CHAPTER 6: PRESENTATION OF FINDINGS
6.2.7 Solidarity and Collaboration
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regardless of the challenge I had been faced with and I learnt not to trust people and bought dogs (Primary Data, 2020).
In spite of Lindiwe’s experience, in most cases, the community leadership promoted a sense of respect, tolerance, and loyalty, among other values, which they used as criteria to select fund beneficiaries during the application process. This was used as a tool to determine whether or not one would be able to repay the loan. The findings reveal that ubuntu
emphasises clear dimensions and roots within the social structure, which fully acknowledges that every person is a social being who can understand his relatedness in the company of and interaction with other human beings (Cowley, 1991).
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Meeting with people have sustained me since they will share information that I used in my business and earn income (Primary Data, 2020).
Even though some participants were not explicit about their feelings about solidarity and collaboration, one can tell from the types of businesses they run, such as Nonhlanhla’s fruit and vegetables stall. Sonto bought raw materials from a group of women from the Highveld who sold in the Manzini market and travelled to South Africa in groups. Lindiwe learnt piggery farming from her aunt, how to raise chicken broilers from a church group, and she also learnt how to grow vegetables from a group of women in the community, who gave her a piece of land to practice what she had learnt.
Merriam said:
From other women I have learnt a lot, as we discussed our businesses and life in general while we were training or fetching cheques from Inhlanyelo. If you are open enough or you are a people’s person you can learn a lot from other women, as we do meet at Inhlanyelo offices when we have come for our cheques or other businesses.
Sometimes what we discussed, such as business ideas that I would come home and implement in my household (Primary Data, 2020).
In the case of Merriam, she said that she collaborated with other women to enable her meet deadlines with her clients and she admitted paying them E50 per day as an incentive. One can say this was due to fact that she had not employed them but called them when a need arose.
She said:
I am self-employed and therefore I am able to ask other women from the community to help me meet customer deadlines, meaning I am able to employ others… I therefore need to ask other women in the community to assist me meet my demand and deadlines… would pay them some incentives - as little as E50 a day. You often find that they help me from 7 am to 4 pm, trimming this, putting buttons here, working with a needle here and there where there is a need when there is a demand on my business (Primary Data, 2020).
Although some participants formed groups that had a positive impact on their lives, few participants used this forum to exploit other women. Despite allegations of exploitation among the participants, the reality is that the women benefitted from the opportunity to learn new skills as they assisted one another. One could interpret it as empowerment, but the
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participant referred to it as an incentive, implying that she used them. Merriam was a full- time employee, and she hired other women to help with weeding and harvesting her maize crop. In Meriam's case, giving money to others would help them meet their needs as well as acquire sewing skills.
It should be noted, however, that microfinance institutions promote this group method by enforcing the peer pressure mode of loan repayment. From the literature, there appears to be limited examples where microfinance institutions specifically encourage their clients
(especially women) to form partnerships, other than through forming groups. This might be due to legal requirement needed to form partnerships, which can disqualify women especially in rural areas which uphold traditional traditional systems and structures. Zandie had a unique situation where she gained popularity and was invited to many events as a guest speaker. She stated that she was learning from this experience and returned to help a group of young people in the area by imparting her knowledge and skills on agribusiness. She described how she would go to successful groups of women who run agribusinesses to learn more from them, which is why she was successful at her age. The women she referred to are those who borrowed land from the chief and gathered together to grow vegetables for Namboard. The group was formed to meet market demand and also to share different business skills. This is why Zandie also formed a youth group to help in her community. Sonto viewed the network as unjust because she would share her experiences but gained little from them. Perhaps they regarded her as very knowledgeable, so they were afraid to share what they knew with her.
She was however, happy to share with others because she had gained knowledge, and skills, and had changed her behaviour, which was more important than the ability to lead.
Sonto said:
Most of the time when I have an experience, I share it with them and then we practice it and see if it works and we then do it individually to raise the money so that we increase our savings. Due to the diverse women in the society, I have observed that these women are mean and don’t want to share their experiences even from their businesses. But for me, I thought through sharing our experiences, one could have an input and improve my ideas. By so doing we would learn and implement these inputs and see how they work (Primary Data, 2020).
Women not only learnt through training organized by the Inhlanyelo fund, but they also learnt from one another. This fostered a sense of solidarity as well as (limited) collaboration,
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as they learnt from one another and, on occasion, offered support to one another. Jarvis (1987) states that people are the result of learning and that learning occurs when interacting with others and it continues to shape their behaviour. Women's participation in the fund was important for enhancing their learning and improving their businesses. In short, it improved their connections and other community programmes that would improve their lives.