Is post-apartheid South Africa training more black African clinical psychologists and addressing the historical imbalance?

2020 ◽  
pp. 008124632097798
Author(s):  
Anthony L Pillay ◽  
Londiwe N Nyandeni
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Health Professions ◽  
Clinical Psychologists ◽  
South African Population ◽  
Clinical Psychology Training ◽  
Black African ◽  
Real Change ◽  
History Of

The history of clinical psychology training in South Africa shows it to have the same racist past as all other aspects of life in the country. With the inception of democracy in 1994, it had been expected that more black African clinical psychologists will be trained in an effort to correct the serious imbalance created by apartheid. This study is a follow-up of earlier research into improvements during the first 12 years post-apartheid. In the present investigation, the licencing register of the Health Professions Council of South Africa was examined for the next 12-year period (2007–2018) to ascertain the number of black Africans trained as clinical psychologists, and the universities that had provided the training. The findings showed no real change in the number trained from the previous period. Of the 2883 clinical psychologists licensed in the study period only 426 (14.8%) were black African, despite this group constituting 80.7% of the South African population.

The Politics of Belonging: Exploring Black African Lesbian Identity in South Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikki Van Zyl ◽  
Sarah Frances Gordon ◽  
Amanda Gouws
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
African Women ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
African Continent ◽  
Lesbian Women ◽  
Lesbian Identity ◽  
Black African ◽  
Civil Union ◽  
History Of

This article explores black African lesbian identity in South Africa and how lesbian women understand belonging. This is a contentious subject matter and is situated within a long history of heteronormativity and homophobia on the African continent, as well as the influences of colonialism and contemporary society. This history of heteronormativity and homophobia, combined with the Civil Union Act that gives South African lesbians and gays formal rights to marriage, has resulted in narratives in which contemporary black African women unravel the contradictions and emotions embedded in their struggles for belonging and identity in post-apartheid South Africa.  

scholarly journals Music of Politics and Religion Supporting Constitutional Values in South Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Morakeng Edward Kenneth Lebaka
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Transition To Democracy ◽  
Value Systems ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Black African ◽  
Nelson Mandela ◽  
Politics And Religion ◽  
History Of ◽  
Desmond Tutu

The Constitution of South Africa has been taken as a model globally as it supports non-discrimination and human rights. The purpose of this study was to analyse the South African National Anthem and a secular political song to investigate how music supported the values enshrined in the Constitution, including religious freedom, during the transition from a history of apartheid towards 25 years of democracy. Politicians such as Nelson Mandela and religious leaders such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, black African spiritual practitioners, Muslim ecclesiastics, rabbis and others played a prominent role in a peaceful transition to democracy. Although there have been a few violent episodes like service delivery protests, farm murders, xenophobia and the tragedy of Marikana since 1994, in general South Africa has been peaceful, despite its history. This study concluded that the music of politics and liberation can be related to value systems and lack of conflict between ethnic and religious factions in South Africa since 1994.

Reframing Xenophobia in South Africa as Colour-Blind: The Limits of the Afro Phobia Thesis

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-444
Author(s):  
Amanuel Isak Tewolde
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Conflict Theory ◽  
Black African ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Online Newspaper ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
Realistic Conflict Theory

Many scholars and South African politicians characterize the widespread anti-foreigner sentiment and violence in South Africa as dislike against migrants and refugees of African origin which they named ‘Afro-phobia’. Drawing on online newspaper reports and academic sources, this paper rejects the Afro-phobia thesis and argues that other non-African migrants such as Asians (Pakistanis, Indians, Bangladeshis and Chinese) are also on the receiving end of xenophobia in post-apartheid South Africa. I contend that any ‘outsider’ (White, Asian or Black African) who lives and trades in South African townships and informal settlements is scapegoated and attacked. I term this phenomenon ‘colour-blind xenophobia’. By proposing this analytical framework and integrating two theoretical perspectives — proximity-based ‘Realistic Conflict Theory (RCT)’ and Neocosmos’ exclusivist citizenship model — I contend that xenophobia in South Africa targets those who are in close proximity to disadvantaged Black South Africans and who are deemed outsiders (e.g., Asian, African even White residents and traders) and reject arguments that describe xenophobia in South Africa as targeting Black African refugees and migrants.

‘Limping, Yet Made to Climb a Mountain!’ Re-Reading the Vashti Character in the Hiv And Aids South African Context

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madipoane Masenya (Ngwan’A Mphahlele)
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
External Factor ◽  
Hiv And Aids ◽  
African Women ◽  
South African Context ◽  
Land Grabbing ◽  
The Bible ◽  
History Of ◽  
African Context

The history of the Christian Bible’s reception in South Africa was part of a package that included among others, the importation of European patriarchy, land grabbing and its impoverishment of Africans and challenged masculinities of African men. The preceding factors, together with the history of the marginalization of African women in bible and theology, and how the Bible was and continues to be used in our HIV and AIDS contexts, have only made the proverbial limping animal to climb a mountain. Wa re o e bona a e hlotša, wa e nametša thaba (while limping, you still let it climb a mountain) simply means that a certain situation is being aggravated (by an external factor). In this chapter the preceding Northern Sotho proverb is used as a hermeneutical lens to present an HIV and AIDS gender sensitive re-reading of the Vashti character in the Hebrew Bible within the South African context.

scholarly journals Teaching Mathematics during the COVID-19 Lockdown in a Context of Historical Disadvantage

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 177
Author(s):  
Brantina Chirinda ◽  
Mdutshekelwa Ndlovu ◽  
Erica Spangenberg
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Mathematics Teachers ◽  
Education System ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Education Community ◽  
South African Education

The COVID-19 global pandemic widely affected education across the world and engendered unprecedented scenarios that required expeditious responses. In South Africa, the pandemic came on top of pre-existing inequalities in the education system. Using a qualitative research method of exploratory and descriptive nature, this study engaged a social justice framework to explore the teaching and learning of mathematics during the COVID-19 lockdown in a context of historical disadvantage. A sample of twenty-three Grade 12 mathematics teachers at various public secondary schools in Gauteng, South Africa was used in the study. The teachers were selected through purposive sampling. A Google-generated open-ended questionnaire and follow-up telephonic interviews were used to collect data. Data were analysed thematically in five steps. The findings revealed that the WhatsApp platform is a valuable tool that can support the teaching and learning of mathematics beyond the classroom in the contexts of historical disadvantage. The findings also provided insights into how mathematics teachers became learners themselves during emergency remote teaching (ERT) as they had to adapt to digital teaching, find solutions to unfamiliar problems and acquire knowledge from a larger mathematics education community around the globe. The article discusses these findings and teachers’ challenges of transitioning from traditional face-to-face classrooms to ERT and how they were addressed. At the time of publishing the article, most learners in South Africa had started going to school on a rotational basis. Nonetheless, the study reported in this article is of importance as ERT in the context of historical disadvantage has foregrounded issues of inequality in the South African education system that must be dealt with urgently.

Untangling discrimination in the private sector workplace in South Africa: Paving the way for Black African women progression to managerial positions

2021 ◽  
pp. 135822912199056
Author(s):  
Motlhatlego Dennis Matotoka ◽  
Kolawole Olusola Odeku
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
South African ◽  
African Women ◽  
The South ◽  
Quota System ◽  
Black African ◽  
Managerial Positions ◽  
Action Measures

Black African women in South Africa are poorly represented at managerial levels in the South African private sector since the advent of democracy. Their exclusion at these occupational levels persists despite the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 (EEA) requiring that the private sector must ensure that all occupational levels are equitably represented and reflects the demographics of South Africa. The South African private sector demonstrates its lack of commitment to proliferating black African women into managerial positions by deliberately engaging in race-based recruitment and failing to develop and promote suitably qualified women into managerial positions. As such, the private sector is failing to create upward mobility for black African women to break the glass ceiling. The EEA requires the private sector to apply affirmative action measures in order to achieve equity in the workplace. It is submitted that since 1998, the private sector has been provided with an opportunity to set it own targets in order to achieve equity. However, 22 years later, black African women are still excluded in key managerial positions. However, the EEA does not specifically impose penalties if the private sector fails to achieve the set targets.This approach has failed to increase the representation of black women in managerial positions. However, the EEA does not specifically impose penalties if the private sector fails to achieve the set targets. Whilst this approach seeks to afford the private sector importunity to set its own target, this approach has failed to increase the representation of black women in managerial positions. Employing black African women in managerial levels enhances their skills and increases their prospects to promotions and assuming further leadership roles in the private sector. This paper seeks to show that the progression of black African women requires South Africa to adopt a quota system without flexibility that will result in the private sector being compelled to appoint suitably qualified black African women in managerial levels.

Implications for the age of South African Devonian rocks in which Tropidoleptus (Brachiopoda) has been found

1983 ◽  
Vol 120 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Boucot ◽  
C. H. C. Brunton ◽  
J. N. Theron
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
North America ◽  
South African ◽  
Early Carboniferous ◽  
Fossil Plants ◽  
Geological Time ◽  
Marine Sedimentation ◽  
History Of ◽  
Near Shore ◽  
First Time

SummaryThe Devonian brachiopod Tropidoleptus is recognized for the first time in South Africa. It is present in the lower part of the Witteberg Group at four widely separated localities. Data regarding the stratigraphical range of the genus elsewhere, combined with information on recently described fossil plants and vertebrates from underlying strata of the upper Bokkeveld Group, suggest that a Frasnian or even Givetian age is reasonable for the lower part of the Witteberg Group. The recognition of Tropidoleptus in a shallow water, near-shore, molluscan association, at the top of the South African marine Devonian sequence, is similar to its occurrence in Bolivia, and suggests a common Malvinokaffric Realm history of shallowing, prior to later Devonian or early Carboniferous non-marine sedimentation. It is noteworthy that Tropidoleptus is now known to occur in ecologically suitable environments around the Atlantic, but is absent from these same environments in Asia and Australia. Tropidoleptus is an excellent example of dispersal in geological time — first appearing in northern Europe and Nova Scotia, then elsewhere in eastern North America and North Africa, followed by South America and South Africa, while continuing in North America.

scholarly journals Reading the Bible with the marginalised: The value/s of contextual Bible reading

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald West
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Biblical Interpretation ◽  
The Bible ◽  
History Of ◽  
Interpretive Practices ◽  
Bible Reading

There is a long history of collaboration between “popular” or “contextual” forms of biblical interpretation between Brazil and South Africa, going back into the early 1980’s. Though there are significant differences between these forms of Bible “reading”, there are values and processes that cohere across these contexts, providing an integrity to such forms of Bible reading. This article reflects on the values and processes that may be discerned across the Brazilian and South African interpretive practices after more than thirty years of conversation across these contexts.

scholarly journals A Quarter Century of Democracy and the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leepo Johannes Modise
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Quarter Century ◽  
South African Society ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
History Of ◽  
Measuring Tool ◽  
The Church

This paper focuses on the role of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA) in the South African society during the past 25 years of its services to God, one another and the world. Firstly, the paper provides a brief history of URCSA within 25 years of its existence. Secondly, the societal situation in democratic South Africa is highlighted in light of Article 4 of the Belhar Confession and the Church Order as a measuring tool for the role of the church. Thirdly, the thermometer-thermostat metaphor is applied in evaluating the role of URCSA in democratic South Africa. Furthermore, the 20 years of URCSA and democracy in South Africa are assessed in terms of Gutierrez’s threefold analysis of liberation. In conclusion, the paper proposes how URCSA can rise above the thermometer approach to the thermostat approach within the next 25 years of four general synods.

scholarly journals SUN-616 Poor Diagnostic Concordance Between Fasting Plasma Glucose and Glycosylated Hemoglobin in a Black South African Population

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alisha N Wade ◽  
Nigel Crowther ◽  
F Xavier Gomez-Olive ◽  
Ryan G Wagner ◽  
Jennifer Manne-Goehler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Plasma Glucose ◽  
Fasting Plasma Glucose ◽  
Glycosylated Hemoglobin ◽  
Kappa Statistic ◽  
African Population ◽  
South African Population ◽  
Black South African ◽  
Fasting Plasma ◽  
History Of

Abstract Background: While elevations in fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) are both recognized by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) as diagnostic of hyperglycemia, previous comparisons of these tests have demonstrated discordant individual classifications and population estimates. This may be due to additional postprandial glycemia reflected by HbA1c and, in African-descent populations, to non-glycemic factors that contribute to higher HbA1c at any given level of glycemia. We hypothesized that glycemic classifications based on FPG or HbA1c would differ in a Black South African population and investigated factors associated with discordance. Methods: 889 Black adults with previously undiagnosed diabetes, aged 40-79 years, from the population-based Health and Ageing in Africa: a Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa (HAALSI) cohort were included. Concordance between ADA FPG (normoglycemia [NG] <100 mg/dl, prediabetes [pre-DM] 100-125 mg/dl, diabetes [DM] ≥ 126 mg/dl) and HbA1c (NG <5.7%, pre-DM 5.7-6.4%, DM ≥ 6.5%) classifications was assessed using Cohen’s kappa statistic and logistic regression models were used to identify predictors of discordance. Results: Median age was 55 years (IQR 49-62) and 49.3% of the sample was male. Median glucose was 86.4 mg/dl and median HbA1c was 5.4%. Pre-DM, as defined by HbA1c, was present in 204 participants (22.9%), while FPG-defined pre-DM was present in 122 (13.7%). DM defined by HbA1c was present in 146 (16.4%), while FPG-defined DM was present in 36 (4.0%). Concordance between the two tests was poor (kappa statistic 0.18; 95%CI 0.13-0.24). Self-reported history of tuberculosis (OR 1.90, p=0.026) and higher HbA1c (OR 4.70, p<0.001) were associated with increased likelihood of discordance, whereas higher fasting glucose was associated with decreased likelihood of discordance (OR 0.58, p<0.001). There was no association between discordance and hemoglobin, HIV status, BMI, waist circumference or hip circumference. Conclusion: FPG and HbA1c exhibit poor concordance in classifying hyperglycemia in this Black South African population, with HbA1c-based definitions identifying higher prevalences of pre-DM and DM. Further work is needed to confirm whether these discrepancies are due solely to elevations in postprandial glucose. In the interim, clinicians should consider confirming elevated HbA1c concentrations with oral glucose tolerance testing, particularly in those with a history of tuberculosis, prior to making a diagnosis of DM in this population.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document