Introduction: Conceptualizing begging and methodological underpinnings

Begging or panhandling is an ancient practice that was noted, for instance, in Luke Chapter 18, Verses 35-43 in the Christian Bible where there is mention of a beggar living with disabilities who solicited for alms from the roadside. Begging has been a source of livelihood for some impoverished people across the globe since time immemorial but its prevalence tended to fluctuate in accordance with the socio-economic and political conditions obtaining in various historical periods and spaces. In colonial Zimbabwe, for example, most beggars were of foreign origin and were mainly from Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia. In the colonial Zimbabwean