Living between compassion and domination? An ethnographic study of institutions, interventions ...

210 Pages·2013·3.25 MB·English

Living between compassion and domination?
An ethnographic study of institutions, interventions and the
everyday practices of poor black Zimbabwean migrants in
South Africa

Reason Beremauro

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand,
Johannesburg, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy

September 2013
1
ABSTRACT

This thesis is about a specific locality- the Central Methodist Church- and it details the lives and experiences
of a large group of migrants who lived within this locality. The study also examines the activities of a wide
range of humanitarian organisations that instituted interventions at the church and analyses how individuals’
suffering is dealt with by humanitarian organizations. The individuals who inhabited the church were a
product of large-scale structural factors- political conflict, economic decline and fragmentation and social
despair. These individuals were however following traditional mobile livelihoods routes that have been part
and parcel of the Southern African labour migration history. The central questions that this study examines
are how and in what ways experiential suffering is dealt with and how the different ways and technologies of
managing suffering, impinge upon individual and collective subjectivities in the specific locality of the church.
In addition the study examines the categorizations and representations of indigent Zimbabwean migrants
within South Africa and how these representations have been constructed and transformed over time. The
findings made in the study are drawn from a year of ethnographic fieldwork, which combined a number of
different methods. These included archival research, participant observation, in-depth interviews and
narratives with individual migrants, state officials and officials from humanitarian organizations. The study
also made use of diaries in order to detail the everyday lives of individual migrants and capture the texture of
everyday life at the church. The findings indicate that the migrants emplaced within the Central Methodist
Church were not only victims of structural, political and socio-economic factors as has been the common
refrain in recent literature but were also victims of the ‘invisible’, silenced, unrecognized and unacknowledged
violence and exclusionary nation-building mechanisms and processes in post-independence Zimbabwe and
post-apartheid South Africa. The study finds that the ways through which organizations deal with suffering is
mediated by numerous factors and humanitarian interventions interact and articulate with the aspirations of
individuals in complex and unpredictable ways often with perverse outcomes. One of the key findings that
emerges from the study carried out within a specific locality challenges the notion of places such as refugee
camps and asylum holding centres as being ‘exceptional spaces’ where individuals are bereft of rights and
even their sense of individuality and worth. Rather such places ought to be understood in terms of contextual,
material and historical realities. These places ought also to be understood in terms of the meanings that are
attached to them by those who inhabit them. In this regard the study shows the Central Methodist church
building to be a material and political resource used by the inhabitants and it’s also an economic and political
resource utilized by NGOs and other actors. The thesis shows that the ways through which humanitarian
interventions are deployed leads to the creation of categories of victimhood and oftentimes these categories
are negotiated and constantly reconfigured at times without necessarily interacting with the realities of the
beneficiaries in the manner intended. The thesis shows that the everyday lives of indigent individuals are
characterized not only by hardships but the manner in which these individuals attempt to assist each are
processes fraught with tension and ambiguity. By so doing, the study challenges the romanticization of the
lives of the poor which is often depicted as resilient and where the poor assist each other. The thesis makes a
contribution to the anthropology of humanitarianism. In addition, the thesis contributes to broader debates
on the intersections between migration, indigence, victimhood and the logics and practices of humanitarian
institutions.
Keywords: migration, suffering, structural violence, humanitarian organisations, biopolitics, everyday
practices, urban migrants
i
Table of Contents
Living between compassion and domination? An ethnographic study of institutions,
interventions and the everyday practices of poor black Zimbabwean migrants in South
Africa ................................................................................................................................... 1
ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................. i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................... iv
ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................................... vi
DECLARATION ..................................................................................................................... viii
Chapter 1 .............................................................................................................................. 1
Introduction to the Research .........................................................................................................1
Locating my Research: Conceptual and theoretical premises ........................................................7
Methodological Reflections ......................................................................................................... 14
Structure of the thesis ........................................................................................................................ 23
Chapter 2 ............................................................................................................................ 26
Migration, displacement and migrant social relations: The historical antecedents ...................... 26
Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 26
Migration in colonial Zimbabwe ......................................................................................................... 29
Migration and Displacement 1980- 2000 ........................................................................................... 32
The Zimbabwean ‘crisis’ and contemporary mobility ......................................................................... 38
Patterns of migration into South Africa 1990s- present ..................................................................... 42
The Role of Social Relations in Migration ........................................................................................... 53
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 56
Chapter 3 ............................................................................................................................ 58
'Inside-out, the predicaments of place': The Central Methodist Church and its inhabitants ....... 58
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 58
Migrants, Refugees and Encampment ................................................................................................ 62
The Central Methodist Mission ........................................................................................................... 64
Pathways to the church ...................................................................................................................... 67
‘This place is Sodom and Gomorrah’ .................................................................................................. 73
‘A goat grazes where it is tied’ ............................................................................................................ 77
Seeking Sanctuary ............................................................................................................................... 82
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 88
Chapter 4 ............................................................................................................................ 91
‘A religious imperative?’: The management and governance of a place ...................................... 91
Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 91
The practices of governance in local arenas ....................................................................................... 94
‘An outpouring of compassion’: The Ray of Hope Refugee Ministry .................................................. 96
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‘Our Bishop’: Reverend Paul Verryn ................................................................................................. 100
Figures of Authority within the Ray of Hope Ministry ...................................................................... 112
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 120
Chapter 5 .......................................................................................................................... 122
Ambivalent compassions? Humanitarian organizations, interventions and the ‘suffering’ migrants
.................................................................................................................................................. 122
Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 122
Humanitarian interventions and the ‘politics of life’ ........................................................................ 124
The Southern African Centre for Survivours of Torture .................................................................... 129
Entering Intervention programmes .................................................................................................. 135
Medecins Sans Frontieres- Belgium (MSF) ....................................................................................... 140
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 150
Chapter 6 .......................................................................................................................... 152
‘If you’re sick, go home!’: Chronic illness, dying and death in a place of temporality .................... 152
Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 152
Illness, death and dying in southern Africa ....................................................................................... 155
Death away from ‘home’ .................................................................................................................. 157
Indigence and pauper burials............................................................................................................ 162
Chronic illnesses and the dynamics of returning home .................................................................... 166
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 174
Chapter 7 .......................................................................................................................... 176
Conclusion: Between compassion and domination? .................................................................... 176
References ........................................................................................................................ 181
APPENDICES ...................................................................................................................... 196
Appendix A: Participant Information Sheet ...................................................................................... 196
Appendix B: Participant Information Sheet (for staff in organisations) ........................................... 198
APPENDIX C: Tree of Life Group follow up meeting ......................................................................... 200

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I give glory and honour to the Almighty God who strengthens me and has been forever faithful
in my life.
There are a number of people that contributed to the completion of this research project
and to whom I would like to express my gratitude. I am deeply indebted to Dr. Steffen Jensen,
one of the coordinators of the Histories of Victimhood research project who in many ways (too
many to mention) assisted me. Thank you for the opportunity you gave me to be part of what
was an interesting and intellectually stimulating research project. Your sharp analysis and advice
helped refine some of the ideas I had. I’m especially grateful that you always found time to read
many different drafts of my work and provide timely feedback. You are a source of inspiration
and thank you for the encouragement and unwavering support you gave me over the years. My
appreciation also goes to Henrik Rønsbo from the RCT who was also a coordinator of this
project for sharing his insights with me.
I owe a debt of gratitude to my supervisory committee at Wits, headed by Dr. Pamila
Gupta and including Prof. Eric Worby. At different stages of the PhD process Dr. Irma DuPlessis
and Prof. Ingrid Palmary commented on my work, especially at the beginning of the PhD.
Working with a relatively large supervisory committee would ordinarily have been a daunting
task but individually and collectively, the supervisory committee made the task relatively simpler
and somewhat uncomplicated by focusing on different aspects of my work. Thanks for being
meticulous and for providing prompt feedback and inspiring comments. The final product attests
to your expertise. I am also appreciative of the administrative support provided by Adila and
Najibha Deshmukh at WISER, as well as the practical and academic support provided by
Catherine Burns in the final stages of the PhD. Thank you all!
I profited immensely from two writing fellowships at the University of Roskilde. I
enjoyed participating in the PhD seminars, which improved and honed my writing and analytic
abilities. I’m also grateful for the resources that these opportunities availed, which in many ways,
enriched my work. In this regard, I would like to thank, in particular Christian Lund for
providing these opportunities and for the useful discussions in the seminars. I would also like to
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thank Inge Jensen for providing administrative support and making my stay at RUC as
comfortable as possible. There are a number of kind individuals I met at RUC but I will only
mention a few here- Lene Bull Christiansen, Jacob Rasmussen, Anne Egelund, Bent Steenberg
Olsen, Jacob Trane Ibsen, Stine Finne Jacobsen and Lotte Buch. Thank you for your friendship
and intellectual support.
In the same vein, I would also like to thank my PhD colleagues at WISER and at the
Humanities Graduate Centre- Sakhumzi Mfecane, Jennifer Musangi, Stanford Mahati, Jendele
Hungbo, Joy Omwoha, Tatenda Mukwedeya, Crispen Chinguno, Dudu Ndlovu, Beverley
Ochieng, Shepherd Mpofu, Jacob Mati and Asanda Benya. Thank you all for your support and
constructive criticism.
I’m grateful to my family, Jacqui and little Aiden. Jacqui- thanks for the constant
encouragement as I battled through the various and often difficult stages. I appreciate your love,
constant support and your patience. Aiden- you are always a source of inspiration! I would also
like to thank the rest of my family- my parents- for all the love and support you have given me
over the years and my brothers and sisters for the moral and practical support.
Last but not least, I would like to thank the institutions that made it possible for me to
complete this PhD. The Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Survivours of Torture (RCT-
Denmark) who provided a generous stipend and funding that supported fieldwork. WISER- who
provided academic, financial and institutional support. I would also like to acknowledge and
thank the Humanities Graduate Centre who also provided me with material support.

v
ABBREVIATIONS

AHRF African Human Rights Forum
AIPPA Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act
ANC African National Congress
CMC Central Methodist Church
ESAP Economic Structural Adjustment Programme
GNU Government of National Unity
HIV/AIDS Human Immuno Deficiency Virus/ Acquired Immuno Deficiency
Syndrome
IOM International Organization for Migration
MDC Movement for Democratic Change
MSF Medecins San Frontieres
NGOs Non-governmental organization
POSA Public Order and Security Act
RHRU Reproductive Health and Research Unit
SACST Southern African Centre for Survivours of Torture
SADC Southern African Development Community
SAPS South African Police Service
SAWIMA Southern Africa Women in Migration Association
SPT Solidarity Peace Trust
TEBA The Employment Bureau of Africa
vi
TAC Treatment Action Campaign
TOL Tree of Life
TRC Truth and Reconciliation Commission
UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
USAid United States Agency for International Development
WENELA Witwatersrand Native Labour Association
ZANU-PF Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front
ZAPU Zimbabwe African People’s Union
ZCTU Zimbabwe Congress for Trade Unions
ZNLWVA Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association

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DECLARATION

I declare that this dissertation is my own unaided work. It is submitted for the degree of Doctor
of Philosophy at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. It has not
been submitted before for any degree or examination in any other university

__________________________________
(Reason Beremauro)

_________________day of______________ 2013

viii
Chapter 1
Introduction to the Research

This thesis details the experiences of a large group of black Zimbabwean migrants living within
a particular locality- the Central Methodist Church- in Johannesburg, South Africa. Broadly, it is
an ethnographic study about a place and about the lives of individuals living in profound
hardship within that place. The focal concern of the thesis is how these individuals live through
conditions of suffering, uncertainty and immense hardship. Also, it is an analysis of the
intersections between individuals’ suffering and the practices of humanitarian organizations that
attempted to alleviate different forms of hardships. I explore the ways in which individuals’
suffering is accorded a voice as well as the silences and invisibilities that are simultaneously
produced in the process. I also consider how humanitarian interventions may impinge upon
political and social formations as well as individual and collective identities.
The Central Methodist Church is a religious institution located in downtown
Johannesburg that has since 2004 accommodated a substantial number of ethnically diverse,
displaced individuals in a labyrinthine six-storey building. The church transcended from being a
religious institution into an undesignated- and therefore politically contested- ‘refugee’ camp.
The majority of the people who resided in this church are part of thousands of individuals who
have moved out of contemporary Zimbabwe in response to a precipitous political and economic
crisis. The church and its Zimbabwean inhabitants gained immense visibility and prominence in
South Africa, Zimbabwe and perhaps beyond through numerous media reports, documentaries
1
and blogs that have been written about the institution and the people living within its confines .
Concurrently, the institution attracted a diverse range of humanitarian and welfare organizations
all seeking to alleviate the suffering and hardships faced by the inhabitants, in what is perceived
2
to be an abject living place . The church opened up two related phenomena which I explore in

1
An illustration of these media articles: ‘Church offers only home’ (Business day 2009), ‘3500 Refugees face
eviction in SA’ (CAJ news, 2009) and ‘Methodist Church in CBD under fire’ The Migrant, Supplement to The Star,
December 2009)
2
Th at the Central Methodist Church is a site of humanitarian and political prominence is illustrated in significant but
largely symbolic political events that hav e been held in the church building. These include a visit by a group of
1