Posted August 2000
Some scholars argue that savings in cash by rural people is a mechanism for creating something on which to fall back on in times of crisis. Similarly, others have noted that people save goods such as cattle, goats and poultry for use in the future. What has not received attention is whether people limit their savings only to concrete values. Could it be that people also save their labour in order to be guaranteed of its supply when they need it? If the answer is yes, what are the forms that this labour saving takes? In this chapter, I argue that people voluntarily exchange labour in part to mobilize the labour of those they assist. I show how villagers in Mazoredze elabourately and invariably assist one another in the two areas of agriculture and death. By offering their labour to the community around them, individuals in Mazoredze hope to mobilize the support of those they offer a hand.
The chapter is divided into three sections. The first examines local concepts about labour saving. The second section provides details about how and to whom villagers volunteer their labour. The third section examines why people volunteer their labour. The last section is a conclusion and argues that social scientists must begin to regard labour exchange as another form of saving.
The first term is kudzimurana, Which derives from the action of putting out a fire. It means to help a close solve or arrest an already advanced problem. Often people use the term to describe the assistance they give to each other in matters of death. The second term is kuyamurana. People use the latter term to denote assistance they give each other when faced with agricultural problems. The third term, which derives from feuding, is kuita mukomberanwa, which means to bombard a problem from all sides. Those bombarding are close friends or acquaintances, usually relatives or neighbors. All these terms have one common denominator. They describe an action that is not end in itself. Those offering this labour assistance do so in return for or in anticipation securing a similar service but we shall come to this point in a later section. In the section below, I examine how people save labour.
Labour exchange is evident in the sphere of agriculture. It is common for an individual to eagerly volunteer his or her labour to his neighbor. Ms. Chiza reported that she often assisted her neighbor, Ms. Koki, a widow to plough. Ms. Koki has no resident son to assist her in ploughing. Similarly, Mr. Shumba got help from her neighbors to harvest cotton, a labour demanding crop. It is not only neighbors who volunteer labour to each other; even kinsmen do so, perhaps to the same extent. When they noticed that he could not cope with the requirements to weed his crops, members of the Denga family banded together and assisted Tagwi to weed fields, much to the applause of traditional people in the village who said the action was exemplary. Similarly, Zishi often assisted his brother Tichi to look after cattle during the agricultural season. Without exception, those volunteering their labour say they partly do so in order to demonstrate their unity.
Finally, it is also common for individuals to eagerly give their labour to ordinary villagers. When the village-head called for a work party44 , an institution where one invites village members to assist them to deal with agriculture, most villagers showed up and actively participated. Those unable to attend, either because of prior engagement or illness, had to find ways to make up. They could put their assets at the disposal of the host. When Shumba called for a work party to assist him in ploughing, Shoko sent a span of cattle for use by the work party members. Alternatively, they may delegate a member of the household, especially sons or servants to attend the work party on their behalf. Jodias reportedly sent his servant to Mr. Shumba to help the latter harvest cotton.
Individuals offering labour may be given food, usually sadza, possibly to enhance their performance and productivity as well as to register appreciation for the service rendered. Where this is possible members are grateful and exact more effort. Ms. Shumba said she always received good services from the work party because she was generous with her food. However, work party members are not paid anything, in either cash or kind. All work party members offering this service are aware and in fact do not expect to be paid for labour so rendered. People, then, offer their labour and are eager to assist. This is even more clear in the sober issue of death and funerals discussed below.
Labour exchange is not confined to agriculture. It is also evident in the matter of death, a very traumatic event in view of its dual effect of reducing the size of a kin group against those of others as well as leaving behind a legacy of children without parents. Even before death, villagers eagerly provide their labour service to the support a sick patient and his household. For example, in the days leading to his death, Tagwi's home was often the focal point of villagers wanting to give a hand to him and his family. Some villagers reportedly brought firewood to warm and light up the small hut or the surgery while others fetched water from the remote borehole for use by the patient and his household. It is, however, in coping with death that villagers are most desirous and fervent to assist each other. When a member of the village is pronounced dead, villagers divide themselves into groups, each with a specific role to play to ensure that the bereaved is accorded a good send-off to the world of ancestors. One group scatters itself in the bush to fetch wood for use in cooking and warming those who gather to morn the dead (Incidentally, during my research, I was thrown in such a group when I attended Tagwi's funeral). Another group builds a huge booth where, as per custom, male mourners gather to reminisce over the deceased as well as to debate, in a preliminary way, about potential witches who might have caused the unfortunate event. Even now, many villagers in rural Zimbabwe45 do not believe that there is such a thing as natural death. Moreover, another group, usually three or four men, volunteers the difficult task of hitch hiking to purchase an appropriate coffin for the deceased. Another group, usually young men, volunteers to manually dig the grave under the auspices of an old and experienced man. This is a labourious and arduous task, not least because the grave, must be deep (more than three meters) enough to hide and protect the body from dogs and suspected witches. In addition, another group volunteers to fetch stones for use in fastening the grave. There is also the group that constitutes itself for the purpose of singing and dancing with the bereaved family. Also, there is a group responsible for filling up the grave. In addition, a group works closely with village leadership and is responsible for collecting contributions (cash, meat, grain etc) from mourners and checking the 'mourners' registers to identify villagers who might be absent. (The information is useful when it comes to a determination of who actually bewitched the dead).
The teams are by no means discrete and closed. In the three funerals, I attended members profusely moved from one team to another particularly in favor of those trailing behind in their activities. In addition, as soon as the teams accomplished their tasks, they disband and members find themselves groups where they can be useful. Quite likely, the fusion and fission normal in these teams is meant to achieve, efficiently, the goal of burying the deceased.
Clearly, individuals offer labour services to each other. In addition, individuals develop ways of making sure that their assistance is effective and yields the expected results. But why is it that individuals are both keen and anxious to offer their labour to friends, relatives and neighbors?
Ideologically people say that they offer their labour to their friends, relatives and neighbors because this is morally the correct thing to do. Ms. Mazviwa, who also has lost her husband, said she could not think of any reason she attended funerals other than to sympathize with those that suffer. Similarly, Ms. Moyo said she attended her relatives' funeral because it is expected of kinsmen to help one another. But when pressed further, people yield additional and more persuasive reasons for eagerly offering labour services to their neighbors, friends and relatives. They say that they offer their labour in response to similar service rendered to them. Asked why he attended Tagwi's funeral, Mr. Tano said he was simply 'paying back' what he owed the former. 'That man stood like a lion at, my son's funeral, remarked Tano, adding that Tagwi had volunteered to go and purchase the coffin. However, this is not the only reason people offer help. More important however is the fact that people offer their labour in a variety of contexts in anticipation for similar support in future. Those who do so are fully aware that life is characterized by problems, especially death and poverty and that they can not possibly cope on their own.
That people give their labour as a means of mobilizing support is supported by the following four observations.
First, people are always disappointed when somebody whom they would have helped before does not reciprocate when the need to do so arises. Members of the village chided Mr. Taka at a beer party when he skipped a local funeral. They felt offended because he had been a recipient of their services.
Secondly, villagers withhold their labour to those who deliberately fail to reciprocate the labour service they get from others. When Mhlengwa failed to show up at the local funeral, some villagers boycotted the burial, leaving him and his close relatives to execute the burial alone. 'This', suggested Msungo when asked to explain why he did that, 'was meant to make him see the danger of failing to acknowledge and repay the services from others.'
Thirdly, villagers make every effort to assist those who would have assisted them in the past. Mr. Taka who could not attend the funeral of Mr. Tagwi, sent his servant to assist in the grave digging. In addition, when he recovered, Mr. Taka personally visited Ms. Tagwi to convey his disgust over those who had allegedly fatally bewitched her husband. Similarly, Mr. Shoko, who fell ill and could not be present at a harvest work party called by Rasha, put his equipment, especially baskets, for use by the member. 'Come and take' said Mr. Shoko, to Mr. Rasha, 'Take all you want for use by the work party members. My property is yours.'
Fourthly, it is evidenced, by the fact that villagers do not mind at all when those whom they have never assisted before do not show up to assist them. For example, Mr. Muja was not upset when Shumba did not join the work party. 'I have never assisted him' remarked Muja 'I have never helped him to weed his crop. Similarly Ms. Shumba was not at all angry that Ms. Kokiyi whose funeral she had skipped, came late to participate in the funeral of her son.
Clearly, these four observations show that villagers deliberately offer their labour to those who have the potential of assisting them or have assisted them before.
In this chapter, I have shown that villagers cooperate with each other. They help one another in agriculture as well as in matters of death. They offer this assistance individually or in an organizational framework. They volunteer this service in anticipation of similar assistance. They also give their labour as a mark of gratitude to those assisting them. Truly, then, labour exchange is a strategy adopted by people to guarantee them resources in the future. Without adopting this strategy, it is very much unlikely that affected individuals would be able to survive these hardships and risks. In the final chapter, I tie all the threads together and make some general comments.
45G. L. Chavunduka, 1980. Witchcraft and the law in Zimbabwe.
Saving to death: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Bibliography
 
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