The end of apartheid in 1994 heralded a new era in South Africa's migrant labour recruitment system. The new democratic government spearheaded reforms to improve labour relations and recruitment practices in the agriculture sector. Using a layered vulnerability analysis framework, this article describes how the recruitment of migrants for agricultural work has shifted since the end of apartheid. Findings from an ethnographic study of undocumented Zimbabwean migrants in the Limpopo province show that the post-apartheid reforms have not effectively tackled the vulnerabilities which undocumented agricultural workers face. The lack of a coordinated recruitment system motivates farmers to employ strategies which expose migrants to various layers of vulnerability. A win-win outcome could be achieved by implementing a recruitment programme that does not impose stringent requirements on migrant agricultural workers. Pursuing this approach would reduce the vulnerabilities that the migrants face, enhance adherence to legislation and promote efficiency in agricultural productivity.

This paper adopts a psycho-anthropological approach to explain individual behaviors in response to tropical cyclone Idai which made a landfall in the Chimanimani district of Zimbabwe in March 2019. Employing the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) as a lever of diagnosis, the study sought to demonstrate how psychological concepts and anthropological approaches can be infused to improve disaster preparedness. The evidence presented in the paper is based on an intensive ethnographic study conducted in Chimanimani district between November 2020 and July 2021, and which benefited from a variety of data collection techniques. The research findings reveal that beyond its utility in predicting individual protective behaviors towards a disaster, the PMT framework can be adopted as a tool with which postmortems of past disasters can be conducted to identify gaps and inform future disaster administration. The findings suggest that to be useful as a policy making and planning tool, the PMT should remain flexible, allowing for modifications to suite different socio-cultural contexts, including the flexibility to incorporate salient factors that might influence individuals’ cognitive mediating processes.

Climate change has been identified as one of the leading threats to human health in Southern Africa. Climate change–induced natural disasters often leave behind a trail of destruction characterized by multidimensional losses such as loss of infrastructure, physical health, and psychological health. Adolescents are among the most vulnerable groups during and after a natural disaster. This article presents findings of a research whose aim was to establish cyclone Idai–related losses and postdisaster coping strategies among adolescent survivors. Based on qualitative data collected from 15 participants in the Odzi community of Manicaland Province in Zimbabwe, the article reveals that participants experienced diverse disaster-related losses, such as loss of independence and sense of control over their lives and general life satisfaction. The study notes that the impact of disaster-related losses had a toll on adolescents’ psychological, social, and physical well-being. From the study, it is established that in the aftermath of natural disasters, adolescents adopted two-pronged coping strategies, namely, personal coping strategies that include positive thinking and self-talk, and the utilization of social support such as instrumental and counseling support. This study suggests, among other recommendations, school-based training to equip adolescents with personal coping strategies.

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