EXPLICATION OF THE RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY 5.1.INTRODUCTION
5.5. POPULATION AND PROJECT AREAS
5.5.2. What is peculiar to each community?
5.5.2.3. KwaNgcolosi
164 and fail to buy a school uniform for their children, not to mention a sports kit costing R50.
They cannot afford to buy stationery, tracksuits and school jerseys for their children.
165 Regarding climate and rainfall, KwaNgcolosi with the rest of KZN enjoys “a subtropical climate with warm-to-hot wet summers and mild-to-cool, comparatively dry winters”
(Vilakazi 1962, p. 2). It has a very healthy climate which offers no handicap to the vigour of persons who wish to follow any kind of outdoor activity or occupation. It is also remarkably free from debilitating diseases such as malaria, nor is it known to be infested with any kind of stock diseases. There is as a general rule no really dry month in this region, yet there is a short period of marked water deficiency in winter.
Regarding agricultural potential, KwaNgcolosi is mainly hilly and has poor food yields because, as a general rule, most of the former ‘Native Reserves’ are unsuited for crop farming on a large scale as they have limited arable land, and this is being rapidly depleted of all the fertility it originally had. Also, the material resources of individual families upon whom cultivation depends are extremely poor. Any scheme of rehabilitation based on a redivision of land, and hopes of developing farming peasantry, will have to reckon with these hard geographical facts.
With regard to location in relation to industrial centres and communications, KwaNgcolosi is about 50 km from Durban and about 30 km from Pinetown, the biggest industrial centres in the region (Vilakazi, 1962). It is about 15 km away from the small townships of Botha’s Hill and Hillcrest at the farthest points. Most men work in the city of Durban or in Pinetown, while a few work in the neighbouring towns. Work in the neighbouring towns is considered purely temporary and casual because they offer very low wages. In terms of employment opportunities, people of this area are mostly civil servants (teachers, nurses, clerks, policemen) and there are a few attorneys from the area. The majority serve as maids and ‘garden boys’. The means of communication between KwaNgcolosi and the outside world has improved drastically in the past few years: people use cell phones, and public phones, there are postboxes in the vicinity, and a tar road which extends to Inanda Dam. There is also reliable means of transport, e.g. taxis and buses.
166 5.6. SELECTION OF PARTICIPANTS
For the in-depth interviews the snowball method of selecting research participants was used, where one research participant was requested to identify another potential research participant, who in turn did the same. Contacts were already established with the key figures in the research sites, for example with chiefs, headmen, headwomen, and head girls, and with some of the research participants. This had been done through my contacts (colleagues and family members), and I was acquainted with the third research site. I initially intended to carry out in-depth interviews with five women and five men in each research site, but this goal was not realised since more men were engaged in migrant labour and absent at the time of conducting fieldwork.
The purposive sampling method was adopted for the selection of communitiesand participants in the study because this allowed for inclusion of families who had existed because of ukuthwala from different communities in KZN, and those who either had witnessed or are part of the communities that practise ukuthwala. In each of the three selected communities the community chiefs, headmen, and key informants were requested to identify families that existed as a result of ukuthwala. These families were targeted to give an account of their life histories (narratives). The aim was to find out the reasons behind the practice of ukuthwala and what knowledge exists aboutukuthwala,and the impact of their socialisation process.
In each research sitethe conveniencesampling method was employed in recruiting research participants for FGDs.The recruited sample accommodated participants in the communities who were available and willing to take part in the study. At Zwelibomvu I requested the school principal of X school to recruit local community members and children who are above the age of 18 years to form part of the FGD, and most were children from his school who were doing Matric. There was no age limit, except that
167 participants had to be above the age of 18. There was also no limit of attendance, and as a result the male group consisted of 15 and the female group of 12.
At Bergville I managed to conduct two FGDs. One focus group comprised only women and the other men. For the women's group, I found them during the time when they were performing ilima. My research contact organised a session after ilima. Thus the session took place in the home of the host for ilima. There was no specificity in terms of their composition, except that they were women of various ages (above 18 years). These women were very useful in giving more information about the practice in the area. This was because among them were women who married through ukuthwala. They shed light on the features of traditional ukuthwala and the abuse of the practice. Some of the case studies in this thesis were extracted from life histories of research participants who also formed part of FGDs, who were later interviewed individually in depth.
At KwaNgcolosi I managed to get only a male FGD, because it was difficult to get women together as it was the season to till the land. Most women performed domestic chores timeously and getting them together was a big challenge. As a result only in-depth interviews were conducted in this area. Seven women were interviewed in their homes and 12 men were interviewed (eight of whom formed a focus group session and four were interviewed in their homes), and five of each were selected randomly for analysis.
Life histories were also carried out with the selected research participants. Focus group sessions took place in the home of the contact person (where there is also a bottle store).
Findings from the groups are considered to be representative of the community members, because rural communities have similar features: they are rural-based, share the same socio-cultural values, speak the same language, live a communal life, interact
168 freely with one another, and have a sense of belonging to each other and their communities. The cases reported below are from participants in the interviews.