| Summary: | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree, Doctor of
Philosophy in Community Psychology in the Department of Psychology University of
Zululand, South Africa, 2011. === Stokvels are social groups usually formed randomly by people who share a common
bond such as relatives, neighbours, colleagues in the workplace or friends with a
purpose of financially saving together on a monthly basis. This study aimed to
explore the group dynamics in stokvels and its implications on the members’ mental
health and psychological well-being. In this qualitative study, a non probability
sampling technique was used and the participants were selected by means of a
snowball sampling. The sample consisted of eight middle aged women between the
ages of 35 and 45 from the townships in KwaZulu Natal. The inclusion criteria being
that they were stokvel participants for over five years. Data was gathered through the
use of semi-structured interviews to elicit the spoken experiences and narratives by
individual members. The data collected was then analyzed according to the aim and
objectives of the study using grounded theory, particularly the Straussian approach.
The results of the study suggested that the group dynamics of fight or flight response,
trust versus mistrust and dependence versus independence appear to be experienced at
polar opposites. The latter further infers the ambivalent behavior that members
engage with a view to succeed within the stokvels’ environments. The results also
identified three themes, which revealed the members’ mental health and their
psychological well-being as experienced within the stokvel environment; the
empowering dimension, pathological dimension and the resilience demonstration
dimension. The findings of the research also highlight and further contribute towards
the advancement of the communal concepts of “ubuntu” and “we”ness inherent in the
stokvek names.
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