Displacement and Livelihoods through the Construction of Small Dams: Legacies of Magunje Dam in Hurungwe District, Mashonaland West Province, Zimbabwe

Joshua Chakawa; Tawanda Valentine  Chambwe

doi:10.25159/2663-6522/8298

Authors

Joshua Chakawa
Tawanda Valentine Chambwe Midlands State University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-6522/8298

Keywords:

displacement and resettlement, compensation, impact studies, ecology, livelihoods

Abstract

This article examines the experiences of people in rural areas who are displaced by the construction of small dams. Scholarship on dam construction has generally focused on the impact of big dams on communities. Yet, this study argues, small dam construction projects also impact those living on the site and vicinity of small dams. Using Magunje Dam in Hurungwe District of Zimbabwe as a lens, the study traces the experiences of the changed livelihoods of communities that resisted being moved and those who were relocated to other places. By taking this approach, the study establishes the complex impact of the Magunje Dam project on the evicted people and argues that those who are affected by small dam projects sometimes suffer unwanted consequences and their challenges are difficult to remedy because they occupy the fringes of society. Their challenges go unnoticed, especially after receiving paltry compensation. The study shows that displacement and involuntary resettlement destabilise the family fabric. Through the lenses of the Impoverishment Risks and Reconstruction model (IRR), the effects of dam construction on rural people are unpacked. Data was obtained through qualitative research methodologies.

Author Biography

Joshua Chakawa

History Department

Chairperson and senior lecturer

References

Adeola, R. 2016. “The Right Not to Be Arbitrarily Displaced under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.” African Human Rights Law Journal 16 (1): 83–98. https://doi.org/10.17159/1996-2096/2016/v16n1a4. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17159/1996-2096/2016/v16n1a4

Aiken, S. R., and C. H. Leigh. 2015. “Dams and Indigenous Peoples in Malaysia: Development, Displacement and Resettlement.” Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography 97 (10): 69–93. https://doi.org/10.1111/geob.12066. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/geob.12066

Bisht, T. C. 2009. “Development-Induced Displacement and Women: The Case of Tehri Dam, India.” The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology 10 (4): 301–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/14442210903271312. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14442210903271312

Bond, P., and M. Manyanya. 2002. Zimbabwe’s Plunge: Exhausted Nationalism, Neoliberalism and the Search for Social Justice. Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press.

Cernea, M. M. 2000. “Risks, Safeguards and Reconstruction: A Model for Population Displacement and Resettlement.” Economic and Political Weekly 35 (41): 3659–678. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4409836.

Cernea, M. M., and C. McDowell, eds. 2000. Risks and Reconstruction: Experiences of Resettlers and Refugees. Washington, DC: World Bank. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1596/0-8213-4444-7

Dear, C., and S. McCool. 2010. “Causes and Consequences of Displacement Decision-Making in Banhine National Park, Mozambique.” Conservation and Society 8 (2): 103–11. https://doi.org/10.4103/0972-4923.68910. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/0972-4923.68910

Degoutte, G. 2002. Small Dams: Guidelines for Design, Construction and Monitoring. Aix-en-Provence: Cemagref. https://www.barrages-cfbr.eu/IMG/pdf/pb2002-en.pdf.

Feeney, P. 2001. Review of Risks and Reconstruction: Experiences of Resettlers and Refugees edited by Michael M. Cernea and Christopher McDowell. Development in Practice 11 (4): 546–47. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4029627.

Kaushal, N. 2009. “Displacement: An Undesirable and Unwanted Consequence of Development.” The Indian Journal of Political Science 70 (1): 77–89. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41856497. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2008.09.006

Marowa, I. 2015. “Forced Removal and Social Memories in North-Western Zimbabwe, c1900–2000.” PhD diss., BIGSAS and the University of Bayreuth. Accessed July 11, 2022. https://epub.uni-bayreuth.de/2090/1/Ivan%20Book%20pdf.pdf.

Mashingaidze, T. M. 2013. “Beyond the Kariba Dam-Induced Displacements: The Zimbabwean Tonga’s Struggles for Restitution, 1990s to 2000s.” International Journal of Minority and Group Rights 20 (3): 381–404. https://doi.org/10.1163/15718115-02003003. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/15718115-02003003

McGregor, J. 2009. Crossing the Zambezi: The Politics of Landscape on a Central African Frontier. Harare: Weaver Press.

Moyo, S. 2011. “Three Decades of Agrarian Reform in Zimbabwe.” The Journal of Peasant Studies 38 (3): 493–531. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2011.583642. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2011.583642

Mujere, J. 2011. “Land, Graves and Belonging: Land Reform and the Politics of Belonging in Newly Resettled Farms in Gutu, 2000–2009.” In “Special Issue on Fast Track Land Reform in Zimbabwe,” edited by L. Cliffe, J. Alexander, B. Cousins and R. Gaidzanwa, special issue, The Journal of Peasant Studies 38 (5): 1123–144. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2011.634501. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2011.634501

Munro, W. A. 1998. The Moral Economy of the State: Conservation, Community Development, and State Making in Zimbabwe. Athens, OH: Ohio University.

Palmer, R. 1990. “Land Reform in Zimbabwe, 1980–1990.” African Affairs 89 (355): 163–81. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a098283. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a098283

Rutherford, B. 2001. Working on the Margins: Black Workers, White Farmers in Postcolonial Zimbabwe. Harare: Weaver Press.

Schulz, C., and W. M. Adams. 2019. “Debating Dams: The World Commission on Dams 20 Years On.” Wires Waters 6 (5): e1396. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1369

Wilmsen, B., and A. Van Hulten 2017. “Following Resettled People over Time: The Value of Longitudinal Data Collection for Understanding the Livelihood Impacts of the Three Gorges Dam, China.” In “Displacement, Resettlement and Livelihoods,” edited by F. Vanclay and D. Kemp, special issue, Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal 35 (1): 94–105. https://doi.org/10.1080/14615517.2016.1271542. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14615517.2016.1271542