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Using the South African Revenue Service and National Treasury firm-level panel data for 2009–2017, this paper investigates how trade related to the global value chain (GVC) affects the performance of manufacturing firms in South Africa. The paper uses extant classifications of internationally traded products to identify different categories of GVC-related products and compares the productivity premium of international traders for these different categories. Also, the paper investigates possible differences in learning-by-exporting effects across the identified categories of GVC-related products by estimating the effect of exporting before and after entry into foreign markets. The results confirm that GVC-related trade is associated with a higher productivity premium compared with traditional trade. However, within the categories of exporters, only the firms that trade in GVC-related products and simultaneously engage in research and development in the post-entry periods appear to learn from exporting. Our results underscore the gains of GVC integration in terms of the associated productivity premia and highlight the need for GVC-integrated firms to invest in building technological capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to the growing literature on technological upgrading along global value chains, by focusing on the adoption of automation and digital technologies at different functional stages of the automotive value chain. It explores the constant tension that firms in emerging economies face between linking up to international trade and ensuring the upgrading of indigenous firms, which depends on the relationship between lead international firms' operations and capabilities at the local level. Drawing on extensive qualitative research in South Africa, including 39 interviews and observations at the shopfloor level, this paper examines the determinants for automation and digital technologies adoption. The finding extends existing knowledge of technological upgrading along global value chains, by examining both final assemblers and lower-tier suppliers. Four production specific drivers are identified: volume, quality, material-led adoption, and ergonomics. This paper suggests policymakers should consider sector heterogeneity and specific sector-technology combinations when designing policies to sustain digitalization and production upgrade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examined the brutal tactics used by security forces in the early days of the COVID-19 lockdown in South Africa. Key questions raised relate to the philosophical (dis)connectedness of their actions. The paper posits that the way in which some police and soldiers conducted themselves in black communities is reminiscent of colonial-apartheid hermeneutics. Their conduct, devoid of Ubuntu, relegates the culprits to "mere symbols with no substance," in a deeply conditioned state of mental subjugation. Though black, the culprits remain largely unAfrikan in thought. The paper concludes that training for security forces needs to inculcate philosophies of Afrikanism. Furthermore, the paper highlights key lessons to be embraced. Recommendations made include the professionalisation of the security forces, enabling public dialogue, and bringing the culprits to book faster to restore the image of the country, the government, and the security agencies. This paper used a qualitative desktop design that applied inductive analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the forecasting performance of three structural econometric models, namely the non-parametric, ARIMAX and the Kalman filter models, in predicting stock returns in an emerging market economy using South Africa as a case study. The proposed models have different functional forms. Each of the functional forms accounts for specific characteristics and properties of stock returns in general and in a small open economy in particular. The findings of the paper indicate that the Kalman filter and ARIMAX model both outperform the non-parametric model indicating the dominant characteristics of nonlinearity and Markov properties of stock market returns in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inclusive education is a fundamental right of all students. Despite international policy initiatives, educational exclusion is pervasive, especially in the Global South, and disproportionately affects disabled students. Barriers to inclusive education have been itemised in the literature, but in this conceptual paper that offers a novel perspective on the topic, we argue for a complexity approach to understand its evolution. Using a qualitative deductive content analysis of South African laws, policies, reports and scholarly literature, we explore three path dependencies from colonial/apartheid times that lock the country into historical patterns of categorisation and segregated schooling. These operate alongside the emergence of new and inclusive practices by actors at a system-wide and local level, made possible by inputs into the policy ecology. South Africa represents a complex, contradictory educational environment that confounds the expectation of linear progression towards greater inclusivity. Instead of identifying barriers to inclusive education, we argue for a nuanced understanding of the imbrications of historical investments and drivers of inequality, with policy possibilities and the impetus for transformation among system actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change continues to exacerbate social and economic development challenges in local communities the world over. This paper advances a human development approach to climate resilience innovations, showing how local innovation initiatives can be conduits for increased equity, agency, efficiency and sustainability vis-à-vis effective responses to climate impacts. Based on a scoping review of literature (journal articles, books, theses, occasional papers etc.), and through a discussion of four case studies focused on technological and institutional innovations in selected rural South African communities, a major finding is that local innovation initiatives vis-à-vis livelihoods are laden with opportunities for improved social, economic and ecological well-being. Appreciating and supporting these local innovations will open up viable and transformative pathways towards effectively responding to the impacts of climate change and variability. The paper contributes to an interdisciplinary integration of innovation and climate change research by exploring climate resilience through a transformative human development lens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explains the ambitions of Africa's first independent nonprofit school of architecture—the School of Explorative Architecture—in light of the decoloniality ideas that were galvanized by the Rhodes Must Fall protests at the University of Cape Town in 2015. The paper describes the School's three modes of teaching and learning architecture, namely the thing (professional competencies of designing a building), the shadow of the thing (theorized and critical thinking around buildings and architecture), and the painted shadow of the thing (creative acts engaging architecture in ideas and critical thinking). The paper explains the nuances of teaching and learning architecture in the South African context and the importance of teaching professional competencies while surfacing 'other' conditions through the painted shadow. The paper ends by asking if a radical spatial alterity—the folding of the thing, the shadow, and the painted shadow into each other—is possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within urban studies, the emerging post-network approach explores infrastructure transitions towards hybrid mixing of grid and off-grid technologies, resources, services, and actors. However, scholarship addressing off-grid transitions in the global south focuses almost exclusively on the poor as non-networked infrastructure consumers. This paper adopts a landscape perspective to consider broader processes of technological, institutional and behavioural change. Using a case study of Day Zero in Cape Town (South Africa), the paper draws on existing studies to demonstrate how the off-grid infrastructure transitions of non-poor households and businesses have potentially catastrophic (but largely ignored) consequences for cities in terms of environmental sustainability, urban governance and citizenship, network quality, and municipal finance. The paper concludes that broadening the landscape of infrastructure analysis, to consider the off-grid infrastructure transitions of the non-poor in the global south, is crucial to address contemporary global challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current literature on Eritrean national identity has been dominated by debates on its function as a unifying and homogenising civic identity in a context of a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-clan national context. Little is known, however, about how an Eritrean national identity is mobilised among Eritreans living in racially organised host societies. This paper addresses this lacuna by examining how Eritrean refugees living in a racially classified South African host society self-identified. The focus of analysis for this paper was how an Eritrean national identity was mobilised by some participants in the face of experiencing racial classification. Some individuals defined themselves as 'Eritrean' to resist their classification as 'Black' in everyday life. I argue that beyond functioning as a homogenising and unifying civic identity, an Eritrean national identity functioned as a bulwark against ascribed racial classification in a race-conscious South African host society, [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early stage of business, which is where most new ventures fail, many entrepreneurs experience discrepancies between their entrepreneurial expectations and business realities. These discrepancies referred to by this paper as an entrepreneurial gap (EG) are, therefore, among other factors, professed to be responsible for the high attrition rate of emerging ventures in South Africa. An oversight in this area of EG, despite the provision of most required resources, may still lead to business failure. This paper argues that there is more yet to be comprehended regarding early-stage business success, concerning the entrepreneur component. The purpose of this paper was to recognize and classify factors responsible for establishing entrepreneurial gaps with the intent to improve the level of preparedness among emerging entrepreneurs. A qualitative approach with in-depth interviews was employed in the data collection. ATLAS ti 8 was used to unpack factors that instigate entrepreneurial gaps while posing challenges to emerging entrepreneurs in the early stage of business. The groups identified were: entrepreneur management, familism and personal management. The findings provide information that is credible to improving the level of preparedness among emerging entrepreneurs, and could be used by mentors, coaches and relevant support structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deprivation, poverty, inequality, forced displacement, psychological harm, lack of public participation in planning and benign neglect are examples of structural violence in cities. In the case of benign neglect, public facilities are deliberately neglected in terms of maintenance and provision of basic facilities—a form of 'slow violence'. Drawing from qualitative data sources that included participant observation, consultations with legal advisors and court hearings, this paper analyses the different forms of structural violence that were used in early 2009 in the city of Durban to try to replace the century old Early Morning Warwick Market which catered for the poor working class, with a mall. The Municipality's participatory and consultative approach to upgrade the Warwick Avenue Triangle in the first democratic decade (1994–2004) is contrasted with the subversion of participatory planning in the second democratic decade (2004–2014), as Durban prepared for FIFA 2010. The mall development would have resulted in the loss of an important part of Durban's history, heritage and culture. A key contention of this paper is that the fatally flawed neoliberal planning fiasco in Warwick Avenue was driven by a top-down process which favoured private corporate interests. The mall project was presented as a public–private partnership. However, in such partnerships local democracy is compromised as the fiscal prospects of local governments become dependent on the business decisions of the private sector. There were serious contradictions evident in the juxtaposition of large-scale public-private partnerships such as the mall, and the threats to displace low-income traders, a process which David Harvey called 'accumulation by dispossession'. The historical and political processes of accumulated and incremental neglect and stigma which encapsulate 'slow violence' contributed to the decay and decline of the Early Morning Market. Attempts to displace traders and replace the market with a mall was basically a political decision, aided and abetted by some senior members in the ruling ANC government hierarchy—a shameful period in Durban's democratic history. The threats to displace the traders in the Early Morning Market was a form of structural violence, which was reminiscent of the apartheid era. The structural violence of apartheid-capitalism continues at the level of outcomes (non-participation and displacement) even under a changed political structure (democracy), as the ANC government pursues a neoliberal agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The South African bioeconomy strategy did not clearly articulate the measurement framework to monitor the implementation of the strategy. This paper provides an analysis of bioeconomy patents, the most prolific organizations and citations at the EPO and USPTO for South Africa, BRICS, Egypt and Nigeria during the Ten-Year Innovation Plan 2008–2018. The terms 'biotechnology', 'medical technology', 'pharmaceuticals' and 'selected environment-related technologies' were used to search for patents. The OECD patents by technology, the EPO PATSTAT and the USPTO PatFT databases were used to map patents and citations. The results show that South Africa ranked last in the BRICS group but produced a higher number of patents than Egypt and Nigeria. The number of patents generally decreased for the selected countries except for China. The total citations for the selected countries was generally inconsistent. The important innovators for South Africa in the bioeconomy are mainly universities and public research institutions. A new fiscal approach to encourage knowledge application in bioeconomy in South Africa is required. Incentives from government that encourage collaboration between research institutions and industry to direct research with industry application are required. The study contributes to the development of metrics to monitor the bioeconomy in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information from the fifth wave of the Quality-of-Life Survey conducted by the Gauteng City-Region Observatory was used in this paper to investigate the relationship between living in informal dwellings and fear of crime. This examination is based on existing theories, including victimization/vulnerability, neighborhood disorder, and diffuse anxiety theories. Given the prominence of informal dwellings in most urban areas in South Africa, including Gauteng Province, this study examines whether living in informal dwellings determines fear of crime or feelings of unsafety. Multilevel cumulative logistic models were therefore estimated to account for similarities between individuals in the same wards while at the same time modeling for differences between wards. The results indicate that an individual residing in an informal dwelling is less likely to feel safe than one who resides in a formal dwelling in Gauteng Province. By focusing on informal dwellings as the predictor of interest, the present paper attempts to extend the panoply of predictors that can be used in empirical research when testing the above-mentioned theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I consider a selection of photographs of a man of color from a luxury book of male nudes, Images (1982), aimed at white gay men and published in South Africa by Alternative Books (AB) in the late apartheid period. Given the exclusive association of assimilable homosexuality with whiteness in the national gay press and other homoerotic commodities available in South Africa at the same historical juncture, I propose that these photographs, which interrupted longstanding, racist homoerotic iconographies, elicited experiences of ambivalence (and thus critical reflection) amongst their historical audiences. To this end, I analyze the editorial and commercial content of the newspapers Link/Skakel and Exit for the period that AB was active (1981–1991), anticipating an overlap of readership between these papers and the publisher's titles. More precisely, I discuss the prevalence of the figure of the "good homosexual" and representations of classical (that is, white) male beauty in these papers to plot how apartheid logic was broadly reproduced (and same-sex desire disciplined according to such dictates) in mainstream South African gay movements, institutions, and print cultures during this time, but, notably, not in Images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been increasing attention to legal and political contention concerning refugees and asylum seekers in cities. However, there are further opportunities to analyze the relationship between civil society litigation and state institutions in Global South cities. In this paper, I analyze civil society litigation to re-open Refugee Reception Offices (RROs) in South Africa. Primarily based on legal research, I argue that civil society litigation to re-open RROs in specific cities represents an advocacy strategy to contextualize national rights and policies within urban spaces. The paper contributes to broader discussions on civil society advocacy and rights and governance in cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While literature extensively examines waste management issues in urban areas, limited attention has been given to rural developing waste contexts. This paper aims to understand the policy/implementation nexus between national and local government within the rural waste management context in two rural municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The research utilizes a directed deductive content analysis applying a framework proposed by Pollans. Originally designed for urban contexts, this framework has proven valuable for comprehending solid waste management policy implementation challenges in rural settings. This paper proposes an adjustment to this framework, differentiating the disposal mode of governing into government-based and self-reliant-based approaches. The authors found a significant implementation gap in both municipalities, characterized by a predominant, incremental disposal-oriented governing mode. This contrasts with the visionary and aspirational modes of governing promoted by the national government, focusing on diversion and eco-efficient waste strategies. These divergent modes of governing influence current waste management practices, especially in rural municipalities. We recommend strategies towards narrowing the implementation gap by formulating policies tailored to local development needs. Finally, the research sheds light on the challenges and disparities in rural waste management policy implementation and provides insights into how rural areas can transition towards sustainable waste management practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we aim to explore public reactions to non-normative expressions of masculinity within South African society. We argue that although society has become more accepting of such expressions, there still exists public criticism and heteronormative labelling of sexuality and gender. The case study of a local entertainment celebrity, Sivuyile Ngesi, is used to interrogate the illusion of the “real man” and the construction of heteronormative masculinities in the South African context. Ngesi’s personal portrayal of his masculine identity is unconventional and provides an example of an atypical expression of a Black African heterosexual identity. In the paper we draw on a range of local media sources, as well as an in-depth interview with Ngesi himself, to discuss an idiosyncratic vision of an alternative Black African masculine identity and the realities and implications around it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of the partnership between the government and the non-profit organisations (NPOs) that they fund to deliver social services. The paper evaluates the effectiveness of government–NPOs partnership through the prism of the existing monitoring process. The findings suggest that the monitoring process tends to focus more on the institutional processes that govern the operations of NPOs and less on generating information on the performance and impact of NPOs in the long term. The emphasis on institutional processes undermines our understanding of the effectiveness of the partnership and calls for a systematic process that focuses on outcome-oriented monitoring mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Progressive attitudes towards cannabis consumption have resulted in many countries decriminalizing its use. South Africa is only the third African country to liberalize the recreational consumption of cannabis, potentially raising both societal concerns and economic opportunities for the country, including the development of cannabis tourism. This paper synthesizes the contemporary literature – drawing on experiences and best practices associated with cannabis decriminalization and its moral regulation within tourism. With reference to effectively balancing the economic benefits of cannabis decriminalization versus its contentious social ramifications, the paper is a concerted effort to identify actionable and socially grounded solutions to sustainably managing the cannabis decriminalization-tourism nexus for the government and tourism practitioners in African tourism destinations such as South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the effects of migration-induced male absence on the upbringing of children in selected communities of Zimbabwe. We argue that migration scholarship places more emphasis on the economic benefits of migration such as remittances and imported innovation, but is largely silent on the emotional hardships it causes for the family, especially the children who are left behind. We locate this work in the context of Zimbabwe where men from Matabeleland and the Midlands provinces have traditionally migrated to South Africa in search of employment in the gold mines and agricultural farms. We use the case of Tsholotsho district in Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe to explore the impact that the physical absence of fathers had in the socialization of children. Taking a historical narrative angle, the paper uses family histories gathered in Zimbabwe and South Africa over a 12-month period to explore the lived realities of families with migrant fathers. We use data from in-depth interviews with the affected children, the absentee fathers and the women who stayed behind to take care of the children. We observe that there are many children who grew up without their fathers and other male figures because of historical labour migration to South Africa. We conceive the migration-induced absence of fathers and other male relatives as the "missing masculinities", although we are cognisant that masculinities and masculine roles are not entirely constituted by the presence of men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the South African findings from an international mixed methods study between the LEGO Foundation, Dubit and the Universities of Sheffield (England) and Cape Town (South Africa) on young children's learning with digital technology. The findings of the study, the first of its kind in South Africa, show the consistency of qualities and experience of play, but also reveal socio-economic, linguistic, ethnic, gender and racial inequalities in the play environments of both groups of 3–11-year-olds. Yet, despite these structural inequalities, the play ecologies of children in resource-constrained environments show their creativity within the digital/non-digital environment. The paper discusses some of the analytical tools used and the geo-political issues raised, and considers these in conjunction with selected data. We conclude that the different socio-cultural conditions and geo-political realities offer new insights about the role global education research can play in helping combat structural inequalities in resource-constrained environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

South Africa's declaration of a state of pandemic on 27 March 2020 to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has elicited debates on the impact of government's policy responses, such as national lockdowns, on the economy of the country. Some pundits support lockdown measures by arguing that they save many lives. Others acknowledge the efficacy of lockdowns in combating the spread of COVID-19 but argue that they have a devastating impact on the economy and livelihoods. However, both pro- and anti-lockdown commentators neglect African indigenous approaches in combatting the spread of infectious diseases such as COVID-19. The current paper offers a consolidated approach on how African indigenous approaches might be practically and pragmatically integrated with South Africa's COVID-19 policy responses. Drawing on Afrocentric theory, this paper argues that a combination of Western and African indigenous approaches can be more successful in combating the spread of COVID-19 if they are incorporated into a synthesis that adopts useful elements of each. This paper argues that by insisting on national lockdowns, social distancing, self-isolation, and the use of facemasks and vaccines as the only means of combating COVID-19, the South African government is discrediting the use of indigenous African knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite renewed interest in urban planning since the 1990s, the empirical focus has predominantly been on cities along the Atlantic Rim, with limited scholarly attention placed on African, Asian and Latin American cities. An examination of contemporary discourse and practices of urban placemaking reveals a worrying trend where concerns for, and interventions in, the interests of social equity are losing relevance, with almost no focus on placemaking efforts for the most vulnerable urban groups. While much has been written about urban placemaking and about responses to homelessness, not enough empirical attention has been focused on the intersection between the two. In attempting to fill this gap in the placemaking literature, the paper draws on the authors' experiences of spontaneous and frugal institutional placemaking at the Bellhaven Harm Reduction Centre, a space dedicated to providing opioid substitution therapy to Durban's drug using population since the COVID-19 lockdown. The paper suggests what placemaking for the marginalized could and should look like, emphasizing the importance of creating public spaces of dignity, while engaging meaningfully with a group of diverse stakeholders and neighbours. The importance of having a place that resembles "home" for homeless people with an opioid use disorder, and their re-humanization as a result, is core to the Bellhaven Harm Reduction Centre. Equally important is how this public space has transformed narratives within the broader urban community regarding homelessness and drug use, making it a potentially replicable model for critical placemaking globally. This is revealed through interviews with beneficiaries, and observational research that focuses on how the space is used. In telling the story of the Bellhaven Harm Reduction Centre, we invite a rethinking of traditional notions of placemaking, fostering a re-grounding of common understandings around what it means to make vibrant and truly accessible urban places. In so doing, we call for south–north learnings about using common space to enhance public safety and public health, concurrently demonstrating the interconnectivity of urban dwellers across social divides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of urbanization in Africa is receiving global attention and is subject to comprehensive scientific research due to the wide socioeconomic influence of this continent. Adopting specific search terms and strategies, this paper conducts a statistical analysis of the research articles addressing African urbanization (n = 2046) from the Web of Science core collection. The results show that since 2006, research on African urbanization has entered a stage of rapid development. South Africa and the Global North are the main regions engaged in research on African urbanization. With the application of the bibliometric software HistCite, this paper tries to investigate the research streams and trends contributed by highly cited articles. The main research streams can be divided into 5 areas, with the relationship between disciplines becoming stronger. Population, economy and land-use are the core issues of African urbanization studies, with the largest volume of highly cited articles. Furthermore, the changes in research hotspots were explored based on keyword analysis by CiteSpace. The results indicate that the topics of research hot spots by African and Global North researchers are different, and the Global North has a stronger influence on African urbanization studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neighbourhoods affect people's livelihoods, and therefore drive and mediate intra-urban inequalities and transformations. While the neighbourhood has long been recognized as an important unit of analysis, there is surprisingly little systematic research on different neighbourhood types, especially in the fastgrowing cities of the Global South. In this paper we employ k-means clustering, a common machinelearning algorithm, to develop a neighbourhood typology for South Africa's eight largest cities. Using census data, we identify and describe eight neighbourhood types, each with distinct demographic, socio-economic, structural and infrastructural characteristics. This is followed by a relational comparison of the neighbourhood types along key variables, where we demonstrate the persistent and multidimensional nature of residential inequalities. In addition to shedding new light on the internal structure of South African cities, the paper makes an important contribution by applying an inductive, data-driven approach to developing neighbourhood typologies that advances a more sophisticated and nuanced understanding of cities in the Global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Defence planning in South Africa has gradually declined to the point of collapse; for reasons that are both complex and largely unexplained. While South Africa is not alone in this situation, the paucity of universal theories to explain the ineffectiveness of defence planning currently limits the theoretical validity of analyses that seek to address the phenomenon. Generating a substantive hypothesis that explains not only the causes of South Africa's current defence predicament, but also those of other countries in similar circumstances, became the paper's primary purpose. By abstracting from theories in management sciences and security studies, the paper concludes that top management's approaches to defence planning are the primary mechanisms that bring about success or failure in defence decision-making. The authors subsequently integrate relevant critical, contextual, and functional approaches to defence planning in a theoretical framework, using empirical evidence from the South African defence environment to substantiate their arguments throughout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2008, the South African economy has experienced several power cuts (unplanned or as part of a load-shedding schedule), presumably because of the inability of the electricity supply to cover the demand. This paper examines the impact of such a demand-supply mismatch on the country's economic growth within a production function framework. To do so, we use an Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model (ARDL) for the period 1985 to 2019. The paper finds that a positive mismatch (or surplus) of electricity (supply>demand) boosts economic growth in the long run. This finding provides evidence that supports the necessity of electricity supply expansion and the promotion of energy efficiency measures that both will create a mismatch (surplus) conducive to economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rehabilitation services play an important role in the lives of persons who experience vision loss. These services provide necessary practical techniques for adjustment to visual impairment. However, there is insufficient research exploring the ways in which these services act at the level of meaning and identity. This paper summarises the findings from a study that investigated the operation of blindness discourses in rehabilitation services for adults with visual impairments in South Africa. The study posed questions concerning the meanings about blindness which are produced and reinforced in rehabilitation practice. It also considered the implications of exposure to these meanings for persons with visual impairments. Foucauldian discourse analytic reviews were conducted on digital documentary sources, as well as on data gathered through semi-structured interviews with rehabilitation service providers and service users. This paper discusses two overarching discursive practices in visual impairment rehabilitation, namely, ‘Journey discourse’ and ‘charitable discourse’. We conclude that, rather than an abstract exercise, considering the ideological assumptions embedded in rehabilitation practice is essential to uncover and address discursive systems that support the continued marginalisation of people with visual impairment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes a sceptical look at the treatment of connected practices of commodification and consumption in some exemplary works of mainstream critical social theory that seek to identify cross-contextual historical logics linking economic action to socio-political life. Drawing on situated research from South and southern Africa that helps to complicate our understanding of these links, it argues that many influential claims in the mainstream critical literature remain poorly substantiated and pass silently over vast provinces of complex, situated thought and action. When analysing how markets function, recurrent critical tropes of highly manipulable consumer desire suffer from a tendency to argue by simple fiat, while also abstracting out the historically shifting forms of moral and legal regulation mediating commodification and consumption on most real-world markets. This paper also makes a case for greater scepticism towards categorical associations between market action and the reproduction of socio-political dispositions of power. Consumer behaviour undeniably can shore up distinction and domination, but it has often also been observed to tamper with them by indirect means, while concentrated consumer initiatives in the form of boycotts remain an under-theorised and largely forgotten form of resistance within mainstream critical social theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effect of foreign ownership on firm performance in the South African informal sector. Using the data of 1097 informal businesses sourced from the World Bank Enterprises Survey conducted in four Township provinces in South Africa (Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Western Cape) in 2020, the paper aims to address two issues: what is the effect of foreign ownership on performance in the South African informal sector and what factors drive foreign-ownership gap in the South African informal sector if it exists? The empirical analysis uses the multivariable decomposition technique and finds a performance gap between locally and foreign-owned businesses in the South African informal sector. A decomposition of factors shows that differences in endowments can explain the bulk of the gap. Discriminatory/unexplained factors, likely capturing the business culture, also play a significant role. Caution is given when seeking to curb foreign business participation in the informalsector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Impact assessment (IA) follow-up is necessary to determine the environmental effects of a project or plan to inform ongoing management. No previous research confirms if visitor surveys may be used to this extent for developments within a protected. This paper explores if and how visitor surveys may be used as a tool for supporting EIA follow-up within protected areas. Relevant EIA documentation was appraised to determine EIA performance expectations for management of the Nombolo Mdhluli Conference Centre development in the Kruger National Park. Forty-four expectations were identified, translated into questions, and included in a survey scale. Eighty-nine conference delegates completed the survey whereafter an Importance Performance Analysis (IPA) method was used to map the responses in four IPA map quadrants: 1. Possible overkill, 2. Low priority, 3. Q3 Keep up the good work, and 4. Concentrate here. The IPA map displays 29 items of statistical significance in the four IPA map quadrants with 12 items in the 'Concentrate here' quadrant. The IPA results mapped the need for management to concentrate on responsible building, waste, water, energy, compliance, awareness, cumulative impact management. The paper shows that visitor surveys may be used as a simple but effective tool for supporting EIA follow-up monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper explores different game design methodologies that can be used to translate the South African novel Souvenir by Jane Rosenthal, set in the semi-desert region known as the Karoo into a Virtual Reality experience, which can live on the Metaverse. The paper suggests that the translated Virtual Reality experience can be used as a tool for climate change action and awareness, as well as a way to preserve South African stories on the Metaverse. The paper focuses on various narrative design methodologies for storytelling in game design, suggesting which would work best for the translation of a novel into a Virtual Reality experience. Additionally, it explores practical methodologies for the production of 3D game objects and assets required to recreate the Karoo landscape as described in the novel. This encompasses an exploratory excursion conducted within the Karoo region itself, wherein the collection of primary data is executed for the creation of game assets. Additionally, this involves a comprehensive examination of Henry Jenkins’ methodologies in game design, particularly focusing on narrative elements within gaming. A meaningful impact on the Metaverse is pursued through the translation of this Karoo-based South African novel, into Virtual Reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firm-level innovation in sub-Saharan Africa remains under-researched. To address this gap, this paper examines the obstacles to innovation faced by small, micro, and medium-sized enterprises (SMMEs) in South Africa. Using the 2018 Business Innovation Survey, we apply the double-hurdle model to investigate factors determining a firm's decision to invest, and the intensity of innovation. Our results show that cost and institutional obstacles were significantly more important as disincentive factors for medium-sized enterprises while knowledge obstacles were significant disincentive factors for large enterprises. In addition, market obstacles hampered investment among large enterprises. Interestingly, none of these factors was found to deter innovation intensity among small and micro enterprises. The study findings suggest that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to innovation policy and intervention programmes to support innovation within firms of different sizes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the place and role of chiefs and their institution in the governance and development of rural society in South Africa, using a case study of six tribal authorities in the Moses Kotane Local Municipality, North West Province. It examines whether chiefs have taken active development roles in their communities, and how they are perceived by society vis-à-vis community councillors. It argues that active roles and endorsement by the people are evidence of the significance of chiefs in the rural governance structures. In the studied tribal authorities, chiefs assumed central development roles, by initiating development projects, mobilizing stakeholders, and providing information to their people that ensured compliance with government COVID-19 regulations. While development and service delivery issues are the mandate of the community councillors and council, people saw the chiefs as best suited to spearhead development in their areas, because of their proximity to society and knowledge of their needs. The paper argues that the institution of the chiefs constitutes an accountable leadership that acts in the interests of all people, and chiefs should be incorporated in rural governance structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religion not only promotes tolerance among societies with different backgrounds, but also serves to enhance human society. In contrast, however, religion is seen to be the cause of conflict and division around the world. Hence, it is crucial that schools handle the teaching of religion with greater care. This paper aims to share schools' experiences of religion-in-education policy change in South Africa – whether it unifies or divides them. It concludes that religion in education is neither a divider nor a unifier. Nonetheless, the approach that schools adopt toward the teaching of religion to learners remains a concern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper articulates state response to homelessness through multi-agency intervention in South Africa. While it argues strongly on relativity of homelessness, it however agrees with previous authors on common constituents of the concept. Based on secondary sources this paper delves into what constitutes homelessness and why there has been homelessness in the country, due to one or a combination of structural and individual related drivers. It further explores the state's use of a multi-agency housing focused approach that integrates appropriate legislations, social services interventions and public works, where over 3.3 million houses have been delivered in the country. While in-depth review of available data indicated significant increase in housing provision, the strategy is confronted with human, material, and rising need concerns. Importantly, there is no certainty yet on the extent to which the 'street homeless' and marginalised groups of the poor are served equally to other categories of the homeless. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses Individual Deprivation Measure data from Indonesia and South Africa to demonstrate the effects of coverage bias associated with mobile phone-based sampling and data collection approaches that restrict sampling frames to those who own or have access to a mobile phone – a increasingly common method. Analysis of this data demonstrates substantial differences across multiple living standards indicators and demographic characteristics between those who own a mobile phone, individuals with access to a phone and those who neither own nor access mobile phones. This paper highlights the implications of such sampling approaches, and calls for the explicit consideration of the limitations of inferences that can be drawn from qualitative and quantitative analyses because of these substantive differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning outcomes are predominantly framed in narrow and measurable terms, with students as decontextualised learners. As an alternative, the paper outlines a capabilitarian approach, building a four-dimensional matrix for reconceptualising learning outcomes. It is made up of a varied, multi-dimensional set of opportunities, processes and outcomes to enable students to flourish and become people who can live fulfilling and connected lives in and beyond higher education. The matrix dimensions are made up of a capability set, corresponding functionings, material resources and conversion processes, underpinned by Constitutional and human development values. The paper draws on a project on higher education outcomes in South Africa, especially the longitudinal life history data. It makes the case for a reparative futures orientation which might dismantle the colonial-apartheid past and present, and outlines key capabilitarian concepts. The social and higher education context is sketched, followed by a focus on the capability set and what data supports its value to students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early post-apartheid policies envisaged a South African teacher who had autonomy to make professional judgements based on their school context and learners' needs. However, over the last decade, the state has increasingly monitored learner achievement and teachers' work. In this paper, we show how the professional development activities provided by the state for high school Life Sciences teachers focus primarily on measuring learner achievement and thus reflect organisational professionalism and managerial discourses which challenge the early post-apartheid vision of democratic professionalism. We present a case study of a cluster of Life Sciences teachers, generating data from interviews with eleven high school teachers and from observation of six professional development meetings. The findings show that the two main purposes of the activities in the cluster meetings are the improvement of learner results and the monitoring teachers' curriculum coverage and assessment practices. We argue that the discourse of performativity and managerial professionalism narrows the purpose of schooling, influences the nature of state-initiated professional development opportunities and also informs the way in which the state and teachers view their work. This contradicts the initial vision of the democratic state and provides insight into how neoliberal discourses have influenced education in a post-colonial country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to identify the driving elements of the South African financial sector. While South Africa's financial sector appears robust, there exists a dearth of empirical research investigating the determinants of its development. Thus, this work assesses how three critical factors: natural resource abundance (NR), IT infrastructure, and government expenditure levels affect financial development (FD) in South Africa using annual data from 1971 to 2020. Preliminary findings show that the series are integrated, and they are cointegrated. Results from regression analysis suggest that the abundance of NR does not significantly contribute to financial development in South Africa. Conversely, advanced IT infrastructure, larger government size, and openness to trade are associated with a more developed financial sector. The implications of these findings are essential for policymakers and stakeholders in understanding the factors that drive financial development in South Africa. The study recommends that, among others, innovative approaches are needed to channel gains from natural resources effectively into the financial sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the existence and significance of transnational municipal networks (TMNs) in the realm of environmental governance have been well documented, the implementation and impacts of their local programmes, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, remain underexplored. This paper contributes to addressing this gap of knowledge by examining what obstructs or facilitates TMNs' local actions and the extent to which they can catalyse wider transformative impacts on local environmental governance. We focus on an urban wetlands programme implemented by ICLEI Africa from 2015 to 2018 in 9 district and 2 metropolitan municipalities in South Africa – the Local Action for Biodiversity: Wetlands SA (LAB Wetlands SA) Programme. From an insider perspective, this paper reviews the implementation of the LAB Wetlands SA Programme in three locations, namely the Overberg, iLembe, and Frances Baard District Municipalities of South Africa. Based on comparative analysis, the paper identifies three key influential factors – political buy-in, policy champions and institutional capacity – that interact in combination to affect the practices of the LAB Wetlands SA Programme. These three factors are closely interlinked and strongly depend on the social, economic, political and cultural aspects of local context. In advancing local environmental actions and promoting transformative environmental governance, the design and practices of TMNs' local programmes and projects must be informed by, tailored to, and able to adapt to the local context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing investment in renewable energy (RE) in Africa has been accompanied by the establishment of a number of local RE component-manufacturing facilities across various African countries. The local manufacture of RE components presents an interesting opportunity for achieving sustainable industrialization in Africa. However, limited research has been devoted to analysing the factors enabling and impeding the localization of RE component production. In this paper, we analyse the determinant conditions for the localization of wind-turbine component production in South Africa in order to improve the understanding of the opportunities and challenges involved in achieving sustainable industrialization on the continent. Specifically, we explore the role of governance structures in the global value chain (GVC) pertaining to specific components in shaping national policy efforts to encourage the industry's localization. We find that the local production of wind-turbine towers has generally made most progress compared to the localization of blade and nacelle production. Further, we find that the GVC's governance structures may contribute both to impeding and to further accelerating the effect of adopted policies on the industry's localization. The paper concludes by highlighting the significance of the state in promoting local RE manufacturing industries to help achieve sustainable industrialization in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores why young Black South African men refuse low-wage jobs in a time of mass joblessness. Drawing on in-depth qualitative data from an informal settlement on the outskirts of Johannesburg, the paper examines the work histories and social aspirations that underpin young men's decision to voluntarily quit low-wage employment. This inquiry is animated by a long history of urban young men rejecting the wage relation in favour of alternative livelihoods. It shows that the refusal of low-wage jobs is sustained by other forms of inequality and is closely entangled with race, gender and citizenship. The paper argues that the refusal of low-wage jobs is at once a critique of precariousness and racialized inequality, and a political demand for social and economic inclusion. In taking this demand seriously, the paper maintains that voluntary quitting is a relatively unrecognized form of worker resistance, with implications for how we understand labour market volatility, and the place of wage labour in South Africa's policy debates and politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing from the author's experience, this Research Note provides an overview of the University of the Western Cape Robben Island Museum Mayibuye Archives. This archive is rooted in the liberation struggle in southern Africa and contains a considerable number of historical documents, oral histories and audio-visual materials documenting the global anti-apartheid movement. Located in Bellville, on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa, the archive is easily accessible and well worth a visit from scholars of the Cold War in southern Africa, the global Black freedom struggle and international social movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reads contemporary South Africa through the lens of melancholia and situates the experience of loss at the heart of social entanglements in the country. It argues that the purchase of melancholia lies partly in the fact that the problem of disarticulated and disenfranchised loss is common to post-apartheid modernity in general. It suggests that post-apartheid melancholia is a resultant effect of the country's fraught engagement with loss and (be)longing. It also notes that post-apartheid melancholia is a result of structural traumas and moral anguish that have not been worked through. This paper shows how melancholia manifests in the different modes of attachments to, and identifications with victimhood; it explains why each identity group lays il/legitimate claims to victimhood in South Africa. In addition, this paper conceptualises post-apartheid melancholia along racial and generational lines. That is, it examines the ways in which personal testimonies and meditations shed light on the prospects of white, black and intergenerational melancholia in post-apartheid South Africa. In all, this paper argues that melancholia is an affective structure of the everyday life in post-apartheid South Africa which – if we are not quick to pathologise it – may help combat hurried attempts at closing the door on the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New technologies are playing a fundamental role in the postmodern era of globalization where interpersonal interactions at the international level and the exchange of goods, services, information and capital are the basis of all activities. The agriculture sector is constantly facing numerous challenges including the steady growth of the population, climate change, the increasing number of catastrophes, the loss of biodiversity and the spread of parasites. This paper analyzes the impacts of Blockchain applications in agriculture and the food supply chain, through a survey literature review, providing the various players in the agriculture value chain with new tools and key technologies to improve production and distribution processes. To demonstrate the importance of applying the Blockchain in the agriculture sector, especially for emerging countries, the case of South Africa is examined. This focus is one of the unique aspects of this paper, which is the first to deal with this kind of solution applied to the South African context. Our findings indicate that Blockchain, in the e-agricultural context, has the potential for reshaping the entire sector, contributing also to the resolution of the food crisis. This paper discusses the overall implications, limits, challenges and potentials of these applications, from a critical point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Beyond the income" puts emphasis on the need to go beyond income loss to understand the meaning of wage labour, and the effects that unemployment and inequality have on people. This ethnographic and in-depth interview-based research focused on the experiences of unemployment among South African black men—ex-mine workers in their fifties and sixties who had worked on the Welkom goldfields—and found that they suffered three types of loss: economic loss, psychological harm and social exclusion. These findings illustrate that, while income loss is crucially important for workers globally, unemployment has far-reaching effects other than income loss. Income loss interconnects with other types of loss (psychological and social). E. Durkheim (1964, The Rules of Sociological Method. New York: The Free Press) and G. Therborn (2013, The Killing Fields of Inequality. Wiley) foreground the importance of taking into consideration income loss, but they also demonstrate the need for approaches that take into consideration anomie and existential inequality to understand that unemployment has greater effects on its victims than only income loss. The research has relevance for the debates on basic income grants. Because the loss involved in unemployment is greater than income loss, ex-mine workers' loss cannot be solved only by the income support offered through a basic income grant. The basic income grant would only go to the extent of responding to income loss, but it would be limited in relation to the normative aspects that were fulfilled by wage labour. The paper concludes by suggesting that going beyond the income broadens our understanding of the effects of wage labour, unemployment, and inequality, and that this understanding should inform research, policy (social and economic), and movement building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa's Just Energy Transition (JET) from coal to renewable energy in response to climate change mitigation policies comes packaged with social costs that these mitigation policies tend to overlook, considering their focus on carbon emission reduction. The paper argues that Social Impact Assessments (SIAs), a component of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) focused on social impact mitigation, can be a long-term approach to closing the social cost gap. Against this backdrop, the paper's arguments were informed by a literature analysis on SIAs and the Just Energy Transition, semi-structured interviews, and surveys with 230 participants, including experts, from Kriel and Carolina in Mpumalanga, South Africa. The findings point to skills development barriers such as poor school attendance, a lack of alignment between existing curriculum design and labour markets, and students' low aptitude for STEM subjects. It also identifies community sustainability issues linked to poor public participation, gender inequalities in land reform and economic participation, and culturally disruptive displacements that will intensify as the energy shift unfolds. The paper submits that SIAs, if incorporated into mainstream energy transition planning, might be a long-term approach to mitigating societal costs and can support socially responsible policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]