Un-African Aging? Discourses of the Socio-Spatial Welfare for Older People in Urban Zimbabwe

Abstract

Global discourse has evidenced that the physical and social environment continues to have a large bearing on how people age, resulting in growing recognition of the socio-spatial needs of older people in urban environments. This article examines the representation of Zimbabwe’s older people, a subject that has rarely been the focus of critical analysis. A sample of national policy documents and media articles were carefully selected and inspected to determine the level of presence of older people’s welfare using discourse analysis. The article shows how the discourses on spaces of welfare for older people in Zimbabwe are layered and multidimensional. This includes challenges of access to spaces of welfare, the abandonment and neglect of older people, as well as the changes to family and community support known as Ubuntu.

Keywords:

• healthy aging
• welfare
• older people
• urban
• Zimbabwe
• age-friendly

Notes

1. Edward Paice, Habitat III: A Critical Opportunity for Africa (London: Africa Research Institute: 2016). https://www.africaresearchinstitute.org/newsite/blog/habitat-iii-critical-opportunity-africa/ (accessed September 2021); James Duminy, Jørgen Andreasen, Fred Lerise, and Vanessa Watson, Planning and the Case Study Method in Africa: The Planner in Dirty Shoes (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014).

2. Paice, Habitat III.

3. UN-Habitat, The State of African Cities: Re-imagining Sustainable Urban Transitions (Nairobi: UN-Habitat, 2014).

4. United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and HelpAge International, Ageing in the Twenty-First Century: A Celebration and a Challenge (New York: UNFPA; London: HelpAge International, 2012).

5. Nana Araba Apt, “Aging in Africa: Past Experiences and Strategic Directions,” Ageing International 37 (2011): 93–103. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12126-011-9138-8.

6. Cecilia Tacoli, “Urbanization, Gender and Urban Poverty: Paid Work and Unpaid Carework in the City,” Urbanization and Emerging Population Issues Working Paper 7 (London: IIED; New York: UNFPA, 2012), http://www.unfpa.org/resources/urbanization-gender-and-urban-poverty

7. Linda G. Martin and Kevin Kinsella, Research on the Demography of Aging in Developing Countries (Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 1994).

8. Ibid.

9. Deborah Potts, “‘Restoring Order’? Operation Murambatsvina and the Urban Crisis in Zimbabwe.” Journal of Southern African Studies 32, no. 2 (2006): 273–91. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25065092.

10. Tine Buffel, Chris Phillipson, and Thomas Scharf, “Ageing in Urban Environments: Developing ‘Age-Friendly’ Cities,” Sage Journal: Critical Social Policy 32, no. 4 (2012): 597–617.

11. Powell Lawton and Lucille Nahemow, Ecology and the Aging Process (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 1973), 619–74; Diego Sanchez-Gonzalez and Vicente Rodríguez-Rodríguez, “Introduction to Environmental Gerontology in Latin America and Europe,” in Environmental Gerontology in Europe and Latin America Policies and Perspectives on Environment and Aging, ed. Sanchez-Gonzalez and Rodríguez-Rodríguez (Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2016), 1–7.

12. Busisiwe Chikomborero Ncube Makore and Sura Al-Maiyah, “Moving from the Margins: Towards an Inclusive Urban Representation of Older People in Zimbabwe’s Policy Discourse,” Societies 11, no. 1 (2021): 7. https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/11/1/7.

13. The Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT), Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Population Census (Harare: ZIMSTAT, 2012).

14. Ibid.

15. Ibid.

16. UNFPA and HelpAge International, Ageing in the Twenty-First Century.

17. HelpAge International, Global AgeWatch Index 2015: Insight Report (London: HelpAge International, 2015).

18. Prosper Chitambara, Social Protection in Zimbabwe (Harare: Labour and Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe, 2010).

19. UNICEF, Zimbabwe: Multihazard Situation Report # 1: January–March 2020 (2020).

20. Beth Chitekwe-Biti, “Struggles for Urban Land by the Zimbabwe Homeless People's Federation,” Environment & Urbanization 21, no. 2 (2009): 347–66. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956247809343764.

21. Anne Kajumulo Tibaijuka, Report of the Fact-Finding Mission to Zimbabwe to Assess the Scope and Impact of Operation Murambatsvina. UN Special Envoy on Human Settlements Issues in Zimbabwe (Nairobi: UN Human Settlements Program, 2005).

22. Armando Barrientos, Mark Gorman, and Amanda Heslop, “Old Age Poverty in Developing Countries: Contributions and Dependence in Later Life.” World Development 31, no. 3 (2003): 555–70.

23. Jaco Hoffman, “Families, Older Persons and Care in Contexts of Poverty: The Case of South Africa,” in International Handbook on Ageing and Public Policy, ed. Sarah Harper, Kate Hamblin, Jaco Hoffman, Kenneth Howse, and George Leeson (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2015): 256–270.

24. M. J. S. Masango, “African Spirituality That Shapes the Concept of Ubuntu,” Verbum Et Ecclesia 3 (2006): 930–943.

25. Friendship Bench is registered in Zimbabwe as a Private Voluntary Organisation (PVO). Further information can be accessed https://www.friendshipbenchzimbabwe.org/

26. Makore and Al-Maiyah, “Moving from the Margins,” 7.

27. Republic of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe’s Constitution of 2013, Chapter 2, Section 30.

28. Ibid., Chapter 4, Section 82.

29. Makore and Al-Maiyah, “Moving from the Margins,” 7.

30. Government of Zimbabwe, National Social Protection Policy Framework for Zimbabwe (Harare: Government of Zimbabwe, 2016).

31. Government of Zimbabwe, Older Persons Act No. 1 (Harare: Government of Zimbabwe, 2012).

32. Government of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe National Healthy Ageing Strategic Plan 2017–2020 (Harare: Government of Zimbabwe, 2017).

33. Kudzai Kuwaza, “NSSA Mulls Forex Pay Outs,” Zimbabwe Independent, October 30, 2020, Business Digest.

34. Vusumuzi Dube, “BCC Pensioners Demand Rates Rebate,” Zimbabwe Situation, August 15, 2021, https://www.zimbabwesituation.com/news/bcc-pensioners-demand-rates-rebate/

35. Jeremy L. Jones, “‘Nothing Is Straight in Zimbabwe’: The Rise of the Kukiya-Kiya Economy 2000–2008,” Journal of Southern African Studies 36, no. 2 (2010): 285–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2010.485784.

36. Dialogue on Shelter and Zimbabwe Homeless Peoples Federation, Harare Slum Upgrading Profile Report (Harare: Dialogue on Shelter and Zimbabwe Homeless Peoples Federation, 2014).

37. HelpAge International, Gender and Ageing Briefs (London: HelpAge International, 2002).

38. Tibaijuka, Report of the Fact-Finding Mission to Zimbabwe.

39. Nyasha Chingono, “Zimbabwe’s Older People: The Pandemic’s Silent Victims,” The Guardian, October 22, 2021, Global Development, https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/oct/22/zimbabwes-older-people-pandemic-silent-victims.

40. Ibid.

41. Government of Zimbabwe, National Social Protection Policy Framework for Zimbabwe.

42. Government of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe National Healthy Ageing Strategic Plan 2017–2020.

43. Government of Zimbabwe, National Strategic Plan for Mental Health Services 2019–2023 (Harare: Government of Zimbabwe, 2019).

44. Hoffman, “Families, Older Persons and Care.”

45. Mugendi K. M’Rithaa, Universal Design in Majority Worlds Contexts: Sport Mega-Events as Catalysts for Social Change (Saarbrucken: LAP LAMBERT, 2011).

46. Government of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe National Healthy Ageing Strategic Plan 2017–2020, 14.

47. Gordon L. Chavunduka, “Realities of Witchcraft,” Zambezia 13, no. 2 (1980): 130–35.

48. Hoffman, “Families, Older Persons and Care.”

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chiko Makore Ncube

Dr Chiko Ncube is an urban planner and architect with expertise in inclusive planning and architecture. She is a research fellow working on multiple international and interdisciplinary funded projects on inclusive planning, age-friendly urban environments, refugee camp planning, architectural heritage conservation and digital technologies. Her research projects span multiple countries including Zimbabwe, Jordan, India, Italy and the United Kingdom. She completed her PhD in Inclusive urban planning from the School of the Built Environment, University of Salford in 2018.

Tatenda Goodman Nhapi

Tatenda Goodman Nhapi is an independent researcher affiliated to Erasmus Mundus MA Advanced Development in Social Work – a joint Programme between the University of Lincoln (England); Aalborg University (Denmark); Technical University of Lisbon (Portugal); University of Paris Ouest Nantere La Defense (France); Warsaw University (Poland). He is also a Research Associate with Department of Social Work, University of Johannesburg, South Africa