Traditional leadership and the Tokwe-Mukosi induced displacements: Finding the missing link.

Kudzayi S Tarisayi

doi:10.4102/jamba.v10i1.592

Abstract

There is increasing empirical evidence that the relocation of the victims of the Tokwe-Mukosi floods in Zimbabwe was marred by a combination of challenges. These challenges are argued in this article to have resulted from the adoption of Eurocentric models by government and non-governmental organisation technocrats and experts while relegating traditional leadership and the lived experiences of the displaced to the shadows. The writer provides a summary and critique of the Elizabeth Colson–Thayer Scudder four-stage model and Michael Cernea’s Impoverishment Risks and Reconstruction Model. This article argues that traditional leadership is the missing link in disaster-induced displacement and its integration can overcome most of the challenges faced by the displaced in Zimbabwe. Traditional leadership in Zimbabwe can be traced to precolonial states and it has survived the colonial and postcolonial epochs. The study was guided by the Afrocentric theoretical framework. The case for the integration of traditional leadership was buttressed by numerous arguments. Among these arguments include proximity of traditional leadership to the displaced, the Zunde raMambo concept and ubuntu, among others.

Highlights

The discourse on the adoption rather than adaptation of Western models has lately been met with a vituperative debate from African and decoloniality scholars
This article gave a review and critique of Western models that guided the relocation of people following the TokweMukosi disaster in Zimbabwe
Weaknesses of Eurocentric and Euro–North American models were revealed by this author and the article’s advocacy for the centrality of traditional leadership as the missing link in disaster-induced displacements

Summary

Introduction

The discourse on the adoption rather than adaptation of Western models has lately been met with a vituperative debate from African and decoloniality scholars. The relegation of traditional leadership to the sidelines in efforts to assist displaced persons as revealed by the case of the Tokwe-Mukosi displacements is argued in this article to be because of adoption of Western models. Western frameworks of disaster-induced displacements in general and Cernea’s Impoverished Risks and Reconstruction Model as implemented recently with Tokwe-Mukosi flood victims apparently lack consideration for traditional leadership and its role or lack thereof in the relocation of the displaced. Displacements since time immemorial around the world in general and Zimbabwe in particular have had ramifications on people in a multiplicity of facets of their lives Recent displacements such as the Tokwe-Mukosi disaster have arguably brought to the fore the need to integrate traditional leadership in order to overcome the implications of disaster-induced displacements. The author utilises the shortcomings of the Western models reviewed in this article to argue for the role of traditional leadership to a greater extent

Research methodology

Conclusion