THE WITNESS, THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 2010 13 PHONE: 033 355 1111 E-MAIL: [email protected] WEBSITE: www.witness.co.za INSIDE STORY Stranded women, strong women An article based on recent research done on female-headed households in Pietermaritzburg townships shows that while most are battling, the women in charge derive satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment from their independence from men and patriarchal rural families. ALLISON GOEBEL, NOMBUSO MASINGA and DANIEL BAILEY HE settlement of France has appeared en have serious health problems, such as several times in The Witness in recent high blood pressure, diabetes or arthritis, Tmonths. Sometimes, the news is uplift- and are vulnerable to crime, especially ing as in the opening of the new community sexual offences. As may be expected, al- centre made possible by the hard work of most all the women who were interviewed Reach Out and generous donors such as had strong views on the wrongdoings of Liberty Midlands Mall (ªLandmark centre men. As one woman put it: ªThey are bad opens for orphans in townshipº, The Wit- and dishonest, even those women who still ness, April 30). love their men admit that they are having Other times, the news is brutal and sad a lot of problems with men.º as in a story of a woman who was raped The women said that men are failing in in her own home (ªFrance: Two robbers their traditional roles. ªThey should care take turns raping woman in her houseº, for the family, be a breadwinner,not cause The Witness, April 5). any problems, protect the family, teach A large township of 5 000-plus recon- their children the correct way of living.º struction and development programme In many cases, the situation is dire and (RDP) houses built on the former farms of while most share food and other kinds of Ambleton and Shenston in the nineties, support with neighbours and friends, France is the Msunduzi Municipality's these female-headed households remain main gesture to the nationwide low-cost isolated from the traditional supports of housing programme. As such, it shows the the extended Zulu family, which in other contradictory successes and failures of cases may help in times of financial, health that programme that are evident across and other troubles. the country. Successes Ð a large number So while President Jacob Zuma, with his of new houses were given to the poorest large and well-connected family, reminds citizens, with female-headed households the nation of culture, we should keep in being the largest number of recipients. mind that some aspects of culture may be Failures Ð the township is on the city pe- privileges only of the elite. riphery, far from jobs and services, a place Perhaps surprisingly, then, it is often the where the poor and unemployed are so- female heads' independence from men cially isolated, with the predictable out- and patriarchal rural families that pro- comeofhighlevelsofcrime,chronicpover- vides the greatest source of accomplish- ty, illness and hopelessness. ment. As one of the interviewees from Canadian sociologist Professor Allison Peace Valley 2 said: ªI trust myself, I am Goebel, in collaboration with a local non- very confident and I love the person I am. profit organisation, the Built Environment You can't give that to anyone.º Support Group, conducted research into Female heads value their independent female-headed households in three low- income, earned from renting out backyard income communities within the Msunduzi cottages, social grants and piece work. Municipality, including France, in order to They value a home of their own to raise better understand the social and economic their children and grandchildren or give dynamics affecting women who are left to safe haven to orphans, like Grandmother fend for themselves and their children. Thembeni Mzola who was featured in an- Earlier work done in collaboration with other article on France (ªGogo (86) in RDP the University of KwaZulu-Natal (house- house raising countless kidsº, The Witness hold surveys in seven wards in the Msun- April 5). These women also value their life duzi Municipality), as well as data from in the city where they have improved ac- elsewhere in the country, show that cess to services such as water, electricity, female-headed households are in the schools and health care. As hard as life is, majority in low-income neighbourhoods. PHOTO: PAULWEINBERG/AFRICAMEDIAONLINE they see urban life as better than where Female-headed households are especially Female heads value their independent income, earned from renting out backyard cottages, social grants and piece work. They value a home of their own to raise their they came from in the rural areas. They prevalent in new townships such as children and grandchildren or give safe haven to orphans, value their political freedom and have France. Some of the women are widows, deep hope that the new South Africa will some have been abandoned by boyfriends eventually bring them, but especially their or husbands recently, or during the time WHILE MOST SOME ARE WIDOWS, SOME ABANDONED children, a better life, with education and of political upheaval and violence in the jobs. But they are not waiting around for late eighties and early nineties. Some are SHARE FOOD AND BY BOYFRIENDS OR HUSBANDS RECENTLY, this. These stranded women are strong grandmothers looking after children or- OTHER KINDS OF OR DURING THE TIME OF POLITICAL women raising the nation in the city phaned by HIV/Aids, and some are simply around us. left behind by adult children who could not SUPPORT WITH UPHEAVAL AND VIOLENCE IN THE LATE · Professor Allison Goebel is based at care for them. Queens University, Canada. Daniel However, the new research conducted NEIGHBOURS AND EIGHTIES AND EARLY NINETIES. SOME ARE Bailey is a researcher at Built Environ- inFebruaryandMarch,suggeststhatmost FRIENDS, THESE GRANDMOTHERS ment Support Group (Besg) and have been independent heads since estab- Nombuso Masinga is a Besg intern. lishing their own households. While some FEMALE-HEADED LOOKING AFTER of the fathers of the women's children may have paid iNhlawulo (damages for impreg- `HOUSEHOLDS CHILDREN ' nating an unmarried girl or woman), most REMAIN ISOLATED ORPHANED BY HIV/ fathers and the fathers' extended families have supplied no financial support in such FROM THE AIDS, OR SIMPLY cases. Neither have they provided any emotional or social assistance for their TRADITIONAL LEFT BEHIND BY children. This is in a context where female heads face extremely difficult situations SUPPORTS OF THE ADULT CHILDREN alone. Usually they have large families to EXTENDED ZULU PHOTO: SUPPLIED WHO COULD NOT feed, often with onlypapand water as their Ntuthukoville, near Pietermaritzburg, where some of the research took main daily meal. Additionally, many wom- FAMILY. place. CARE FOR THEM. [email protected] Letters Editor, P.O. Box 362, Pietermaritzburg, 3200 End of the road for Cope? Denis Hurley Centre THE article titled ªHistoric building under already invested in the renovation of the are consulting architects, the Cathedral parish, THE birth of the Congress of the People (Cope) threatº (The Witness, May 27) indicates that cathedral and presbytery. the eThekwini Municipality, as well as commu- heralded a new beginning that was to change Amafa KwaZulu-Natal has commenced a Initially, we hoped that the parish centre nity leaders and stakeholders from the neigh- the political landscape of our country forever. public participation process about Emmanuel would also be restored. bourhood, to ensure that the new building will The euphoria at the inaugural conference in Cathedral's application to replace the existing However, consultations with architects re- enable us to serve many more people more ef- Bloemfontein was unprecedented since the parish centre with a new building. vealed that, as a result of insensitive repairs fectively for decades to come. dawn of democracy in South Africa. We welcome this process and invite interest- and alterations, the building is only a faint As a contribution to Amafa's public partici- Cope supporters thought their leaders ed people to visit the centre to be better in- shadow of the original architect's concept. pation process, guided tours of the parish would be different, not just disgruntled ex- formed about the building, the social outreach Moreover, the cost of restoring the existing centre and briefings about our vision for the ANC Thabo Mbeki sympathisers who wanted work that takes place there and our plans to building would outweigh its limited heritage Denis Hurley Centre will be offered. Contact to be in power. Unfortunately, they proved to expand this work. and architectural value. Mary Ann at 031 306 3595 from 8.30 am until be no different, with very little being said or The Archdiocese of Durban has long been It was therefore decided that we should erect 4.30 pm, Mondays to Fridays. done regarding Cope policy and alternatives. committed to the preservation of heritage a new purpose-built facility on the same site, PADDY KEARNEY It is no wonder that the party is often referred buildings, as indicated by the R20 million it has to be known as the Denis Hurley Centre. We Durban to as ANC-Lite. Now with the battle for leader- ship, violence between Lekota and Shilowa factions is splitting the party even further. Is Real pride in SA this the end of the road for a party that never even stepped off the pavement? Maybe Cope's spin doctors can come up with a mira- I CAN'T help feeling a bit South Africa's interesting cle to revive the party Ð well, that's if they guilty that I cannot bring and turbulent history have not already left. myself to adorn my car with shouldn't preclude non- This turmoil within the party may not be a South African flag or a anal South Africans from a entirely bad though.