Search

The South African Basic Education System does little to provide skills, needed to survive outside the schooling system, for those who do not wish to pursue post-secondary school education. The education system produces secondary school graduates who are poised, as content carriers and an un-employable labour force. A research question grappled with in this paper is whether this secondary school curriculum design inherited from the colonial formal education system is beneficial for South African learners? The paper argues that the continuation of the provision of this curriculum is tantamount to contributing very little to the national educational strategic goals of creating a skilled workforce needed to run the South African economy. Additionally, this also contributes to the exacerbation of the unemployment in South Africa. From a decolonial point of view, the paper provides a comprehensive overview of the basic education curriculum from the colonial period until the contemporary period and shows how it has contributed to huge numbers of jobseekers visa-versa employees and subservient of the curriculum design and schooling system. Methodologically, this paper is informed by a qualitative research approach in the form of document review. The research revealed four major important elements in decolonization of the school curriculum namely; history lesson, social justice and self-determination, formulation and execution of the protection of indigenous knowledge systems and promoting the significance of indigenous languages and use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The country has experienced industry shutdowns, decreased productivity, educational setbacks, increased unemployment rates, and negative healthcare outcomes. Load-shedding in South Africa is primarily caused by inadequate maintenance, internal mismanagement, corruption, and a lack of skills. This issue has had a significant impact on small businesses, as they often lack the necessary resources to handle power surges, equipment damage, and the costs associated with replacing stock. This paper explores how load-shedding has impacted the South African economy from an entrepreneurial perspective. The research is qualitative and exploratory in nature, and it was found that load-shedding has had a significant impact on businesses' finances, resources, and performance. Load-shedding in South Africa has had a severe impact on the daily lives of people, causing disruptions in businesses, households, and the overall economy. Eskom, the primary supplier of energy in South Africa, has been facing significant challenges in meeting the growing demand for electrical energy, leading to job losses, decreased productivity, and a loss of billions of rands. Small businesses have been particularly affected, with an estimated 75% of them failing after being operational for less than three years due to load-shedding. To ensure small businesses have electricity to operate during load-shedding it is recommended that small businesses adopt alternative energy sources like solar power to increase the businesses' independence and mitigate the effects of load-shedding. The South African government should also encourage and support small businesses to collaborate with successful renewable energy companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interface between African tradition and modernity is one of the concerns of spirited debates in the post-colonial period. Although most African writers deal with it, relatively few have attempted to depict how tradition and modernity may both benefit African societies. Modernity has reached Africa and, thus, the African tradition cannot remain intact. The utmost global portent that distresses human social life is the impact of modernity. Therefore, the paper's key objective is to delineate the degree of social impairment in the present-day Africa engendered by the interface between tradition and modernity. In Africa, modernity has not only influenced personal characteristics but also social, cultural, religious and the operation of establishments. Most believers of African tradition are very conventional, counterattacking the effects of modernity signalled by the colonial period, including the arrival of Christianity and Western teachings. This noted, the paper has utilised a qualitative research method and a textual analysis to critically scrutinise the impacts of the clash between tradition and modernity through the lens of the literary text, Heart of Redness (2000) by Zakes Mda. The findings from the study divulge the clash between African tradition and modernity has resulted in the erosion of many African traditional systems notwithstanding the dethronement of the colonial administration that empowered modernity at the expense of African traditional systems. The paper concludes that to reesseentialise African traditions, the remnants of colonialism should be successfully uprooted. This noted, this study will make a significant contribution to the rehabilitation of African traditions as it unravels the foundations and gatekeepers of modernity at the expense of African tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learner integration has become an asset for the meaningful resettlement of learners from different backgrounds in a one learning environment. Psychologically, the learner integration phenomenon is a crucial component in a teaching and learning context because it is linked to psycho-socio elements for the learners’ well-being. This study aimed to explore the understanding of learner integration in an Ex-Model C school. This paper identified the central elements of the diverse perceptions constituting successful learner integration in an Ex-Model C school. Moreover, the key traits in the understanding of learner integration were presented about the three overall themes that emerged from the findings of the study. The study was conceptualised within the Critical Emancipatory Research (CER) theoretical framework. The participants and research site were selected using purposive and convenience sampling. Data were generated through photovoice and multistakeholder meetings. Based on the South African historical background, this study maintains that learner integration has a transformative agenda as the phenomenon leans towards the democracy, social justice, and emancipation of education practices that are negatively affected by the inherent issues from the previous education system in South Africa. This implies that effective learner integration plays an essential part in ensuring equity, equality, and democracy in South African schools specifically Ex-Model C schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of the rehabilitation of offenders, South Africa has emerged as one of the countries in the world that uses programmed reintegration of offenders into the communities. However, overcrowding in correctional facilities has implications for correctional officials' work in the reintegration of offender's programmes. This paper discusses overcrowding at Rooigrond Correctional Centre in the North West Province in South Africa and the implications it has for the work of correctional officials at the facility. The study applied a qualitative approach and a descriptive research design to capture the experiences of the correctional officials on the implication of overcrowding on the reintegration of offenders. Using the quota sampling method and semi-structured face-to-face interviews, ten correctional officials of different ranks participated in the study. Thematic data analysis employed showed that overcrowding in a correctional facility affects negatively the reintegration programmes at Rooigrond Correctional Centre making the rehabilitation process difficult and less effective. To enable and facilitate the successful reintegration of offenders into the communities, the study makes significant recommendations for consideration by correctional officials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa like many countries across the globe is faced with a high prevalence of substance dependence among the youth. Drug treatment is a widely and generally accepted approach to curb substance dependence. Among users who are considered for treatment, the majority are treated on an involuntary basis, however, they relapse. This paper discusses the causes of relapse among in-patient and out-patient involuntary youth service users. The findings emanate from a qualitative study that was conducted in Uthungulu district, in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Findings revealed lack of personal motivation for behaviour change, stigmatisation and lack of reintegration of users, lack of aftercare programmes, socioeconomic conditions, poor social support, dual addiction implications and psychological factors as causes of relapse. The paper concludes that lack of effective aftercare programmes opened gaps through which socioeconomic challenges and poor social support enabled post-treatment relapse. It is recommended that the social development sector must develop guidelines and treatment programmes designed for the treatment of involuntary service users in both in-patient and outpatient settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper was to explore the influence of COVID-19 pandemic on psychosocial wellbeing of rural university lecturers in South Africa. The study adopted a qualitative phenomenological design utilising snowball sampling technique to select 25 lecturers across five campuses of three different types of universities. Purposive sampling was adopted to choose the three faculties of the five rural campuses from the three participating higher education institutions (HEIs). Findings were classified under three themes namely emotional alienation, degenerating physical wellness and waning socioeconomic wellbeing. It emerged that lecturers were going through different psychological, emotional and social dilemmas that negatively affected their mental and physical wellbeing. These include mental strain due to e-resource under-provision, minimised teaching and learning efficacy as well as tech-related burnout. Ill-health due to lack of basic amenities, increased personal underdevelopment and increasing pressure from social adjustment demands also emerged among the psychosocial influences of the pandemic. The paper concludes that lecturers in both private and public HEIs are faced with a myriad of challenges amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and that lecturer stress impacts levels of lecturer efficacy on student learning. Recommendations made include the need by HEIs to set up dedicated counselling services for employees where there could vent and get help. Also, the onset of this pandemic should lead to rethinking of how lecturing should be envisaged going forward. The study is germane to provide a picture of some of the concerns regarding the wellbeing of lecturers upon which policy ought to be holistically entangled so as to promote socioeconomic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The South African community has exuded a great interest in the suggestion for polyandry to be legitimised in the country. The year 2021 saw a rapid rise of inspirited debates and scholarly views on polyandry in South Africa. These scholarly and public engagements sought to conclude whether polyandry should be institutionalised in the country or not. Polyandry is a form of matrimonial union that entails one woman marrying or having two or more husbands. This kind of union has been exalted and cherished by several South Africans but also renounced by different opinionated citizens of the country. This paper has utilised a qualitative method to fulfil its main objective, which is to conceptualise and appraise the proposal for the recognition of polyandry in the South African society. It has employed a telenovela, Generations The Legacy, which has established a storyline that aided the researcher to explore polyandrous marriages and also comprehend South Africans' attitudes, perceptions and reactions towards polyandry. Moreover, supplementary data was acquired from journal articles, magazines, newsletters and other social media platforms such as Twitter. The paper finds that polyandry is a relatively new phenomenon in the South African society and most of the predominant cultural assumptions discard it. Polyandry has been perceived as alien and tabooed by several citizens of the country in question, probably, by virtue of its threat to polygamy, which most South African are well acquainted with and have normalised. Therefore, it is the cultural conventions that strengthen the repudiation of polyandry today. The research implications of this paper include the focus on, enactment of specific polyandrous unions such as fraternal, associated, Nayar polyandries, and their fundamental assumptions on a broader scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing concern about discriminatory behaviours on social media in recent years. However, there is a dearth of literature focused on the abuse of foreigners on South African Twitter. This paper interrogates the views of the online community on South African Twitter on the appointment of children of immigrants to political office. A case study of the hashtag #WeRejectMayorOfJHB was carried out. The scapegoating theory guided this study. The hashtag started on social media following the election of Jolidee Matongo, mayor of the City of Johannesburg, on the 10th of August 2021. Within the hashtag, the researcher used confirming and disconfirming sampling to sample 30 tweets. The sample of tweets was drawn from a population of 120 tweets on South African Twitter within 24 hours preceding the election of Jolidee Matongo as the new mayor of Johannesburg. Critical discourse analysis was used. The findings revealed that there were multiple dissonances in the construction of South African citizenship in general and Jolidee Matongo's citizenship. The views on South African citizenship under the hashtag were at odds with the Constitution and the laws of South Africa. Racial and afrophobic perspectives emerged from the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The end of apartheids, integration into SADC region and reconnection to global economic world resulted in the increase of migration to South Africa. The aim was to identify the qualifications and economic profile of the migrants in relation to entrepreneurial skills that enhance the quality of life and sustainable livelihood of the migrants. The study was qualitative in nature and employed descriptive research design. These methods helped the researchers to understand the experiences and perceptions of migrants on sustainable livelihood and quality of life. The study used a snowball sampling technique, and individual interviews were used to gather information from study participants. Interviewing technique (face-to-face individual interviews) was used within the context of descriptive design. The paper revealed that migrants' entrepreneurial skills play vital role and contributed immensely to the country's economy and improved the quality of life and sustainable livelihoods of migrants. The study revealed that some migrants' small businesses were established through the support and network with their fellow countrymen. It was further found that these businesses generate income and uplift their livelihood through the flow of remittances to their home countries, they are experiencing robberies and other related crimes. Lastly, it also revealed that there is no link between the qualification and kind of business operated by the migrants. Findings from this study will form part of the policy briefs to relevant stakeholders and the funders (National Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences - NIHSS. Southern Africa and South Africa is experiencing high volumes of migrants for various reasons. The study contributes into the body of knowledge by closing a gap on the link between the educational qualifications and economic profile that enhance sustainable livelihood of migrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]