CHAPTER 8 SUMMARY, RECOMMENTATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
8.2 Tokwe Mukosi displacements, the past, the present and the future
In the first chapter of data analysis, I started with the historical overview of the Tokwe Mukosi dam project and the subsequent displacement. The aim was to signpost the reader to the temporalities and precurity of the incessant relocation phases at Chingwizi. First of all, there was the evacuation of the villagers from the matongo area. This was predicted on the severe flooding that inundated the area following the collapse of the dam wall. It has been revealed that the disaster culminated in arguably the biggest mass movement of people in the postcolony Zimbabwean society.What it means is that based on the lack of disaster preparedness and financial resources the state was forced to move the homeless villagers into the Chingwizi transit camp. This marked the genesis of the protracted and ambivalent relations between the Tokwe Mukosi villagers and the state. Up until this time, the state ordinarily acted like a primordial state in its relations with the villagers (see Scott 1998). Its imprudent actions are reflected in the resettling of the agitated villagers in a single transit camp. I contend that this social development accorded the residents the opportunity to stage one of the greatest forms of resistance in the post-
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colonial history of development and displacement. This was in spite of the state’s culture of violence against dissention in Zimbabwe. Clearly this was the first move that shows that the Tokwe Mukosi displacees are far from being conceptualized as passive victims of the social situation.
In light of the said resistance, legibility and statecraft became the viable options at the state’s disposal. In a series of relocation, there was another relocation of the villagers from the Chingwizi transit camp to the one hectare plots. While the use of force was the linchpin of this relocation phase, there were underlying elements of legibility and statecraft. I argued that the state at that point acted like many modern states across the world. The allocation of plots and subsequent naming of the villages was therefore classic in making the revolting residents subjects of the state. It had the overall effect of making the Tokwe Mukosi villagers traceable.
This would then make future revolts impossible. Up to the time I finished my research, there were no recorded cases of villagers in open confrontation with the state. In a significant way legibility pushed the villagers to fall back on alternative means and strategies to survive social exclusion. These alternative strategies then became the focus of this study.
The ubiquitous relocation of the Tokwe Mukosi people from the one hectare plots to the yet to be identified area is also a manifestation of temporality and evaporation of the immediate future (Guyer2008). It was revealed in this study that this situation is having ripple effects on the livelihoods of the Tokwe Mukosi people. Above all the impending future relocation and the hype behind the master plan for the Tokwe Mukosi dam will inevitably usher new problems and new forms of social inequalities. While the rest of Zimbabwe is futuristic and positive about the projected horizon, a few questions remain unanswered as the nation moves into the glorified future,
What will be the place for the marginalised Tokwe Mukosi people?
What will happen to the newly emerging families who are not appearing in the state’s records of beneficiaries?
Are there any chances that the displaced Tokwe Mukosi people will benefit in the
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What are the prospects of the Tokwe Mukosi people receiving full compensation?
It is my contention that unless there are drastic changes to the state’s behavior, the Tokwe Mukosi people will obviously be further marginalized. This is pursuant to the state’s conceptualization of the Tokwe Mukosi people as people in the way of development.
It was also revealed that the aforementioned temporality, coupled with erratic compensation has also contributed to the dislocation of the villagers from their livelihoods and sources of social and cultural wellbeing. In addition it was observed that these social developments had negative implications on social capital, social networks and local institutions. These elements were however critical in the pre-displacement and post-displacement phases for the marginalized residents.
This study is also a reflection of the unique experience of the Tokwe Mukosi ‘victims’ in their endeavor to shake off the ‘victim’ status. This status has hitherto been the flagship of many studies on IDPs in Zimbabwe. This kind evaluation as indicated in chapter 5 permeated into the national, regional and International communities. I nevertheless carefully avoided universalizing the responses of the villagers to this vulnerability context. I therefore revealed a section of the respondents who have switched to the waithood mode (Hanwana 2012) or people waiting for development. They are also conceptualized as people waiting for the state (Oldfield and Grayling 2015). It has been underscored that the waithood mode or the paradox of people waiting for the state is inadvertently shaping the politics of finding alternative options for resettlement and survival for the displacees (Oldfield and Grayling ibid).
In the understanding of the state people relations at Tokwe Mukosi, the study also revealed the elements of electioneering and gerrymandering that were sugarcoated by the state’s humanist attitude. As noted in the study, this was particularly true in the allocation of business stands and food relief. These were highly politicized and the overarching goal was to amass political capital
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for the ruling ZANU PF party. Of note is the fact that the commonly threading niche for this study was to capture the propensity of IDPs to deploy agency in the work of a disparaging social arrangement. Thus, the thesis argued that, while the state was interested in gaining political capital, the villagers are dialectically and tactfully using the same institution to acquire valuable but scarce resources at Chingwizi.