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It is no longer a myth that climate change‐related disasters are on the rise globally, with severe and devastating consequences in developing countries, particularly in Sub‐Saharan Africa, where many of the world's poor people reside. Thus, the emphasis on adaptation to climate change is no longer a choice or a deferred problem into the future, but rather an urgent matter of concern which must be considered a policy priority. As a response to retrogressive climate change challenges on social‐economic development and environmental degradation, the government of South Africa has in the last two and half decades, embarked on the progressive formulation of different policy instruments and strategic frameworks to curb and minimize the impacts of climate change on all sub‐sectors of the economy. Although much remains to be achieved, some level of success has been realized, particularly in the space of policy formulation, albeit the poor record of implementation. Using research methods inspired by the tradition of qualitative research and an appraisal of existing literature, this paper discusses the complexities of climate change adaptation governance at a local government level in South Africa, focusing on the Eastern Cape Province. It is argued in the paper that one of the major challenges for climate change governance at local municipality levels in South Africa emanates from the gap between aspirations and actions across the entire national governance system. The absence of an integrated climate change governance system has posed significant systemic challenges, and these have tended to constrain decision‐making and implementation processes. These issues have been discussed within the broader discourse of the sustainable development goals, particularly goals number 13, 16 and 17. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of children in mainstream (no fee, poorly resourced, African language dominant) public schools in South Africa fall significantly behind curricular norms in mathematics by Grade 3; the early learning gap grows across time. The provision of quality instructional materials is a well-recognised component of effective strategies to improve early grade mathematics in low- and middle-income contexts. However, there has been little explication of what constitutes quality instructional materials, nor long-term design work to contribute theory to this instructional design challenge. Across 15 years, the author has been working in an education design hub with teacher educators and teachers in the rural Eastern Cape, with the goal of improving early grade mathematics. The gains in mathematics performance have been among the most significant reported in research literature. This paper presents the design principles emerging from the work. Engaging the theoretical layers discussed by diSessa and Cobb, the paper contributes to design theory by emphasising the relationship between explicit instructional assumptions and design principles, integrating four ontological categories (motive, pedagogy, language use and mathematical meaning-making). Since 2011, the Department of Basic Education has provided learner workbooks to support teaching and learning in foundation phase mathematics at system scale. It is hoped that this paper will contribute to the ongoing development of this vital national resource. The paper makes explicit instructional assumptions and design principles (available for critique, adaptation, and refinement), and provides a more nuanced framework through which to assess and improve materials across time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores Grade R teacher expressions of themselves as teachers of numeracy, and as teachers working in the transition phase of schooling, after their participation in a research-informed numeracy-focused professional development (PD) intervention. The Early Number Fun (ENF) programme had 33 teachers from 17 Eastern Cape schools participating monthly over 18 months. Inclusion of Grade R to schooling is relatively new following policy changes in Early Childhood Development. In-service support tends to be subsumed within the Foundation Phase without attention to the specialised nature of Grade R that emphasises learning through play. ENF focused on the development of specialised teacher knowledge to support the development of early number sense through play, particularly with conceptual manipulatives. Data sources include three pre-, during, and post-PD questionnaires. Findings reveal that participation in ENF, and access to multiple research informed numeracy resources, supported teachers in their relationship with numeracy and the teaching thereof. Questionnaire responses indicate greater confidence in themselves as knowledgeable teachers of numeracy and that belonging to the ENF community supported navigation of positive professional identities within the mixed messages of policy. The findings contribute to the community-supported field of Grade R PD research and early numeracy teaching and learning. In concluding we discuss implications of this research for Grade R PD and for policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Expanding floating wind into new markets could support emission reduction targets in several national contexts. It furthers the need for adequate assessments to gain a full understanding of the technology's potential in future markets. South Africa is a prime case study as it has seen limited industry and policy developments despite its huge technical potential for floating offshore wind (FOW). This paper assessed the locational potential of floating wind in South Africa through a three-phased approach that evaluated the key technical drivers/barriers of the technology, conducted a Geographic Information System analysis (GIS) using ArcMap 10.8 to exclude unsuitable sites based on a predetermined exclusion criteria (including marine protected zones, underwater cables, major oil and gas deposits, etc.), and estimated the total harvestable capacity in the feasible sites. The study found that 2% (246,105.4 km2) of South Africa's entire Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is suitable for hosting floating wind turbines, with a potential to generate a maximum of 142.61 GW of floating wind power. Although the Western Cape province holds the highest potential (80.52 GW) for floating wind in the country, the Eastern Cape region, with a locational potential of 20.04 GW, is considered most suitable for early-stage developments due to the availability of grid connection points, limited marine traffic, and proximity to appropriate port facilities. Future work can conduct techno-economic assessments to evaluate the technical and economic implications of developing floating wind in distinct sites in the country's EEZ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a case study of two sites in South Africa: the Phumulani Agri-Village in Mpumalanga, and a school program in the Eastern Cape. The study evaluates the effectiveness of water and sanitation programs in these rural settings. A transdisciplinary literature review was conducted using primary and secondary data sources from the two sites. The data synthesized themes such as integrated water systems, agroecology, community participation, and resource use. The findings provide insights into the water and sanitation status and implementation of interventions. The application of integrated water systems demonstrated the effective use of rainwater harvesting and storage tanks, upgraded pit toilets, innovative stepped platforms, and stormwater retention methods. At Phumulani, old boreholes were repaired, and new ones were drilled, resulting in adequate water yield from five boreholes for agricultural projects and households, positively impacting the community. Plans to improve access and water quality are in place. These interventions underscore the importance of financial investment, human resources capability, infrastructure, and expertise in evaluation. The water systems have contributed to improved access to water, dignity, and health. Future objectives include containerized water treatment plants as sustainable solutions to ensure consistent, clean water for schools, households, agricultural projects, and eco-toilets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, climate change remains one of the most pressing challenges, and it is also an obstacle to the fundamental achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. The purpose of the study was to examine the determinants of small-scale farmers' participation in social capital networks to enhance adoption of climate change adaptation strategies. Multistage and purposive sampling were used to carry out the study. A cross-sectional research design was used to carry out the study and structured questionnaires were used as a data collection tool. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the Binary Logit model, and the Ordered Logit model. The findings of the study show that gender, household size, age, marital status, education, and employment status affect a farmer's participation in social capital networks. The results also show that household size, employment status, and income level affect the extent of participation in social networks. As the paper is the first to look at the determinants of the participation of farmers in social capital networks in Eastern Cape, the results are of paramount importance to policy formulators in order to formulate policies that will encourage farmers to join localized farmer-based social capital networks to adopt climate change adaption measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Eastern Cape Universities have different Teaching and Learning Conditions, which need to be transformed. This paper explored the extent to which teaching and learning conditions are transformed in selected universities in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. The focus was on the perspectives of students and lecturers on transforming teaching and learning conditions in the Faculties of Education in two selected universities. Thus, this paper covers the improvement of the quality of teaching and learning throughout the system and advancing redress for past inequalities. The theory of transformation underpinned the paper. The positivism paradigm, quantitative research approach, and survey design were adopted whereby the questionnaires were used to collect data. Systematic sampling was used to select 31 lectures and 106 students. Data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to compile appropriate frequency tables and graphs. The findings of the study revealed that positive strides have been made to ensure gender and age balances in student enrolment at higher education institutions in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, and universities in the Eastern Cape have gradually transformed to provide quality programs leading to institutional effectiveness and efficiency. It can be concluded that pedagogy considers what students already know and that leads to developing strategies that can be used in transforming teaching and learning. The study recommends that higher education institutions should ensure that age, gender and race balances should be considered in student enrolment, as this will ensure that there are equitable teaching and learning conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to examine teachers' perceptions regarding the implementation of the redeployment policy in secondary schools of the Dutywa Education District, in the Eastern Cape in South Africa. Teachers who have been in affected schools observed that teachers are reluctant to comply with the redeployment policy. The non-compliance by identified teachers, who are in excess, could have potentially have a negative impact on schools where they were expected to render services. Piaget's theory of constructivism was adopted to guide this research in its discussion of the emerged findings. A case-study research design was adopted. A qualitative research approach was employed and semi-structured interviews were used to gather data from eight purposively sampled teachers. The collected data was analysed through a thematic approach. Prior to the collection of data from the participants, ethical measures such as seeking permission from the Department of Basic Education, principals and teachers was sought and granted to the researchers. Furthermore, participants were guaranteed of anonymity, confidentiality, non-violation of their rights, safety and non-interference in their teaching duties. It emerged that teachers perceived the redeployment policy as a means to remove them from their families and comfort zones. Furthermore, they felt insecure in their jobs, demotivated to perform their functions optimally, to the extent that some have suffered ill-health emanating from the stress and frustration brought about by the redeployment policy. It can be concluded that proper engagement with teachers by the Department of Basic Education officials, in making them understand and own the policy, is the key. Awareness campaigns for the affected parties, such as teachers, teacher unions, parents and departmental officials, are imperative to make the teachers aware of the significance of the policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Curriculum transformation in South African universities strives to revive disadvantaged communities to change existing Eurocentric and Westernized curriculums to be Afrocentric. However, there are debates on whether there should be the adoption of fully Africanized curriculums or infusing African values into the Eurocentric epistemologies. The study sought to bring out the roles of entrepreneurial skills in curriculum transformation in one university in the Eastern Cape. The study adopted a qualitative approach, where university students and lecturers were the key informants. To collect data interviews were used where the interview schedule is attached. It was found that universities are challenged by organizational culture, lack of resources, the existence of colonial systems, and a colonial-caged mentality. The paper illustrated that decolonizing curriculums is useful in resource-constrained institutions if resources are pumped in and if the curriculum transformation works in an entrepreneurial ecosystem. Therefore, the university should invest more resources into the curriculum transformation and African and European epistemology should be fused to come up with strong and vibrant knowledge that will positively change societies. Additionally, for a university entrepreneurship ecosystem, there should be staff empowerment on entrepreneurship education in the curriculum across disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aimed at exploring the experiences of foreign national students in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic. Foreign national students are individuals from other countries who are studying in South Africa. Twenty-five students were selected from four universities, and most of them were recruited through snowball sampling and a few through purposeful sampling. Data were collected through telephonic interviews and were analysed thematically. The findings show that many of the students were evicted from their residences without alternative accommodation, compelling them to stay in unfavourable study environments. The foreign national students reported that the lockdown was an immerse disruption to their lives, as they were detached from companions and families, which reshaped connection with others in exceptional ways. Most of the students revealed that network connectivity and affordability were the greatest challenges they faced. Because of learning using digital platforms, students were caught in a web of confusion, depression, worries, fear, and anxiety. However, there were some positive spinoffs from the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. Besides, many students were able to adopt resilience strategies to survive. It is recommended that foreign national students should be supported as they form one of the bases for international recognition of universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the energy poverty status in off-grid rural households and its underlying socioeconomic factors. Employing the Foster–Greer–Thorbecke Technique and Probit regression on data from 53 households, the study uncovers a diverse array of energy sources in use, including firewood, paraffin, LPG, candles, and generators. Despite this energy source diversity, the poverty line threshold, as measured by the per capita energy expenditure line (92.40 ZAR) (1 US Dollar = ZAR 18.20), reveals the prevalence of energy poverty. Approximately 15% of respondents are experiencing severe energy poverty and 22% are facing moderate vulnerability to energy poverty, while over 50% are not energy poor. This indicates that, although they may lack access to electricity, their energy usage and expenditure in other forms might still be sufficient to meet their basic energy needs. This distinction highlights the importance of assessing energy poverty, extending beyond a simplistic assessment of absolute poverty but taking into account the dynamic nature of income levels. Gender, household size, formal education, and social grants emerge as key indicators shaping the energy landscape in the area. The results clearly indicate that male-headed households and larger households are less susceptible to energy poverty, while increasing formal education and social grants increases the risk of households being exposed to energy poverty. These findings suggest that the problem of energy poverty in the area is uniquely linked to social, economic, and cultural issues. Therefore, interventions targeted at addressing energy poverty problems must address the underlying social, economic, and cultural factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The post-apartheid South African government prioritises rural development as a tool for reversing the apartheid government legacies of injustice, poverty, and black people's marginalisation, particularly in the former homelands of Ciskei, Transkei, and Venda land. This is evidenced by the implementation of diverse rural development policies and strategies such as the Land Reform Programme the Rural Development Strategy, and the National Development Plan vision 2030. Despite these efforts, evidence shows that most of the policies, such as the Land Reform Programme, have largely failed to promote rural development owing to specific implementation gaps. Bearing in mind these past failures, this paper seeks to assess the socio-economic conditions in the rural municipalities of the Eastern Cape that fall under the former homelands. This assessment will help to understand the gains and failures made through the rural development currently being implemented, such as the National Development Plan vision 2030. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted among 413 participants who were selected using the multi-stage random sampling technique. Data were gathered through closed-ended questionnaires. The results were obtained using SPSS version 27 and analytical tools such as frequencies, cross-tabulation, and the Chi-square test. Results indicated that despite 28 years of implementing rural development policies and strategies, socio-economic conditions are still unsatisfactory in the study area. This is evidenced by low income levels, high unemployment, and limited livelihood activities. To salvage the situation, policies and rural development strategies that are informed by the voices, aspirations, and needs of local communities are urgently required. More so, livelihood diversification should be at the centre of rural development to increase income levels and standards of living. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to determine acaricide resistance in Rhipicephalus decoloratus ticks collected from grazing cattle between November 2018 and May 2019 in Elundini, Senqu, and Walter Sisulu Local Municipalities in the northeastern region of the Eastern Cape Province. Materials and Methods: A sample of 20-30 adult engorged female R. decoloratus ticks were collected from at least 10 randomly selected cattle (highly tick-infested) at each dip tank and placed into the labelled plastic collection bottles containing absorbent paper and with a perforated lid at a constant room temperature of ±28°C and >70% relative humidity until resistance testing commenced. The Shaw larval immersion test method was used to determine R. decoloratus larvae resistance to various acaricide concentration levels [amidines, organophosphate (OP), and synthetic pyrethroids (SPs)]. Results: This study found that most ticks were susceptible to exposure to different acaricide field concentrations of amidines (49% at 250 ppm), OPs (33% and 47% at 300 ppm and 500 ppm, respectively), and SPs (44% and 23% at 150 ppm and 300 ppm, respectively). The resistance testing results showed no resistance to amidines at any localities and no resistance to OP in the Senqu region. However, resistance development of the larvae to amines, OPs, and SPs was extensively observed in Senqu (18%, 6%, and 7%), Elundini (15%, 15%, and 17%), and Walter Sisulu (13%, 19%, and 9%) regions, respectively. Conclusions: The larvae's resistance is a cause for worry. Hence, the continuous monitoring of tick resistance to commonly used acaricides will help mitigate widespread acaricidal resistance and sustain livestock productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite technological innovation and vast renewable energy sources in rural areas, a significant number of rural households are living in energy poverty, and there is a pressing need to come up with strategies to mitigate this. This paper presents an overview of the energy sources in the Eastern Cape Province, the status of renewable energy technologies and the household energy poverty coping strategies in rural areas. The analysis of this study is based on conducted studies on renewable technologies in the Eastern Cape. This paper aims to help to provide a deeper understanding in the selection of the most appropriate renewable energy technologies suited to rural households' energy needs and to fill the knowledge gap existing in renewable energy technologies to make it easier to map a way forward into the households' energy poverty coping strategies in the Eastern Cape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective - SMEs often fail to market their business and their green marketing initiatives effectively. This paper assesses how the promotion of green social media marketing could provide a possible solution to SMEs failed marketing efforts within the metropoles of Nelson Mandela Bay and Buffalo City in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Methodology/Technique - An empirical study was conducted following a descriptive quantitative research approach in which 150 self-administered structured questionnaires were distributed to respondents. Findings - It was found that most SMEs do not make use of green social media marketing but are aware of the benefits it could offer. Novelty - The study provides guidelines to the owners of SMEs on how to successfully implement green social media marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes a conversational analysis (CA) or sequential approach to multilingualism to document and analyse classroom participation structures created by specific types of turn-taking and languaging practices. The setting was selected Grade 6 to 9 English language and English-medium content lessons in rural classrooms in the Eastern Cape. Three named language varieties are used in these classrooms, i.e., isiMpondo, isiXhosa and English. The study identified five turn-taking patterns, described their features, and analysed their functions. The research finds that (i) turn-taking types and the varieties through which they are implemented are valued differently in a classroom setting from the way they would be valued in an everyday setting, and (ii) that classroom turn-taking and language use are shaped by broader institutional factors, such as institutional goals and participants' roles, rather than turn-by-turn sequential factors, as hypothesised by a CA approach to multilingual interaction. The paper concludes by presenting a summary of the study's conclusions and findings and a discussion of the implications of the findings for a CA/sequential approach to bi- or multilingual talking in classroom interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an attempt to extract and illuminate some of the structural enablements and constraints of articulation and articulation arrangements and agreements in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, the paper used a qualitative research design and document analysis technique. To this effect, three university documents--namely, the University Articulation Guidelines, the admissions policy, and the general prospectus--were purposively and conveniently chosen. Qualitative content analysis was employed in this regard. Archer's concepts of analytic dualism, which recognize causal efficacy and independence of structural properties, were used to frame the objectives of the whole paper. It was found that while the university has documents that are tilted towards the promotion of articulation in general and articulation agreements in particular, there are costly discrepancies in its admissions policy, important absences in the articulation guidelines it has promulgated, and contradictions and unfairness in the application of Credit Accumulation and Transfer in dealing with college transfer. To help overcome these, an establishment of a university articulation office, a review of admissions policy, and reconsideration of the Credit Accumulation and Transfer processes are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to examine how health consciousness, perceived nutrition of cereals, hedonic eating values and utilitarian eating values would influence consumers' attitudes towards cereal consumption, willingness to pay for cereals, actual consumption of cereal products, cereal product consumption satisfaction and continuance of cereal consumption. Design/methodology/approach: The research embraced a quantitative approach. The examination was completed in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa (SA). A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 380 Generation Z consumers of cereal products. Structural equation modelling analysis was used using the smart partial least squares software to test the hypothesized model. Findings: The results uncovered that the study variables were significantly associated, and surprisingly, the relationship between hedonic eating values and attitudes towards cereal consumption was found to be insignificant. It was also found that attitudes toward cereal consumption positively and significantly mediated the relationship between health consciousness and willingness to pay for cereals, perceived cereal nutrition and willingness to pay for cereals, hedonic eating values and willingness to pay for cereals and utilitarian eating values and willingness to pay for cereals. Originality/value: This research adds new, fresh knowledge to the established body of knowledge on cereal consumption behaviour. This area has had little research attention in developing African countries like SA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the findings on the intervention strategies undertaken by the Eastern Cape Provincial Government regarding the challenge of poverty. The paper begins by discussing the poverty situation in the Eastern Cape. It further deliberates on the poverty alleviation initiatives that have been undertaken so far, as well as the lessons learned, and presents the identified gaps. In a wider context, the South African government has been engaged in poverty alleviation immediately after the first democratic elections, attempting to deal with the challenges posed by apartheid in those parts of society where the rates of poverty were extremely high, with resulting high unemployment rates, illiteracy, and underdevelopment, particularly in the former black-only demarcated areas. The study used document analysis and the purposive sampling method. If the current intervention strategies could be implemented effectively, most poor households in the Eastern Cape Province would be free from poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural schools encounter unique challenges including low socio-economic status, insufficient infrastructure, and inadequate funding, significantly affecting rural secondary teachers in South Africa's Eastern Cape province. This study explored the experiences of veteran secondary school teachers, deemed 'digital immigrants,' who independently integrate technology despite potentially limited exposure or training. Using purposive sampling, seven teachers were selected and data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews and sharing circles. Findings revealed that digital immigrant teachers experienced: learners with greater technological knowledge and skills; technology-enhanced teaching and learning; fundamentally transformed teacher roles; shifting beliefs and perceptions about technology use; and persistent experimentation with diverse technologies. Challenges identified by teachers included a lack of training for subject-specific technology integration, limited access to technology resources, and the need to keep up with digitally-native learners while mastering new educational technologies. Therefore, the paper proposes training programs should be provided for digital immigrant teachers to enhance their technological pedagogical content knowledge, helping them adapt to the learning approaches of modern students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The post-apartheid South African government prioritises rural development as a tool for reversing the apartheid government legacies of injustice, poverty, and black people's marginalisation, particularly in the former homelands of Ciskei, Transkei, and Venda land. This is evidenced by the implementation of diverse rural development policies and strategies such as the Land Reform Programme the Rural Development Strategy, and the National Development Plan vision 2030. Despite these efforts, evidence shows that most of the policies, such as the Land Reform Programme, have largely failed to promote rural development owing to specific implementation gaps. Bearing in mind these past failures, this paper seeks to assess the socio-economic conditions in the rural municipalities of the Eastern Cape that fall under the former homelands. This assessment will help to understand the gains and failures made through the rural development currently being implemented, such as the National Development Plan vision 2030. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted among 413 participants who were selected using the multi-stage random sampling technique. Data were gathered through closed-ended questionnaires. The results were obtained using SPSS version 27 and analytical tools such as frequencies, cross-tabulation, and the Chi-square test. Results indicated that despite 28 years of implementing rural development policies and strategies, socio-economic conditions are still unsatisfactory in the study area. This is evidenced by low income levels, high unemployment, and limited livelihood activities. To salvage the situation, policies and rural development strategies that are informed by the voices, aspirations, and needs of local communities are urgently required. More so, livelihood diversification should be at the centre of rural development to increase income levels and standards of living. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The overall goal of this paper is to explore morphosyntactic variation in the Xhosa dialect cluster. It presents the results of a micro-variation project in which linguistic diversity of the Eastern Cape of South Africa is examined. It shows that regional variation in the Xhosa dialect cluster is minimal and that many older forms and sounds that have previously been reported on are no longer in use. With a specific focus on morphosyntactic variation, the paper gives examples from a corpus of recorded, transcribed and glossed speech collected across the Eastern Cape. It is argued that spontaneous speech is crucial in analysing morpho-syntactic variation when it is on a finegrained, intralinguistic level. The paper gives a detailed overview of previous publications on the dialects of the area and relates this to current findings based on the recordings. It is shown that the decline in dialectal differences does not correlate with a decrease in the linguistic identity which is connected to separate clans and kingdoms. The dwindling use of regional variants is explained by a long history of personal mobility, standardization and schooling. The primary contribution of the paper is to show that regional or dialectal variation on all linguistic levels is synchronically very fine-grained. It also contributes to our understanding of the linguistic complexities of the Nguni subgroup of Bantu languages. It is concluded that the differences reportedly experienced between standard Xhosa and the language spoken at home are not due to regional variation, and that their causes should be sought elsewhere, such as perhaps in an outdated standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The successful use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) by Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) remains a persistent problem within developing economies where they face several technical and skills‐related challenges. Although cloud services can mitigate some of these challenges, many SMEs fail to adopt cloud services. Therefore, the main objective of this paper was to develop key recommendations (based on a high‐level cloud services adoption framework) which South African SMEs could use to guide them in their adoption of cloud services. To develop our recommendations, we conducted 13 semi‐structured interviews with nine South African SMEs within the Eastern Cape province. These were thematically analyzed and the findings used to create a high‐level cloud services adoption framework. Our findings indicate that technical expertise (i.e., knowledge) amongst SMEs plays a vital role in the cloud adoption process. Those SMEs who do realize the importance of such technical expertise often use intermediaries to achieve successful adoption of cloud services. We also found evidence to suggest that SMEs generally do not carry out comprehensive cloud adoption preparatory activities, consequently failing in their adoption of cloud services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The paper explores how beneficiaries of South Africa's land reform programme attempt to navigate the contradictory dynamics of production and social reproduction in collectively owned agricultural enterprises. The Mphuzanyoni Communal Property Association in KwaZulu‐Natal province farms with commercial beef herds and the Mayime Cooperative in the Eastern Cape province is engaged in a joint venture dairy farming scheme in partnership with an agribusiness firm. Severe tensions are evident between the social reproduction of households and the requirements of simple or expanded reproduction of agricultural enterprises. Bernstein's concept of competing 'funds' is used to examine struggles over production and reproduction on the farms, in which members of socially differentiated households contest divergent visions for the collective enterprises. Conflicts centre on how labour and capital should be mobilised, how income and other benefits in kind should be distributed to households and whether or not income should be invested for purposes of simple or expanded reproduction of the enterprise. Challenges of governance are rooted in these conflicts rather than in group ownership as a form of property right. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Premesh Lalu's 'In the Event of History' was written in 2000, before the publication of his first book, The Deaths of Hintsa: Postapartheid South Africa and the Shape of Recurring Pasts in 2009, as a preparatory statement for his doctoral study on which it was based. 'In the Event of History' is published here for the first time, lightly revised. While the outlines of the argument of the Hintsa book are clear enough, it is addressed, as it is not in The Deaths of Hintsa, to the field of public history. Noting how productive public history's notion of 'making history' has been - as discussed in the introduction to this special issue and in 'In the Event of History', it foregrounds the ways in which the past is mediated in and by the present - Lalu identifies a limit to public history: it leaves the spatio-temporal signifier, 'the present', largely unthought. To think through the genealogy of this problematic, Lalu turns to different nationalist narrations and commemorations of Hintsa, the nineteenth century Xhosa king who was killed by British soldiers in 1835. Attuned to the numerous critiques of nationalism, what Lalu aims to abide by here are 'the openings that nationalism established within its concept of the present'. The paper juxtaposes public history and nationalist texts of memory 'to define a crisis for the discipline of history', as Lalu writes, 'a crisis where critical history may set about doing its work'. That work, for Lalu, is a practice of reading, in a present that offers anything but a secure and stable ground. The argument is made twice, as it were, in the content and form of Lalu's deft readings, and in the disjunctive present in which he will have returned to the figure of Hintsa. If Lalu's reading of 'the present' puts it in question, 'the present' from which he reads is one that is, at once, sedimentary, fragmentary, and, in the psychoanalytic terms he deploys, one of afterwardsness. This paper drafted more than 20 years ago not only engages the theme of this special issue, but it also uncannily addresses and questions our present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Party-state collapse is a term used to describe a process whereby the functions of the party and state are largely combined into one body, with a dominant role for the party. This paper traces the collapse of the party and state during the African National Congress's (ANC) political dominance post-apartheid and traces how this process shaped factional politics within the party between 2005-2015. The gradual conflation of the party and state occurred partly through two processes related to the party's imperatives of pursuing a transformative agenda. Firstly, the state itself had to be transformed in the way it operated and to reflect the demographic composition of the country. This presented an opportunity for the ANC to deploy its cadres into the state. Secondly, the party relied on the state as an economic actor to be a vehicle for redistribution and the transformation of the broader society for equity and growth. Hence, Black economic empowerment, state preferential procurement and other policies to uplift previously disadvantaged social groups became one of the stepping-stones for the emergent African middle and upper class. While these two processes have transformed the state, the paper argues that they also fundamentally transformed the party itself, as it became a site of accumulation and intense intra-party contestation. Patronage networks emerged to secure and defend political power and the material benefits it came with. The paper draws on primary research in the ANC's Buffalo City region in the Eastern Cape Province at the peak of factional battles between Mbeki and Zuma-aligned officials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land surface geomorphology plays an important role in water and sediment dispersal processes in wetlands. For wetland practitioners and researchers to engage with these processes in time and space, they require topographic data in order to derive wetland surface gradient, cross-sectional shape and area, surface and subsurface hydrological connectivity, and hydraulic characteristics. A range of data options, with varying spatial resolutions, are available, ranging from free national and global resources (e.g. contour data and global elevation models) to project-specific high-resolution surveys (e.g. Differential Global Positioning Systems (DGPS), Photogrammetry, Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR)). Due to the scarcity of high-resolution and high-accuracy data, especially in developing countries, data gathering and processing costs can be significant. This paper presents a commentary on a range of topographic data and processing options for a relatively small (~ 40 ha) floodplain wetland in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It critically reviews the usefulness and shortfalls of various wetland-related applications ranging from gradient calculations to more detailed hydraulic modelling, and the data resolution required for each application. Free, low-resolution, datasets have a limited representation of geomorphology at this scale due to the relatively low-resolution and large vertical error. Field-based surveys (using survey-grade equipment such as a DGPS) have the benefit of providing accurate terrain results in areas with dense vegetation and surface water, while photogrammetry and LiDAR data are useful to represent the higher resolution morphology across the wetland, despite shortcomings regarding the penetration of dense vegetation and surface water. However, combining DGPS data with LiDAR proves to yield the best model for detailed process modelling for wetlands at the local scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to water is a universal human right for every individual and a key instrument in meeting the United Nations' sustainable development goal SDG 6, namely, to ensure safe drinking water and sanitation for all by 2030. Water is also intrinsically linked to any society or country's social, economic and political development. Nevertheless, many communities and households, predominantly rural and underprivileged in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality, continue to experience persistent water shortages. This means entrenched poverty, ill health, hunger, stress, and social and economic challenges for the population. Using data collection tools inspired by traditional methods of qualitative and quantitative approaches, this paper scrutinised the social and economic factors contributing to severe inequality in water access in the municipality. Our findings established that water shortage is portrayed as a stand-alone issue without linking it to social and economic challenges. Furthermore, both government and municipalities fail to contextualise a multidimensional problem-solving approach to the water provision challenges in the municipality. This paper, therefore, recommends a multidimensional approach to tackling the problem of accessibility, taking into consideration the social and economic needs of the population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public participation is an integral part of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process, as it provides opportunities for interested and affected parties (I&APs) to participate in the decision making process. This process is part of the legislative regime in South Africa and recognized as the main instrument to ensure that the proposed development is sustainable from a triple-helix perspective (i.e., ecological, socially, and economically sustainable). Therefore, the paper describes a case of public engagement in Xolobeni, located in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, as well as the environmental politics that evolved from arguments that favoured development over environmental conservation. The proposed mining project was known as the Xolobeni mining development project. The Department of Minerals and Petroleum Resources announced in 2005 that an Australian company, Transworld Energy and Minerals (TEM), would establish a mining development project in Xolobeni to mine red sand dunes contained within five blocks, each named after the river that runs through it on its southern border. The Department of Minerals and Energy is the exclusive custodian of mining licences and thus the only Department that issues them, according to the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act (Act 28 of 2002). When seeking mining rights, it also requires corporations to consult with local populations. The Amadiba Crisis Committee filed a mining licence appeal based on a lack of consultation. One of the complications was also brought about by the divided community. TEM's solicitors sent a redacted copy of the mining right application to the community on 3 February 2016. The community was informed that drilling would begin on February 22nd, and that force would be employed if access was not granted. Following the receipt of the mining rights copy, an objection was lodged under section 10 of the MPRDA. The people resisted because they did not want their land, to be taken away. The community also opposed the proposed mining because they were concerned about the negative social, economic, and environmental effects. The land in Xolobeni was also used by the community for agriculture, or tourism and they did not want to lose that. The community also resists the migration of foreigners who wish to dwell in their village, fearing that they will overrun their way of life and impose a social lifestyle commonly connected with mining activity. The preceding study highlights the potential for conflict when communities reject the establishment of mining enterprises. As a result, the goal of this study is to see if incorporating community agreement into South Africa's legal requirements for granting a mining licence could help to reduce community unrest. The High Court ruled in favour of Xolobeni residents in this mining rights case [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Income inequality is a pervasive problem in South Africa and particularly affects the Eastern Cape, where poverty levels remain high despite several efforts to address this societal issue. The datasets from 1499 households used for this study, was extracted from the 2021 South African General Household Survey. This study thus examined the distributional pattern of households' income inequality in Eastern Cape, South Africa, through the use of exploratory data analysis and application of regression-based decomposition of inequality. The EDA results revealed that relatively older households are more concentrated than those the young people, female-headed households were also predominant in the study area, while majority of the households are Black South Africans. The magnitude of the monetary variables' departure from the mean inferred a clear evidence of a widened households' income disparity or inequality in the study area. The decomposition analysis indicated the contributions of various socio-economic factors to income inequality. The findings from the regressionbased decomposition of inequality found household size, access to basic infrastructure services, possession of assets, internet communication facilities and households' population group, as the major drivers of the households' income inequality in the province, while livelihood diversity has a relatively moderate proportionate contribution. On the other hand, factors such as age and gender of the household head, as well as households' involvements in agriculture have a minor effect on the households' income inequality. This paper finally concludes that the relative contributions of each factor contributing to inequality was deemed important for designing effective policy relevant interventions which can be used to promote economic growth, and to address this persistent challenge of income inequality in the society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996) provides a normative framework for upholding the fundamental human rights of its citizens, day labourers represent one of the most disenfranchised and marginalised sectors of the South African economy and remain entirely at the mercy of prevailing market forces. This paper is based on a qualitative study that was conducted in the city of East London in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa to develop a comprehensive understanding of the precarious circumstances in which day labourers are obliged to eke out a meagre subsistence through short-term employment. A person-in-environment framework was used to evaluate the findings from a thematic analysis of the data that was obtained from individual interviews with eighteen day labourers who had no other forms of income. The findings were used to formulate recommendations for social work practice, specifically with respect to the role of social workers in the formulation and implementation of policies to include day labourers among the vulnerable segments of the population whose well-being the profession is dedicated to improving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper was to identify the factors influencing households to diversify rural on-farm livelihood activities in Intsika Yethu Local Municipality. This is against a background where literature suggests low livelihoods diversification among rural households despite several claimed benefits of diversification. Cross-sectional survey data was randomly collected for this study in October 2018 from 190 rural households in Intsika Yethu Local Municipality. A structured questionnaire was used for that purpose. Ordered logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the data. The results showed that diversification of on-farm livelihood activities was influenced by the gender of household head, education level of household head, household size, and number of livestock units owned. To promote on-farm livelihoods diversification in rural areas, the paper suggests targeting gender differential, informal education and awareness, labor dynamics associated with on-farm livelihood activities and household livestock units. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates readers' perceptions of Idikelethu newspaper as a tool for community development, particularly in Alice, in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Data was collected from two focus group discussions that were held in the areas where Idikelethu newspaper has high readership rates. The findings revealed that development-related issues such as health awareness, education and community safety, among others, are regularly addressed by this community newspaper. Based on the findings and analysis of data, this study concludes that Idikelethu newspaper contributes in many ways to the development of its readers and Alice community in general. It is anticipated that the findings of this paper will play an important role in assisting Idikelethu and other community newspapers to function better as agents of community development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is not about work or labour itself, and how it changes historically in South Africa (from pastoral, to agricultural and industrial; native labour, wage labour, migrant labour etc.), but about how the meaning of ‘work’ and ‘labour’ itself changes. What we want to suggest, is that an ‘original’ meaning of the tasks/duties associated with ‘work’ was ‘woman’: ukusebenza. What men did, does not constitute ‘work’ but something else entirely: raiding, moving, occasional, going etc.: ukuphangela. It is in the latter term, ukuphangela, that the term ‘raid’ emerges, and the argument draws on this notion and meaning of raid to underscore the re-thinking of gender, the subject and her relation to work, and history. The paper operates in two registers, focusing on the historic meanings of work and labour in the Eastern Cape and tracing lateral translations of these meanings into East London in the 1950s. It argues that in re-thinking meanings of labour and work through multiple temporalities, and through the contested meanings of the isiXhosa terms ukusebenza and ukuphangela, these word fragments are read as ‘entryways to a wordliness’ that puts lateral universals and temporalities of work back into circulation. As such, we pose the question rather, following Anne Kelk Mager and Helen Bradford, of whether it is gender (and what it means to be a man or a woman) that is at the forefront not only of class and race struggles, but of what comes to constitute the meaning of ‘work’, a concept whose provenance and meaning changes, as we have noted, with the making of modernity, industrialisation/capitalism, and the ‘Europeanisation’ of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how HIV-positive abakhwetha (young male initiates) undergoing ulwaluko (traditional Xhosa initiation and circumcision) engage with HIV-related biomedical care and treatment. Health-focused life history narratives (n = 36), semi-structured interviews (n = 32) and analysis of health facility files (n = 41) with adolescent boys and young men (ages 13–24) living with HIV, and semi-structured interviews with traditional and biomedical health practitioners (n = 14) were conducted in 2017 and 2018. This research was part of the Mzantsi Wakho study, a longitudinal, mixed methods study of adolescents living with HIV (n = 1060). Findings demonstrate that ulwaluko rules of not engaging with biomedical care and treatment pose a challenge for initiates who are taking chronic medicine. Fears of inadvertent disclosure of their HIV-positive status collide with the pressure to successfully complete ulwaluko in order to be legitimised as men. In response to this dilemma, they engage a variety of strategies – including taking medicine in secret by hiding them, having a trusted person deliver them discretely, and stopping medicine-taking altogether. The three months following ulwaluko also pose a challenge in accessing biomedical treatment and care. In this time of high surveillance, amakrwala (new men) do not present at health facilities for fear of being thought to have had a botched circumcision or to have contravened 'manhood rules' and left ulwaluko before having healed properly. To get around this, those who continued taking medicine engaged caregiver pick-ups. Beyond suggesting that ulwaluko is a high-risk time for disengagement from biomedical treatment and care, this paper builds on a robust scholarship on the importance of locality and context in gender and health research. It documents the creativity, agency and resilience of initiates and their families as they subvert and re-signify health-related masculine norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescents and men are two populations that perform poorly within the HIV cascade of care, having worse AIDS-related health outcomes, and experiencing higher levels of HIV-related stigma. This paper explores institutional health system discrimination as experienced by adolescent boys with perinatally-acquired HIV, situating them within the social and gendered contexts of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Life history narratives (n = 36) and in-depth semi-structured interviews (n = 32) with adolescent boys living with HIV aged 13–22 were conducted in 2017-2018. In-depth semi-structured interviews with biomedical and traditional health practitioners (n = 14), analysis of health facility files (n = 41) and clinic observations were also conducted. Together, triangulated sources point to an incongruence between the complex needs of adoelscent boys and young men living with HIV and their experiences within the health system. Two institutional discrimination-related deterrents to retention in care were identified: (1) lack of confidentiality due to health facility layouts and practices that visibilised people living with HIV; and (2) mistreatment in the form of shouting. This article contributes to the limited literature on the experiences of young men within the HIV continuum of care, focusing on how stigma influences how young men experience and engage with the health sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a percentage of the total global energy supply, wind energy facilities could provide 10% of the total global energy supply by 2050 as reported in IEA World Energy Outlook (2022). Considering this, a just transition to renewable and sustainable energy in South Africa is a genuine possibility if steps are taken immediately to achieve this. The Eastern Cape Province exhibits a strong wind resource which can be exploited towards expediting such a just energy transition. No research and related modelling have, to date, been undertaken in quantifying and relating the detailed P50 energy yield analyses of representative wind energy facilities in temporal and spatial dimensions to the occurrence of specific synoptic types in South Africa. To quantify this energy meteorology climatology for a suitably sized geospatial area in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa (spatial focus area, latitude −30 to −35, longitude 20 to 30), the approach of using self-organising maps is proposed. These maps are used to identify the most common synoptic circulation types occurring in the Eastern Cape and can subsequently be mapped onto an equivalent time resolution wind energy production timeseries calculated based on probable wind energy facility sites. This paper describes comprehensive methodologies used to model the wind energy facilities, calculate with high confidence the P50 energy production, and then identify the predominant synoptic weather types responsible for the wind energy production in this spatial focus area. After quantifying the energy production, running a self-organising map software generates a purposely selected 35 node map that characterises archetypal synoptic patterns over the 10-year period. The synoptic types can be ranked by the highest energy production. It is shown that in this spatial area, monthly wind energy production is higher during the winter months. When the well-established high-pressure cells move northward, synoptic types associated with higher energy production are frequent and include tropical and temperate disturbances across South Africa, patterns resembling a ridging anticyclone off the west coast of South Africa and low-pressure cells occurring to the north and south. Low energy producing patterns show characteristics of the high-pressure cells moving southwards producing fine weather and mildly disturbed conditions. The purpose of this methodology is that it provides the foundation required to derive long-term frequency changes of these synoptic weather systems using global climate model ensembles and thus changes in wind energy production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the conflict in South African government development policy and law between a people-centred participatory approach and a neoliberal growth-centred approach. In particular, we discuss how this conflict has played out in a series of related court cases from 2021 to 2022. Methodologically, the case study is based on three court judgments with individual fishers, community representatives, civil society organisations and legal entities connected to the Eastern Cape Wild Coast as plaintiffs. The defendants were the multinational company Shell and subsidiaries with two South African government ministers. Our analytical framework was informed by Jürgen Habermas' 'instrumental reasoning' which was operationalised through Sherry Arnstein's heuristic model of participation. Different interpretations and expectations of public participation found in government policy documents and law in South Africa are explored. The findings underscore the central importance of appropriate levels of inclusion in public participation, as protected by the South African Constitution, in the process of Exploration Right Applications by mining companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reports on an evaluative study of an agroecology movement that has been running in South Africa for over 20 years. The study applied a Value Creation Framework to gather value creation stories from key movement members, farmers, trainers, and the involved organizations. Data was generated through storytelling interviews, document analysis and participant observations. The findings show that the functions of the movement are enabled by support from tertiary institutions, government departments, NGOs, international networks and the private sector. In the initial stages, the movement's growth as measured by the uptake of agroecology faced resistance because the associated labor intensity, especially in the early stages and farmers considered it to be very slow compared to conventional methods. However, the movement's mobilization through open dialogs, co-creation and farmer-centered learning approaches has seen a gradual and wide adoption of agroecology practices by over 2700 new and existing farmers in the Eastern Cape alone, thereby widening the learning and seed-sharing network. In the communities it has reached, the movement has registered transformational gains in biodiversity preservation, social cohesion, market power, gender equality and food security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Publicly-funded housing in small towns in South Africa remains a relatively understudied field, and most of the hundreds of small towns find themselves in difficult positions in the 21st century, posing the question of how public housing relates to their pasts, their presents, and perhaps their futures. One such town, Cradock, has a long history during which shelter has been provided, and in some ways welcomed, but which also demonstrates problems. The paper periodises this history in four parts, noting breaks in public provision. First, growing application of public funds created a significant portion of the shelter people occupied in Cradock over the first half of the twentieth century - the segregation period. Second, apartheid and its draconian effects but also the period of much greater public funding of shelter, changed the landscape and the lives of Cradock substantially up to the mid-1980s. Third, mass-based opposition in Cradock of the 1980s shifted the terrain, followed by a 'transitional' period until new national housing policy took effect in the 1990s. Fourth, the twenty-first century brought more complexity and uncertainty and a lack of new projects over the past two decades. The last part of the paper then considers the question: What are the futures for public housing in Cradock (and other small towns) How can it contribute to the futures of such towns? The article is based on secondary sources, archival and documentary research, field work and discussions with numerous people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the 'spirit of the gift' as a framework for the analysis of the moral and political economy of public housing delivery in South Africa since democracy. The paper compares the gifts of Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) houses delivered by the state to 'beneficiaries', selected from long waiting lists in cities, towns and some rural places, with the homes built by families as gifts for their ancestors in their former homelands and rural areas. One of the central features of gifts, according to anthropologists, is that they are meant to be inalienable possessions, things that should not be sold or commodified. They are also assumed to carry a spirit, an aura or identity that binds them to the givers and communicates a relationship with those who receive the gifts. In post-colonial societies scholars tend to discuss the delivery of public goods and infrastructures within a framework of rights and entitlements. What they overlook is the extent to which public goods are also sometimes conceptualised and received as gifts that carry a sense of expectation, obligation, and the spirit of social exchange. The paper focuses on what happens when the 'spirit of the gift' of public housing is not honoured or reciprocated by beneficiaries as the gifts develop new social lives outside the parameters of those intended in the original policy. The ethnographic and historical evidence presented in the paper is drawn from numerous research projects undertaken by the author in Cape Town and the Eastern Cape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tourism industry is distinguished from many other economic activities by the dominance of small-scale enterprises and micro-firms. Small tourism firms are critical change agents for destinations, local economic development and poverty reduction most especially in peripheral regions. This paper is situated within a growing international literature on tourism entrepreneurship and specifically the characteristics and motivations of small tourism entrepreneurs and their business operations. The research is conducted in Eastern Cape province of South Africa which is a resource-scarce or resource-constrained environment. Results are presented from a survey of 79 Black-owned small accommodation businesses and 19 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders. It is shown that women own and operate the majority of these small accommodation businesses. These are mainly bed and breakfast establishments or small guest houses for which the clientele is mostly business tourists and government employees in particular. Issues under scrutiny are business motivations, start-up and operational issues. Networking emerges as an important business strategy for these peripheral entrepreneurs to address the challenges of business development. Overall, this study provides original findings and fresh insight into a segment of peripheral entrepreneurs operating in a resource-scarce context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a class‐analytic approach, which combines a "labour exploitation criterion" with class typologies developed for the South African context and the author's additions. The labour exploitation criterion distinguishes between rural classes based on the degree to which one employs others, works for others, or works for oneself. I combine the principal indicator of "labour exploitation" with the income contributions of social grants, ownership of farming assets and livestock, and the contribution of agricultural production to simple or expanded reproduction. Debates around class formation are explored in the context of a comparative analysis of two joint venture (JV) dairy farms, located in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, which involve residents as both landowners and workers. A class‐analytic approach illuminates the emerging agrarian class structure that a JV‐type intervention both reflects and in turn conditions, in dialectical fashion, with important implications for debates around agrarian change in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local Action Groups (LAGs) are a promising development approach that has gained prominence across the world. They are underpinned by participation of all local actors (community-led rural development) as the main precondition for generating and sustaining economic development in rural regions. Despite this potential, there has been a dearth of scientific studies that have investigated the potential role of LAGs as a rural transformation approach in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Therefore, the current paper sought to identify existing local action groups and explore their role and potential to promote rural development. A concurrent mixed-methods approach was adopted to attain the study objective. Four hundred households were purposively drawn from two rural local municipalities, Amahlathi and Nyandeni, in the Eastern Cape Province. Survey questionnaires and semi-structured interview guides were used to collect data. Results showed that existing LAGs were mainly burial societies, cooperatives, farmers associations, women's organisations, and financial saving schemes. The main roles of these LAGs were to enhance food security, boost income generation, and foster social cohesion. However, despite their contribution, LAGs have not reached their full potential as a conduit for rural development owing to the limited involvement of relevant rural development stakeholders. Therefore, adequate targeted support is required from both the public and private sectors to unlock the potential of LAGs as a catalyst for rural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social exclusion is a pervasive phenomenon in the lives of visually impaired individuals. This paper discusses the causes of exclusion as well as strategies for dealing with it. The qualitative in-depth interviewing design was used for the study. Convenience and purposive sampling methods were used in order to select the most relevant participants in the study. Thirty visually impaired individuals from Kwa-Nobuhle Township in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, together with twenty Community Development Workers from the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), participated in the study, which took place from June to November 2020. The findings of the study revealed that the causes of exclusion were a lack of independence, a lack of adequate education and skills, a lack of reasonable accommodation, and a lack of community awareness. Potential empowerment strategies for minimising the exclusion of the visually impaired individuals were also presented. They included awareness campaigns, increasing platforms for information sharing, workshops and trainings, improved monitoring and evaluation, and the establishment of more rehabilitation centres for visually impaired individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers facilitated a participatory action learning action research process with second year Social Sciences students at a University in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. This paper focusses on the facilitation of a participatory action learning action research process and the contribution of this to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning of the researchers. A social constructivist theoretical framework was employed. The significance of this research is that it adds to the understanding and implementation of participatory action learning action research, the evolving perception of participation as well as ownership within a participatory action learning action research process within the relatively less studied context of sub-Saharan African and South Africa more specifically. This paper demonstrates how utilising participatory action learning action research contributed to the researchers own "lifelong learning", particularly with regard to scholarship and collaborations in the process of knowledge production. The researchers' critical reflections and learning throughout this process could be of assistance to other researchers who are interested in embarking upon similar participatory research projects in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we explore the gender socialization of adolescent boys in soccer clubs, and ask whether there are opportunities for integrating gender transformative elements into that socialization. This qualitative study involved 11 in-depth interviews and informal conversations with male soccer coaches from Gugulethu township and Mthatha town in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa, respectively. Data were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. We found that the coaches felt that the adolescent boys in their soccer clubs faced serious social and emotional challenges, with the boys' poor socio-economic backgrounds and fragmented family structures being major contributors to these challenges. Most coaches also gave themselves the responsibility to try to address some of the challenges faced by their club members. To do this, they employed specific strategies, including creating an alliance with parents and professionals. In the process, the coaches engaged the boys on topics around respect, sexual and reproductive health, and avoiding alcohol, drugs, and involvement in criminal gangs. Some coaches also played a social fathering role to club members as a way of helping them to think differently about their lives, redirect risky practices, and reduce the chance for poor health outcomes. These findings highlight the role of soccer clubs and coaches as potential avenues for health- and equity-promoting gender socialization of adolescent boys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communal rangelands in South Africa are generally perceived as overgrazed owing to complexities in their histories and collective utilisation which often leads to improper management. A suitable solution has not been found in land management policies because local people's contexts and their indigenous knowledge are ignored. Hence, this paper is aimed at (i) assessing the role indigenous knowledge can play in communal rangeland management, (ii) exploring working solutions to incorporate indigenous knowledge into effective communal rangeland management and land use policies, (iii) assessing mechanisms for generational transfer of indigenous knowledge. Findings from the Participatory Geographic Information System (PGIS) and Focus Group Discussion, conducted with Cata and Guquka villages in the Eastern Cape province were synthesised. This revealed that communal farmers have in-depth knowledge of their communal land, past and present rangeland management strategies and changes in rangeland condition. However, there is breakdown in the indigenous knowledge system whereby this knowledge is not being transferred and translated into good rangeland management practice, owing to the ageing population of communal farmers, limited youth involvement in livestock farming and limited access to extension services. This suggests a need for new policy approaches that would include participation of local people in policy planning and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 2020 case of Coko v S 2022 1 SACR 24 (ECG), the Eastern Cape High Court held that a person's mistaken belief in consent to penetrative sex could constitute a valid defence in law. In statutory provisions and jurisprudence, the absence of the victim's consent is fundamental in establishing a case of rape. This paper evaluates the decision, where it was held that when an appellant reasonably believes that the complainant/victim had consented to sex, this alone could be enough to acquit the appellant of the charge of rape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]