scholarly journals The Precariatization of Zimbabwean Engineers in South Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Splagchna Ngoni Chikarara
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Class ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
South African ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Engineering Profession ◽  
South African Universities ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Relevant Work

This paper discusses how occupational closure of the engineering profession in South Africa left Zimbabwean migrant engineers amongst the precariat ranks. It aims to answer the following research question: what is the nature of precariousness experienced by immigrant engineers in South Africa. An exploratory study of the experiences of Zimbabwean engineers is used test out Standing’s (2011) notion of the precariat as an emerging social class. Semi-structured and group interviews were used as data collection tools. The findings reveal that bureaucratic challenges in obtaining relevant work permits from the department of Home Affairs, South African universities’ reluctance to acknowledge Zimbabwean qualifications at par with local qualifications as well as a host of insecurities in the workplace left migrant engineers in precariat ranks.  

scholarly journals The knowledge and perceptions of history students of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
M Oelofse ◽  
A Oosthuysen
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Mixed Method Research ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
The University

Using the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa (TRC) and the concept of reconciliation as a case study, the article attempts to assess the knowledge and understanding of the registered undergraduate history students at the University of the Free State’s main campus about the TRC and the concept and process of reconciliation in the country at large. The research will firstly assess whether the younger generation of students, specifically students taking history as a subject, have any knowledge of such a significant and contemporary event in South African historiography as the TRC process. Secondly, in relation to the aims and recommendations of the TRC and against the background of reconciliation efforts in the country, to perceive the views and thoughts of undergraduate history students on the progress in reconciliation endeavours in South Africa. As a result, a sample of 128 undergraduate history students was randomly selected to complete a quantitative questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of both closed and open-ended questions. Group interviews, as a qualitative research method, were added and used to conduct interviews with 16 undergraduate history students selected randomly and answers were recorded. Accordingly, an explanatory mixed- method research method approach was employed by implementing both the qualitative and quantitative method.

The use of social media by South African organisations

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 198-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nomusa Nomhle Dlamini ◽  
Kevin Johnston
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Media ◽  
South African ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Brand Management ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Quantitative Research Methods ◽  
Main Research

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present how organisations in South Africa are using social media. The paper further explores the value of social media to South African organisations and if it is important for an organisation to have a social media presence. Design/methodology/approach The study used quantitative research methods to answer the main research question and sub-questions. Findings The data collected revealed that most organisations in South Africa are using social media for free advertising, CRM and marketing. The popular social media sites used by these organisations are Facebook and Twitter, with LinkedIn increasing in popularity. The data further revealed that social media is important in organisations for relationship building, contact keeping advertising, marketing, attracting customers, brand management and information gathering. Research limitations/implications The role of social media is changing, it was initially a marketing tool, but the findings revealed that majority of organisations are using social media for free advertising, CRM and marketing. Social media is an easy CRM tool that offers effective and efficient capabilities. Practical implications It is important to use integrate social media with the organisations processes to market and advertise new products, it is an instant and cost-saving way of communicating with customers, and helps in reaching and attracting new customers. Social implications Social media is important for keeping contact and building relationships with customers, advertising and marketing, way to attract customers, brand management tool and gathering information. Originality/value The study provides guidance to how organisation can use social media, identifying the value of using social media and highlighting the importance of social media in an organisation in the South African context.

Youth high unemployment/unemployability in South Africa: the unemployed graduates' perspectives

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zethembe Mseleku
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Cooperative Effort ◽  
Content Type ◽  
South African Universities ◽  
Skills Mismatch ◽  
Graduate Unemployment

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore youth graduate unemployment and unemployability as a development problem in South Africa.Design/methodology/approachThis exploratory study applied a qualitative research method to elicit the perspectives of youth graduates regarding their unemployment and unemployability. A total of 30 face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with unemployed youth who recently graduated from five South African universities.FindingsThe results indicate that, as youth graduate unemployment increases in South Africa, graduates become hopeless in terms of securing employment. The participants attributed their unemployment to multidimensional factors that include limited demand in the labour market, skills mismatch and lack of work experience.Research limitations/implicationsThis research exclusively focused on graduates from five South African universities; hence, the results of this small qualitative study cannot be generalised to the entire South African population. However, this paper offers important insights that may form the foundation for a nationwide study on a related topic.Originality/valueThis paper presents important insights that influence policy makers, government and other relevant stakeholders to develop alternative solutions to youth graduate unemployment. This paper recommends that government should play a critical role in bridging the gap between higher education and industry in order to address youth graduate unemployment. It also calls for a more cooperative effort between government, higher learning institutions and employers in order to create job opportunities for youth graduates in South Africa.

SOUTH AFRICA’S ENDURING COLONIAL NATURE AND UNIVERSITIES

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Johann Rossouw
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
State Power ◽  
Pattern Language ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
South African Universities

This article focuses on the question of South African decolonisation with particular reference to the Afrikaners as both the colonised and the coloniser. It is argued that Afrikaners winning state power in 1948 became something of an ironicblueprint for African post-colonial countries — nominally independent and free, but in reality still colonies. The enduring colonial characteristics of South Africa are briefly discussed, and how Afrikaner- and African nationalists in power turnedout to be variations of a post-colonial pattern. Language is discussed as a focal point of this pattern since 1948, also with regards to the 2015 student revolts at South African universities. In conclusion some proposals are offered about whatdecolonisation should be, and what universities can contribute to it.

Exploring Distributive Leadership in South African Public Primary Schools in the Soweto Region

2015 ◽  
pp. 283-304
Author(s):  
Raj Mestry ◽  
Suraiya R Naicker
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Distributive Leadership ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
Gauteng Province ◽  
Leadership Framework ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Formal Leadership

The increasing expectations of the principalship and the intensification of the challenges facing schools today have resulted in the emergence of distributive forms of leadership in schools worldwide. These developments prompted research in schools in South Africa, more specifically in the Soweto region, to inquire if distributed leadership had manifested. Soweto is a township in the Gauteng province of South Africa that is associated with the historic struggle against the apartheid government (pre-1994). A qualitative approach executed by means of focus group interviews was employed at three schools to explore the views of teachers who did not hold formal leadership positions. It was found that distributive leadership had not transpired in the schools that are largely rooted in classical leadership practices. This chapter provides an account of the study while elucidating the concept of distributive leadership and examines the role of formal leaders within a distributive leadership framework.

Language Policy Execution

2020 ◽  
pp. 579-614
Author(s):  
Paul Hendry Nkuna
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
South African ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
Public Institution ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
South African Universities ◽  
Official Languages ◽  
The Republic

South Africa is a multilingual country with 11 official languages. The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, provides that every learner may use the official language of his or her choice in any public institution of the country. The Language Policy for Higher Education (Ministry of Education, 2002) requires all South African universities to develop and execute language policies. This chapter focuses on language policy execution by South African universities. The emphasis is on the execution of language policy in relation to the promotion and development of the nine official indigenous languages, namely isiNdebele, isiXhosa, isiZulu, Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda and Xitsonga.

scholarly journals ‘A Sentimental Attachment to the Neighbourhood’: African Christians and Land Claims in South Africa

Itinerario ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 27 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 243-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah James ◽  
Geoffrey Nkadimeng
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Class ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
South African ◽  
Ethnic Difference ◽  
Land Claims ◽  
African Society ◽  
South African Society ◽  
Local Construction

As part of its attempt to understand ‘an apartheid of souls’, this volume is concerned to show how mission activity, particularly that of European-based churches with close links to the expansion of Dutch/Calvinist influence, may have nurtured the local construction of race or ethnic difference in Indonesian and South African society. One well-known account of Christianity in South Africa shows how the interaction between mission and missionised produced a sharply dichotomised sense - experienced by the Tshidi Tswana as the contrast between setsivana and segoa - of difference between indigenous and imported culture. While this shows how processes devoted to undermining it may paradoxically strengthen a sense of cultural identity, what it does not yield is a sense of how Christianity, appropriated within Tswana and other African societies, furnished a means of marking internal distinctions of social class, dovetailing in unexpected ways with ethnic difference. It is such divisions - potently fusing class with ethnicity and having crucial implications for the ownership, reclaiming, and use of land - with which the present paper is concerned.

South African parents’ view of their role in the education of their young children in South Africa as democratic citizens

2020 ◽  
pp. 1476718X2093807
Author(s):  
Cecilia Klopper
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Young Children ◽  
South African ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Democratic Citizenship ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Best Interest ◽  
Political Factors

This study addressed the knowledge gap regarding South African parents’ view of their role in the education of young children as democratic citizens. The study was conducted with parents of children younger than 8 years in 2 multicultural primary schools in Gauteng, South Africa. The explanatory sequential mixed methods research design was used to collect data from parents in order to answer the research question. The quantitative data were gathered first by means of a questionnaire, and afterwards the qualitative data were gathered by means of semi-structured interviews. The research results showed that when educating their young children to democratic citizenship, participating parents consider various values of a democratic citizen as important including responsibility, respect, participation, norms and values, peacebuilding, love, loyalty, deliberations, kindness, commitment, non-racism, non-sexism, equality, reconciliation, self-control, forgiveness, compassion, tolerance, open-mindedness, a sense of belonging, rule of law and social justice. Participating parents also regard their example as democratic citizens, respect, participation and the creation of a safe, proud and free democratic society as important. They did, however, consider the media and other bad role models as challenges when educating their young children towards democratic citizenship. The most important finding of the study is the influence of negative societal and political factors on the attitudes and opinions of the participating parents. New insights that emerged from the study includes that these parents want to do their best to educate their children as democratic citizens in South Africa, in the best interest of their children as future democratic citizens, but are hindered by certain societal and political factors.

scholarly journals Testing the Contextual Interaction Theory in a UHC Pilot District in South Africa

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Michel ◽  
Nthabiseng Mohlakoana ◽  
Till Bärnighausen ◽  
Fabrizio Tediosi ◽  
David Evans ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Policy Implementation ◽  
South African ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Health Coverage ◽  
Interaction Theory ◽  
Policy Practice ◽  
Power Resources ◽  
Information Power ◽  
Leadership Interactions

Abstract Background: World-wide, there is growing universal health coverage (UHC) enthusiasm. The South African government began piloting policies aimed at achieving UHC in 2012. These UHC policies have been and are being rolled out in the ten selected pilot districts. Our study explored policy implementation experiences of 71 actors involved in UHC policy implementation, in one South African pilot district using the Contextual Interaction Theory (CIT) lens.Method: Our study applied a two-actor deductive theory of implementation, Contextual Interaction Theory (CIT) to analyse 71 key informant interviews from one National Health Insurance (NHI) pilot district in South Africa. The theory uses motivation, information, power, resources and the interaction of these to explain implementation experiences and outcomes. The research question centred on the utility of CIT tenets in explaining the observed implementation experiences of actors and outcomes particularly policy- practice gaps.Results: All CIT central tenets (information, motivation, power, resources and interactions) were alluded to by actors in their policy implementation experiences, a lack or presence of these tenets were explained as either a facilitator or barrier to policy implementation. This theory was found as very useful in explaining policy implementation experiences of both policy makers and facilitators. Conclusion: A central tenet that was present in this context but not fully captured by CIT was leadership. Leadership interactions were revealed as critical for policy implementation, hence we propose the inclusion of leadership interactions to the current CIT central tenets, to become motivation, information, power, resources, leadership and interactions of all these.

scholarly journals Investigating health factors as predictor of early drop-out of rst year accounting students at the University of the Free State, South Africa

Afrika Focus ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christa Beyers ◽  
Hanli Joubert
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Academic Success ◽  
South African ◽  
Hiv And Aids ◽  
Drop Out ◽  
Free State ◽  
Accounting Students ◽  
Health Factors ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
The University

Introduction: The future of the South African workforce looks bleak given the challenges posed, not only by health factors, including HIV and AIDS, but also the success and throughput rate of rst year university students. Methodology: The research in this study was conducted in 2013 using a post-positivist approach and applying an interpretive stance using a mixed method approach, which included a quantita- tive non-experimental predictive multivariate design as well as focus group interviews to triangu- late the ndings. Results: We present ndings that psychosocial background factors, physical health and emotion- al health in uence success and non-completion rates among rst year students at the University of the Free State, South Africa. Conclusion: We argue that early identi cation of poor psychosocial background, including health factors, can assist in empowering youths helping them to make healthy decisions and deal with stressful situations in a way that will not compromise their academic success. 

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