Where the power lies: multiple stakeholder politics over natural ...

from a district to sit in Parliament. The councillors and the MP are generally viewed as
political rather than development oriented.
Local communities and villages
These are small units of households under a traditional leader that reside in an area
whose boundaries are known and often contested. This unit is different from an area
referred to as a VIDCO which is an administratively defined and administered by a village
development committee (VIDCO). A VIDCO controls an area comprising numerous
traditional villages under a traditional leader called a ‘kraalhead’. The boundaries of a
VIDCO are even more vehemently contested compared to the village boundaries as they
bear no relation to functional systems of organization or how the people prefer to be
organized. In general local people ignore these boundaries.
The villages in and around Mafungautsi State Forest are ethnically diverse. Three main
groups are identified: the Shona, the Ndebele and the Shangwe. The Shangwe have
resided in the area the longest and speak a Shona dialect though they communicate
publicly in Ndebele. They often identify themselves with the Ndebele, giving the
appearance of a dominant Ndebele group. Within the study area, the Shangwe are regarded
as backward and ignorant. They account for higher figures of illiteracy in the area and
are sometimes involved in hunter-gatherer activities. There are other groups like the
Tonga, but their numbers are small compared to the main groups. More recent migrants,
whether Shona or Ndebele, often are described as separate from the longer-term resident
groups and tend to be ignored and left out of projects in the area. There are a number of
leadership disputes among different individuals from the ruling households. These disputes
tend to result in the reconstitution of communities where leaders may assimilate migrants
in order to gain more support. Among these ethnic groups, Shona women tend to participate
more in public meetings while the Shangwe and the Ndebele are not as forthcoming.
Researchers cite cultural restrictions as reason for limited participation by women. Further
user groups are not always constituted by local people. Some of the people in and around
the forest were evicted in the 1980s. Different groups prefer different land uses for the
forest. People evicted from the forest would like the forest to be converted to agricultural
land. Some of the other users are seasonal users from other villages close by and from
areas far from the forest who come to harvest particular resources.
The government
This is defined as something bigger and more influential than the local representatives
of the different departments of government in the area. It is also not separate from the
ZANU PF political party. Thus respondents were often referring to “the government” as
ignoring them, forgetting them or exploiting them. Views were also expressed about
support for the government or lack thereof because of failed projects, misdirected
resources or the plunder of resources by public officials while restricting access by
local people. There is no clear distinction made between the government and the
ruling political party.
Traditional leadership structures
Traditional institutions exist but tend to be replaced by elected committees in development
projects. Most local respondents stated that they prefer to work through the traditional
institutions. In a comparison of institutions using ranking, traditional institutions were
picked out each time as the organization people would be most happy to work though.
However, some respondents who are migrants were sceptical of the capacity of these
traditional institutions. Migrants also indicated that some of the traditional leaders ignore
the needs of migrants. But one traditional leader argued that only those migrants whose
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