THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT: THE CASE OF THE MOLOPO DISTRICT OF THE NORTH WEST PROVINCE
by
MALESELA ALPHEUS MAHLAKO
SHORT DISSERTATION
submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree
MAGISTER ARTIUM
in
DEVELOPMENT STUDIES
in the
FACULTY OF ARTS
at the
RAND AFRIKAANS UNIVERSITY
SUPERVISOR: PROF. C.S. VAN DER WAAL
NOVEMBER 1996 (i) Acknowledgement
Acknowledgement of assistance is the quintessence of ubuntu. Even though there is no adequate expression of the debts I have incurred in the preparation of this work, I should, however, particularly like to mention some of the people who have spent an inordinate amount of time assisting me.
With the tireless and superb supervision of Professor C.S. van der Waal, this work safely reached its destination. To him, I am deeply indebted. I am also deeply grateful to my parents for their unequivocal support during my study period. Thanks again to my colleague, Mr P.G. Mpolokeng, with whom I travelled to the rural areas for data collection. I have definitely benefited from his advice and support. TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Statement of the problem 3 1.2 Methodology 5 1.3 Overview of the thesis 7
CHAPTER TWO: WOMEN AND DEVELOPMENT
2.1 Introduction 9 2.2 Women's role in production and development 9 2.3 Women and patriarchy 12 2.4 The participation of women in rural development projects 15 2.5 Case study on women and development: Zimbabwe 19 2.6 Women and poverty 22 2.7 Theoretical perspectives on the marginalisation of women in the development process 27 2.8 Conclusion 30
CHAPTER THREE: THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN THE NORTH WEST PROVINCE 3.1 Introduction 34 3.2 The area 35 3.3 Historical background 36 3.4 Social background 37 3.5 Economic background 40 3.6 Conclusion 49
CHAPTER FOUR: DISCUSSION OF DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
4.1 Introduction 51 4.2 Signalhill self-help project 51 4.3 Miga rural development project 57 4.4 Loporung rural development project 62 4.5 Conclusion 72
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Summary 75 5.2 Recommendations 81 References 88 LIST OF TABLES
TABLE PAGE
Percentage of men and women living in poverty 25 Poverty: female and male - headed house holds 26 Percentage contribution of the informal sector in 1994 43 Employment by economic sector and the 1994 unemployment rate 45 NWP Poverty head count and head count ratio 46 Reasons for withdrawal from the project 56 Male response to proposition that men and women should be equal at home 68. Female response to proposition that domestic duties should be shared equally 69 (iv)
LIST OF MAPS
MAP PAGE North West subregions/ Districts 32 Molopo Subregion/District of the North West Province 33 (v)
SUMMARY
Just like in many other provinces of the new South Africa, the majority of the people in the North West Province are located in the rural areas, the majority of them being women. Women, especially those in the rural areas, are marginalised in the development process regardless of the new focus on women in development literature. Most women are not involved in the decision-making process, and the few that are involved only appear at the implementation stage where there is need for manpower. Again, many women in the rural areas are exposed to poverty and there is a close link between their marginalisation and the poverty situation in which they fmd themselves. Development projects which are geared towards poverty alleviation are planned by men for men and women are very seldom in the planning stage. Women are therefore objects and not subjects of the development process. Most policy-makers are not gender- sensitive and women often find themselves left behind. Rural development projects also seem to be devoid of attention to local needs and local preferences are therefore sometimes irrelevant. Many rural development projects do not achieve their intended objectives and others even produce unwanted results and perpetuate the existing socio-economic bottlenecks experienced in the rural areas. It is believed that rural development projects will not reach their intended objectives if women continue to be marginalised.
This study is prompted by the continued marginalisation of women in the development process, despite the proliferation of literature on women and development. Three rural settlements in the North West Province were selected to determine the extent to which rural women participate in the development process: Miga, Loporung and Signalhill. In each of these settlements, a rural development project was studied, which was then used in a comparison of the three case studies. The most important method used to collect data in the field was the interview method. This method has got its own inherent problems, for example it is time-consuming. However, this method was preferred specifically because this (vi) research is about rural people and rural development projects. Apart from the fieldwork, a literature study was done on the role of women in the development process, both internationally and in Africa, especially in the context of rural projects. In view of the fact that the majority of the people in the rural areas are not educated, this method was seen to be viable. This method provides the researcher with ample opportunity to clarify issues which are not understood by the interviewee. The researcher has the opportunity to give a detailed explanation of the importance of the study and to ensure that they fully know what is expected of them.
The findings of this research have indicated that the North West Province is not much different from other provinces of South Africa. It was found that the majority of the people are found in the rural areas and these people share many common characteristics. Among these characteristics, poverty seems to be a more salient one and women and children are the most hard-hit. Regardless of this appalling state of affairs, most policy-makers seem to be obsessed with pandering to urban interests at the expense of the rural ones. It is therefore areas moving into the urban centres. In the three settlements that were studied, the majority of the people moved into the urban areas of Mmabatho and Mafikeng to look for employment opportunities. The majority of the migrants venture into informal activities. Most of these people are women. Due to the poverty situation, many women are forced to commercialise their domestic chores.
One of the most important findings of this research is that rural people are not homogeneous and should therefore be treated according to their particular needs. It was also found from this research that rural people sometimes do not accept their poverty situation as given. Therefore, rural people should not be seen as passive objects which need to be injected with Western values as the modernisation perspective asserted. Rural people have proved to be ready and eager to improve their conditions of life. What needs to be done, therefore, is to make facilities available and accessible for them. Generally, this research has shown that women in the rural areas are still marginalised and aspects of social life such as poverty, patriarchy and tradition play a very significant role to this effect. Lack of access to resources also contributes towards the marginalisation of women. These are the major issues which need to be dealt with without any delay. 1
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Studies (Wilson and Ramphele 1989, Rogers 1984, Dominelli 1995) show that the majority of the people in African countries live in the rural areas, the majority of them being women. These studies also indicate that rural people are disadvantaged in a variety of ways: firstly, they do not have access to basic services such as education, clean water, food and shelter, recreational facilities, credit facilities, etc. In the rural areas, most women are unemployed, but this does not automatically mean that they do not work. Most of them are engaged in 'cheap' and unpaid agricultural labour such as tilling the land and ploughing the fields, harvesting and hoeing. Most women are employed in the agricultural domain where they are remunerated on a low level. Women play a significant role in reproduction and child rearing. They perform domestic tasks which include fuel collection, fetching water and preparation of food, and are not regarded as being significant in the overall development mainstream. Women in the industrial sector are paid low wages and are not involved in the decision-making processes.
The activities that women engage in are very important. Households, and eventually the society as a whole, cannot survive without these . However, there seems to be very little recognition attached to the contribution that rural women make in the development process although now literature on women and development abounds. Literature on women and development which stresses the importance of women in development has, to some extent, brought some positive changes in the practice of development. For example, these studies have, in the words of Kandiyoti (1990:6), "alerted us to the fact that rural development policies will not have their intended effects or might even produce unintended negative outcomes" if women continue to remain outside the development mainstream. Through literature on women and development, it was realised that resources have to be made available to women and forces that perpetuate their marginalisation have to be removed. 2
However the tendency to accord little significance to women's activities and their continued marginalisation in the development process still persists. This has elicited much concern and debate among policy makers and development researchers, especially during the 1970's. As a consequence, this decade saw some concerted efforts being made by these policy makers and researchers to divert and increase their attention and focus on the rural majority, especially women, in designing their development strategies and research programmes.
It has to be pointed out from the outset that the marginalisation of women in the development mainstream and the disregard of the activities they perform involve a variety of issues and need to be looked at from a broad perspective. For example, patriarchy is of great significance in discussing this topic, especially in the South African context. However, this does not have to be looked at from the national angle only, but there has to be an analysis of local grassroots issues which include the power relations that exist within the households or families. Aspects of social life such as the division of certain duties according to sex and violence that exists within the family units and at community level are pertinent to this topic.
This study is going to make an attempt to look into the socio-economic conditions of the people in the North West Province, especially women. However, focusing on all women is beyond the scope and parameters of this study and as such, special attention will specifically be directed to the rural dwellers of some areas in the countryside of Molopo district. It is mainly concerned with the role that these rural women play in the development process, especially in developing their own areas. The contribution that they make in the development process will therefore be discussed in the context of the socio- economic conditions under which they find themselves. 3
1.1 Statement of the problem
The majority of the women in the North West Province, and Molopo district in particular, are sidelined or marginalised in rural development projects despite the new focus on women in development literature. They are often not involved in the planning and decision-making processes and the few that are involved in rural development projects only feature at the implementation level and this really turns them into objects and not subjects of the development process. The fact that their participation is only observable at the implementation level is in itself a clear proof that top-down approaches to rural development still linger. Their marginalisation seems to inject a sense of devaluation, and this might be one of the reasons leading to the lack of development in the rural areas of this region. This study is also prompted by the existing general trends in many countries where most of the projects meant for the development of the rural areas are more sexist to the detriment of women. Rural development projects also seem to be devoid of attention to local needs and preferences and are therefore sometimes irrelevant.
The aspects which will be investigated and addressed include: why is it that rural women are marginalised in the development process, how this marginalisation takes place in a specific region and how this marginalisation can be remedied or alleviated in the light of the international development literature.
This study intends, therefore, to achieve the following objectives:
To determine the extent to which rural women in the area under study are engaged in rural development projects. i.e. whether they are included in the whole project cycle - as sources of information, decision-makers, planners or just as beneficiaries. To determine the criteria for the inclusion of women. That is, to determine if there is a gender bias or prejudice. 4
To determine the extent to which rural development facilities are made available and accessible to the rural women in this region. To elicit responses from the rural women themselves, with the intention of ascertaining whether they derive any benefits from their participation in rural development projects. This, therefore, evaluates the democratization of the projects and will reflect on the nature and degree of women's participation in various project activities. Th determine whether rural women in this area are recognised and considered as instrumental and important in the development process, especially in developing their own areas.
The findings of this study are intended to be made available to policy makers, especially the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) office in the North West Province (at Mmabatho). Through the findings of this research, policy makers might come to realize that this should be a period of action rather than words. These findings may serve as both an eye-opener and mandate for concrete action. Therefore, this study can make a very positive contribution to the objectives of the Reconstruction and Development Programme which unequivocally stresses the significance of women in the development process and gender equality: "The role of women within the RDP requires particular emphasis. Women are the majority of the poor in South Africa. Mechanisms to address the disempowerment of women and boost their role within the development process and economy must be implemented. The RDP must recognise and address existing gender inequalities as they affect access to jobs, land, housing, etc" (ANC 1994:17). 5
1.2. Methodology
Methodology refers to the way in which data is collected, sampled, analysed and interpreted. The material for this study is based on the information collected from May to July 1996 in three rural settlements of the North West Province, which are Miga, Loporung and Signalhill. These settlements were selected because of their proximity and relevance. The most predominant method use_d_t • • ew method.
Interview is according to Powney and Watts (1987:6) "when the conversation is initiated by the interviewer for the specific purpose of obtaining research relevant information and focused by him on content specified by research objectives ..." Behr (1983:150) regards it as a direct method of gathering or obtaining information for research purposes "in a face-to-face situation".
Although this method of gathering information has gained notoriety for being time- consuming and very difficult to arrange sometimes, it was preferred to the written questionnaire because among other things, the interviewer has enough time to give a detailed explanation of the significance and rationale of the study to the subjects and to ensure that the latter understand fully what is required of them. If the interviewee/s appears to exhibit signs of detachment and lack of interest, "the interviewer can stimulate and encourage him ..." (Behr 1983:151). Above all, and even more significantly, this method was adopted because this study is about people in the rural areas which are widely known to be inhabited by uneducated people. Behr (1983:151) argues that "the flexibility of approach inherent in the interview method is particularly valuable when information is sought from children or illiterates".
Both one-to-one and group interviews were conducted because the former is relatively "easy to manage and issues can be kept relatively confidential, analysis is more 6 straightforward in that only one person's set of responses are gathered at any one time", and the latter was also preferred because people in a group "can allow a discussion to be developed so that a wide range of responses can be collected" (Powney and Watts 1987:25). The normative survey or descriptive survey method was also adopted. This is defined by Leedy (1980:76) as "observations which a researcher makes directly at the scene of occurrence and then relays according to his perception ...". Therefore, the interviews were supplemented with observational field notes. For the purposes of collecting data for the study, an appointment was firstly made with the interviewees for easy rapport and communication. Data in these areas were collected through the help of research assistants in all cases. People seem to feel more comfortable talking to somebody they are acquainted to, than a person they do not know. Some interviewees, especially in Signalhill and Loporung, complained that people have sought information from them before especially about the socio-economic hardships they experience in their settlements, and quite often, these people made promises which are not lived up to. As a result, they have developed an apathetic attitude towards researchers.
For this study, the population was selected using a non - random type of sampling. Specifically, such type of sampling was chosen because the characteristics of the population were not known and did not have an equal chance of being included in the final sample. Three villages were visited; Signalhill, Miga and Loporung. Members of rural development projects were interviewed in the three rural settlements, and in addition to that, 5 non-members in each settlement. The sample size of the study is 40, comprising 25 people who are project members and 15 who are non-members. This size of the sample was chosen and biased towards those who are in the projects because the focus of the study is mainly about development projects in the rural areas, and those who are non-members were only used for control purposes. Since two types of questions have been asked during the interviews (open-ended and closed-ended types), two types of data analysis were used. These include the qualitative method of ethnographic analysis and a quantitative method of tabular analysis. 7
1.3 Overview of the thesis
The role of women in the development process has become an established concern among the development policy-makers across the spectrum. This is symbolised by the proliferation of literature on women and development. Given the recognition of the importance of women in development literature, the practice of development has taken a different shape and direction. Many policy-makers have realised that any form of development venture which does not take women empowerment and gender equality on board will not reach its intended objectives and may bring about unwanted negative outcomes. So, this literature has been very significant and influential.
However, regardless of a plethora of literature on women and development, specifically on the need to address the issue of the marginalisation of women and gender inequalities which have pervaded all sectors of the society, women are still marginalised from the development mainstream in most cases. The main purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which women in the three settlements under study are taken on board in the development process. It intends to identify some of the socio-economic bottlenecks that perpetuate the marginalisation of women.
Drawing on research conducted in these rural settlements, it is argued that women, especially those in the rural areas are marginalised. It is maintained by this thesis that, inter alia, patriarchy, poverty, unemployment and abuse of tradition are the most important forces which promote the marginalisation of women and the yawning gap that exists between the sexes. It is further argued that gender inequality and women's domination begin, and are more acute at the family level. Women are not given the opportunities to make important decisions at household level. So, in addressing the problem of gender inequality and the marginalisation of women, we have to start at the household level. 8
However, paying much attention to the family and trying to isolate it from the broader social and economic context will be a futile exercise and will therefore not work. The situation of the family is a result of broader conditions such as poverty, abuse of tradition and rural under-development. Therefore, in addressing gender inequality and the marginalisation of women, we have to address the general socio-economic issues. The needs of the people in general have to be addressed. Fundamentally, what is needed is the creation of job opportunities, equitable access to education and training facilities, provision of credit facilities and other services, and the provision of development advice and assistance. Above all, it is argued that gender inequality and the marginalisation of women is not a women's problem, but a problem of the society as a whole. As a result, men and women together must equally be engaged in opposing those forces that perpetuate the domination and marginalisation of women. 9
CHAPTER TWO: WOMEN AND DEVELOPMENT
2.1 Introduction
This chapter briefly portrays the role that women play, and their participation in the development process. It argues that the fact that women are involved in the development process is of central significance and what needs to be done is to recognise the activities that they engage in on a daily basis. Women are responsible for production and the reproduction of families. They play a very significant role in household maintenance in general, even though they may not be engaged in the activities that are followed up by pecuniary incentives. That women's household activities are not paid in cash seems to be the major reason leading to the small recognition of these activities. These activities are important and need to be given the recognition they deserve. The central argument and concern of this chapter is that women are being marginalised, and structures such as patriarchy are very instrumental to this effect. Women are not sufficiently involved in decision-making processes and this, to some extent, is responsible for the appalling conditions under which they find themselves. Zimbabwe will be used as a case study to give the general picture of the status of women, especially those in the rural areas, in the development process.
2.2 Women's role in production and development
Many rural women are engaged in activities that positively impact on the development process but very little value is attached to this contribution. According to Kandiyoti (1990:7), "women are de facto food producers and active participants in the agrarian sector", and their daily chores go beyond that of agriculture. Karl (1984:73), opines that "a characteristic common to most rural women is a long hard day", and the following activities which are descriptive of a woman farmer's day by The African Training and 1 0
Research Centre for Women (ATRCW) are a true testimony to this assertion: "She rises before dawn and walks to the fields. In the busy seasons, she spends some nine to ten hours hoeing, planting, weeding and harvesting. She brings food and fuel home from the farm, walks long distances for water carrying a pot which may weigh 20 kilograms or more, grinds and pounds grains, cleans the house, cooks while nursing her infant, washes the dishes and clothes, minds the children and generally cares for the household. She processes and stores food and markets excess produce, often walking long distances with heavy loads in difficult terrain. She must also attend to the family's social obligations such as weddings and funerals. She may have to provide fully for herself and her children. During much of the year she may labour for 15 to 16 hours each day and she works this way until the day she delivers her baby, frequently resuming work within a day or two of delivery" (Karl 1984:73).
Perhaps prompted by this array of activities that rural women perform, Okol B'Pitek's song as quoted in Mosse (1994:29) may also add and serve as a luminary with regard to this variety of tasks in which women are engaged on a daily basis: " Woman of Africa Sweeper Smearing floors and walls with cow dung and black soil Cook, ayah, the baby on your back Washer of dishes Planting, weeding, harvesting Storekeeper, builder Runner of errands... Woman of Africa What are you not? " 11
From very long ago, women have worked in the households and "stitching the threads of everyday life together" without which life as we know it could not exist and their work has often gone unnoticed (Dominelli 1995:134). Women are responsible for the reproduction of families, and child rearing has come to be viewed as an exclusive prerogative of women. Women are also responsible for water fetching and fuel or wood collection, often from far- away places. Their daily chores include cooking or preparing food for the whole family, planting, weeding, harvesting, threshing, winnowing, tending poultry and animals. Most of the duties they are engaged in are not followed by pecuniary remuneration and this may be one of the causes for their devaluation. As Nelson (1979:41) says: "Women's work is mainly supplementary to that of the man. The woman processes the raw materials he brings in, she grows the vegetables that supplement the basic meal of rice. Because of the supplementary nature of the work that a woman does, she is treated as no more than an appendage to the male family group. It is mainly because of male prejudice and men's narrow conception of productive work that the importance of her work is not recognised. It is thought that only men earn income. Women contribute to the family income. Her hard work milling rice and grinding grain saves family money".
Women's household tasks are of great significance in the process of development and great value needs to be attached to such chores, and should not just be dismissed as housework because, as Abramovitz et al (1992:85) say, unless women's multiple roles are explicitly recognised and valued and their participation in decision -making increased the "human well-being will dwindle at an accelerating pace in coming decades". Bhattacharya et al (1994:245) express concurrence with this by saying that: "too often, planners have failed to recognise women's roles as producers of economic goods and services. Further, activities that are carried out to produce and care for the family members (and maintenance of human 12
resources) are often viewed as non-economic, generally carry no pecuniary remuneration and usually are excluded from the national income accounts. In fact, these household maintenance tasks are essential economic functions that ensure the development and preservation of human capital for the family and the nation".
2.3. Women and patriarchy
Patriarchy in Africa has long been in vogue and South Africa is no exception. In South Africa patriarchy is older than capitalism and apartheid, although it was not as discernable as it came to be during those times. Patriarchy does not only occur at national level or in the industries but it begins at home or household level where some people (men) are viewed as being superior whilst others (women) as inferior and this is underpinned by the sexual division of certain duties. As Rogers (1984:11) puts it: "It is thought 'natural' that a woman's place is in the home and that she has a very specific set of tasks which are thought to be universal because they are based on the biological imperatives of sex. The most important role for women, defining their entire life, is portrayed as the bearing and bringing up of children. A man, on the other hand, is seen as the 'natural' head of the family, its representative in the outside world and therefore the person with whom planners will deal. Since it is assumed that men control families (`the master in his own home'), any new resources intended for everyone should logically be channelled through them".
A home is therefore seen as a man's area of jurisdiction in which no one besides himself should exercise power and make important decisions, whether these decisions affect him alone or the family as a whole. This practice seems to be more visible in the rural areas of African countries where many rural women are not engaged in paid activities. Women, just like children, are not expected to question authority. That's how the African tradition 13 goes. People around the village will look with contempt and dismay to the woman or child who questions the decision of the father or husband. This thinking provides a sound groundwork for men to do as they wish, and this often culminates into domestic violence. As Shephered (1993:41) points out, "the incidence of violence in South Africa generally is high and this is reflected in the home". Wieringa (1994:845) says that the struggle that exists between men and women is found at all societal levels, and this struggle is more visible at household level. It is argued that households are "sites of struggle, where domestic violence may be acted out, and where men generally manage to get the larger share of food, money, luxury items and leisure time". Shephered (1993:41) says in 1993 it was estimated that at least one in three women was regularly battered by her male partner. Millet as quoted in Bryson (1992:198) shares the sentiment that the oppression of and violence against women begin at household level: "Patriarchy's chief institution is the family, and later radical feminists have agreed that, contrary to the assumptions of conventional political theory, the family is indeed the central part of society's power structure; as such it both sustains patriarchal power in the public world and is itself a source of women's oppression. Far from being a 'natural' arrangement based on mutual love and respect in which the emotional, sexual and domestic needs of adult partners are met and children cared for, it is a social institution in which women's labour is exploited, male sexual power may be violently expressed and oppressive gender identities and modes of behaviour are learned".
It is regrettable to notice that the traditional stereotypes which place men at superior positions are deeply rooted not only in the minds of men, but also some rural women who exhibit resistance to change. They believe that things have always been this way, they have to remain this way and will always be this way. As Kelso (1993:37-38) says, the studies by the Zimbabwe Women's Bureau found that men are not the only ones who use tradition as a shield against change. Even rural women, who of course comprise "about 14
82% of the nation's 5 million women, are often the hardest to convince that women deserve equal rights". The majority of these women are uneducated.
There seems to be what I can call a 'trickle-up effect' of the marginalisation and exploitation of women; and even girls; because this does not end at household level but spills over to the work-place, be it agriculture or industry, religious institutions, educational institutions and society as a whole. According to Wilson and Ramphele (1989:179): "Women are discriminated against in all aspects of life - in the home as girls being brought up and educated, in the allocation of resources at school and institutions of higher learning; at work; and in society in general. African rural women are at the bottom of the economic pyramid in this country because of the added paucity of resources and more rigid sexist practices in this area".
Women are therefore generally not empowered and their discrimination and exploitation begin from the cradle. Wilson and Ramphele (1989:179) sum up the appalling conditions facing women by saying that: "Like many other societies, the South African economy is biased in such a way as to place most of the paid jobs in the hands of men. For this reason in South Africa, as elsewhere, the degree of poverty is far higher amongst female-headed households than in those homes where a man is at the head. This is to be expected, given the structure of society, which is both sexist and economically exploitative. In South Africa the barriers against women moving freely into the market place to work where they choose, combined with the educational disadvantages that weigh more heavily on women than men, place 15
upon them additional burdens which men do not have to carry".
These situations are therefore indicative of the mammoth task facing development planners and agencies, because male domination seems to have infiltrated and pervaded development work and it has to be known to them that the integration of women in the development process "without much thought or attempt towards genuine power sharing with women" may perpetuate a skewed and lop-sided form of development (Anand 1984:6-7).
2.4. The participation of women in rural development projects
A myriad of literature sources on rural women indicate that this category of people participate far less than their male counterparts in development projects and their participation often only comes at the implementation stage. According to Anand (1984:6), very little has been achieved except women's "integration" and still they were left out and not integrated in the true sense of the word simply because they were not included "at all levels of the development process". Because of their marginalisation, women's needs and interests are constantly ignored in the planning process and as a result, many rural development projects do not move off the ground for reasons which include the exclusion and ignoring of women in the "initial and subsequent planning process" (Maddock 1994:185).
According to Mayoux (1992:236), "participatory development has become an established umbrella term for a new style of development across the political spectrum" and it has to be made known to policy makers that "projects are unlikely to succeed without the full and equal involvement of women". In like manner, Snyder et al (1995:42) argue that "whether one holds a pragmatic or a humanistic view of development, the participation of women is necessary and their involvement will hasten the development of the whole society". Expressing concurrence with this are Pietila et al (1990:19) by saying that the 16 participation of women in rural development is important because this "has the immediate effect of increasing equality between sexes ... and also has the effects of accelerating the process of agricultural development, increasing the level of national production and the supply of food at the national and local levels".
Therefore, the participation of women at all stages of the project cycle can bring about valuable results. In the same breath, the exclusion of women from rural development projects can have devastating results, and surely, literature on the adverse results of the marginalising of women from such projects is frequently cited. Snyder et al (1995:42) say the most serious problems of development defy solution without the active participation of women.
According to Kandiyoti (1990:6), rural development policies will not have their intended effects or might even produce unintended negative outcomes if the role and position of women in rural activities are not taken into account. The marginalisation of women in rural development projects has caused great concern and policy makers are not oblivious of this. It is therefore, regrettable to realize that to date, lip service rather than action is still paid to this issue in many countries. Women still continue to be viewed as objects and not subjects of development and their activities are valued less. Many policy makers seem to be too much obsessed with the concerns and interests of men to the detriment of their female counterparts and this really has very negative consequences. Gabriel (1991:77-78) argues that: "Planners are aware that policy directed towards achieving rural development goals depends for its success upon the response of local people. But planners have not yet recognised that women's need for and use of resources is as fundamental an element of rural change as men's or that the mode and degree of access to and control over resources differs significantly between women and men. 17
By only considering the behaviour of men or assuming that this includes women, planners have only half their data".
It is worth mentioning here that participation should not be looked at from a very narrow and shortsighted perspective. As Ghai (1988:1) says: "The notion of participation may be examined from different levels and perspectives. One distinction relates to participation in the public domain, work place and at home. The first aspect refers to all matters discussed and decided in public institutions - local organizations, national facts, parliaments, parties etc. The second concerns factories, offices, plantations, farms and other work places. The third dimension refers to family relations and work at home. The latter is largely neglected in most discussions on participation. Yet, in relation to the time spent in different places, 'home democracy' is at least as important as work democracy and is a crucial determinant of the welfare of some members of the family, especially the women and children".
So, women need to be afforded the opportunity to take decisions in all matters that affect their lives. Participation has to start from household level and this will definitely create a solid foundation for participation outside the household. If participation is looked at from a narrow perspective, it might mean more work on the side of women. For example, women's participation in rural development projects might require more time from them, where for instance they have to attend meetings and arrive late at home. Upon their arrival at home they might be expected to attend to household chores like preparing food for the family. This will obviously mean more work for them. So, there is a need for democratization of the household sphere where women and men share equally the household activities. Mayoux (1995:244) says that by merely increasing the number of women in participatory projects does not automatically mean that the problem of gender inequality has been addressed. Perhaps the following quotation might serve as an eye- 18 opener with regard to some of the precautionary measures that need to be taken into account in any form of participation, especially on the side of women. According to Mayoux (1995:251): "... Simply increasing the numbers of women involved in participatory projects cannot therefore be seen as a panacea, or an easy alternative to addressing politically sensitive aspects of gender inequality. Serious questions need to be asked about which women are involved, what sort of participation is taking place, and who benefits ... In many cases women's participation has not led to significant change in gender inequality. Women's involvement in participatory activities is generally greater in activities which present the least threat to men. Women-only projects are most common in 'female' activities in which men are not interested either because the income is low and/or the activities have low social status. In mixed-sex projects women are often involved only in special women's activities which do not involve men's productive resources or competition with men. Equally importantly, large numbers of poor women are excluded from participatory projects. For those women who are involved participation has often increased their already heavy work-load without leading to significant increases in control over income or other benefits".
The above quotation suggests that participation should not be participation just for the sake of participation. Among others, the participants must share resources equally, have a say in the distribution of these resources and must benefit equally and not only a few at the expense of the majority. It is also postulated in the quotation that participation sometimes can be used to cover or masquerade some inequities and injustices. It can be used as a viable vehicle to maintain and perpetuate the status quo. As Mayoux (1995:244) says, it has to be borne in mind that "male support for women's participation cannot be taken as evidence of male support for changes in gender inequalities and willingness to forego their own interests in order to address women's needs". To 19 strengthen this assertion, it is further argued that: "Many governments, particularly socialist regimes, have been concerned to mobilize female labour for national development. Leaders of political movements have long encouraged the participation of women, sometimes even in the frontline of violent struggle. This has clearly entailed challenging certain social norms and taboos where necessary for these wider aims: however, the inequalities in power within the household, and particularly around reproduction, have rarely been challenged....Men have often opposed women's involvement in any type of activity which goes against their interests either at household or community level" (Mayoux 1995:244).
2.5. Case study on women and development: Zimbabwe
Like many other African states, Zimbabwe has been under colonial rule until she gained independence in 1980. During the colonial rule, as it applied in many other states, the colonialists introduced a body of law in Zimbabwe known as Common Law where the state was given the leeway to intervene on behalf of capital to create the supply of cheap labour. Men were forced into cash labour and the state has been very instrumental in encouraging this forced labour. For example, the state, as it used to be the case in South Africa during the apartheid regime, appropriated land and set aside inadequate and unproductive Native Reserves for Africans and this reduced productivity which saw men being forced to go for wage employment in the cities. Things like the but tax also encouraged people to earn cash by labour and men were therefore compelled to become migrant labourers, and in order to control their movement and prevent them from going back to the traditional sector during harvesting time, the government passed the Master and Servant Act, which made it impossible for them to break the contract (Gordon 1996 :221). Gordon continues to say that men, just like women, had the right of permanent residence in the Native Reserves only and not outside those borders. Under the traditional 20 law, African women remained legal minors from the cradle to the grave, and this did not allow them to enter into contracts without permission from men. They "were not allowed to own or inherit property. The rights to land use for subsistence production were derived from the rights of the husband to land for each wife, and the produce from this land was the property of the husband" (Gordon 1996:221).
As it is the case in most parts of Africa, for example, South Africa, women in Zimbabwe played a very significant role in the liberation struggle and it was maybe because of this reason that "gender issues were brought to the fore" (Gordon 1996:223). It is also argued that their involvement in the liberation struggle helped them gain some important rights in the post-colonial government. However, Gordon (1996:223) reports with regret that "although the Zimbabwe constitution in theory guaranteed all Zimbabwean citizens equal rights and protection from discrimination, gender-specific rights and protection for women from discrimination and domination were not explicitly included". Poverty continued to be the most overwhelmingly single common factor in the rural areas and women and children were the hardest hit. The stipulations of the Lancaster House Agreement which was almost like a constitution, which among other things, ensured the total overhauling of the colonial structures and other social issues like patriarchal relations and structures, were not observed. Gordon (1996:219) says "with regard to patriarchy, what was achieved was the accommodation and modification of pre-existing mechanisms of male domination".
So, even though constitutionally all people in Zimbabwe are guaranteed equal rights, "equal protection and the overall protection from any form of domination or discrimination, gender specific rights and protection for women from discrimination and domination were not explicitly included" and seem to be left to other organizations such as non-governmental organizations (Gordon 1996:123). It is argued that most women from the rural areas migrate and commute to urban centres and venture into the informal sector in which they predominate; comprising 64% of those in this informal sector. Men 21 in this sector are engaged in activities such as building, carpentry, repairing watches whilst "women are involved in a limited range of activities typed as feminine and which are less skilled and less capital intensive than those in which men are involved" like weaving and food preparation (Gordon 1996:225).
The sexual division of labour that persists in the informal sector is a true reflection of what is happening in the formal sector where for example black professionals, skilled and semi-skilled women account for only 7% of the workforce whilst in general, including unskilled workers, women comprise only 12% of the workforce and most of them are found in low-paid jobs especially in the agricultural sector on commercial farms, and are also employed as domestic servants. Those with high educational qualifications, occupying higher position in the formal sector are predominantly found in "feminine disciplines such as nursing, secretarial and clerical work" (Gordon 1996:225).
Therefore, as Gordon (1996) concludes, in Zimbabwe, even after colonialism, women continue to be marginalised and pauperized. What is existing in Zimbabwe is said to be the feminization of poverty, the "accommodation and reproduction of patriarchy" mainly because gender reconstruction has not been embarked upon on a larger scale. A change from colonial government to a democratically elected government in Zimbabwe did not bear fruits for women in Zimbabwe. That poverty continues to run amok, especially in the rural areas where women and children are the most affected, is a clear proof that a shift from totalitarianism to democracy is not an automatic guarantee for a better life for all people. Even after independence, the feminization of poverty continues to exist in Zimbabwe and as Gaidzanwa quoted in Gordon (1996:225), pointed out, "what has occurred since independence has been the redomestication of Zimbabwean women". The domestication of women, the subjection of women to patriarchal practices and their marginalisation in the development process leads to a situation where women find themselves in perpetual suffering and pauperization. The Zimbabwean case strengthens Gaidzanwa (1994 :19)'s assertion that even in democratic societies, people like women, 22 children, the poor and destitute can easily be left behind in the development mainstream and, as it is said, "in some cases, gender issues are mainstreamed in policies and programmes, but on an exploitative basis, not beneficial to the majority of women nor favouring the aim of consolidating democracy". The newly acquired democracy in South Africa should definitely guard against this.
2.6. Women and poverty
The rural areas in the Third World are not homogeneous, but they share common characteristics and among these, poverty has been and still is among the salient forces to reckon with. O'Connor (1991:1) registered concern about poverty in these areas by saying that "to think of Africa is to think of poverty". The majority of the people in rural areas are women, and they bear the brunt of the scourge of poverty. According to the Human Development Report (1990:33): "... poor rural women in developing countries suffer the gravest deprivation. Many of them are still illiterate. Their real incomes have not increased and in some parts of the world have fallen. Their births are still unattended by health personnel and they face a high risk of death during child- birth. They and their children have almost no access to health care".
The conclusion reached is that "for more than half a billion poor rural women, there has been little progress over the past 30 years". In like manner, Abramovitz et al (1992:68) opine that "nearly one billion people, most of them women and children, are so destitute that mere subsistence is a daily struggle - and the number keeps rising". This was reiterated by Maurice Strong quoted in Abramovitz (1992:68) during the World Women's Congress for a healthy Planet in November 1991 that "poverty has a gender bias ..., women and children are the prime victims of unsustainable development". Kabeer 23
(1995:108) says the overall number of women in the rural areas who find themselves "below the poverty line in developing countries were estimated in 1988 to be 564 million. This represented an increase of 47% above the numbers in 1965-70, as compared with 30% for rural men below the poverty line".
As Karl (1984:67) pointed out, the phenomenon of poverty is undoubtedly widespread in developing countries, especially in the countryside and this has been at the top of the agenda in most development debates. South Africa is no exception in this regard and, as Van der Waal (1995:19) puts it, "the widespread existence of poverty in South Africa is well-known, especially in its glaring co-existence with relative wealth".
There is no unanimous and universal consensus as to what poverty exactly means and as such this concept lends itself to a multiplicity of interpretations and definitions. Because this concept is normative and contextual, any attempt to define it will be confounded by both its nature and dimensions, like the parable of a blind man and an elephant. Just as the blind man holding the elephant's trunk thought the whole body must be very much like a snake, whereas another blind man, touching the very same elephant on its leg will think that an elephant resembles a tree (Kaeser 1984:5). O'Connor says: " Poverty may mean going to bed hungry night after night... In many rural areas poverty means walking 10 km round trip to fetch water each day, often water that is far from pure. In most cities, poverty means living as a family in one small room, fearing eviction from there when you cannot scrape together the rent" (O'Connor 1991:21-22).
Mrs Witbooi, quoted in Wilson and Ramphele (1989), interprets poverty in this way: " Poverty is not knowing where your next meal is going to come from and always wondering when the council is going to put your furniture out and always praying that your husband must not lose his job. To me, that is poverty" (Wilson and Ramphele 1989:14). 24
Erasmus (1993), in the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) policy papers has very convincingly argued for a definition of poverty in its structural context especially in the South African context. Erasmus therefore maintains that: "Poverty has many faces. It is a complex multi-dimensional phenomenon which acts as a cause and an effect in the lives of those afflicted by it. It is often relative, and always dynamic, exhibiting changing patterns over time and space. Poverty has racial and gender components, and is a vicious, self-perpetuating cycle. The many interrelationships surrounding poverty have been obscured, and the absolute level of poverty substantially increased, by the implementation of the policy of apartheid in South Africa. Poverty can be defined as a lack of resources to meet basic needs such as adequate food, clothing, shelter and basic amenities. It also represents the inability to meet higher order needs such as the need for personal fulfilment, recreation, freedom and so forth. The determinants of poverty are often seen as income-related factors, but the problem is much broader" (Erasmus 1993:2).
Many women in the rural areas are unemployed and do not have access to resources as compared to their male counterparts. The Human Science Research Council (HSRC) (1995:1) points out that South Africa is often placed among the middle income countries by international donor agencies such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) and "yet a vast proportion of its population are living in absolute poverty, and display a level of human development more often associated with low income countries". It has been acknowledged by the Human Science Research Council that the majority of the people who are poor are located in the rural areas, most of whom are women, and in South Africa especially, this is largely because of the historical background of this country: "Women tend to be over-represented among the poor and their experience of poverty is often more acute. Women's disproportionate share of the 25
poverty burden partly reflects the fact that women, historically, have had less access to waged employment, and within the labour market, that they tend to be crowded into low-paying jobs. An added reason why women are more likely than men to be poor concerns how resources are allocated within households" (HSRC 1995:5).
Again, due to historical reasons, black rural women experience poverty more than any other social category in South Africa. There have been many men migrating to the urban rt: areas to look for jobs and women were and still are left behind. So women in the rural areas experience more poverty than men.
Mention should also be made that poverty among rural women is more acute than among their urban counterparts, and the following table shows it all.
LOCATION WOMEN MEN Rural Areas 63.2 57.4 Urban Areas 31.6 28.1 Total South Africa 48.3 43.5
TABLE 1: PERCENTAGE OF MEN AND WOMEN LIVING IN POVERTY (HSRC 1995:6)
Women in rural areas have fewer opportunities to have access to income earning activities and in most cases their survival depends on men's earnings. There are many female headed households in the rural areas and these are the most vulnerable. Whitehead quoted in Ostergaard (1992:13) says that: "... the rural areas have seen the ... development of a stratum of female- headed households which lacks the resources to meet production and consumption needs. A growing body of literature stresses that rural female- 26
headed households are often very poor and that their numbers are growing. Many of them are no longer able to farm independently and subsist on casual labour paid in cash or kind."
The following table shows that households or families headed by females are more exposed to poverty than those headed by men.
TOTAL Female headed Female headed Male headed Male headed Households Rural Urban Rural Urban
1 665 762 1 180 116 2 224 688 3 110 672
% in Poverty 66.7 39.8 42.8 18.4
TABLE 2: POVERTY: FEMALE AND MALE-HEADED HOUSEHOLDS (HSRC 1995:6).
Mosse (1994:45) prefers to call these "women- maintained" in lieu of the commonly used term, "women-headed" households, and it is argued that this is done with the intention to indicate and above all, to emphasise "the fact that, although many women take sole responsibility for supporting their families, they are seldom accorded the same recognition, rights, and powers as male household heads". There is a close link and causative relation between women's marginalisation and rural poverty. Poverty that exists in the rural areas is a result of the marginalisation of rural women. Women are not empowered and they do not participate actively in rural development projects. Top-down approaches to rural development are still adhered to. Again, policies and programmes geared towards poverty alleviation are not sensitive to the gender issue within and among the households. As Kabeer (1995:108) says:
"while inequalities between men and women have long been recognised in 27
formal development policies, poverty alleviation schemes generally display a discrepancy between the declared commitment to equity for women and of gender analysis" and surely, the "unfair advantages for men within domestic and market institutions interact with inequalities created by class relations, to ensure that women in poverty are generally among the most disenfranchised sections of the society. At the same time, these institutions do not lend themselves easily to attempts to alter their internal dynamics in the interest of equalising the positions of women and men".
2.7. Theoretical perspectives on the marginalisation of women in the development •- process
Different theoretical perspectives have been put forward in an attempt to conceptualize the oppression of women, their marginalisation or non-inclusion in the development mainstream. The first is the modernisation perspective which has been in vogue and dominant in the 1950s and early 60s. The ideas and beliefs of this perspective succumb to the exhortations and tenets of the modernisation school of thought which is a development theory that emerged during the period of decolonization of the African countries. This perspective does acknowledge that rural women are oppressed and marginalised in the development process but believes that this is a result of endogenous factors. Rural people are believed to be enslaved by their tradition. They are still very backward and have a fatalistic approach to the world. This category of people possesses pre-Newtonian attitudes which are not geared towards the development process. Rural societies are agrarian in character, with social structures which are very hierarchical and therefore allowing very limited scope for social mobility.
The modernisation perspective continues to maintain that these endogenous factors which are opposed to development are amenable to improvement and, particularly with assistance from rich countries of the world, such antediluvian attitudes and practices can 28
even be jettisoned with ease. Until these rural women are injected with Christian and western attitudes, they will continue to remain objects and not subjects of the development process. Rural people are believed to be hard to change and their attitudes therefore do not allow them to travel with time, and "the impression conveyed is that their roles are immutable and static" (McFadden 1994:26). This perspective stresses the significance of attitudes in upward mobility and change for a better life. It believes that it is not only the aptitude but also the attitude which determines the altitude.
Parpart (1993:444-445) argues that there is a tendency to essentialize the woman folk and these people are often looked at as "passive pawns trapped in a world dominated by hopeless outdated and retrogressive traditions"; and continues to argue that rural people are quite often represented as "uniformly inactive, powerless and vulnerable and impervious to change while their counterparts are the referent point of educated and liberated womanhood." De Groot quoted in Parpart (1993:447) argues that Third World women especially in the rural areas are seen as an impediment to development and represented by the colonial discourse as "exotic specimens, as oppressed victims, as sex objects or as the most ignorant and backward members of the backward societies". Rogers (1984:11) argues that in most cases rural women are "objectified or seen as passive objects which are acted upon by men, they do not act on their own environment, or behave as agents of change in their relationship with men or with society in general, either as individuals or as a group or groups." Qunta (1990:83) expressed concurrence with this argument by saying that: "European authors tend to employ theoretical assumptions and methodology which hamper or in some cases preclude a realistic assessment of the subject matter. As a result, the African woman emerges as a victim of the African male and of traditional customs and practices, with colonisation playing only a minor role, if any. The African woman of the rural areas is portrayed as little more than a slave, who goes about her tasks with silent acceptance. She has no past and no future, given the 29
inherent backwardness of her society. Her consciousness about her oppression is awakened only when she comes into contact with Western women, and she is surprised by their comparative freedom. She never speaks for herself but is always spoken about".
There is also the dependency perspective which holds assertions that are quite opposed to those of the modernisation view. This school of thought believes that the colonial and capitalist penetration in the African countries shoulders responsibility for the subordination and marginalisation of the rural women. This perspective argues that rural women are committed and have capabilities of assuming leadership roles. They do not have attitudes that hinder development, and are in fact prepared to contribute effectively in the development process if conditions allow. The tenets of this theoretical perspective were more dominant in the 1970s. This perspective believes that the socio-economic conditions of any society needs to be understood and looked at against its historical background. Therefore, this perspective holds the assertion that the marginalisation of women is a result of the historical situation under which they find themselves.
The feminist perspective, like the dependency theory, believes that women are being marginalised and dominated because of the capitalist practices which pervaded all the structures in the society. Patriarchy is also seen as playing a very significant role in the subordination of women. The feminist perspective holds the assumption that capitalism and patriarchy are closely and mutually reinforcing of each other. It believes that institutions of learning like schools are very instrumental in perpetuating gender inequalities.
This perspective, like the modernisation perspective, believes that there are certain norms and values and beliefs which perpetuate gender inequalities. It is maintained therefore, that these socially accepted gender inequalities need to change or else women will continue to remain marginalised and dominated. It is argued that: 30
"Feminism, particularly in the field of family systems and family relations, suggests a fundamental rethinking of beliefs, principles and practices. It suggests a search for new information, a conceptual dialogue and self- criticism. It is not about an issue, a symptom, or a segment of our society, it is about that society and relationships of the two genders that compose it. As such, the feminist perspective challenges the field to restructure some of its accepted hierarchy and socially approved values need to be challenged ..." (Perelberg and Miller 1992:18).
However, gender inequalities are not confined to the household premises only, but spill over to outside institutions such as the working environment. As such gender inequalities have to be viewed from a broader perspective. In dealing with this social problem, we do not have to confine ourselves to the household only, but have to deal with the society in general. It is for this reason that: " ... feminism has as its unshakable core a commitment to breaking down the structures of gender subordination as a vision for women as full and equal participants with men at all levels of societal life" (Sen and Grown quoted in Harcourt 1994:33).
2.8 Conclusion
This chapter has indicated that women are de facto food producers and are responsible for the maintenance of families. They contribute towards the development process, regardless of a multiplicity of hurdles that curtail their full participation. Many people in the rural areas, especially women, eke out a living out of very little resources. Drawing on information from this chapter, one can say that there seems to be a deliberate neglect by government agencies to develop the rural areas, and this seems to be a general disease. This neglect has led to a concomitant degradation of the socio-economic conditions which encourage inter alia, the migration of people from the rural areas to the cities. Those 31 whom this phenomenon leaves behind are enmeshed in a vicious cycle of poverty. In fact, there seems to be a general concensus among policy-makers that one of the more urgent challenges facing development agents is to break this cycle of poverty. The most important lacuna is that this problem is only challenged on paper and visible attempts to effectively deal with it are very piecemeal, if not non-existent. The same applies to gender equality. Gender sensitivity is only seen in policy documents and is seldom translated into action. This chapter has highlighted that a shift from totalitarianism or autocracy to a democratic dispensation does not automatically mean that all people are free from the socio-economic hardships. The case study has shown that even after independence, women in Zimbabwe continued to be marginalised even if their rights were constitutionalised. This may be the situation in South Africa which has long been under the apartheid system of governance.
In the next chapter, an attempt will be made to look into the socio-economic conditions in the North West Province. 32
Map No.1 NORTH WEST SUBREGIONS/DISTRICTS
m m G-) z„o z W EST ECONOMIC SITUATION
rn
, z - 1 0 - 995 z 1
n o 0 c o =' • 11 z 1.71
•
rn IVA
z VAq LS l_ NE 33
Map No.2 MOLOPO SUBREGION/DISTRICT OF THE NORTH WEST PROVINCE
cr) cI 0 > r, tl
0
of 1-3 ro 0 M tvi 0
0
—3 34 CHAPTER 3: THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN THE NORTH WEST PROVINCE
3.1 Introduction
The erstwhile Bophuthatswana was very successful in generating growth in sections of the economy. It was successful in attracting some investments especially towards the mining industry, commercial development and tourism. It was also succesful in terms of infrastructure and, to some extent, the provision of social services to the communities. These undoubtedly portray an image of relative progress and affluence. However, as was the case in other bantustans, there were socio-economic hardships hidden behind these signs of affluence. The infrastructure and other indications of limited success and affluence were just a facade behind which lay the realities of absolute poverty and suffering of the majority, with women and children the most hard hit. With the advent of the new political dispensation, many people, especially those in the rural areas, sighed with relief and hope that their plight would be alleviated.
This section deals with the socio-economic background of the North West Province. As said, this province is well endowed in terms of the economy, especially in mining. The philosophy would supposedly be that this endowment in the mining sector would lead to the creation of job opportunities on a broader scale and spill over to the destitute. It is going to be shown in this section that problems of unemployment, lack of health services, lack of educational facilities and poverty are characteristic of the North West Province. Above all, it is going to be argued, on the basis of evidence, that people in the rural areas are the number one victims of these socio-economic bottlenecks. Women and children are the most affected. 35
3.2 The area
According to Schoeman (1995:1), the North West Province comprises 118 710km 2 of the RSA. Of this total, 9 628 749 ha is farm land and 5 428 017ha is suitable for grazing. Nature conservation areas such as game parks and recreational areas make up 764 500ha. Schoeman (1995:1) says the situation works like this if expressed in percentages:
Arable 35 Grazing 56 Nature Conservation 8 Forestry 0 Other 1 Total 100
It is further maintained by Schoeman (1995:1) that the North West Province is marked by hot summers and cool sunny winters. The weather is usually dry with a short rainy season from December to March. It is a semi- arid area with declining rainfall from East to West. The relatively low rainfall pattern makes the province prone to droughts. Drought occurs on average every 9-10 years, especially in the Western region. Temperatures can be extreme, ranging from -8 to 40+ in some instances. Winds are predominantly northwesterly, with avarage speeds of 13km/m. Altitude varies but lies within 1000-1 500m above sea level. The topography is generally flat in the West and Central Regions and rolling in the East (Schoeman 1995:1).
The province has a broad range of soil patterns. The western sub-region has typically red- yellow apedal soils which are best suitable to livestock use. Because these soils are low in clay and subject to wind erosion, cropping is not recommended except under special conditions. Maize is the main crop and grown on the deep soils. Sunflower and sorghum are produced on the shallow soils with a high clay content. 36
Schoeman (1995:1) further says the province forms part of three catchment areas: the Vaal and the Molopo rivers which together form part of the Orange River catchment. The only large dam is the Bloemhof dam which borders the Free State. She Taung and Molatedi dams, were recently built and are of medium size. The Brits area receives water from the Hartebeespoort dam. Due to the fact that surface water is scarce in most parts of the province, development of ground water resources is highly essential. This province is a water scarce area and it is believed that "in the long run, water will have to be imported" (Schoeman, 1995:3).
3.3 Historical background
The present North West Province largely comprises what used to be called Bophuthatswana and Western Transvaal. The erstwhile Bophuthatswana government, which was one of the apartheid bantustans and self-governing homelands, was under the presidency of Chief Lucas Mangope. Bophuthatswana was divided into 12 regions and Mmabatho was the capital city, where the parliament and many other government buildings are situated. The Bophuthatswana government was overthrown in March 1994, during the run-up to national elections in South Africa. After the 1994 general elections, the larger part of this area came to be known as the North West Province, under the premiership of Popo Simon Molefe. The North West Province is one of the smaller provinces and is completely landlocked.
The central region borders on the Republic of Botswana, which is the North West Province's northern neighbour, and houses the capital which is Mmabatho, formerly the capital of Bophuthatswana. According to the SouthAfricaYearbook (1995:15-16), Mmabatho "boasts a variety of striking and contemporary African buildings which incorporate Tswana designs and colours". The historical town of Mafikeng forms part of the capital Mmabatho. Mafikeng is well documented in history books for its significance during the Anglo Boer War. About 60% of the central region of this 37 province was part of the former South Africa and the rest, which is 40%, was Bophuthatswana and it is a fairly flat, dry area in the west, becoming bushveld as one goes eastwards (Changuion 1996:6).
3.4 Social background
Despite the relative economic viability, the social problems experienced by this province are not different from those experienced by other provinces and the country as a whole, like unemployment, chronic poverty, the marginalisation and domination of women, and a dearth of adequate facilities. Like any other province in South Africa, it has inherited the socio-economic bottlenecks that were bequeathed by the apartheid system.
According to the ' • is . • (1995:34), the North West Province has 3,6 million people, of whom 1,3 million live in functional urban areas. In terms of population, the largest urban area is Klerksdorp, with 423 000 people, followed by the second largest nodal point, which is Potchefstroom with 239 000 people. Roughly, about 213 000 people live in Molopo (Mmabatho), 144 000 in Rustenburg and 111 000 are located in Vryburg ( see map no.1). The urban population of the North West Province has an older age structure as compared to its rural counterpart. It is argued that mainly because of the restrictive practices and measures on movement of people which accompanied the homeland policies, the majority of children live in the rural areas, often in households headed by women or elderly people. In some areas there are more children than adults. In the urban sector there are relatively fewer children and the largest proportion of the population is of working age, which is between the age of 15 and 65. In this province, there are more women than men, but the majority of the urban population is male. This is probably due to the fact that men have migrated to the province in search of job opportunities, especially in the mining areas. The largest percentage of the population in all the main towns is formed by Africans, followed by whites. The main language in all of the nodal towns is Tswana, which is spoken by about 38
69,9 per cent of the population. This is followed by Xhosa (20.1 per cent) and then Afrikaans (10 per cent).
Data on social conditions indicate that there is poor performance in terms of social indicators. One example given by the Provincial Profile, No Situatio4 (1995:35) is that of life expentancy which, in contrast with the national avarage of 62-77 years, in the North West Province is only 59-66 years. This is said to be the lowest in the country. Other social indicators like the health standard show a similar picture to that of life expectancy. According to the Population Development Programme statistics in the Provincial Profile, North West Economic Situation (1995:35), the infant mortality rate was 43,3 per 1000 live births in 1991, compared with the national average of 41,8.
At 69,5 per cent, the literacy rate of the North West Province is also the lowest in the country, compared with the national avarage of 82,2 per cent. This signals the urgent need to provide and improve educational facilities in this province, especially in the rural countryside. According to the Provincial Profile, North West Economic Situation (1995:35) the province also has some overcrowding, which harbours serious health risks with it, let alone personal inconvenience.
The population census data in the North West Province Development Perspective (1995:4) indicate that just as in Mpumalanga and the Northern Province, in the North West Province the majority of the people are located in the rural areas. An estimated number of 2,3 million people reside in the rural areas as opposed to an estimated number of 1,3 million in the urban centres. On the basis of these statistics, one can conclude that this province is predominantly rural in character or outlook, with 67,8% of the population living in the rural areas near urban and industrial centres where there is an alarming shortage of the most significant commodity for rural life sustenance which is land. Again, there is overcrowding in the available dwellings and a general dearth of socio-economic amenities. 39
With regard to the use of land, Sadie and Van Aardt (1995:86) maintain that: "The major problem facing African rural women is their lack of access to land ownership. Traditionally, land is owned by and controlled by the male head of an African household. Since many rural men have to migrate to cities for work, women have taken on responsibility for land but are given no formal control over decision-making regarding land and its use. As African customs do not recognise women as heads of households and land owners, African women in rural areas have little or no access to credit and other resources needed to participate in agricultural projects".
This land use pattern is quite reminiscent of that 'of the North West Province. Many women in this province are responsible for land but they do not have full control over it. For example, decisions on what and when to plant lie with the head of the family. In the same vein, just as it is the case in other parts of South Africa, for instance the Eastern Cape as shown in Mini (1994), women in the North West Province do not have the right to land ownership unless they are heads of households. The household headship status is gained if the husband has died (permanent headship if she is not remarried) or the husband has migrated (temporary headship). Women also become heads of households if they are not married. In some cases, unmarried adult females do not have the right to arable land. In the case where the marriage breaks down, or the husband dies, their right to land ownership is lost and the eldest son may inherit the land. These are some of the conditionalities which preclude women from full utilization and ownership of land. A similar situation is found in Swaziland. According to Motsa (1996:1): "Culturally, household heads in Swaziland are men. It is only in their absence that women can temporarily become heads due to migration or be permanent heads due to death. The women also become heads as a result of divorce, desertion, late marriages and pregnancies".
The cultural constraints such as these are undoubtedly responsible for the lower food 40 production in the rural areas. These also close other avenues pertaining to land use like credit and investment, which could be exploited and be used for the betterment of their living conditions. According to Mini (1994:274): "Without direct access to land, women's alternative means of land use and production, such as share-cropping, are constrained and opportunities for investment, credit and marketing are limited (and in most instances non- existent)."
3.5 Economic background
Comparatively speaking, the erstwhile Bophuthatswana was one of the most viable and economically flourishing homelands in the old South Africa, with tourism, mining and agriculture as the major sources of the relatively sound economic base SouthAfrica Yearbook (1995) reveals that mining in the North West Province contributes to some 55% of the gross geographical product and contributes a lot in an attempt to reduce the unemployment rate as it employs a quarter of the labour force. Diamonds in this province are mined in areas like Lichtenburg, Koster, Christiana and Bloemhof. Orkney and Klerksdorp are well known for their richness in gold, and it is in these areas that most gold mines are found. The North West Province is sometimes dubbed 'the platinum province', and this is because the area around Rustenburg and Brits, about 100km on the western side of Pretoria, "is the largest single platinum production area in the world" (South Africa Yearbook 1995:16). This area is also rich in marble. Fluorspar is mined in Zeerust where it is found in abundance.
In the North West Province, industry is centred around the urban areas which include Brits, Klerksdorp, Vryburg and Rustenburg (see map no. 1). It is argued that the Brits industries concentrate largely on manufacturing and construction, whilst those located in Klerksdorp are connected to the mining industry and those at Vryburg and Rustenburg are geared to agriculture (South Africa Yearbook 1995:16). 41
According to Human Sciences Research Council 1995 statistics, the labour force in the North West Province numbered 1,2 million in 1991, after growing at an average annual rate of 4,0 per cent between 1980 and 1991. Only 57, 4 per cent of the labour force was engaged in formal employment in 1991 while 22,3 per cent was unemployed and 20,4 per cent was active in the informal sector, the majority of whom comprised women. Klerksdorp had a labour force of 177 000 people in 1991 of whom 63 per cent could be accommodated in the formal sector. The unemployment rate was 13,2 per cent whilst 23,8 per cent of the labour force was engaged in the informal sector. Potchefstroom followed with 90 000 people, of whom 65,2 per cent were formally employed, 10,7 per cent unemployed and 24 per cent involved in the informal sector. Rustenburg had 74 000 workers of whom 70,2 per cent were employed, 51 per cent were unemployed and 24,7 per cent were in the informal sector. Molopo had 62 000 workers, with 51, 4 per cent being formally employed, 30,2 per cent unemployed and 18,4 per cent active in the informal sector. In Vryburg, with its 39 000 workers, the figures were 71 per cent, 8,1 per cent and 20,8 per cent respectively (Provincial Profile, North West Economic Situation, 1995:37).
Statistics from A Macro Planning Perspective (1995:4) indicate that 39,3% of the total number of blacks in the province are unemployed whilst only 8,4% of whites are unemployed. 52,2% of the unemployed population are younger than 30 years of age and 64% of the unemployed were unemployed for more than a year during the October 1994 household survey (OHS). It is also indicated that 98% of the unemployed are without a post-school qualification, according to the Central Statistical Services (CSS) (Meyer 1996:2). This is indication enough that unemployment and illiteracy are a serious problem in this province. Lamenting about the increasing unemployment rate in the former Bophuthatswana, the then Minister of Justice and Prisons, advocate Mothibi had this to say: "The present rate of unemployment in Bophuthatswana is at ±20% and within Southern Africa, unemployment is estimated at ±41%. With the rate 42
of growth in the population and the urbanisation of rural population, increasing unproductive labour..., unemployment will increase" (Mothibi 1991:1).
These people who are illiterate and unemployed, most of whom are found in the rural areas, move from these rural areas in larger numbers into the urban centres to seek for employment. It is estimated that the total percentage of urbanization is 32,2%, of which 33.0% and 30.6% are male and female respectively. These people moving into the urban centres quite often do not become employed and therefore venture into informal activities. As it was seen to be the case in Zimbabwe, women are predominant in the informal sector. It is estimated that about 122905 people in the North West Province are employed in the informal sector (CSS in Meyer 1996:3). The congestion that is experienced in urban centres like Mafikeng is a true testimony to the fact that informal sector activities have mushroomed, especially after the 1994 general elections. Most of these people who sell items on the pavements are from the rural areas who commute to town on a daily basis. Urbanization and migration to the urban centres especially by men (statistics show that more men than women migrate) suggest that most households are left under the care of women. So there is a prevalence of female-headed households in this province, especially in the rural hinterland. The majority of these women are found in the informal sector. The contribution of the informal sector to local economic activity in terms of value added amounts to 16,8 per cent, indicating the pivotal role, this sector plays in the North West Province, whereas its contribution to the national economy is only 0,9 per cent. The following table shows the contribution of the informal sector to the national economy in 1994: 43
PERCENTAGE CONTRIBUTION OF THE INFORMAL SECTOR IN 1994 TO : North West RSA GDP 16,8 0,9 Employment 18,6 1,4
TABLE 3: PERCENTAGE CONTRIBUTION OF THE INFORMAL SECTOR IN 1994 (CSS IN PROVINCIAL PROFILE, NORTH WEST ECONOMIC SITUATION, 1995:83)
With regard to the creation of job opportunities in the North West Province, the informal activities or sector is also playing a significant role in providing about 123 000 job opportunities, representing 18,6 per cent of the overall employment in the province and 1,4 per cent of employment in South Africa ( ProvincialTrofile,North_West Economic Situation 1995:83). So, the informal sector generally plays a very pivotal role in income generation and the creation of self-employment opportunities. Many households subsist on the proceeds from the informal sector. To some households, informal economic activities are the sole source of income upon which the whole family depends for survival.
Still on the issue of income, and in view of the dearth of employment opportunities in this province, many people are forced down the avenue of employment at a distance. Evidence suggests that migrants settle in small towns like Mafikeng, Zeerust and the mines in Rustenburg and Klerksdorp/Orkney. Most of them ultimately end up in large cities like Pretoria and Johannesburg. This, needless to say, suggests that some families depend on remittances from the migrants for their subsistence. Problems inherent in this source of income are known. For instance, not all migrants are committed to their families and some go forever leaving their families destitute. Many male migrants take 44 new wives when they arrive in the cities and as such, the little income that they earn has then to be spread and shared among more people than just the family left behind in the rural settlement. As a result, as Horn (1994:4) says, many women in the rural areas find themselves in a position where they are obliged to eke out a living with "diminishing land and diminishing resources", more often than not with diminishing or no assistance at all from their husbands in the cities. So, remittances are a source of income for some households, but this source is very unreliable. This may be one of the reasons why the majority of women in the rural areas have ventured into informal activities. Social pensions are also a source of income upon which some households depend for subsistence.
According to the Provincial Profile, North West Economic Situation (1995:80) the North West Province is one of the smallest contributors in terms of the provision of job opportunities in the formal sector in the Republic of South Africa. The higher concentration of employment appears in the mining and agricultural sectors, accommodating 26,0 and 17, 5 per cent of the local labour force respectively. The largest decline in employment occured in the mining sector during 1991 to 1993, at 7,5 per cent. The decline in employment, coupled with the natural growth in the supply of new job seekers in the market, caused unemployment to rise from 20,4 per cent in 1994 to 36, 6 per cent in 1994. The following table shows the employment figures by economic sector and the unemployment rate in the North West Province and South Africa in general: 45
EMPLOYMENT BY ECONOMIC SECTOR
Percentage North West Employment Annual contribution in contribution to RSA % Change 1991-1993 1993 Sector North RSA North West RSA West
Agriculture 17,5 11,4 10,9 -0,2 -0,6 Mining 26,0 8,1 22,5 -7,5 -6,7
Manufacturing 13,5 18,2 5,2 -2,8 -3,0
Electricity 0,6 1,0 3,9 -2,9 -4,1
Construction 5,7 5,2 7,7 -5,4 -4,6
Trade 11,4 12,6 6,4 0,2 -1,1 Transport 3,7 4,9 5,3 -4,2 -5,0
Finance 2,7 6,1 3,1 2,4 2,5
Community 1,8 4,1 3,2 0,6 0,6 Services
Government 9,0 18,2 3,5 1,7 1,7
Other 8,2 10,1 5,7 -0,7 -0,7
TOTAL 100,0 10,0 7,1 -2,8 -1,5
Unemployment Rate in 1994
North West 36,6
RSA 32,6
TABLE 4: EMPLOYMENT BY ECONOMIC SECTOR AND THE 1994 UNEMPLOYMENT RATE (PROVINICIALPROEILE,NORTILWESTECONOMLC SITUATION 1995:81).
The unemployment and illiteracy rates, coupled with rural-urban migration are clear 46 proof that poverty, especially in the rural areas, is a chronic problem. The 1995 Human Sciences Research Council statistics in Provincial Profile, North West Economic Situation (1995:38-39) reveal that poverty is a major problem in the North West Province and in 1991, 41,5 per cent of households earned less than R5000,00 per year. Only 25,2 per cent of households earned more than R30 000,00 per year. Poverty is predominantly rural and affects mainly Africans. Whilst only 30,1 per cent of urban residents earned less than R5 000 a year, 55, 9 per cent of rural households were in that similar position. In like manner, 56,6 per cent of Africans and 43,9 per cent of coloureds earned less than R5 000 per year, compared with only 11,8 per cent of whites.
It is argued that the North West Province is the third in terms of the poverty head count and head count ratio in South Africa and it also "rates the third highest in South Africa in terms of children living in poverty, as compared with Gauteng rating second lowest with a ratio of children living in poverty of 24.7%" (Meyer 1996:4). The following table will be used to indicate the level of poverty in the North West Province:
Number of poor % Households living in Number of poor %Individuals living in households poverty individuals poverty
232947 29.7 1248724 41.3
TABLE 5: NWP POVERTY HEAD COUNT AND HEAD COUNT RATIO, 1993 (Whiteford et al in Meyer 1996:4)
The majority of the people in the countryside do not have access to basic facilities such as water and health services. Mortality rates are sky-rocketing and many people are prone to diseases. Simple diseases which could be cured claim the lives of many people especially women and children because of lack of doctors and clinics. People do not have access to adequate shelter and children grow up under very saddening and demotivating conditions. This state of affairs has been acknowledged in this way: 47
"The existing situation in the North West Province reflects the legacy of the past which is drawn from the history of South Africa. There is an acute racial disparity in the distribution of basic needs such as shelter, household food supply, safe water, sanitation, energy, health education and education services. Access to economic resources and particularly land is racially skewed. Skill training and access to jobs also follow the patterns of the past" (A Macro Planning Perspective, 1995:1).
One of the most startling sights one can ever come across in the North West Province is the difference that exists between the rural and urban areas in terms of the general living conditions. A living example is that of Mmabatho and Montshiwa (urban) and Motlhabeng and Seweding (semi-urban). These are divided by a tarred road. People in these semi-urban/rural areas are exceedingly poor and are located just a stone-throw from the shining buildings in the urban areas like the glittering Convention Centre and other buildings around Mega City. The Bible might have referred to people not living by bread alone, but in some rural parts of the North West Province like Loporung, Motlhabeng and Seweding, many people seem to be not living by bread at all. Conditions in some of these areas are so appalling that any serious government will defmitely spare no time and leave no stone unturned to try and alleviate the plight of these people. The North West Province Development Perspective is not oblivious of these heart breaking conditions and accepts that: "There is an extreme inequity in the distribution of health services in the Province which is not revealed by the aggregated and rather inaccurate provincial statistics. The majority of the historically disadvantaged communities live in extreme poverty with typical Third World mortality and disease profiles. The current estimates are that the life expectancy at birth is 64 years, infant mortality rate is 43 per 1000 live births, TB notification rate is 84 per 100,000. There are 10,003 hospital beds rendering 2.9 beds per thousand population. In 1994 there were 2.2 medical 48
practitioners per 10,000. The province has a low number of specialists, medical personnel, oral health, public health, nutrition and rehabilitation services" (North West Province Development Perspective 1995:4).
Therefore in the North West Province, like in South Africa in general, big gaps still yawn between the urban and rural areas. There is convincing evidence that development is distorted and priorities are violated. All these atrocities exist in the midst of very enviable Bible-sized policy documents which, as if they are drafted by one person, often stress the need for equal distribution of resources and many other democratic principles such as the urgent need to address gender inequalities. Kaya and Mosiane (1993:5) have summed up the situation of women in the then Bophuthatswana in this manner: "The majority of rural women in Bophuthatswana are illiterates and under-represented in decision-making as compared to men. The disadvantaged and peripheral position of the rural women is brought to the fore when their reproductive and productive contribution to the national development are not recognized in the Gross National Product. Apart from their invaluable service in the domestic sphere, rural women in Bophuthatswana are food producers and petty traders at the subsistence level. Through these activities, a majority of them maintain the survival of their families. Like in other African societies, most of the work they do is not socially recognized and therefore, unpaid. Women's work is only seen in the domestic sphere, hence it is assumed to be unproductive, consequently, women, are vulnerable to exploitation".
South Africa has now of late ventured into political pluralism and multi-party democracy. The African National Congress-led government has pledged to remove the roots of poverty especially in the rural areas. Attention is to be diverted to categories which have been ignored during the apartheid era. It is said that: "Development efforts must address the special position of women, as they 49
make up the majority of small-scale farmers, and bear the brunt of poverty, over-crowding and hunger in rural areas. They take responsibility for all aspects of their families' lives, including the need to obtain food, fuel and water, often over long distance, but they are excluded from decision- making structures. They are the bulk of the seasonal labour force in agriculture, but receive the lowest wages" (ANC 1994:8).
The development aims and objectives enshrined in the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) are a reservoir of hope especially for people in the rural areas who have generally exhibited support for this programme. Again, rural development projects in some areas, including the three rural settlements on which this study concentrated which are Miga, Signalhill and Loporung, are already in existence. What needs to be done now is to establish many other projects and encourage full and equal participation; and in the end address the socio-economic anomalies like poverty and gender inequalities as envisaged by the RDP.
The million dollar question that needs to be asked is whether the policies that appear on paper will be translated into visible actions, or whether the RDP policy framework document is going to be just another document on the bookshelves of policy-makers, as it seemed to be the case in Zimbabwe. We have seen how, among other things, gender inequalities and poverty among women continued to persist in Zimbabwe after independence, regardless of the enviable democratic principles that were enshrined in the Lancaster House Agreement document and the Zimbabwean constitution.
3.6 Conclusion
This chapter has indicated that the North West Province, just like other provinces, is faced with various socio-economic problems which need urgent attention. It has revealed that 50 the majority of the people are located in the rural areas and many of these people are unemployed. Unemployment has forced these people to move into the urban areas in larger numbers. The majority of the people who migrated to the urban areas have ventured into the informal sector. Statistics show that there are more women than men in this sector.
This suggests that women play a very significant role in generating income in many families. Furthermore, it has been indicated that there is also lack of access to educational and health facilities in the rural areas. This state of affairs has very serious development implications. Development in this province is skewed and biased against the rural populace. Development policy-makers seem to be too obsessed with pandering to the complex needs of the urban people at the expense of those of the rural dwellers. A balanced form of development is therefore an urgent need in this province. Above all, there is a need to take into serious consideraton the issue of gender equality. This issue does not only have to appear on paper or in policy documents, but has to be translated into action. Forces which perpetuate the oppression and marginalisation of women need to be tackled with vigour. In an attempt to alleviate the socio-economic conditions in the rural areas, development projects have been initiated both within and outside the rural communities.
The next chapter will look into the character and impact of development projects in three rural settlements in Molopo: Signalhill, Miga and Loporung (see map no.2). 51
CHAPTER FOUR: DISCUSSION OF DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
4.1 Introduction
Many people in the rural areas are exposed to poverty. Even though some accept their conditions as they are, there are others who do not take the hardships they are faced with as given. To the latter, the appalling conditions under which they find themselves are seen as a challenge which has to be faced head on. These challenges are often faced with no assistance at all from the government. Women are often in the forefront in challenging these appalling conditions. Attempts to alleviate poverty in the rural areas are more of a challenge to women than men because, women do not only do this with little assistance from the government, but also with diminishing or no assistance from their husbands who migrated to the urban areas to look for employment opportunities. The traditional division of duties according to sex which regards household work as an exclusive prerogative of women is still intact in some rural areas. These traditional stereotypes which often place men in superior positions make the situation of women even more difficult. Their participation in the development process becomes limited. The development projects in the three settlements that are going to be dealt with will attest to this.
4.2 Signalhill self- help project
Signalhill is a rural area situated very close to MmabathofMafikeng, as compared to Miga and Loporung (see map no.2). It has a population of approximately 10-15 thousand people. Due to a lack of job opportunities in Signalhill, most people work in the urban Molopo. Because of its nearness to the urban centres, some people sometimes do not use transport to and from these urban centres but they just walk. Generally the majority of 52 the people in this rural settlement live in poor conditions. Kaya and Mosiane (1993:7) have alluded to the fact that quite often people who are in the countryside take their appalling poverty conditions in which they find themselves just as they are and "they tend to believe that there is no other alternative". It is in cases like this that outside help and extrinsic motivation are required to sensitize people about their predicament and make them aware that they can improve their conditions of life. This has been the case in Signalhill.
The Signalhill rural development project is a sewing project which saw its emergence in 1991. This development project is a brainchild of Mmabana social workers. Mmabana is a cultural centre situated in Mmabatho. The Mmabana social workers initiated the project after realising the appalling conditions under which the people in Signalhill live, especially women. When this project started, the headman's mother was contacted by two social workers because the headman, who works for the Government, was not available at that time. As a result, the mother, who is often 'acting headman', convened a meeting which was attended by women only. At the meeting, the attendants together with the social workers decided and agreed on the establishment of a sewing project.
The main idea behind this project was to help people improve the conditions in the village as it was realised that many people in the village were unemployed. The Signalhill sewing project aimed at helping people to generate wealth and be in a position to build things like health facilities in the village, which are quite inadequate. There are no adequate educational and recreational facilities in this village and the money that was to be generated in this project would assist in alleviating this state of affairs. This is not 53 impossible and the people in Loporung have attested to this. Unemployed and poor as they are, people in Loporung have managed to build a community clinic without any assistance from outside. So, with the little income that they generate, the people in Signalhill can do the same.
In Signalhill, there are two women who have been with Mmabana Cultural Centre for quite some time. They are trained professionals in sewing and are even certificated. These are the people who are supposed to train the project members. To help this project move off the ground, Mmabana Cultural Centre provided them with sewing machines and sewing material like linen. With regard to the financial arrangements, only trained members of the project were to be paid. This means that only two members who were trained and certificated were to receive monthly salaries and those who were not trained were not remunerated. Finished goods in this project were to be sold to the community and the money was to be deposited in the bank account. Organisationally, it was reported that initially, there were 22 members in this project who were later reduced to 10 and eventually 6. By the time this research was done, only 3 women out of these 6 reported regularly and these are the people from whom most of the data were collected.
The activities of this project are conducted in a dilapidated building. Its dilapidation is epitomised by cracks in the wall and some window panes are broken or gone altogether. The building is said to have been used as a Roman Catholic Church before, and then a primary school (from sub-standard A to standard 3). This is where the village headman's wife used to teach. This structure was ultimately converted into a rural development project after a relatively better primary school was built. It is presently used as a project building and a creche. This reveals to us how serious is the problem of lack of educational facilities in this village.
The Signalhill rural development project has been experiencing problems since its inception. One of the major problems faced by the project was absenteeism. People who 54 used to be project members sometimes came for a few days and then disappeared. A key person in this project who has been its member since its inception, registered her concern about women who joined this project and withdrew from it because, as she says, "most women in this area are unemployed and many households are living in poverty". She argued that people in that area seem to be less interested in trying to develop their own area. Ex-members of the project however, reported that they found it wise to withdraw their membership because of household commitments such as taking care of children, taking children to and from the creche (not the one in Signalhill), doing the washing and looking after the livestock. Two of the women who are ex-members were met just next to the project building looking after the livestock.
In addition to household commitments, all the ex-members complained about lack of income. They said that they would definitely stay in the project if they were remunerated because, as one woman said, "we wake up very early in the morning like any other person who is employed, but at the end of the month we get nothing." They all reported that the conditions under which they live do not allow them to wake up early in the morning for absolutely nothing. So, looking at the conditions under which these people live, one would strongly recommend that they must be paid so that they may be able to maintain their families. They definitely need income to take their children to school, to buy food and other household sundries. Two of them were looking for a job in Mafikeng and Mmabatho. Three of the ex-members of the project have joined other women in Mafikeng in the informal sector. It was reported that the conditions in the informal sector do not alleviate their poverty as such, but "are much better than when we were still in the project".
There is a chronic dearth of facilities which strangulates progress in this rural development project. To start with, and as already said earlier on, the project building itself is not up to standard and also not safe to work in, especially during rain and wind. It is very old, the walls are cracking, the roof is leaking and cardboard and other inferior 55 materials are used to replace broken windows. By the time this research was conducted, the women had already started worrying because winter was approaching. This, however, does not mean that summer serves them well because during rainy days sometimes work comes to a standstill. So, adequate shelter is a big problem. As if that is not enough, the facilities that are used in this antiquated building are inadequate and this also delays progress.
At the time when data was collected, it was reported that only two sewing machines (manual because there is no electricity) were available. So, if more than two people reported or were on duty some have to use their hands. For example, when I arrived at this place for the first time, one woman was doing embroidery by her hands, because they were more than two. The woman said she does not rely much on the sewing machine because she is used to hand-sewing; but this really retards their progress. It is said that the three machines that were initially donated by Mmabana Cultural Centre were stolen because there are no security people to watch at night. After these machines were stolen, the National Nutrition and Social Development Programme in Mmabatho donated money to the project and these two machines were then bought. Realising that these machines are no longer safe in that building at night, these women carry them to and from home every day. They said they use either wheelbarrows or they carry them on their heads. The only table around which all members of this project sit and work, was bought with the project money which they accumulated after selling their finished products, and the chairs were donated by Mmabana Cultural Centre. If there is any damage or any breakage of these facilities, the members of the project must see to it that they repair them, but if it is a serious damage then Mmabana Cultural Centre sometimes extends a helping hand.
However, besides all these inadequacies and other hindrances, women in this project showed determination to deal and wrestle with the challenges that emanate and face them 56 head-on. The key person who looked and sounded so passionately attached to the project, pointed out that there is nothing impossible if one has the will and said there are some rural development projects in nearby villages like Ramatlabama which are better off and better equipped than the Signalhill project but, she said, "we are not going to join them", because they want to improve their own project and the whole village of Signalhill.
It has already been pointed out that the majority of the women who withdrew their membership indicated that they did so due to household duties. This reason definitely raises suspicion because those in the project also do have household commitments. All of them in the project reported that when they arrive at home in the afternoon, they attend to household chores like preparing food for the family, fetching water and firewood. One woman said in most cases she has to take her grandchild to the creche before coming to work. The following table shows that most of the women who were project members withdrew because of commitments at home:
Household duties 3
Looking for a job 2
Total 5
TABLE 6: REASONS FOR WITHDRAWAL FROM THE PROJECT
Although this may be true, it is clear that these women withdrew from this project in the first place because of a lack of pecuniary incentives. These rural women need to make a living for themselves and their families. They need an income to solve the problems of acute and chronic poverty. This is believed to be the case because all ex-members said they were prepared to take any job at any time as long as they can be paid and be able to support their families. This, however, does not contradict other reasons that were given. It is, therefore clear that development projects must start to take the issue of remuneration 57 and income generation very seriously as this might assist rural people to improve their standard of living and may encourage people to participate in development projects.
It is a well-known fact that the conditions under which one works may contribute much towards the success or failure of any development venture. The conditions under which people in the Signalhill rural development project work are appalling and really uninviting. Poor working conditions and lack of facilities seem to be some of the major reasons for the lack of support for this project, and this is one way that people become marginalised in rural development. Many governments and development agencies seem to follow long procedures and even come up with more conditionalities when it comes to the provision of development facilities in the rural areas than is the case in their urban counterparts. So, the marginalisation of rural women in the development process in Signalhill was seen in terms of facilities not being made available, and the general working conditions not being conducive and the issue of remuneration not being considered very carefully. All these factors are demotivating, especially for poverty stricken people, and therefore do not encourage full participation.
4.3 Miga rural development project
Miga is a rural village situated on the northern side of Mmabatho, just next to Ramatlabama and the Botswana border (see map no.2). It has approximately 3000 inhabitants representing 1000 homesteads which are arranged in a line. These homesteads are not scattered, as it is the case in Signalhill and Loporung. There is only one primary school in Miga. Post primary school children attend school in nearby villages like Ramatlabama which is 6km and Ikopeleng which is about 17km away from Miga. Health and water facilities are inadequate in this village and this is a serious problem.
Rural development projects were established in this area with an attempt to improve the 58 standard of living of the people. Just like the Signalhill case, the rural development project in Miga was a result of outside assistance. The wire knitting project in Miga which started operating in 1993 was organised by people from the Agricultural Corporation of Bophuthatswana (Agricor).When it started, there were 10 people involved, comprising 9 women and 1 man.
Agricor provided these people with a trainer and donated the boards where wire could be knit. Training was for free and .lasted for 3 weeks. To help the project move off the ground, a sum of R1000,00 was loaned from Agribank. With this money, the knitting board and wire were bought, the latter from Agricor. The knitting boards from Agricor were not so efficient and were broken. They therefore decided to buy an efficient board which is bigger as compared to the ones donated by Agricor. In 1994, this project was left to be independent and now members had to buy their own wire from the corporation, and it is reported that many people withdrew their membership from the project because they believed the wire that they bought from the corporation was expensive. As of now, there are only 3 people who actively participate in this wire-knitting project. People who withdrew their membership joined the gardening project. The three women who are now in the knitting project are also members of the gardening project. The latter project is said to be flourishing.
Just like the Signalhill sewing project, the wireknitting project does not have enough facilities. There is only one knitting board around which the 3 women stand and knit the wire. The board was ordered from Swaziland. These women use their hands because there is no machine; and this retards their progress. Although they complained that the wire damages their hands, they said they do not prefer to put on hand gloves when weaving the wire because the gloves are slippery. It is said that a fence of 80 metres takes 2Y2 days to knit, and a roll of this length costs R450,00. It is said that people as far as Mmabatho and Mafikeng come and buy their fence, but the problem that the producers experience is that they have no transport to take this wire to the customers. 59
Asked why so many people left the wire-knitting project for gardening, seeing that the former is more remunerative in terms of income than the latter, the key persons in the wire-knitting project reported that the problem is that, initially, people did not understand what a self-help project is. They did not understand that one sometimes has to lose in order to gain at the end of the day. People wanted Agricor to continue providing them with material and did not want to buy out of their pockets, and this is what made them to withdraw from the project. However, the response from the members of the gardening project was quite opposed to what was said in the wire-knitting project. After hesitating for a long time, one woman in the gardening project said that "there are problems in the wire-knitting project". The major problem they faced was the distribution of income which was unequally shared among project members. Therefore, this means that there were people in this project who were dominating others. Unequal resource allocation and the domination of some members by others seem to have contributed much towards the withdrawal of so many people from this project.
The gardening project did not receive much support initially, because it is not as remunerative as the wire knitting one. It was only after these problems emanated that it began to gain much support. This project, like the wire knitting project, was organised by Agricor. By the time this research was conducted there were 21 people involved in the gardening project. There are only 5 men in this project and the rest are women. The gardening project committee comprises five people: the chairperson, vice chairperson, the secretary and vice secretary and the treasurer. Each member in this project is provided with a plot of about 3x5m. The fencing material was provided by Agricor. Again, to help the project move off the ground, Agricor provided the members of the project with seeds and also donated the water pump machine because there is no adequate water supply in this village. However, shortage of water supply in this rural village is not as acute as it is the case in Loporung. There are people in Miga who own hand pumps in their homes and this provides them with the opportunity to do gardening in their homes. The project members contribute the sum of R5,00 every month for diesel. Those who do not pay this 60 money are not allowed to water their plots with water from the machine. Agricor also used to provide project members with seeds, but as of now, each member has to buy her\his own seeds. Vegetables grown in these plots include cabbage, carrots, onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, spinach, green beans and pepper. The project members use these to generate income and for household consumption.
Although the gardening project does not generate much income as compared to the wire knitting project, the gardening project members said they were very happy and comfortable in the gardening project, because they do not experience many problems. One woman said "here we are fine because nobody troubles you, and if you have problems, you shall have created them yourself'. Nobody dictates to them what to plant. They just wake up in the morning, go and work on their plots and thereafter go back to their homes. They do not have to spend the whole day there, as it is the case in the wire knitting project. This therefore provides them with the opportunity to attend to other household chores. As it was seen to be the case with women in Signalhill and Loporung which will be discussed later, these women often wake up very early in the morning to attend to household duties before going to their plots.
An interview with women in this project revealed that they are aware that they are overburdened by household activities, which they do not share with their husbands (in the case of those who are married). The idea of sharing household duties with women like cooking and changing nappies when the mother is too busy or not in, was found to be very alien to men in the gardening project. This was strengthened by a woman in the wire knitting project who was found busy knitting the wire with a seven months old baby on her back. Among women who argued that they are overburdened by household duties, some women gave an example of a case where there is a wedding celebration. It was said that women will often be seen going up and down fetching water, firewood (although this is sometimes done by men), collecting cutlery, three footed pots and big baking pans. Cooking and baking is done by women and those who are old will often come to take care 61 of children of able bodied women who perform these duties. Men often erect tents and slaughter the cow and thereafter sit down and drink homebrewed beer prepared by women themselves.
With regard to decision-making, many women reported that they do not have much influence. For example, decisions on when and what to plough in the field are in the hands of men. Many women reported that taking decisions without consulting husbands often causes problems and is regarded as a symbol of disrespect on the side of the women. Sometimes this leads to verbal and even physical assault. One woman, trying to indicate that women are belittled in the household, said for example, if there is an important message to be conveyed to the family, the messenger will often ask for the 'head' of the family or the 'owner' of the house. If the husband is not found, the messenger may come for the second time to make sure that the 'owner' of the house has received the message. This is not different from the situation in Swaziland where it is said that, culturally, household heads are men (Motsa 1996:1).
However, many women in the gardening project in Miga are involved in informal activities in Mafikeng. Many of them sell the products from the gardening project and many other items such as fat cakes (especially in winter), plates (e.g. pap and vleis) and vegetables. Women in Miga said that the informal activities they are engaged in help them a lot. They help them maintain their families. In Miga, like in Loporung, there is no high school and children have to travel to Ramatlabama and some to Mmabatho and Montshiwa. The money from these informal activities help them buy monthly bus tickets for their children. However, these are not as expensive as it is the case with Loporung.
The wire-knitting project in Miga is a clear proof that in each organization there has to be discipline, mutual understanding and equal participation or else the organization disintegrates. It was argued earlier on (under Signalhill project) that people should be remunerated as an attempt to help them improve their lives. But here is a project which 62 makes a relatively better-off income, but people do not support it. This therefore brings into the picture the need for strict measures to ensure that income is equally distributed or shared among project members and no members should enrich themselves at the expense of others. The Miga project has also revealed the somewhat hidden truth that the domination of some individuals by others does not only happen in mixed-sex development projects. Even in single-sex projects or female-only projects, domination does occur and this prevents other women to participate in important decision-making processes. If these internal anomalies were not existing, this project could have gained more support than the gardening one because as said before, it is more remunerative than the gardening project. This would allow the people of Miga to have access to the relatively better-off income-generating activities which would help them support their families. This would definitely improve many people's standard of living in this area.
4.4 Loporung rural development project
As compared to both Miga and Signalhill, Loporung is virtually a model of underdevelopment and a typical rural village in the Molopo district of the North West Province and is situated on the Botswana border in the western side of the capital Mmabatho (see map no.2). It is situated about 70km away from Mmabatho and 12km from Makgobistad. It has roughly about 5000 inhabitants representing 1 200 relatively scattered homesteads. Its neighbouring villages include Logagane, Phitshane, Modimola, Masutlhe and Ditloung. Compared to these villages, Loporung lags behind in terms of development. Basic facilities such as water and health provision, for example, are a major problem and these are considered to be the source of extreme hardship with which people in this village are faced.
Lack of water is a very serious problem for the people of Loporung. This village has a total number of six boreholes, four of which are fitted with windmills, one with a hand 63 pump and the last borehole still lies undeveloped and unused.The people in Loporung reported that the inactive borehole is situated on a very bad site and this is mainly because they were not contacted or informed when this was done. They strongly asserted that the borehole could be working and alleviating their conditions if there was prior consultation and involvement of the community at the initial stage. According to Young (1994:162): "It is now being recognised in development circles that economic growth and social betterment are best achieved when the mass of the population is informed and involved in development aims and plans, and sees itself as a direct beneficiary of the expanded resources growth should bring. One of the ways to achieve this is structuring the decision-making process in such a way as to ensure widespread consultation at all levels of society about development goals, the process by which those goals are to be reached and the resources needed to achieve them".
Most unfortunately, this was not the case in Loporung. People in this village were never consulted and informed when this windmill was erected. This inactive windmill leaves the eastern two-thirds of the villagers without an accessible water supply and as a result those people have to walk for about 4km every day to go and fetch water. The windmills which are in use in this village, according to Page (1995:10), are not regularly serviced and problems that these people face range from gross disrepair to leaking pipes and valves, broken bolts and worn out shafts; and quite often, it is the villagers who have to see to it that these sources of water operate. It is this state of affairs which renders three of these windmills inefficient and unreliable. There is gross wastage of water due to leakage. Because the windmill depends on the wind to turn the wheel, in the case where there is no wind, the villagers stay without water. One will often come across shocking sights of a long queue of people, young and old, standing and patiently waiting for the wind to turn the wheel. Under severe conditions, people in this village are forced to share 64 water from the dam with animals. One cannot overemphasize the health risks implicated in this unhealthy and unacceptable state of affairs.
With regard to educational facilities, there is only one primary school in this village. Pupils who complete their primary education have to go to nearby villages and others go to Mmabatho for middle and high school education. Conditions in this primary school are very uninviting. For instance, classes are overcrowded. Unemployment is also a very serious problem in this village, and many children of school going age are not attending school because parents cannot afford to pay school fees. This situation is confounded by the fact that these unemployed parents have to buy monthly bus tickets for their children, especially those who are at middle and high school level, as it was seen to be the case in Miga. There are also no health facilities in Loporung. By the time this research was conducted, the one and only clinic which is built next to the shop was just finished but not yet operating. The building was just empty without any facilities. This was built by village people themselves.
Loporung people did not accept their conditions as they were and did not just sit back. There seems to be a general belief among these people that they are the only people who can develop themselves and therefore have to be active participants in their own development. Just after the 1994 general elections in South Africa, the people of Loporung established the RDP committee which consists of ten people: the chairperson, vice chairperson, secretary, deputy secretary, treasurer and five additional members. There are four women and six men in this committee. There are also other committees, each of which consists of five members: the -Health committee (three women and two men ), Water committee (one woman and four men) and the Road committee (three women and two men). The formation of such organisations, without any doubt, is proof enough that people in this area are serious about developing their area and women are definitely not in the back seat of this mission. 65
Almost all unemployed people in the village, especially women, participated in the road construction project.
On 5 February 1996 a meeting was arranged with the people of Loporung and the response was very impressive because people came in bigger numbers than was expected. This meeting was organised by an individual who helped me gather data on this project, the chairperson of the RDP committee. The main purpose of this meeting was to get information on how people in this village try to improve their living conditions. Specifically, as it is one of the major objectives of this study, the principal purpose of the meeting was to derive information on the extent to which women in this area are involved in the attempts to better the living conditions in Loporung. The meeting was held under a tree just next to the road. There seems to be some misunderstandings between some members of the community who are in the project committees and the headman with regard to development priorities and the location of some of the development projects which are still underway, and therefore these people are denied access to facilities or places where meetings can be held. It is in this meeting that these people voiced out the various problems that they experience in their area.
Besides lack of water, people of Loporung do not have a proper road. In Miga and Signalhill access roads to the urban centres like Mmabatho and Mafikeng are not a problem. With the advent of a new political dispensation with its programme of development, the Loporung people seem to be hopeful that visible attempts will be made to improve their conditions of life because, as they say, the previous government did not bother about their plight. As a result of their hopes and confidence in the new government, the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) forum consisting of ten members was formed, as shown earlier on. At the top of the list of priorities for people of Loporung is the construction of the road, and this is an unanimous decision. According to them, there has to be a proper road first, and other things such as the clinics, water and schools may come later. 66
According to a report from the meeting, people (both men and women) in the village have been involved in a road construction project since November 1995. This road building project was organised by village people themselves. This was after many unsuccessful advances and requests were made to the previous Bophuthatswana government that an access road be built. According to the respondents, this project was initially not formally organised, as it was seen to be the case in both Miga and Signalhill. According to them, it was almost spontaneous. It started with three men who went to the field to chop some firewood. Whilst they were there, they came up with the idea of opening an access road. This idea was communicated to other members of the village and it spread like wildfire. Many people, both men and women, joined the project without being pushed from behind. This was done by people who are unemployed and those who were working joined them during weekends. The road is about 7km long. This is not an income generating project like those in Miga and Signalhill, and in the same breath, did not require any capital to help it kickstart. Again, this project did not need any training. It only needed men and women with guts and courage to move off the ground, and that is what exactly happened.
According to the report from the meeting, people woke up very early in the morning every day, between 4 and 5 am to go and chop the trees. As one old man said, " man, you could be shocked to see women chopping trees very early in the morning, using their own hands. You must never underestimate these women". Women were said to be the ones who showed the zeal to see a proper road constructed because it is reported that in most cases they were outnumbering men. One of the key persons in the forum reported that it is only people who use that road regularly, such as those working in areas like Mmabatho and Mafikeng who are very keen to see the road constructed and those who do not use it regularly care less about its construction.
However, this was refuted and the majority of the people looked concerned, and one old man had this to say: 67
" You know what, we do not want a tarred road. What we are asking for is just a 'modern' gravel road which can be used even during rainy days. As of now, we just do not know what to say because you sometimes become confused. When it rains you become angry because you know that you will not have any road to use and at the same time, you become happy because you know you can get a few bags of maize and be in a position to support your family. We are just in a terrible situation and we will appreciate much if something could be done to alleviate these appalling conditions".
One woman reported that the reason why they say they need a road first and others later is that they are mainly worried about the safety of their children who attend school in nearby villages, especially during rainy seasons. She sadly remarked that they can lose their children at any time because the road is just slippery after rain. Sometimes school children have to walk for about 15 to 19km to school because the bus cannot come and collect them after heavy rains, and this happened several times this year. On the last visit to this area, one old woman said that school children nearly died some two weeks before because the road was muddy and the bus nearly overturned.
From the meeting that was held with the people of Loporung it was realised that those people are held together by the desire to achieve common objectives and both men and women consider one another as important in contributing towards the betterment of their society. However, differences in opinion became very visible on questions related to equal participation and representation in decision-making processes at household level. On the issue of division of labour, many male interviewees believed that men and women can share common responsibilities at work but not at home. They believed that the traditional division of labour has to be maintained; men must do their duties and women must also do their duties at home.
Most men therefore did not approve of the proposition that men and women should be 68 equal at home and the following table shows the figures:
Approve 2
Disapprove
Neutral 1
Total 8
TABLE 7: MALE RESPONSE TO PROPOSITION THAT MEN AND WOMEN SHOULD BE EQUAL AT HOME
Many interviewed women in Loporung who were in the road construction project said when they arrived at home at night, they never had time to rest. Just like in Miga and Signalhill, they had to attend to household duties like preparing food for their families and sometimes going to fetch some water for the next morning. They argued that fetching water late in the evening is advantageous because "you do not wait in a queue" as it is the case in the early evenings. In the morning, they woke up very early to clean the house and the yard, make fire and prepare breakfast for the family, especially children who are attending school. Most of them said they had to wake up very early in the morning to clean the house and cook the food they had to eat in the field during lunch time.
Some women in Loporung believe that there has to be a change because they are overburdened by domestic chores which sometimes do not allow them to attend project meetings and participate actively in rural development projects and therefore men must "relieve us sometimes". The way it was presented by many women, it was not sharing of domestic activities per se, but it implied that men should only assist. As one woman said, " we do not say that they must cook everyday, what we mean is that they must help us sometimes, for instance when a woman is sick". Only three women did argue for equal 69 sharing of responsibilities and not assistance. All these women have high school education.
The following table shows the response of women on equal sharing of domestic chores:
Approve 3
Disapprove 2
Men must only assist 7
Total 12
TABLE 8: FEMALE RESPONSE TO PROPOSITION THAT DOMESTIC DUTIES SHOULD BE SHARED EQUALLY
However among those who argued for equal sharing, two of them pointed out that equal sharing will take time to take sound root, and will now only appear on paper. She did admit that "even myself I just argue for equal sharing but when I arrive at home, I will be cooking and doing everything for my family". She continued to say that many women, including herself sometimes, pride themselves in providing things like food and other services for men, and this is especially felt immediately after marriage because "it makes you feel that you are a married somebody, belonging to a man of your own; and that is what most men like". Men feel very comfortable with this, and these are some of the stereotypes that are hard to change. As Baleka Kgositsile quoted in Hassim (1991:3) said: "Men are so comfortable with being waited on that many are not particularly keen to discuss women's emancipation even if they are supposed to be revolutionaries. Women on the other hand, are so used to catering for others that they tend to hold on to the roles that retard their development". 70
A discussion with people in Loporung revealed that, yes, there are still men and women who believe that nothing must change, and men and women should continue with their respective roles at household level especially. With regard to the issue of decision- making within the household, many believe that women must be involved in the decision- making process in certain matters and not all matters. One man pointed out that "there are times when a man, a man alone, must take a decision, and the decision must be final". The majority of women did accept that men in most cases make decisions on their own and this is seldom the case with women. As an example of this, a middle-aged lady who works at Agricor in Disaneng pointed out that when a woman has received her salary at the end of the month, she has to bring the money home even if there are things that she needs urgently, but men sometimes use their salaries as they wish without the consent of women. There was also a report by many women that men are very extravagant in spending on themselves and a larger share of their salaries is sometimes spent with friends at the shebeens and night clubs.
Issues around women's participation in the decision-making process at household level and equal distribution of household chores between men and women brought into the picture the issue of tradition and culture. The majority of men believe that a man is naturally and traditionally endowed with dominion over a woman and will therefore remain the head of the family. One gentleman argued that working together with women and allowing them to make decisions sometimes, does not necessarily mean that they should be equal with men. Some women did accept that there are some traditional and cultural beliefs which perpetuate the domination of men over women and which do not provide women with enough exposure in the outside world. They pointed out that some traditional beliefs allow men to engage in extra-marital activities, and this seems to be in line with Schuler's assertion that: " Traditional values give men proprietary rights over women. In line with woman's utility as an asset, society highly values virginity in women. Wives are esteemed for their faithfulness to their male protectors and for 71
the productive and reproductive contribution they make to his family... Men are entitled to control the mobility of the women in their charge and to punish the behaviour they deem inappropriate" (Schuler 1992:19).
Although many women do believe and accept that cultural beliefs and norms contribute much towards their subordination and marginalisation, almost all of them agreed that it will be very difficult to change such beliefs. As one woman pointed out, "it is going to be difficult for men to change especially, because they seem to appreciate this domination".
So generally, the Loporung case indicates that women should not just be seen as hapless and helpless victims of poverty. They are very active, take initiative, and contribute much towards the development process in the rural areas. Again, it can be seen from the Loporung people that people can be woven together by a common problem. This is revealed by the spontaneity with which the road construction project emerged. It was not as planned as those in Miga and Signalhill. The Loporung project also indicates that people can take an active role in developing themselves, and not all poor people take and accept their poverty conditions in which they find themselves as given. There is proof that people in this rural settlement did not believe that there is no other option or alternative to the circumstances under which they find themselves. The Loporung people did not wait for outsiders to come and show them how to improve their living conditions as it seemed to be the case in the other two projects. The Loporung case puts to rest the erroneous belief that rural people need to be injected with development ethics and that they possess attitudes not geared towards the development process.
One can say that the people who were involved in the road construction project were not so obsessed with cash generation. That is, these people did not say that because they Ore not paid, then they do not join the project, as it was the case in Signalhill, where women withdrew their membership from the sewing project because they were not remunerat ed. 72
Again one can conclude that if people respond this way to a project which is not generating income, then it means that should any project which is generating money be established, these people will give it most of their support.
However, the conclusion that these people are not obsessed with income may be a very wrong surmise to make, especially if one takes into consideration the plight under which these people find themselves. This amazingly positive response to the road construction project may result from the fact that women in Loporung seem to have very limited options as opposed to those of Miga and Signalhill. For example, after realising that they were not comfortable and happy in the sewing project, some women in Signalhill went into informal activities in Mafikeng. This is something unthinkable for women in Loporung. So, one may guess that the people in Loporung know that the construction of the road may open avenues for them to venture into some survival strategies open to other rural women like informal activities, as was the case with women in Miga and Signalhill.
4.5 Conclusion
The foregoing chapter is an attestation to the fact that even though rural people share common characteristics, they are not homogeneous. The conditions under which they find themselves are not the same and therefore, a blanket approach in an attempt to alleviate the conditions in the rural areas may be a futile exercise. An on-site study needs to be conducted to identify specific problems. Of greater importance is the fact that people themselves should be actively involved in identifying these problem areas. Attempts to bring about development may end up in a fiasco if people are not involved. The Loporung borehole which lies unused attests to this.
Nonetheless, what seems common and important in all the above-discussed projects, is 73 the women's participation. Their participation in all the stages of planning (decision- making, implementation, monitoring and evaluation) is loud and clear. In Miga (wire- knitting) and Signalhill, participation is hundred percent by women unlike in Loporung where both men and predominantly women are involved. The former two projects were tremendously successful despite men's absence. This accentuates the role of women in rural development. Their participation, however, does not presuppose their participation in household decision-making. Factors such as patriarchy and traditional beliefs which preclude them from participating in household decision-making were shown and discussed.
One can sum up this chapter by saying that women are not as passive as many tend to believe. They are concerned about the appalling conditions which rule their lives and are also prepared to change this state of affairs. Aspects of social life such as lack of access to resources, sexual division of labour and patriarchy hinder women's potential to change the conditions in the rural areas. However, poverty has forced many women to engage in economic activities and it created in them the entrepreneural spirit. For example, home- brewed beer has always been very important in the rural areas, as it has often been associated with traditional ceremonies such as wedding and burial ceremonies as well as a payment to participants in a communal labour party. With the increasing need for income, women are forced to commercialise their catering expertise. Food preparation in the household kitchen is gradually losing its domestic outlook and getting integrated into the market . Women have begun to commercialise their traditional services and as a result the kitchen is being extended to the market place. So, many women in the rural areas do bring income in their families and this, to some extent, provides them with access to decision-making processes especially at household level. Income-generating activities 74 therefore, need to be promoted or encouraged because they have the potential to emancipate women from their marginalisation. One needs to caution that male support for these income-generating activities by women should not automatically be regarded as evidence for changes in gender inequalities and willingness on the side of men to forego their interests. 75
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Summary
By way of summing up, one can say that the three settlements that were studied have shown that the rural areas are not homogeneous and should therefore not be treated the same. Some rural areas are better off as compared to others and the socio-economic bottlenecks experienced in one rural area may not be experienced in another rural area. Of the three settlements that were studied, Loporung is worse off and people in this settlement are exposed to gross socio-economic hardships.
People in Loporung do not have adequate water supply as compared to those in Miga and Signalhill. Water points in Miga and Signalhill are not too far from the houses and as it was indicated in the case of Miga, some people have hand pumps in their homes. Fetching water consumes an inordinate amount of time. Lack of water supply suggests that the establishment of rural development projects which require continuous use of water like gardening can not be thought of in this village. In Miga, some women have vegetable gardens in their backyards and these are used for household consumption and the produce is sometimes sold. This definitely alleviates their plight, to some extent. This type of activity can not be tried in Loporung. As it was seen in this research, many women in Miga and Signalhill are engaged in informal activities. This type of survival strategy, except the alleviation of the poverty conditions under which women find themselves, can be used as a viable vehicle by these women to reduce their dependence on and domination by men. Loporung women are not exposed to such alternatives and this suggests that their dependence and domination by men may remain intact for some time.
In Loporung, the access road is very unreliable and this is experienced as a problem by 76 many people in this settlement. In the first place, women in this village cannot join other women in the urban centres like Mafikeng. Besides the distance involved, engaging in informal activities may be a futile exercise because the transport system is very unreliable. During rainy days people will not be able to go and sell their products and these may rot. Those in Miga and Signalhill do not have a problem. Whether it has rained or not, they are able to travel to town.
It was indicated under the Loporung case that by the time this research was done, a community clinic had just been completed. This is a very commendable achievement and one would believe that this will lessen the health problems in this area. On the other hand, the clinic may not be that much of a blessing to these people. There is no accommodation for the nurses and the doctor and this means that they have to travel to the clinic daily. So, during rainy days the conditions will just remain as they are now. People will remain unattended to. People in Miga and Signalhill do not worry much about the lack of these facilities because they can rush to Mafikeng and Mmabatho if the need arises. People in Loporung have no option sometimes, but to resort to traditional curative and healing methods. For example, pregnant women who do not have relatives in areas where health centres are nearby, are assisted by elderly people in the village who have experience in birth giving procedures. Traditional herbs are also used for ante-natal care. These are some of the practices which make people to regard areas such as Loporung as very rural. A person from Miga or Signalhill will definitely regard people in Loporung as being too rural and traditional should he/she come across such practices. It is very regrettable that people often regard others as being too rural and incarcerated by their traditional norms and values or practices without looking into the general socio- economic conditions under which those 'traditional' people find themselves. This is a very serious mistake committed by many people. People tend to forget that some people are applying very rudimentary methods in dealing with problems that they encounter not by choice. They are forced by circumstances to apply those methods. This is the case with people in Loporung. 77
Data gathered from these development projects reveals that women are still marginalised from the development process in a variety of ways. Factors which contribute towards the marginalisation of women include inadequate facilities in these areas, and Loporung is the most affected among these three settlements. There seems to be a bias against the rural areas with regard to the provision of resources. The North West government seems to be too much obsessed with providing the complex and expensive requirements in the urban areas while simple needs in the rural areas are left behind. Much talk and rhetoric about the provision of facilities in the rural areas and, especially, attempts not to marginalise women in the development process, seems not to be translated into action. Therefore, there have to be visible steps which will change rural gender relations, rather than mere rhetoric. O'Neil (1991:47) argues that "the spot-light of policy makers and development planners seems to be not directly shining on rural women's issues". It is time the government should realise that this is a period of action rather than words. So, government policies may contribute towards the marginalisation of women.
It was also revealed, especially in Loporung, that women are very enthusiastic and keen to contribute towards their own development and the development of their own societies but this is hindered by the lack of facilities. This then puts to rest the erroneous belief and challenges the glib assumption by the modernisation perspective which asserts that rural women possess attitudes which are not geared towards the development process and therefore need to be injected with Western Protestant work ethics. Rural women are very much determined regardless of the socio-economic problems they are faced with, and as the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) pointed out: "What women have accomplished while... hindered by confining gender stereotypes, behaviours and norms, is cause for amazement. What they could do for their nations and for human kind if their births were celebrated, rather than mourned, if their talents were nurtured rather than ignored, and if their ideas were heard rather than silenced, is cause of great hope" (UNIFEM quoted in Manzini 1995:13). 78
The appalling conditions that were found in the Signalhill rural development project and the hope and determination expressed by its members are a true testimony to UMFEM's assertion that what women have achieved against all odds, 'is cause of great hope'. So, as the dependency perspective pointed out, women are quite prepared to contribute to the development process, especially if conditions allow for that. Any government which is serious about development must capitalise on the zeal and zest that rural women exhibit.
This research has also revealed that traditional beliefs and norms can thwart women's participation in rural development. It has been seen how most men use traditional norms and beliefs to prevent women from making important decisions, especially at household level. What also came to light was the sad reality that there are women who believe that the traditional division of labour according to sex should be maintained. They believe that traditional and cultural beliefs are sacrosanct and do not have to be fiddled with. The majority of men seem to be in favour of the retention of the traditional division of labour, and cultural norms and beliefs because these seem to work in their favour. Ms Phina Letsoalo, an academician in the Geography Department of the University of the North, looking at the role played by African women in decision-making processes and development in general expressed her grief and concern by saying that: "... black men cannot accept this changing role of women, and ask themselves what the women are seeking. We, the Africans, have the answer for our men: we are not seeking to overthrow tradition. In fact we are concerned with the preservation of traditional values. It is we who teach the children about heritage. We do not want to take away the men's authority and power. We also do not want to replace them. We are simply in search of a role which will support and supplement the men's efforts" (Letsoalo 1990:91).
The response by some men and women who believe in the maintenance of culture and tradition are a clear indication that it will take men and women with guts to move them 79 away from their stance. So, to some extent, the modernisation perspective is right when arguing that there are people who still believe in their tradition, and it is unfortunate that such people do not consider whether those beliefs promote or retard the development process. However, it can be inferred that people are using tradition to preserve their relative better positions, which they are not prepared to abdicate or lose. This is a very serious challenge. Generally, this research points to the conclusion that the forces which work towards the marginalisation of women in the North West Province and especially in the rural areas where this research was conducted are patriarchy, tradition and culture, structural household violence like denying women the opportunity to make important decisions at household level, and government policies which do not provide women with development facilities. All these need to be rectified and should be seen as challenges that need to be faced head on, because these are directly linked to the scourge of poverty with which women are faced in the rural areas.
It has already been mentioned earlier on (under 3.5) that South Africa has just ventured into the democracy that it has long been looking and fighting for. Both men and women were actively involved in the struggle against apartheid which worked against the development of many people, especially women in the rural areas of the former bantustans, of which a large part of the North West Province used to be one. So, as much as there has been a fierce struggle against the unjust system of governance, the same should obtain in the struggle for the liberation of women and for gender equality. Both men and women should equally be engaged in this struggle against gender apartheid. As Sadie and Van Aardt (1995:89) have cautioned: " the notion that women's liberation is an issue for women and therefore that women must speak for themselves is misleading. It is a gender issue, an issue about relationships between people of different sexes. Women have to define their needs, but in addressing those needs men and women alike must be involved". 80
South Africa will never be a democratic society until all its people are free from any form of domination, whether at home or at work. The government must take the issue of women very seriously or else, this will strengthen many people's belief that "women's labour and abilities are required during times of crisis, such as wars, independence struggles; and after these are completed, women are marginalised again" (Gabriel 1991:73). As was the case in Zimbabwe, the marginalisation of women in the development process and the persistence of gender inequalities in the democratic South Africa will mark just another constitutionalization of democracy, where democratic principles only appear on the constitution but are not translated into action.
Undoubtedly, the government has inherited problems that were created by the apartheid regime. This is a well known fact which is undeniable. The socio-economic bottlenecks that were created by the apartheid regime should never be used as an excuse for not delivering services to the people. It will never serve people any good for the policy- makers to keep on expressing concern about, and lambasting the apartheid system and the socio-economic atrocities that it created. What needs to be seen done is visible attempts being made to redress these imbalances, with which we are all familiar. This must be a period of action and not words. Women issues have to be dealt with from grassroots level. Political representation of women is not enough and that South Africa is now a democratic society does not automatically mean that all people are enjoying this democracy. Once again, Zimbabwe is a good example in this regard. There are people who still need to taste this democracy and see it with their eyes rather than just hear about it. By way of conclusion, the findings of this study show that much still needs to be done. The rural areas where this research was conducted are particularly affected by poverty. People have few resources of income and limited chances to find formal employment opportunities. Their capacity is hindered by household conditions or circumstances such as the adverse power relations, a lack of services and assets. These are a reflection of the mammoth task that faces development policy-makers in this province. 81
5.2 Recommendations
Tentative solutions as to how these challenges can be faced can now be suggested. In the first place, the marginalisation of women should not be looked at from the national angle only. The root cause of the women's marginalization is the family. So, any attempt to root out patriarchy and its related issues need to start at household level. There has to be a thorough democratization of households which is epitomised by, among other things, equal decision-making powers and equal sharing of household responsibilities. Article number 8 of the women's charter for Effective Equality on Family Life and Partnership which was adopted at the National Convention convened by the Women's National Coalition, 25-27 February 1994 postulates that: "Acknowledgement of women's responsibilities must be reflected in their decision-making powers within the family and management of the household. Domestic chores, duties and obligations should be shared by partners and all members of the household" (Women's charter for Effective Equality 1994:7).
These sentiments are echoed by McFadden (1994) who argues that democracy does not only have to be limited to political circles and premises, but these principles should form part of a wider social life and filter down to the household level. If we want democracy in our society, then we must have democracy at home, and therefore, as it is fought for at national and international levels, "democracy must likewise necessarily occur at the level of personal relations within the family" (McFadden 1994:27).
This research has revealed that some elements which perpetuate the subordination and marginalisation of women are deeply ingrained in the minds of both men and women and are internalised. This, therefore, indicates the magnitude of work that needs to be done to try and stem out these seemingly intractable challenges. To this effect, there has to be 82 a thorough training and retraining of people in the rural areas. It has to be acknowledged that this may take a very long time, but these stereotypes may be eroded with time. This means that facilities have to be made available for training purposes. This training must be conducted by people from rural areas, especially those who already believe in gender equality and household democratization in particular. This training and conscientization should not only be directed to elderly people. Young people should also be included and this can best be done in schools, and parents should also be encouraged to talk about gender issues with their children at home. It is believed that gender inequalities and traditional beliefs are learned by children at home at an early age and these become very difficult to change at a later stage. Bryson (1992:201) argues that: "... the family's main importance is as an agent of socialisation, the primary social institution through which young children learn the values and expectations of their society. Thus it is within the family that boys and girls first encounter patriarchal power and the sexual division of labour,...Such lessons are reinforced by peer groups, schools and the media, and having been learned at such an early age they are particularly resistant to later changes".
So, as much as the family locus has been an active agent in the inculcation of gender stereotypes, the same institution can now be used as an active agent to stem out these very same gender stereotypes. But, as already suggested in the quotation, this has to be done at an early age.
It has to be borne in mind that gender issues involve both sexes, men and women, and any attempt to deal with women's marginalisation should not be an exclusive prerogative of women. Men must also take an active part in democratizing the households, including women in decision-making processes at all levels of the society and the general attempt not to marginalise them. 83
According to White as quoted in Macdonald (1994:20): "A gender analysis which focuses on women only is incomplete. If gender is about relations between men and women, then the male side of the equation must also be figured in. If women's gender identities are to be changed, then men's must change". This assertion is reiterated by Dominelli (1995:135) who believes that "unless transformation encompasses both women and men", gender oppression or the subordination of women by men will not be resolved or eliminated, and gender stereotypes will continue to be entrenched.
Empowerment has now of late become a household concept, especially women empowerment. This concept seems to send high voltage shock waves through the spines of many men. Women empowerment is defined as "a process whereby women become able to organise themselves to increase their own self-reliance, to assert their independent right to make choices and to control resources which will assist in challenging and eliminating their own subordination" (Keller et al quoted in Rowlands 1995:104). Empowerment then provides those marginalised people with the power to exercise their rights and occupy positions available to their exposure. Empowerment, just like participation, can be used as a viable strategy to deal with the problem of the marginalisation of women in the development process and redress the skewed power relations that exist between men and women. As Abramovitz et al (1992:88) say: "...empowering women is essential. Women must be viewed as agents of development, not passive beneficiaries. Policies and programs must amplify rather than undermine women's control over resources and access to markets, education and training, health services, labour-saving technologies, political power and decision making". 84
In the main, as Wieringa (1994:82) says: "The central focus of this approach is a critique of the way power and development are interlinked; it seeks to 'empower' women, not in the sense of reversing existing power hierarchies but rather in empowering women and/or women's groups to make their own choices, to speak out on their own behalf and to control their own lives. Power relations have three dimensions : oppressive/coercive, challenging/critical and creative. The process of empowerment of women is related to all three dimensions: exposing the oppressive power of the existing gender relations, critically challenging them, and creatively trying to shape different social relations. The empowerment approach recognises the political nature of the development process and stimulates women to become actively engaged as political actors. Political mobilization and consciousness organizations are seen as vital actors in development processes".
Although this has already been alluded to in the above quotation, one needs to reiterate that empowerment is not about reversing existing power hierarchies, but trying to reduce the power which is concentrated in the hands of men at the expense of women. There is this fear that women will hence-forth dominate men and this is not what this concept is all about. In like manner, women also seem to be misinterpreting this concept. This is validated by expressions uttered by some women during informal discussions about this concept, like, 'we have long been dominated by men, and this is our time'. The misinterpretation and especially expressions such as these may cause very serious conflicts and confrontations, especially at the household level. So, a lot of groundwork needs to be done to allay these fears on the side of men and to help women overcome the misinterpretation they attach to this concept. As Mosse quoted in Wieringa (1994 :832) points out: "...(the empowerment approach) acknowledges the importance for women to increase their power. However, it seeks to identify power less in terms 85
of domination over others (with its implicit assumption that a gain for women implies a loss for men), and more in terms of the capacity of women to increase their own self-reliance and internal strength. This is identified as the right to determine choices in life and to influence the direction of change, through the ability to gain control over crucial material and non-material resources ... it thus seeks to empower women through the distribution of power within as well as between societies". This is where the trainers that were talked about earlier on need to come into the picture and teach people about all what empowerment involves.
It has to be pointed out here that in addressing gender inequalities and the marginalisation of women, we do not have to concentrate on the households only. That is, the household does not have to be isolated from the broader socio-economic issues. Focusing on the family only as a separate entity will not do. Fundamentally, there has to be a provision of job opportunities. Mention has already been made that many rural people are unemployed and this needs to receive thorough attention. Educational facilities also have to be made available and accessible. It is argued that: "education does much for a woman's status - in society, in the workplace, in the family. It also enables women to take control of their lives and respond better to opportunities. Not least, it puts wives on a more equal footing with their husbands in matters affecting their families. Education can also do much to eliminate the cultural and social barriers that block women's opportunities" (Sadie and van Aardt 1995:89).
Education can therefore be used as an avenue to challenge the forces that perpetuate male domination and gender inequalities. Extension workers can be used to provide rural people with services, development advice and assistance. 86
The provision of education, job opportunities, development advice, development assistance and other services can be provided to rural people through non-governmental organisations and co-operatives, among other means.
There is longitudinal as well as cross-national support for the fact that non-governmental organisations (NGOs) can best be used as viable tools to promote participation and the empowerment of women, especially those located in the countryside, as analysts came to the realization that "the vast majority of rural women are not being reached by development projects" and that attempts and "methods adopted to involve women in rural development have been uninspiring" (Mathur 1986:51). Non-governmental organisations, working in conjunction with national and international donor agencies and governments can make substantial progress in empowering women and addressing the problem of gender inequality because these organisations are more flexible as opposed to most bureaucracies, and "their routine face to face interactions with their grassroots constituencies compared with the more remote, formalised modelling exercises undertaken in the upper echelons of bureaucratically managed planning institutions" provide them with ample opportunities to deal with fundamental problems at the shop- floor level (Kabeer, 1995:110). According to Paul (1990:98): "Though many development programs call for a greater degree of beneficiary participation, beneficiaries are seldom sufficiently organised to participate in decision making and implementation. This happens when they are too poor and lack organisational skills and leadership skills. The programme leadership, working under government constraints, is often unable to perform its mobilising role. When this occurs, it is appropriate to invite NGOs (also known as voluntary agencies) to help mobilise the beneficiaries. NGOs are generally more familiar with local people and conditions and are more flexible in their internal decision making processes and structures. They may also be more effective in encouraging the beneficiaries to participate in and respond to the programme". 87
According to Harper (1992:1): "If people want to produce something, whether it is for sale or for their own use, they usually have to work with other people, or 'co-operate'. Even in the simplest societies, with little or no dealings beyond the village economy, most tasks involve some sort of joint activity".
Co-operatives can also be a viable forum or platform to take along the marginalised categories in the development process. It is within the co-operative arena that women can be afforded the opportunity to work together for their common good and income earning, they can also exchange ideas on how to deal with their position in society. Co-operatives and NGOs can be used as places where women meet and share common problems that they experience, especially problems related to their marginalisation, and try to come up with solutions to these problems. These are the avenues that the North West Province can follow in its attempt to deal with the scourge of poverty which the rural people in this province face. The socio-economic conditions of the people that were researched by this study, appalling as they have been found, may just be a tip of an iceberg. There might be other rural areas in this part of the province which are worse off. The sooner these conditions are given the attention that they deserve, the better. 88
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