Chapter 3: Research Methodology
3.2 Setting
The research has been carried out in the kingdom of Swaziland in the area of Mpaka also generally known as Malindza. Swaziland is one of the smallest countries (17 364 square kilometres) within the mainland African continent and it is landlocked. It is mainly surrounded by the Republic of South Africa (RSA) which borders three sides and only one side in the eastern part borders with Mozambique. Swaziland is one of three remaining monarchies in Africa, with the Swazi king wielding executive power. z ’ W revoked in 1973 and replaced with a system designed to accommodate both the western and traditional styles of government (Forsyth-Thomson 2011). This structure is known as Tinkhundla and enables the people to elect candidates to be their parliamentary representatives according to their respective constituencies (Tinkhundla). However this system of governance does not allow for different political parties (Forsyth-Thomson 2011). Power is vested on the King who appoints the Prime Minister and consults with cabinet headed by the Prime Minister and the bicameral parliament. This forms the western style of government.
The Swazi National Council (Libandla) is the traditional side of government and it is headed by the King and the Queen Mother in accordance with the dual monarchy approach (Forsyth- Thomson 2011). T q M ’ elements within the country (Forsyth-Thomson 2011).
43 Swaziland is divided into four administrative regions which are namely Hhohho, Manzini, Shiselweni and Lubombo and fifty five constituencies (Tinkhundla) for political administration purposes (VAC 2006, Central Statistics Office (CSO) 2007). The regions are administered by Regional Administrators (RAs), while the constituencies are administered by the Constituency Headman/ Headwoman. Within each constituency, are several chiefdoms headed by their respective chiefs and their inner councils. The chiefs report to the king through the Inner Council headed by a Governor.
T ’ z N Courts as well as the constitutional courts. The constitutional courts observe the Roman-Dutch law and comprise of a High Court, Magistrate courts as well as the Industrial court (Forsyth- Thomson 2011).
The government headed by the Prime Minister consists of cabinet ministries headed by cabinet ministers and different departments within the respective ministries. The country is administered using the basic structures that have been described.
I ’ four Regional Administrators work closely with all the chiefs in each of the regions and are therefore very influential. A Member of Parliament is chosen from each of the 55 constituencies or
‘T k ’ (Shown below in figure 3.1). As a rule each Inkhundla is made up of a number of chiefdoms depending on the size. At the Inkhundla level the council is called Buchopho Benkhundla ‘ ’.
The most important political unit in the study area is the Chiefdom which constitutes the traditional authority structure. In rural Swaziland the chiefdom is the highest authority on Swazi Nation Land (SNL). Ultimately these heredity chiefs are answerable only to the king regarding their chiefdoms. The chief has a headman (Indvuna) and an inner council (Bandlancane) to work with. These structures make up the Local Traditional Authority. The local traditional authority allocates land, and settles disputes. Where the chief and/or his council are active, they direct development activities within the community but in all cases they are the legal entry point for all development within the community. For this reason the traditional authority is very important in
44 establishing the legitimacy of a project, its acceptance in the community and its sustainability (SWADE 2012).
Whilst the importance of traditional authority in a project can be appreciated, the rest of the system of governance may present hurdles when mapping out coordination, the levels of commitment and accountability on a project. As Lerise (2005) has shown the two systems of governance (Western and Traditional/ Customary) seem to run parallel to one another bringing about issues of when and where the convergence comes and with what levels of influence on a project. The Western system of governance has all the structures and institutions which form the gateway for investors and other businesses within the country. Rural communities look up to their local traditional structures as the authorities as they carry on with their livelihoods. When coming to a project that involves an investor and rural communities (private public partnership) issues on policy and institutions emerge and may become complex especially in the way they need to be dealt with. It is therefore important for this study to appreciate the systems of governance within which the people of Mpaka and the project of growing Jatropha curcas for biofuels exist.
Mpaka falls under the Dvokodvweni constituency. Dvokodvweni constituency is shown encircled in figure 3.1. Figure 3.2 shows Mpaka (encircled) within the Dvokodvweni constituency.
45
46 Figure 3.2 Map of Swaziland showing Mpaka
3.2.1 Population
O ’ 1.1 million (Central Statistics Office (CSO) 2007). Based on currently available information on HIV/AIDS the country is leading in the world in terms of HIV/AIDS occurrence with up to 25.9% of the sexually active population infected (Swaziland Demographic Health Survey (SDHS) 2006-7).
This has seen the life expectancy plummeting from 60 years in 1997 to 37.5 years currently (Central Statistics Office (CSO) 2010).
According to the 2007 census, about 78.9% of the Swazi population is rural based (CSO). These derive their livelihood mainly through rain-fed subsistence farming and livestock rearing.
Pronounced drought conditions continue to recur in the country marked by erratic rainfall
47 patterns, prolonged dry spells and high temperatures leading to unsatisfactory agricultural production levels. The country has a high poverty rate of 69% (VAC 2006) and an unemployment rate of 40.6% (Table 3.1) with the Shiselweni region leading followed by the Lubombo region then Hhohho and lastly Manzini region in terms of unemployment (Table 3.2) (CSO 2010).
Table 3.1 Unemployment rates in Swaziland (CSO 2010) Area Total Male Female Swaziland 40.6% 33.6% 47.4%
Urban 19.8% 14.6% 25.9%
Rural 46.6% 39.7% 53.0%
Table 3.2 Regional Unemployment Rates in Swaziland (CSO 2010) Region Total Male Female
Hhohho 38.5% 31.7% 45.2%
Manzini 35.1% 29.8% 40.0%
Shiselweni 50.5% 44.5% 55.6%
Lubombo 45.1% 34.5% 56.7%
In the past remittances contributed greatly to rural household economies however, with the decline in employment opportunities due to reduced migrant labour and closure of certain sectors leading to job losses, the contribution of remittances to rural household economies has been greatly reduced.
With the majority of the people of Swaziland being rural (78.9%) and the poverty rate at 69% it is likely that the majority of poor are in the rural areas and that means there is a great need to empower rural communities and stir economic activities within their settings. As pointed out in
48 the South African Strategy for biofuels (2007) that the biofuels industry has the potential to uplift agricultural sectors and unlock substantial economic benefits, the project of growing Jatropha curcas by the rural community of Mpaka had the potential to being such. The Lubombo Administrative region within which Mpaka falls has the second highest rate of unemployment rate in the country (table 3.2) and as such effort should be directed to such regions in unlocking economic benefits.
3.2.2 Agriculture and food security
The country is also divided into four agro-ecological zones which are namely the Highveld, the Middleveld, the Lowveld and Lubombo Plateau (VAC 2006). The Swaziland Vulnerability Assessment Committee has further divided the country into what they call livelihood zones which are namely: Timber Highlands, Highveld Maize and Cattle, Moist Middleveld, Dry Middleveld, Lowveld Cattle Maize, Lubombo Plateau and the Peri-Urban (VAC 2010).
According to the feasibility study carried out by SWADE (2006) Jatropha curcas could potentially be successfully grown in all the agro-ecological zones.
The country has good agricultural and forestry resources, irrigation potential and minerals such . “ z G ”) x k of the money Swaziland gets from foreign exchange and the sugar cane industry absorbs a vast majority of the manpower. Swaziland also has one of the largest man-made forests covering about 7% of the total area making wood and wood products to be also very important export . T ’ A VAC 2006).
The country is faced with overgrazing, soil depletion, drought and occasional floods such that in 2004-5 a quarter of the population needed emergency food aid (VAC 2006). The country is still unable to be self reliant on its staple food maize. The current domestic consumption of maize is 113 000 MT (VAC 2009). The forecasted maize production for 2008/2009 was 70 672 tonnes which showed a slight increase compared to the 2007/2008 production year whereby 62000 tonnes of maize were produced (VAC 2009). In the season of 2009/2010 the maize yield was forecasted at 75 088tonnes which still showed an increase of 6% compared to the 2008/2009
49 mainly due to good rainfalls in some parts of the country and the government tractor hire scheme which even though unable to meet the demand of farmers is provided at a subsidized cost (VAC 2010). The shortfall is catered for through food aid and commercial imports (VAC 2009, VAC 2010).
During the 2009/10 season 52 445ha was under maize cultivation which shows a decline compared to the 2007/8 season whereby 60 355 ha were under maize cultivation. The figure is also slightly lower than the five year average between 2005/6 and 2009/10 which stands at 52 806ha under maize cultivation (VAC 2010). There is however an increase in output per hectare as agricultural inputs especially fertilizer and seed have become relatively lower than 2008/2009 production which increased accessibility. Usage by farmers ranged between adequate and satisfactory (VAC 2010). Clearly the country does not have food security as still about 160, 989 people are estimated to be facing income and food deficit (VAC 2010).
A big portion of the land of Swaziland lies fallow such that it puzzled a Taiwanese delegation to think that grass was the staple food of Swazis, thus congratulating their Swazi counterparts for having successfully cultivated the crop (Mtshali 2010). This is unlike South China where Mtshali (2010) during a visit, found that there was no patch of land that was left fallow. Not all crops are suitable for all regions of the country and it is therefore important that the most suitable crops for each of the regions are identified and farmers are encouraged to grow such crops so that portions of land do not unnecessarily remain fallow.
Cattle and other livestock such as goats, sheep, pigs and poultry continue to form a major source of livelihood for most households (VAC 2010). For both domestic and commercial purposes livestock and their products contribute to sources of income and nutrients enhancing household food security. The drive to commercialize livestock enterprises have led to good animal husbandry practices among farmers (VAC 2010).This may be part of the explanation why a portion of the country is fallow as there is need for grazing land among other reasons. Below is a table showing livestock numbers between 2007 and 2009.
50 Table 3.3 Livestock Populations in Swaziland (VAC 2010)
Census Year Cattle Sheep Goats 2007 637,717 18,770 480,000 2008 618,620 17,657 458,196 2009 608,538 22, 680 509,495
3.2.3 Economic Performance
The economic growth rate of the country in 2008 was projected to 3% but this eventually went down to a rate of 2.4%. In 2009 the economic growth rate went further down to a rate of 0.4%
but a slight improvement was expected in 2010 to about 1.1% (VAC 2010). However at the ’ I tional Monetary Fund (IMF) is in the country to monitor Government Expenditures and economic activities. IMF has announced that it is vital for the Swaziland Government to restructure its operation in the face of the poor economic performance especially by reducing the Wage Bill which stands at 51% of recurrent government expenditure (Forsyth-Forsyth-Thomson 2011).
3.2.4 Mpaka
Mpaka is on the Lubombo administrative Region of Swaziland situated 43.8 kilometres east from Manzini the largest and central town in Swaziland (Forsyth-Forsyth-Thomson 2011). The Lubombo Region is on the eastern part of the country running from its north to its south. It is ’ k Lubombo Conservancy. T ’ k k Sitegi). Mpaka is about 20 km east of Siteki and it falls within the Dvokodvweni constituency which has population estimated to about 23 000 (C S O 2010). The area has a railway station and also has a coal mine which is no longer in operation.
Mpaka falls within the Lowveld ecological region and is within the Cattle and Maize livelihood zone (VAC 2010). This area is known to receive minimal rainfall hence food production, in particular maize, fails in most years. Over the past 10years this livelihood zone has consistently
51 received food aid hence food relief has become a normal source of food in particular for the very poor and poor wealth groups. This is an indication of chronic vulnerability that may require interventions aimed at mitigating the long term effects of drought (VAC 2010:13)
Judging from the population of Swaziland which is about a million the local area of Mpaka has a significant population which needs empowering in other economic activities that can give them a sustainable livelihood considering the vulnerability of the area to drought and also the closure of the coal mine which used to be a major economic activity. This is the setting of the area in general which is what sparked a lot of interest for the study considering the general need of the area coupled with the promise of hope brought by the biofuels industry and the project of growing Jatropha curcas.