Surveillance and the City: Patronage, Power-Sharing and the Politics of Urban Control in Zimbabwe

McGregor, JoAnn

doi:10.1080/03057070.2013.858541

Cited by 70 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…The urban water supply mandate for municipalities has been given back to local authorities. This chaos within the urban water sector, most scholars argue, was a manifestation of the contestation of the social, economic and political nature of water in Zimbabwe's urban spaces (Kamete, 2012;McGregor, 2013;Musemwa, 2014;Terence, 2007). Chabal (2009) argues that once there is structure, agency can then be used for purposeful social action within the defined social structure.…”

Section: Chabal's Thesis and Water Reform In Zimbabwementioning

confidence: 96%

Decentralised water governance in Zimbabwe: Disorder within order

Mapedza

Manzungu

Rosen

et al. 2016

Water Resources and Rural Development

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Section: Chabal's Thesis and Water Reform In Zimbabwementioning

confidence: 96%

Decentralised water governance in Zimbabwe: Disorder within order

Mapedza

Manzungu

Rosen

et al. 2016

Water Resources and Rural Development

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“…and Zanu-PF, which led to the latter radically intervening in urban affairs (Kamete, 2006;McGregor, 2013;Ranger, 2007). For civil society and non-governmental organisations, state repression at local government level and contentious politics make it difficult to engage, protect and promote the rights and interests of residents (Kamete, 2009).…”

Section: Slum Upgrading In Hararementioning

confidence: 98%

Slum upgrading and inclusive municipal governance in Harare, Zimbabwe: New perspectives for the urban poor

Muchadenyika

2015

Habitat International

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a b s t r a c tThe story of the urban poor in Harare and Zimbabwean cities in general is a story of evictions, fear and misery. In May 2005, at the behest of the Government of Zimbabwe the infamous Operation Restore Order, a house demolition campaign left more than 700 thousand people homeless. Nearly a decade later, there are increased opportunities for improvement and change in the lives of the urban poor in Harare, Zimbabwe's capital city. The purpose of the paper is to present how the Harare Slum Upgrading Programme is creating and strengthening municipal and community partnerships to tackle city challenges in an inclusive manner. This research indicates the housing struggles of the urban poor and the emerging City-community engagement in urban services provision (water, sanitation, tenure security and roads) and changing municipal attitudes towards the urban poor. In particular, the article presents participatory urban planning and development, slum upgrading institutional structure, profiling and enumeration, and slum upgrading impacts (resilience of the urban poor, living in slums without fear, expansive pool of beneficiaries, review of planning regulations and land ownership) as major issues promoting inclusive municipal governance. Inclusivity is implemented through incremental development, which is allowing people to settle on land first and access municipal services gradually over time. Two main factors explain such positive steps towards inclusive governance in Harare. First are indications of gradual institutional change in which the City of Harare's governance culture is changing through 'opening up' and embracing the urban poor. Second, over the years, the urban poor have built a strong and vibrant alliance which is acting as a medium of participation in City governance. The paper concludes that slum upgrading sustainability at city-wide level requires active City participation and institutionalisation as opposed to a project based approach. Lastly, addressing concerns of the urban poor is susceptible to political contestations, requiring strong impartiality to counter such forces.

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“…The Dumba Report catalogues a series of land allocations to an array of briefcase and shelf companies — what McGregor (: 793) terms ‘disreputable companies'. But no detailed attention was given to ‘reputable companies' such as the Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe (CBZ), the largest local bank in the country, which is mentioned only in passing in the report.…”

Section: The Commercial Bank Of Zimbabwe ‘Banks' the ‘People's Market'mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…McGregor (: 784) correctly observed that the period of Zimbabwe's Inclusive Government (IG) from 2009 to 2013 — in which the ruling ‘revolutionary' liberation nationalist party, the Zimbabwe African National Union–Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF), shared power with the neoliberal opposition Movement for Democratic Party (MDC) — ‘opened up limited new political space' to contest ZANU–PF hegemony and to expose corruption and partisan practices, especially within urban councils. Since 2000, like most ruling parties in Africa, ZANU–PF has consistently lost the urban vote to the MDC, which now controls all major councils (Mbiba and Ndubiwa, : 90; McGregor : 784). However, ZANU–PF's control of the state and central government enabled it to sustain its vice grip on urban local authorities through, inter alia , the machinations of Dr Ignatius Chombo, then Minister of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development (McGregor, ; The Source , ).…”

Section: Introduction: Political and Institutional Settingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since 2000, like most ruling parties in Africa, ZANU–PF has consistently lost the urban vote to the MDC, which now controls all major councils (Mbiba and Ndubiwa, : 90; McGregor : 784). However, ZANU–PF's control of the state and central government enabled it to sustain its vice grip on urban local authorities through, inter alia , the machinations of Dr Ignatius Chombo, then Minister of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development (McGregor, ; The Source , ). As anticipated by Bond and Manyanya (: 175), urban governance has become the most durable site of political conflict and contestation.…”

Section: Introduction: Political and Institutional Settingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Idioms of Accumulation: Corporate Accumulation by Dispossession in Urban Zimbabwe

Mbiba

2017

Int J Urban Regional Res

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David Harvey's notion of ‘accumulation by dispossession' has inspired a wide range of studies in different places. But it has hardly registered in the area of urban land grabbing in Africa and what the role of local capital has been in these processes. In this article, I use archival data, field observations and insights from key informant interviews in Harare to examine how the 1990s neoliberalism and the post‐1999 Zimbabwe crisis created new opportunities for accumulation of wealth through the irregular and fraudulent transfer of public urban land into private hands, including those of reputable corporate institutions. I provide a summary of the literature on contemporary land grabbing, raising questions about and providing new insights for a comparative understanding of the transformative role and nature of the state, postcolonial African cities, anti‐capitalist struggles, and the status and meaning of planning in different settings.

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Surveillance and the City: Patronage, Power-Sharing and the Politics of Urban Control in Zimbabwe

Abstract: Surveillance and the city: patronage, power-sharing and the politics of urban control in Zimbabwe

Cited by 70 publications

References 6 publications

Decentralised water governance in Zimbabwe: Disorder within order

Decentralised water governance in Zimbabwe: Disorder within order

Slum upgrading and inclusive municipal governance in Harare, Zimbabwe: New perspectives for the urban poor

Idioms of Accumulation: Corporate Accumulation by Dispossession in Urban Zimbabwe

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