‘We were displaced several times since 1956’: the Tonga– Goba involuntary resettlement experiences at the Kariba Dam

ABSTRACT

This article critically discusses the secondary displacements of the Tonga–Goba people that occurred after their initial resettlement in the late 1950s. It considers the factors that engendered these displacements; as well as the socio–economic effects of these displacements. These factors include the Zimbabwe Liberation War of the 1970s, the independence of 1980, politico-economic crises of the 2000s and human–wildlife conflicts. These multiple displacements negatively impacted the lives and livelihoods of the affected people. These forms of displacements are regarded as long-term impacts of their initial resettlement of the 1950s.

KEYWORDS:

• Lake Kariba
• Secondary displacement
• impoverishment
• human–wildlife conflict
• affected people
• Musampakaruma
• Zimbabwe

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank the editors and anonymous reviewers of Water International for their valuable and constructive feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Rhodesian Forces (RF) were the colonial forces of the colonialist government.

2. The ‘Keeps’ in north-western Zimbabwe were all referred to as ‘Chiweshe’. They were named after the Chiweshe area in Mashonaland where keeps had already been created in the early days of the war.

Additional information

Funding

Funding for this research was received from the Rhodes University Sandisa Imbewu Grant. External support was also obtained from Thayer Scudder.