scholarly journals Faith communities, social exclusion, homelessness and disability: Transforming the margins in the City of Tshwane

2015 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thinandavha D. Mashau ◽  
Leomile Mangoedi
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Homeless People ◽  
Bible Study ◽  
Faith Community ◽  
Faith Communities ◽  
Religious Perspective ◽  
Religious Dimensions ◽  
The City

Social exclusion is a reality in South Africa today. Its faces are diverse and varied; social exclusion can be defined in terms of social, economic, political and religious dimensions. This diversity also applies to the context of homelessness in the City of Tshwane. The research on which this article is based sought to explore the issue of social exclusion from a religious perspective; it looked closely at how social exclusion manifests from a religious perspective in the context of homelessness and disability in the City of Tshwane. The thrust of this article is captured in the following question: how do homeless people and persons with disability experience social exclusion from faith communities? What do they say about the role that faith communities should play in addressing their marginalisation? These questions were answered by doing Contextual Bible Study of Acts 3:1–10 with the homeless in the City of Tshwane, thereby allowing them space for their voices to be heard as to how the faith community should respond to their plight. It became clear in this research that faith communities should always act as transforming agents to those in the margins.

scholarly journals Faith community as a centre of liberationist praxis in the city

2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elina Hankela
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
New South ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Faith Community ◽  
Faith Communities ◽  
Prophetic Voice ◽  
The World ◽  
The City

Theologians speak of the silence of churches’ prophetic voice in the ‘new’ South Africa, whilst the country features amongst the socio-economically most unequal countries in the world, and the urban areas in particular continue to be characterised by segregation. In this context I ask: where is liberation theology? I spell out my reading of some of the recent voices in the liberationist discourse. In dialogue with these scholars I, firstly, argue for the faith community to be made a conscious centre of liberationist debates and praxis. Secondly, I do this by suggesting two theoretical building blocks (i.e. critical deconstruction and radical friendship) for local faith communities that wish to grow in a liberationist fashion.

scholarly journals Responsibility: A case for the homeless in the City of Tshwane

2015 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugene Baron
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Homeless People ◽  
Bible Study ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Lord's Prayer ◽  
The Future ◽  
Relevant Role ◽  
Role Players ◽  
Future Outcomes ◽  
The City

It is without doubt that the marginalised and destitute, such as homeless people, need all the help they can get to un-shackle them from poverty-stricken circumstances. Yet the reverse side of this is that marginalised, homeless people can become too dependent on such interventions, without taking responsibility for their future outcomes and consequences. The article reports on a contextual Bible study that was conducted with the homeless people in the city of Tshwane, specifically how they responded to the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9–13. Bringing their responses in conversation with the voices of theologians, the themes emerging from the encounter are discussed. Bonhoeffer’s theory of a responsible life is used as a theoretical framework. The author suggests that the homeless people as well as other relevant role players should take responsibility for the occurrence of homelessness in the city of Tshwane, South Africa, and offer solutions so as to eradicate this phenomenon in the future.

scholarly journals Twenty-fifth Anniversary of Church Unity between former DRMC and DRCA, 1994

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Selaelo Thias Kgatla
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Black People ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Church Unity ◽  
Religious Dimensions ◽  
Mission Church ◽  
Apartheid Regime

T Church unity between the former Dutch Reformed Mission Church (DRMC) and the Dutch Reformed Church in Africa (DRCA) took place in 1994 under particularly difficult circumstances. South Africa was on the brink of civil war, as the oppressed majority of the country was pressurising the apartheid regime to surrender to their legitimate demands for a democratic dispensation. The regime was relentless and violently resisted any change that would franchise black people. The struggle involved political, social, economic and religious dimensions and many people lost their lives as a result. It was under these circumstances that the DRMC and the DRCA forged ahead with church unity. The most enabling means for survival in the struggle for unity of the two churches was their faith in God as expressed in the Belhar Confession. This article explores the circumstances under which church unification was forged between the two Reformed churches and their eventual unity in 1994, as well as the concrete steps they took in their ritual of unification.

scholarly journals A travel journal of pastoral involvement in a South African multi-faith community

2006 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan-Albert Van den Berg ◽  
Arnold Smit
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Faith Community ◽  
Faith Communities ◽  
New Horizons ◽  
Travel Journal

In the article the process of navigating through multi-faith communities is described as often being complicated by well-travelled routes that offer no new prospects. Usually these routes merely lead to a further erosion of existing problem areas. The consequences of large transformations in South Africa have led to the discovery that those who were able to place themselves theologically with ease are now seekers with an unknown destination who experience their existence as pilgrimage. From a narrative hermeneutical practical stance the authors developed an experimental theology within which continuous dialogue between text and contexts is presupposed. Certain markers, amongst others “Listening to each other’s stories”; “Confirming each other in the conversation(s”); “A new structure for conversation(s)”; and “Questioning the own position” are indicated for the journey through multi-faith communities, leading to the finding and creating of new horizons of understanding.

scholarly journals Foreigners go home! Re-imagining ubuntology and the agency of faith communities in addressing the migration crisis in the City of Tshwane

2019 ◽  
Vol 75 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thinandavha D. Mashau
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Faith Communities ◽  
Foreign Nationals ◽  
The World ◽  
African Community ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
The City ◽  
Direct Attack

Foreigners go home! This is a reverberating chorus at the heart of the migration crisis everywhere in the world. This call manifests itself in the recurring xenophobic or Afrophobic attacks directed at foreign nationals in South Africa. This article reflects on the most recent xenophobic attacks directed at foreign nationals during the anti-immigration march, held on 24 February 2017, in the City of Tshwane (South Africa). This article states that calls for foreigners to go home and the xenophobic or Afrophobic violent attacks that accompanied them were a direct attack on ubuntu. It was an attack that rendered ubuntu ‘homeless’ and reflected the direct opposite of what an African community generally stands for. It was also an attack directed towards the migrant God; hence, the article proposes a re-imagination of the theology of ubuntu and the agency of faith communities as an antidote to the recurring calls for foreigners to go home.

scholarly journals The role played by family physicians in providing health services for the sheltered homeless populations during COVID-19 lockdown in the Tshwane district

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Edith N. Madela-Mntla ◽  
Wayne Renkin ◽  
Johannes F. Hugo ◽  
Paul S. Germishuys
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Primary Care ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Homeless People ◽  
Family Physicians ◽  
Short Report ◽  
Management Quality ◽  
The City

This short report describes the role that family physicians (FPs) (and family medicine registrars) played to provide care for the homeless people in shelters (both temporary and permanent) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown in the City of Tshwane, South Africa. The lockdown resulted in the establishment of a large number of temporary shelters. The FPs took on the task to provide comprehensive and coordinated primary care, whilst extending their activities in terms of data management, quality improvement, capacity building and research. The FPs worked in teams with other healthcare providers and contributed a unique set of skills to the process. This report demonstrates the value of responding quickly and appropriately through communication, cooperation and innovation. It also demonstrates the large number of areas in which FPs can make a difference when engaged appropriately, with the necessary support and collaboration, thus making a positive impact in the already overburdened health services.

scholarly journals Ubuntu is homeless: An urban theological reflection

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanus F. De Beer
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Homeless People ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
Faith Communities ◽  
The Political ◽  
Urban Political Economy

This article is reading ubuntu in the light of homelessness in the cities and towns of South Africa. It suggests that ubuntu itself is homeless and displaced as a way of being human together. Instead of the mediation of dignity and justice through an ubuntu-solidarity, street homeless people and others living vulnerably and in precarious circumstances are violated and excluded through a displacement of ubuntu-values. It also suggests a growing disconnect between the philosophy of ubuntu and its actual embodiment in the local urban political economy, local faith communities and local universities. Acknowledging the aspirational edge of ubuntu, the article then concludes to envision going beyond mere abstractions in the said spheres � the political economy, faith communities and local universities � in order to seek for concrete expressions of ubuntu-solidarity, asserting and mediating respect, dignity and justice.

Transnational Habitus and Sociability in the City: Zimbabwean Migrants’ Experiences in Johannesburg, South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Khangelani Moyo
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Field Research ◽  
The South ◽  
Economic Networks ◽  
Social Field ◽  
Transnational Migrants ◽  
Telephone Calls ◽  
The City

Drawing on field research and a survey of 150 Zimbabwean migrants in Johannesburg, this paper explores the dimensions of migrants’ transnational experiences in the urban space. I discuss the use of communication platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook as well as other means such as telephone calls in fostering the embedding of transnational migrants within both the Johannesburg and the Zimbabwean socio-economic environments. I engage this migrant-embedding using Bourdieusian concepts of “transnational habitus” and “transnational social field,” which are migration specific variations of Bourdieu’s original concepts of “habitus” and “social field.” In deploying these Bourdieusian conceptual tools, I observe that the dynamics of South–South migration as observed in the Zimbabwean migrants are different to those in the South–North migration streams and it is important to move away from using the same lens in interpreting different realities. For Johannesburg-based migrants to operate within the socio-economic networks produced in South Africa and in Zimbabwe, they need to actively acquire a transnational habitus. I argue that migrants’ cultivation of networks in Johannesburg is instrumental, purposive, and geared towards achieving specific and immediate goals, and latently leads to the development and sustenance of flexible forms of permanency in the transnational urban space.

EXPLORING EX-ANTE IMPACTS AND SOCIAL AND SPORTIVE CHALLENGES OF HOSTING A FUTURE NEW INTERNATIONAL MAJOR EVENT: A CASE STUDY OF THE WORLD ROLLER GAMES IN BARCELONA

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert Saló ◽  
Laia López
Keyword(s):  
Social Economic ◽  
Research Question ◽  
City Image ◽  
Local Council ◽  
The World ◽  
Future Consequences ◽  
Mega Event ◽  
The City ◽  
The Postponement

Research Question: This analysis arises from the decision of the current local council of Barcelona regarding the postponement of the sporting mega-event ‘World Roller Games’, due to a lack of a social and sportive implication in this event. This research tries to shed some light on the matter and give evidence to the local council to become the world capital of skating. The research question is to analyse whether non-economic impacts could be relevant enough to organise a mega-event.Research Methods: The methodology is based on the perception and experience of spectators and participants on four main impacts (social, economic, sports city image and sports practice) using a survey from a National Roller Skating Championship in Spain, considering that this profile of respondents have a better knowledge of the current situation of this sport.Results and Findings: There are positive expected future consequences of this mega-event to be held in Barcelona in social and sportive terms. We can also conclude that the local council must still introduce some social and sportive policies in the city in order to improve the chances of success in social, sports practice and sportive brand image development.Implications: It is demonstrated that a mega-event should not be seen purely from a perspective of business generation, especially with minority sports like roller skating. There is a clear opportunity to develop social and sportive practice initiatives that can push social cohesion throughout the city thanks to a mega-event such as this one.

Afterword II

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamran Asdar Ali
Keyword(s):  
Social Economic ◽  
Therapeutic Process ◽  
Working Women ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Space ◽  
Working Classes ◽  
Labor Activists ◽  
Cultural Healing ◽  
The City ◽  
Everyday Living

The second afterword to the book by Kamran Asdar Ali returns us to the city, and to the lives of Karachi’s working women and working classes. He draws on women’s poems, diaries, and memoirs to capture some more ephemeral qualities of everyday living and dying. These contrast with the violent suppression of an underclass of trade unionists and labor activists by a coalition of the state, military courts and industrialists, since the fifties. Given the long, progressive erosion of peace in Karachi how, he asks, might we imagine a therapeutic process of social, economic and cultural healing? Through an image of citizens “at work” creating citywide networks and connections, we are offered finally some possibilities of dreaming. Namely, through increased understandings, not of conflict, but also of each other’s intimate everyday lives, the dream emerges of a new political space or public where even intractable disagreements can be managed through gestures of kindness, compromise, and fresh vocabularies of how to carry on and get by.

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