnerability of the villagers was further compounded by the failure of the state to honor its promises. Chief among these promises was the provision of four hectare plots upon arrival at Chingwizi. This unfortunate development had negative ramifications on subsistence farming, which was the backbone of the displacees’ economies and livelihoods. To put this into context the villagers were then forced to stay in the tents for the next three years without land to partake in the traditional livelihood strategies. The second relocation phase which was achieved after a
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protracted struggle did not help to improve the Tokwe Mukosi people’s condition. In this transitional phase they were required to move into one hector plots. These infamous plots are popularly known as Kumahekita among the displacees.
In a series of precarious situations and temporality, the villagers have been given notice of the impending third relocation exercise. The dilemma however is that as usual the state is yet to secure the land for this relocation exercise. The District administrator for Mwenezi lamented this precarious situation and pleaded with the state to secure the land in order to bring finality to the struggle at hand (The Herald January 2019). A closer analysis however shows that this is just a smokescreen, aimed at obfuscating the capitalist undertones masked in this relocation program.
Given the fact that the Chingwizi area is situated at the confluence of two important rivers in Masvingo province, the area is very attractive for the establishment of a mega ethanol plant. The plant is believed to be under the auspices of Zimbabwe Bio Energy (ZBE), which is also owned by Billy Rautenbach. It is believed that ZBE dangled an irresistible US$400 million for investment in the said project (The Herald ibid). This is therefore putting the state in a huge dilemma. In recent times there has been a mantra for mega development deals to drive the economy in the new political dispensation, leaving the state in a compromising position. Given the connections and links that the Business mogul has in ZANU PF and the state, the chance that the Tokwe Mukosi people will stay permanently in this area becomes remote. The move to relocate the Tokwe Mukosi people again makes sense in quantitative development but in the end this will ultimately lead to development that eludes the people.