Changing Trends in White People Destitution After the Fast Track Land Reform Program: A Case Study of Harare Central Business District, Zimbabwe
[1]
Tawanda Ray Bvirindi, Sociology Department, University of Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.
[2]
Felix Tombindo, Sociology Department, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.
[3]
Takunda Chirau, Social Science Department, Damelin Educor, Pretoria, South Africa.
It is often an unheard of phenomenon to study manifestations of white destitution in Africa. This is particularly so in former colonies, where the white man supposedly represents everything to do with wealth and wellbeing. In Zimbabwe, whites were dispossessed of farms in a radical process of land reform which challenged white settler capitalism. This study goes outside the norm by assessing the manifestations of destitution among white adult people domiciled in Harare’s Central Business district and affluent suburbs in the post Fast Track Land Reform Programme era. Bourdieu’s ideas on the habitus and cultural capital constitute the theoretical framework of the study. The study is grounded in a qualitative methodology with semi structured interviews and non-participant observation as the tools for data soliciting. Purposive sampling was used in selecting participants for the study. It was deduced that destitution among adult white people manifests through sleeping in desolate bottle collection buses, caravans, guardrooms, non-functional cars and unused car shades. Additionally, they lack access to sanitation facilities hence scruffiness in most instances. The study deduced that panhandling, doing menial jobs and getting help from well-wishers are core survival strategies for whites facing destitution.
Destitution, Blacks, Whites, Panhandling, Adult
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