scholarly journals A pastoral investigation into some of the challenges associated with aging and retirement in the South African context

2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Magezi E. Baloyi
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Elderly People ◽  
Family Relationships ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Black South Africans ◽  
African Context ◽  
Long Life ◽  
The Church

This article is a contribution to a project that congratulates from the work of George Lotter, a pastor, pastoral counsellor and academic who wrote much on matters relating to pastoral care and counselling. Elderliness and retirement can be understood as a period in the lives of elderly people that allows them to rest after a long life of activity and service. From another point of view, old age is also a time that offers pastoral caregivers an opportunity to care for people who have contributed to their families and society. Pastoral caregivers have an important role to play in the lives of elderly people. This applies particularly to elderly black South Africans, who often find themselves confronted by poverty and other related problems. This article investigates the challenges and problems affecting retired and elderly black South Africans with particular focus on the economic impact of aging and its influence on family relationships in the lives of elderly people. To conclude: it is the duty of pastoral caregivers to search for and establish guidelines for the roles the church can play in improving elderly people’s quality of life.’n Pastorale ondersoek na enkele van die uitdagings ten opsigte van veroudering en aftredein die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks. Hierdie artikel is ’n bydrae tot ’n projek wat voorspruit uit die werk van George Lotter, ’n pastor, pastorale berader en akademikus wat baie geskryf het oor kwessies wat met pastorale sorg en berading verband hou. Bejaardheid en aftrede kan verstaan word as ’n tyd in in ouer persone se lewe waartydens hulle kan rus ná ’n lang aktiewe en diensbare lewe. Bejaardheid kan ook gesien word as ’n tyd wat aan pastorale versorgers die geleentheid gee om na die mense wat bygedra het tot hulle families en die gemeenskap se versorging, om te sien. Pastorale versorgers speel ’n belangrike rol in die lewens van bejaardes. Dit is spesifiek van toepassing op bejaarde swart Suid-Afrikaners wat dikwels gekonfronteer word met armoede en aanverwante probleme. Hierdie artikel ondersoek die uitdagings en probleme waarmee bejaarde swart Suid-Afrikaanse afgetredenes te kampe het. Dit fokus spesifiek op die ekonomiese uitwerking van veroudering en die invloed wat dit op familieverhoudinge in die lewens van bejaardes het. Die slotsom word gemaak dat dit die plig van pastorale versorgers is om riglyne te soek en te bied vir die rol wat die kerk kan speel ter verbetering van die lewensomstandighede van die bejaardes.

scholarly journals The poor in the Psalms and in Tsepo Tshola’s song Indlala: African liberationist remarks

2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Ndikhokele N. Mtshiselwa
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
South African Context ◽  
The South ◽  
South Africans ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Black South Africans ◽  
African Context

This article sets out to investigate how an African liberationist paradigm could be used in South Africa as a theoretical framework that shapes an inquiry into the issue of poverty in the Book of Psalms. The poor in the Davidic collections of psalms (cf. Ps 10; 23, 72; 109) will therefore be examined within the South African context in order to probe the liberating possibilities that the psalms could offer to poor black South Africans, and most importantly when the text is read in dialogue with Tsepo Tshola’s liberationist song Indlala [Starvation]. Firstly, this article discusses an African liberationist paradigm with the view to anchor the reading of psalms within a theoretical framework. Secondly, within that framework, this article uses the song Indlala as a hermeneutical tool to unlock the reality of poverty in South Africa. Thirdly, guided by an African liberationist framework the article teases out th ecategories and voices of the poor in the psalms. In the end, this article argues that the reading of poor in the Psalms, particularly with an African liberationist lens could have liberating implications for poor black South Africans.

scholarly journals Is Transition from Secondary to Tertiary Education Less Likely among Black South Africans than their Non-Black Counterparts in the Democratic Dispensation?

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 101-121
Author(s):  
Nisha Sewdass ◽  
Eric O. Udjo
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Black South Africans ◽  
Age Cohort ◽  
African Community ◽  
Probability Of Transition ◽  
The Difference

Education provides the building blocks for skills development for acountry’s labour market. Investment in education is hence an importantdeterminant of economic growth and has been associated with various economicbenefits. However, non-transition to tertiary education is a common phenomenon.This study examined the probability of a specified age cohort transiting to tertiaryeducation in South Africa and compared Black South Africans with otherpopulation groups considering environmental and individual factors. Usingcross-sectional data from the 2016 South African Community Survey, the studyrevealed that the difference in the probability of transition to tertiary educationbetween Whites and Blacks was not statistically significant. The findings will beuseful to policymakers in formulating strategies to improve the quality of thelabour market, and thus South Africa’s economic competitiveness.Key words: Transition to tertiary education, South African education system,apartheid education, post-apartheid education, economic development

Suicidal Behavior in Black South Africans

Crisis ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lourens Schlebusch ◽  
Naseema B.M. Vawda ◽  
Brenda A. Bosch
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Suicidal Behavior ◽  
Health Care Facilities ◽  
South African Society ◽  
South Africans ◽  
The Past ◽  
The People ◽  
Care Facilities ◽  
Black South Africans ◽  
To Come

Summary: In the past suicidal behavior among Black South Africans has been largely underresearched. Earlier studies among the other main ethnic groups in the country showed suicidal behavior in those groups to be a serious problem. This article briefly reviews some of the more recent research on suicidal behavior in Black South Africans. The results indicate an apparent increase in suicidal behavior in this group. Several explanations are offered for the change in suicidal behavior in the reported clinical populations. This includes past difficulties for all South Africans to access health care facilities in the Apartheid (legal racial separation) era, and present difficulties of post-Apartheid transformation the South African society is undergoing, as the people struggle to come to terms with the deleterious effects of the former South African racial policies, related socio-cultural, socio-economic, and other pressures.

scholarly journals Kerk en owerheid binne ’n regstaat. Die profetiese roeping van die kerk met betrekking tot die Suid-Afrikaanse owerheid

2000 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Vorster ◽  
J.H. Van Wyk
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Theoretical Argument ◽  
The South ◽  
African Government ◽  
Constitutional State ◽  
African Context ◽  
The Government ◽  
Just Society ◽  
The Church

Church and government within a constitutional state. The prophetic calling of the church towards the South-African government With the transition to a new political dispensation in South Africa, a constitutional state has been established. A typical characteristic of this new dispensation is that the government remains neutral while the executive powers are subject to the Bill of Human Rights. The question of how the church can realize its prophetic task towards the government within the context of a constitutional state is highlighted in this article. The central theoretical argument is that a constitutional state that acknowledges fundamental rights provides an excellent opportunity for the church to fulfil its prophetic calling within the South African context. The church can contribute to a just society by prophetic testimony within the perspective of the kingdom of God.

The Relevance of Personal Domain Satisfaction for the Quality of Life in South Africa

1988 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 69-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Møller
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
South African ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Personal Domain ◽  
The Impact

South African psychologists have identified the improvement of quality of life as a major goal of the 1980s. This paper reviews the impact of satisfaction with personal aspects of life on perceived well-being. The results of an exploratory study of South African quality of life conducted among 5 587 individuals of all population groups are discussed. Findings confirm the salience of the personal domain and the positive influence of personal satisfactions on subjective well-being. However, results of regression analyses suggest that the relative contribution of satisfactions in the personal domain is too low to play a major role in improving the quality of life of all South Africans in the longer term.

As the Postcolonial Moment Deepens: A Response to Green, Sonn, and Matsebula

2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 420-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Steyn
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
State Power ◽  
World Order ◽  
Whiteness Studies ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Racial Privilege

Green, Sonn, and Matsebula's (2007) article is useful in helping to establish and develop whiteness studies in South African academia, and thus to shift the academic gaze from the margins to the centre. The article is published in the wake of three waves of international whiteness studies, which successively described whiteness as a space of taken-for-granted privilege; a series of historically different but related spaces; and, finally, as part of the global, postcolonial world order. Green, Sonn, and Matsebula's (2007) contribution could be extended by more fully capturing the dissimilarity in the texture of the experience of whiteness in Australia and South Africa. In South Africa whiteness has never had the quality of invisibility that is implied in the ‘standard’ whiteness literature, and in post-apartheid South Africa white South Africans cannot assume the same privileges, with such ease, when state power is overtly committed to breaking down racial privilege.

scholarly journals An attack on the Cross: Spiritual leaders’ accounts of fear and resilience during COVID-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mammusa Rosinah Lekoa ◽  
Sibusiso Louis Ntuli
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Church Leaders ◽  
Spiritual Leaders ◽  
Vulnerable Communities ◽  
Difficult Time ◽  
Essential Services ◽  
The Face ◽  
African Context ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Church

This paper provides accounts on the impact that COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdown(s) had on the Church and its leaders in the South African context. The study explores challenges that the leaders faced and how they dealt with them to remain standing despite their fears. The context is COVID-19 pandemic, which brought mass deaths, fear, confusion and frustration to congregations globally. Church leaders faced a challenge to show resilience amid fear because they too were directly affected. Governments introduced regulations that imposed lockdowns to control the spread of the virus. Limiting contact by restricting distance amongst citizens. The church was one sector that could not operate. Although some sectors were never declared essential services like churches, this left vulnerable communities without support in the face of fear. Spiritual leaders had to demonstrate resilience to support the congregants. The key question the researchers seek to understand is to what extent did the church remain resilient during COVID-19 pandemic? And how did the church leaders deal with fear despite anointing and expectations from the congregants and communities? A qualitative approach was used in this study. COVID-19 has shown that Church leaders are humans and they are also fearful, however their faith in God has assisted them to show resilience even at this difficult time. The study also asserts that governments should consult different groupings of faith-based organisations, not only those that are under organised bodies before embarking on restrictions for pandemic control. Communities encompass many churches and leaders require support to assist them from church members.

Crossing the Black Atlantic

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Grant
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
African Americans ◽  
South African ◽  
Black Atlantic ◽  
State Repression ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Black South Africans ◽  
The U.S

This chapter explores how trans-Atlantic travel provided an important avenue through which black activists related to one another’s struggles. It also demonstrates how the U.S. and South African governments worked to regulate and restrict transnational black travel during the early Cold War. Focusing in on the lesser-known transatlantic journeys of Canada Lee, Sidney Poitier, and Z. K. and Frieda Matthews, the chapter argues that these individuals acted as important cultural translators that physically connected the struggle against racism in both countries. Finally, by tracing the international opposition to the removal of Paul Robeson’s passport, the chapter shows how experiences of state repression could be negotiated in ways that further strengthened bonds of solidarity between African Americans and black South Africans.

scholarly journals ‘Selfishly backward’ or ‘selflessly forward?’: A white male’s insider perspective on a challenge and opportunity of decolonisation for practical theology in the South African context

2019 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfred R. Brunsdon
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Practical Theology ◽  
Higher Learning ◽  
Mass Action ◽  
South Africans ◽  
White Males ◽  
Institutions Of Higher Learning ◽  
Sitz Im Leben ◽  
African Context

Depending on the Sitz im Leben of practical theologian, the issue of decolonisation will be a greater or lesser reality. For South Africans, decolonisation has become a part of their daily living. Decolonisation can be regarded as a second wave of liberation in the post-apartheid South Africa. Following on the first wave, or even the tsunami of transformation, is the urgent call for the decolonisation of colonial knowledge, structures and epistemologies that endured in the new dispensation. Squarely in the aim of decolonisation efforts are institutions of higher learning and by implication all disciplines taught there, including theology. The non-negotiability of the decolonisation of higher education is evident in the recurring violent protests and mass action, as expressed in different ‘#must-fall’ campaigns over the last few years. This article argues that the current decolonisation drive in South Africa is urging local practical theologians to make an important choice, namely to move ‘selfishly backward’ or ‘selflessly forward’. In other words, maintaining current practices or exploring alternatives in a new context. This choice is embedded in the reality that a significant number of practical theologians in South Africa are white males that may, from a decolonisation perspective, be deemed part of the colonisation legacy. Against this background, the article attempts to provide a reflective insider’s perspective on a challenge and opportunity this creates for practical theology.

scholarly journals ‘Foxes’ holes and birds’ nests’ (Mt 8:20): A postcolonial reading for South Africans from the perspective of Matthew’s anti-societal language

2009 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andries G. Van Aarde
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Gospel Of Matthew ◽  
Postcolonial Theory ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Sociological Factors ◽  
Son Of Man ◽  
African Context ◽  
Current Article ◽  
High Crime

South Africa is experiencing an exceptionally high crime rate and many people, across the various ethnic groups, are beset by poverty. The question is whether the prevalence of violence in South Africa is the result of neocolonialism or postcolonialism, among other complicated sociological factors. The current article suggests how postcolonial hermeneutics can provide access to the diverse complexities of Africa. Postcolonial consciousness means that the experience of the Other is taken seriously from their own perspective. From the perspective of anti-societal language in the Gospel of Matthew, postcolonial theory is presented as a tool for biblical interpretation that assists in identifying colonial intentions that informed and influenced the South African context. Such theory calls for a constructive reading of concerns relating to justice. The article focuses on the Jesus saying, as influenced by Roman imperial policy. It deals with the comparison between the fate of beasts and that of the son of man, who has nowhere to lay his head (Mt 8:20).

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