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South Africa's reluctance to deploy religion in the public sphere can be understood in terms of the country's political and socioeconomic trajectories from the apartheid era. Theology has always featured in the struggle history of the majority of the Black population, but has been neglected by most historians and theologians in the face of crises facing the country today. This article examines Wittenberg's theocratisation of the "theology of hope" as a means of redressing this apparent neglect, highlighting the invaluable role of the church in the struggle against apartheid. During the early 1990s, Wittenberg' s ideas became a force to reckon with in challenging the negative impact of apartheid policies on Black people. I focus on Wittenberg because of his rich experience and knowledge of Lutheran theology. The main aim of this article, therefore, is to elaborate on the significance of the theology of hope in the context of a democratic South Africa amid unprecedented political and socioeconomic crises. I have adopted secondary data analysis and experientialism as research approaches for this paper.

Ritual murders have recently been widespread among African societies in general. Reports of such murders have become cause for concern. African countries that are implicated in ritual killing include, but are not limited to: Botswana, Nigeria, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Cases have been reported of human body parts allegedly removed from the corpses. The mortiferous character of ritual killing is not unique to African communities. During ancient biblical times, it was common that a son would be offered on the altar as a sacrifice to the gods. This article is multifaceted in its form. The study problematises phenomena of ritual murders by utilising narrative research in which human sacrifice, as depicted in the Old Testament, is the focus of attention. In addition, a comparative approach is employed to demonstrate that ritual murder is not unique to Africa. The article concludes by offering some recommendations towards obliterating ritual killing.

Gabriel Molehe Setiloane remains a pillar in terms of challenging and engaging with the Western theological discourse on the structure and function of divinity. Most of his dialogues in his publications pushed for the importance of African theological discourse. Some of the sensitive, but also critical expressions Setiloane made, include statements such as, Motho ke Modimo (a human being is God/divine). The author has been fortunate to engage with Setiloane on ideas of African theology as a contribution to the current African religion scholarship. According to Setiloane, there is a need to have a comprehensive understanding of divinity in African theology that encompasses all - all the living and the dead. This article aims to discuss some theological briefs and developments of his ideas on African theology in celebrating his outstanding intellectual legacy. Setiloane's voice has been side-lined by the past and current (South) African theological systems and structures.

Gabriel Molehe Setiloane engaged and challenged the Western theological discourse on the structure and function of divinity. Most of his published dialogues pushed for the importance of an African theological discourse. Some of Setiloane's sensitive, but also critical, expressions made by include statements such as, Motho ke Modimo ("a human being is God/divine"). According to Setiloane there is a need to have a comprehensive understanding of divinity in African Theology encompassing all - the living and the dead. In this regard, Setiloane attempted to develop what he called the "African Divinity discourse" encompassing areas of life such as ethics and morality in secular contexts, family life, and civil authority, "riches and poverties" and the land question, crime, leadership styles, the functioning of the corporate sector in terms of ubuntu and bio-centric ethics. For more than 30 years, Setiloane dialogued critically with the then proponents of Black Theology and Liberation Theology, holding the firm view that African Divinity derives from African culture and Black and Liberation Theology from a form of Western Christianity. His main points are that (i) for African people, African Divinity is primary to their life and death experience; and (ii) if one has to confront the fact that many African people are Christian, they bring a much more elevated and encompassing understanding of divinity to Christianity, ultimately enriching it. For Setiloane, Black and Liberation Theology - as is currently acknowledged - were contextual phenomena, necessitated by the contingent challenges of having to advance the dignity of oppressed African people on the basis of race and the struggle for political freedom in the context of an oppressive political and ideological regime. According to Gabriel Setiloane, such movements were necessary at the time, but the question of African Divinity transcends them. This article aims to re-open a dialogue with a voice that has been sidetracked by the past and current (South) African theological systems and structures. Published and unpublished works of Setiloane will be included in this dialogue as well as recorded formal interviews and informal conversations. The author was privileged to have been entrusted with unpublished articles by the late Professor Setiloane. These unpublished articles are in the process of being published under the title African Perspectives, as instructed by the late Professor Setiloane.

PhD (Indigenous Knowledge Systems), North-West University, Mafikeng Campus Weather and climate have potential in contributing to the livelihood of the communities. Knowledge about weather and climate contribution to crop production is critically vital. The relative research on weather and climate predictions is often conducted at a macro level. However, failure to address micro level weather and climate prediction information may contribute to food insecurity. Detailed studies have not been conducted to address indigenous weather and climate prediction knowledge at micro level in Lepelle Nkumpi Municipality. The aim of this study was to explore the potential role that indigenous weather and climate knowledge can play in supporting crop production in Lepelle Nkumpi Municipality, Capricorn District Limpopo Province. In order to achieve the aim of the study, specific objectives were considered and explored. Furthermore, the documentation of indigenous weather and climate predictions was considered in order to bring much needed alignment in preparedness strategies, and close uncertain, unreliable weather and climate prediction information provided. In terms of alignment, the research addresses the issues on how indigenous weather and climate knowledge should be integrated with western knowledge to come up with more accurate and usable weather and climate predictions for smallholder farmers in the study area. The objectives of the study were to investigate and describe the nature and types of indigenous weather and climate knowledge, assess the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of smallholder farmers, review and assess the impact of existing national and local policies on weather and climate on the utilization of indigenous knowledge, establish the link between indigenous and western weather and climate knowledge systems and develop a model for integrating indigenous and western weather and climate knowledge systems for improving crop production in Lepelle Nkumpi municipality of Limpopo province. In approaching the challenges of weather and climate variability which affect food security within the communities, it was important to consider in the study participation of smallholder farmers and Traditional Council members to elicit their knowledge and wisdom on the phenomenon under study. Prior data collection, a literature review on the phenomenon was conducted with an emphasis on weather and climate, its role, impact and contributions towards improving crop production and livelihood of the communities. However, western weather and climate prediction contribution to the livelihoods of communities is also presented and discussed. The persisting weather and climate prediction at a macro level is noted since it affect smallholder farmers in making informed decisions on crop production while knowledge of smallholders and Traditional councils' members are overlooked. This research employed decolonising approaches for the researcher to understand and respect the traditional protocols prior interviewing smallholder farmers and traditional council members. The African ways of viewing the world was also explored in conferring the smallholder farmers and Traditional councils the sense of belonging and existence. The focus was on African indigenous worldviews, cosmology, conceptual and theoretical frames of the study and indigenous research paradigms and designs. More emphasis in the study is on the application of decolonising research methodologies for indigenous research. Furthermore, indigenous theories that support indigenous research undertaking were discussed. The thesis explores the nature and types of indigenous knowledge available for use in decision making by the smallholder farmers and Traditional councils in Lepelle Nkumpi municipality, Limpopo Province. Indigenous weather predictions was examined based on plant phenology, astronomic, atmospheric and biological indicators. The recollection of smallholder farmers and Traditional councils revealed the prevalent of indigenous weather and climate indicators within their localities. Furthermore, the cultural and spiritual issues of importance in weather predictions were examined. The use of a questionnaire to assess the attitude and perceptions of the respondents towards weather and climate knowledge is key and based on an individual self-esteem. A Knowledge, Perception and Attitude (KAP) survey conducted to assess the attitude and perceptions of smallholder farmers towards indigenous weather and climate are presented in details. About 61 % of respondents who participated during the survey were females and 39% males. The survey has revealed that about 52% of respondents strongly agree with perceptions statements towards indigenous knowledge while 3.3 strongly disagree with the statements. It was also revealed in the study that gender influence on perception tend to be significant (P-value ?0.05). The study inferred that female respondents tend to agree more than male counterparts. However, the age mean scores for group between 50-60 and 60 above are not significantly different from each other at 5% level of significance. It was examined in the study that 55.9% of respondents very often consider attitude statements towards indigenous weather and climate while 3.5% are not at all consider indigenous weather and climate. Gender and attitudes of respondents have revealed that gender has an influence on attitudes and is significant at (P-value ?0.05) in all five attitude statements. The results from the study shows that female respondents very often consider indigenous weather and climate than male counterparts with a mean score of 3.4 and above while mean score for males is 3.1. It was also revealed that age groups of 35-50 that are not significantly different (P value ?0.05) from the mean score for age group of 60 and above. Therefore, smallholder farmers in Lepelle Nlumpi municipality consider indigenous weather and climate knowledge as important in making decisions on crop production systems. The study further explored on analysing national and local policies on weather and climate which considers indigenous knowledge in agriculture. It is reported in the thesis that different government institutions less considered indigenous weather knowledge in their policies. In considering policy status, almost all institutions identified and documents reviewed, indigenous knowledge system (IKS) elements are not in place. Only Department of Science and Technology reported on IKS elements as partially in place while Department of Environmental Affairs reported the inclusion of IKS elements in their policies. Furthermore, reviewed policy documents lacks issues on indigenous weather and climate considerations. It is concluded that policy formulation and implementation should be inclusive with contributions from local rural communities. In aligning indigenous and western weather knowledge on predictions, the focus was to achieve accepted and reliable weather and climate information for end-users. It was revealed in this thesis that the traditional councils/ knowledge-holders from the municipality recollection of the past extreme weather and climate events are well defined but not comparable with the information collected from three weather stations in the municipality. Knowledge-holders' experience and wisdom about the phenomenon understudy is explored. Furthermore, a participatory approach to integrate indigenous and western knowledge system is described with more emphasis to participants concerns and challenges listed during validation research workshop. The thesis provide a general discussion, conclusions and recommendations from the study pertaining to generated knowledge, findings and limitation realised. The study reflected more on decolonising approaches to indigenous research which assisted the researcher in involving participants and respondents from the beginning of the research to the end. The involvement of the participants as co-researchers enhanced the whole research process whereby every individual raised his/her voice and it was examined in the entire study. Above all these considerations, smallholder farmers and traditional council members' use of their ancient wisdom can contribute greatly to the development of weather and climate mitigation strategies while documentation of indigenous weather and climate knowledge becomes critical and require special attention from government and policy makers. Doctoral

PhD (Indigenous Knowledge Systems), North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2019 Although astronomy is the oldest of all the sciences, African indigenous astronomy, especially of the Batswana has to date not received the attention it deserves from scholars and researchers. Nonetheless, there is scattered, disconnected documentation of aspects of this knowledge studied by scholars in a variety of disciplines. This study followed a case study approach to investigate African indigenous astronomy of Batswana in Botswana and South Africa. The research report in this thesis has focused on the African indigenous astronomy of Bakgatla -Baa- Kgafela in Mochudi (Botswana) and Moruleng (South Africa). The Bakgatla -Baa- Kgafela were chosen for this study due to fact that they share the same history, culture, tradition, totem and philosophy. However, due to historical and political developments they were separated by artificial borders, hence some are found in Botswana while others are in South Africa. The study followed a qualitative approach and indigenous knowledge paradigm. The Afrocentric, phenomenography and appreciative enquiry theories were used as appropriate and relevant frameworks which underpinned this study. Research data was gathered from "baitseanape ba kitso ya tlhago ' or the IK experts by means of in-depth interviews, focus group discussions (using Lekgotla or indigenous talking circle strategy), narratives and document analysis. The data collected from the participants was analysed thematically. The findings of the study revealed that, generally, the Bakgatla -Baa- Kgafela generally are rich with indigenous knowledge of the stars, moon and other constellations. This knowledge was used in agriculture, reproductive health, time calculation, calendar making, rainmaking and thanksgiving ceremonies and natural disaster management. Furthermore, oral traditions such as songs and poems were used as vehicles to transmit knowledge of indigenous astronomy using their local language to the young generations. The elders were and are the sources, custodians of this knowledge and used stories and mythology to teach the young about indigenous astronomy. The evidence and examples provided in this study can be used to demonstrate that indigenous astronomy is relevant in modern times and can be interfaced with modern astronomy. Indigenous astronomy is not just in the minds of the elders, it is often hidden and expressed in the arts such as pottery making and architecture. Bakgatla used to make pottery and build traditional homestead with decorations of celestial bodies. However, this art is also fading away due to the fact that there are few elders in the community who possess this skills. Within the study communities, there are heritage sites which have astronomical significance and needs to be restored and preserved. Astronomical heritage is also one of the themes which emerged in this research. In summation, the domination of Western knowledge marginalised the role of indigenous astronomy in the community. Despite this marginalisation, the Bakgatla -Baa- Kgafela in Mochudi and Moruleng, like other African tribal groups in South Africa preserved this knowledge and used it for their community's livelihood. Community members in the research were given the opportunity to express their knowledge of indigenous astronomy in their own Setswana language. It is on the basis of the above findings that the following recommendations were made for the study: African indigenous astronomy is an interesting field which needs to be adequately documented, developed and promoted; African indigenous astronomy is part of indigenous knowledge systems was subjected to Western research methodologies and methods; there is a need to develop a critical mass of African indigenous researchers and scientists to conduct holistic indigenous research on African indigenous astronomy, building collaboration, partnerships and networks among relevant stakeholders is critical and finally the co-existence of African indigenous and modern astronomy should be encouraged. Doctoral

MA (Indigenous Knowledge System-MA (IKS)), North-West University, Mahikeng Campus During the colonial era there was a huge disparity between modem sciences and indigenous knowledge systems. For instance, modem sciences have gained momentum while indigenous knowledge was labelled as primitive, out-dated and to certain extend as witchcraft. The disparity in health system created a parallel between modem sciences and indigenous knowledge system. WHO (2003) has recommended the collaboration between Western medicine and Traditional healers for treatment of HIV and AIDS. The latter are skilled in the treating secondary or opportunistic infections. Therefore, Traditional Healers have a hope that they can cure HIV/AIDS if they can be allowed to practice effectively in hospitals and if their medicines can be accessed. In Africa, traditional herbal medicines are often used as primary treatment for HIV and AIDS symptoms such as dermatological disorders, nausea, depression, botseno, letshollo le malwetsi a thobalano. Also, people living with HIV and AIDS resorts to traditional medicine to augment conventional therapeutic products. In this context, a descriptive research used qualitative interviews to investigate the role of traditional healers/ doctors in the treatment of opportunistic infections of HIV and AIDS in Mahikeng (Tsetse village) North West Province. The study utilised unstructured interviews which consisted of various interview questions that are developed in such a way that neither the exact questions the interviewer asks nor the responses of the subjects are predetermined. The units for the study were ten (10) Traditional Healers because they are the key participants for the study and ensured the researcher has knowledge of the topic. The study has found out that Traditional healers play a significant role in the treatment of opportunistic infections and is willing to work with Department of Health in treating people infected with HIV and AIDS. People who are living HIV and AIDS will firstly consult Traditional healers for assistance. The study has made the following recommendations. Traditional healers must be prohibited from certain procedures, for instance, drawing of blood from patients, rapid use of razors, claiming to cure HIV and AIDS. Traditional healers have knowledge in midwifery and government should give training on continuous basis. In Hospitals Traditional Healers with relevant certificate must work together with western doctors in the diagnosis of diseases and treatment of opportunistic infections. Drastic measures must be taken against bogus doctors who do street abortions and claim to cure more than thousands diseases. Masters

MA (Indigenous Knowledge Systems), North-West University, Mafikeng Campus The overall objective of the study was to investigate and document the challenges women farmers face daily in dealing with climate change. They are expected to provide for families and to produce enough surplus for commercialization. The methods and strategies to deal with climate change are deeply rooted in grannies and young people around the world as these are communicated through the word of mouth and transmitted from generation to generation. The study therefore covered a broad spectrum of areas whereby indigenous knowledge was previous and is still presently utilized. In the past people had their own way of maintaining and controlling the little that they had to last them for the day, month, year and future. Different methods were implemented for the ultimate success of these practices. Food was prepared in such a way that it could not be pesticided. Incantations were performed for rain to fall. Knowledge preserved by our indigenous people enabled them to live longer and healthier in and around their environment. They were astrologically good in determining what the future could bring to them and they knew what, where and when to plough. Subsistence farming was mostly used for the sustainability of the family and food security for a long-term plan. Oxen were used to plough the fields and petlwana (hand-hoe) to plough in the small pieces of land. Girl child learnt all the tricks from their mothers as they worked hand in hand with them and still practised by others even today. By adhering to those practices our indigenous communities had been able to retain economic independence and self-sufficiency, and ensuring that the diversity of plant and animal species remain high. The availability of food in the household level depended on many variables such as production, land, labour, knowledge and technology, preservation and storage, forests, grasses and livestock. In-depth information previously gathered from the elders and by being part of the community was implemented. Visitation of several households as a participant was also taken into consideration. The study revealed that traditional agriculture is affordable as opposed to the high cost of modern agriculture. The study found that indigenous knowledge has lost its meaning, (others say (it is old fashioned) and is no longer used due to the alternative found in modern ways. There is still a lot to research on when comparing indigenous knowledge and modern techniques (Benneh, 2010). The vocality used to transmit indigenous knowledge made the world go round as things were done immediately instead of being sent to the labs for verification. Although the study did not focus on attitudes, it revealed that transmission from one generation to the next was a result of respect for parents and society, and adherence to strong values. Sustainability including conducive environment and Ubuntu were upheld to ensure food security through difficult climate change. Recommendations follow the findings. Masters

MA (Indegenous Knowledge Systems), North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2015 The Sudan is considered a microcosm of Africa in terms of its ethnic and religious diversity as well as its geography, which dictate multiple livelihoods and cultures. The competition between these distinct groups over land and other resources has always been a source of conflict, albeit manageable through traditional methods of conflict resolution. However, with the emergence of the nation state, the political system and the power struggle among the elites of different ethnic origins as well as the marginalization of certain groups have led to deeper divisions between these ethnic entities. After 50 years of war ended with the signing of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005 and the cession of South Sudan in July 2011, rather than going into an era of peace and stability Sudan entered a phase of more complex wars and violent conflicts. The new conflicts are now interstate between Sudan and South Sudan and intrastate within the two countries. Indeed, conflicts have emerged even at the local level in what can be described as intra-ethnic conflicts, emerging from within a tribe or one ethnic group. In the light of the above the thesis however seeks to test the effectiveness of the application of African indigenous hermeneutics and problemitisation Masters

M.A. (Indigenous Knowledge Systems) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2014 The purpose of this research activity is to determine how cultural astronomy manages natural disasters in the local communities. Study Area: Mahikeng in North West Province among the Barolong boora Tshidi. Indigenous people have contributed the least to world greenhouse gas emission and have the smallest ecological footprints on Earth. Yet they suffer the worst impacts not only of climate change, but also from some of the international mitigation measures being taken. Impacts on climate change affect people negatively, these may include droughts, floods, increased diseases in people, plants as well as animals, biodiversity extinct, high mortality rate, increased food insecurity to mention a few. This study aims to describe how knowledge of cultural astronomy manages natural disasters within our local communities. In this dissertation the history of Barolong using their knowledge of cultural astronomy to manage natural disasters is gradually fading away because of non-recognition of our knowledge custodians as they do not hold any formal education and those who have it only ended at primary level. Democracy brought a sense of mental decolonization unto us as South Africans. This brought light to some of our village members to acknowledge their identity which includes their customs and beliefs. This study unearthed that local communities have the rich indigenous knowledge to sustain their lives that is how some villages are able to prepare and manage natural disasters without the knowledge of cultural astronomy only. They practice other measures which also sustain them and are also easy to be passed on orally from generation to generation. In Barolong communities the knowledge of sky readers is regarded to be very important, it is information that can be relied on because sky readers are always correct. In addition, African traditional religious nature and structure endorses the practice to be acknowledged and be taken as African identity. In the light of the above, and after taking comments by the members of the communities, recommendations are made for an integrated study framework between the local knowledge and modern technologies or information of astronomy. It is also recommended that there should be proper documentation which is not distorted before it can be totally extinct. Masters