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PurposeThis study aims to investigates the contribution of the informal sector towards secure livelihoods. Using a case study design, the study focusses on Mandela park, situated in Khayelitsha Township, Cape Town, in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Khayelitsha is predominantly an old township established by the apartheid government using unjust segregation laws to foster spatial planning that isolated people of colour in areas with insufficient infrastructure and informal economic activities. Therefore, informal trading became a survival strategy in Khayelitsha, attracting an increasing number of informal traders in public spaces within the township in pursuit of livelihoods. Informal activities are generally conducted to generate income and secure sustainable livelihoods.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a qualitative research design, incorporating structured interviews instrumental in data collection and in-depth thematic analysis.FindingsThe study findings reveal that the informal sector positively contributes to the sustainable livelihoods of those involved in the informal sector and the relatives of those through income generation, family support, wealth creation, source of employment, business incubation and innovation and creativity.Originality/valueThe study concludes that given the increasing unemployment rate in South Africa, caused by the stagnant economic growth rate, policymakers should rethink their policies on the informal economy, acknowledge the sector's relevance and support the sector.

The fourth industrial revolution (4IR) adoption in South Africa in higher education institutions (HEIs) has yet to be consistent. Despite the extensive literature on the possible contributions of technology to learners’ development, there is a lack of knowledge on barriers to the higher education sector's adoption of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) to support teaching and learning. The most highly ranked universities in South Africa have somewhat embraced the 4IR, representing only a fraction of the 26 public universities in the country. The study identified factors hindering the adoption and diffusion of 4IR technologies in South Africa’s HEIs. To address this knowledge gap, we relied on the diffusion of innovation theory as a guide. Using a qualitative approach, we collected data using documentary reviews and analyses of authoritative sources to conceptualise and contextualise 4IR. The findings revealed that 4IR adoption is not only about perceptions but is also influenced by material obstacles like conflicting global views on the 4IR, complexity in conceptualising 4IR, and the digital skills gap in HEIs, among other factors. To address these obstacles and realise the value of 4IR in HEIs, institutions must understand the educational scope associated with 4IR. This can be achieved by conducting more empirical research on the implications of 4IR on the education sector. To address the digital skills gap, institutions must design detailed skills plans to respond to their respective institutions' technological needs, redesign their pedagogical approaches by extending current practices to 4IR, and implement change management.

Johannesburg is known to be the crime capital in South Africa. This hinders investment opportunities for the country and causes insecurities for citizens. This article analyzed the current neighborhood security challenges and sought to develop an innovative and inclusive model of co-producing neighborhood security in the City of Johannesburg based on the unstructured interviews with police officers in Johannesburg which were analyzed using a qualitative approach. The study found that the challenges of neighborhood security in Johannesburg include socio-economic status, crime, lack of trust, and inadequate resources. Moreover, inclusivity promoted community involvement and effective participation from the South African Police Service, civil society, and government whilst innovation utilized technological methods such as social media, radio shows, and newspapers which ensured that the insecurities were eliminated and that the crime rate in Johannesburg decreasesI

Food security is an critical issue in most African cities. Local government initiatives such as the City of Johannesburg Food Resilience Strategy are established to enhance food security in the city. The article draws insight from literature across multiple disciplines to examine the extent to which the Food Resilience Strategy relates food security to the economic challenges which citizens face. It discusses critical themes for sustainable urban food security namely, skills capacity and knowledge transference, access to land and water, institutional challenges, economic factors, urban agriculture production and environmental factors. Finally, the article recommends an integration of diverse stakeholders in the design and implementation of the Food Resilience Strategy, and thereby foster synergies between local producers and the local food market.

PurposeMany developing countries such as South Africa have been introducing measurement of results to improve public service delivery. The practice of development of performance measures in the public service emanates from pressure exerted by citizens who are calling for more efficiency and effectiveness in delivering services. This article examines the implementation of the audit of pre-determined objectives at the Department of Basic Education (DBE).Design/methodology/approachThis study is based on a qualitative case study approach. Secondary sources of data were used in order to analyse the DBE's challenges in managing performance information. Key secondary documents used include the AGSA annual audit reports as well as the DBE 2010/11–2014/15 Strategic Plan and Annual Performance Plans (APP) that provide the pre-determined objectives selected by the Department to measure performance for the five-year period.FindingsThe findings indicate that there are shortcomings in the processes of managing performance information. Based on the findings, it is incumbent upon the senior management of the DBE to strive towards understanding and improving their oversight roles and responsibilities in the management of pre-determined objectives.Originality/valueThe study generates a deeper understanding of what has been happening when pre-determined objectives were developed, reported or assessed in the DBE. This will assist the Department and similar public institutions to make further improvements in order to achieve pre-determined objectives.

This article explores the Brazil-Russia-India-China (BRIC) countries’ bilateral foreign investment relations with South Africa. It analyses investment patterns through the lens of the South African Foreign Investment Policy, and provides recommendations for the country to increase foreign investment from the BRIC. The article utilises a qualitative desktop approach, drawing from extensive literature review on BRICS’ foreign investment relations. The findings show that, despite the numerous foreign investment treaties signed within BRIC in South Africa’s favour, investments from BRIC are lagging. To increase direct investment flows, South Africa should relax entry and offer special incentives in critical sectors; such as energy, health, food production and mining; create a more stable and transparent legal environment; establish special and industrial economic zones as well as a clear foreign investment policy.

In South Africa, government departments are under legislative obligations to adopt a systematic and organised approach to the management of records. This is because sound records management is fundamental for good governance and effective and efficient administration of government units. This article analyses records management trends at Statistics South Africa (StatsSA). Qualitative desktop research was used with key legislative and policy sources, StatsSA documents and international literature. The study revealed that numerous challenges existed in the organisation’s records management. These challenges include: creation of the record retention and disposal authority granted by the Archivist; stakeholder relations and engagement; compliance with the National Archives and Records Services of South Africa (NARSSA) Act No. 43 of 1996 as the primary legislation for records and archives management in South Africa; and digitalization and transformation. The article recommends that the resource centre be digitalized by adopting the Millennium and Sierra Integrated Library Systems software for records management, skills development archiving and enhanced stakeholder relations. An effective and efficient records and archives management system promotes good governance, accountability, and transparency.

Purpose A strategic plan is a document used to communicate an organisation’s goals and the actions needed to achieve those goals. Strategic planning in public organisations promotes timely decisions, enhances the management of limited resources in a more rational manner, improves service delivery and induces greater satisfaction of customers. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to critically examine the strategic planning challenges facing the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services (DTPS), and how these impact organisational performance; second, to identify strategies that can be implemented to enhance strategic planning and performance management in the DTPS. Design/methodology/approach This paper used a qualitative case study design with the aid of document analysis to provide insight into the research questions. Findings The paper concludes that public institutions such as the DTPS face a plethora of challenges that militate against successful strategic planning and implementation. A major challenge is resistance to change arising from a desire to maintain the status quo. This paper argues that it is important to promote strategic planning, and aligning organisational objectives with performance in public institutions. Research limitations/implications This study is based on documentary research and therefore its findings may lack current findings that would have emerged from direct interviews. Practical implications This research contributes towards efforts being made to make strategic planning and implementation effective and credible in public institutions especially in sub Saharan Africa. Originality/value In many South African public institutions, strategic planning is viewed as the work of top management, a misconception which compromises service delivery. In addition, strategic planning has been implemented as a direct attempt to inhibit poor budgetary planning and corruption in procurement systems, and in order to effectively manage public resources. There is a need for the department to conduct regular skills development programmes, uproot top-level bureaucracy, and increase innovation, monitoring and evaluation of organisational activities.

Background: Southern African countries adopted diverse responses to the challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, which manifested itself as both a health and economic disaster. Aim: Using a case study approach of two South African countries, namely Botswana and South Africa, the article assessed their response measures to the COVID-19 pandemic. Setting: Southern African countries applied ‘domesticated’ forms of responses thus, there has been no one-size-fits-all approach to managing the pandemic. Methods: The study adopted a qualitative approach. Two case studies namely Botswana and South Africa were used. Documentary evidence was drawn from these case studies. Results: To ensure that Southern African countries and indeed the world in general navigate the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) developed operational planning guidelines that had sought to balance the demands of responding effectively to COVID-19 and the need to serve economies from collapse. However, an analysis of the programmes of responses in South African countries such as Botswana showed the ‘domestication’ of the guidelines. Nevertheless, the guidelines, although having met with criticism in some cases had significantly contributed to the effective management of COVID-19 health and economic effects. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic required the state and its institutions to exercise effective leadership and unified action. In South African countries such as Botswana and South Africa, this pandemic showed the importance of governments in shaping the effectiveness of national responses, strategies and approaches in tackling the crisis.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has subjected the African urban population into abject poverty. Local government initiatives, such as the City of Johannesburg’s (CoJ) Expanded Social Package (ESP) ‘Siyasizana’ [we help each other], have been established to enhance food security amongst the city’s most vulnerable based on their level of income. Aim: This article analysed the extent to which the ESP was effective in addressing food insecurity in the wake of COVID-19. Setting: This research was descriptive and explanatory in nature that played an important role in obtaining an in-depth interpretation of the challenges of the implementation of ESP in mitigating food insecurity in the CoJ. Methods: This article utilised a qualitative case study design with the aid of existing literature, municipal documents and authoritative internet sources in order to analyse the extent to which the ESP is effective in addressing food insecurity in the wake of COVID-19. Results: This article found out that the ESP did not expressly address the COVID-19-induced food insecurity because of numerous challenges, namely awareness, stigmatisation, qualification and hidden costs. Conclusion: The CoJ should bring in private players to finance the programme as COVID-19 has increased the number of beneficiaries, relax the requirement for in-person application to allow for online registration, increase the ESP poverty threshold of R6100 to cater for those on the border of poverty and diversify its means testing to include other criteria such as Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), which will provide much needed relief to those who might have lost income.

Much of what we know about Zimbabwe's liberation war heroes and heroines is associated with the Zimbabwe African National Union- Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF)'s recognition of individuals who defended its hold on power. However, of late, an upsurge in factionalism in the party has resulted in increasing reference to heroism as a means to exert factional dominance. An understanding of how this has been done can be used to explain ZANU-PF factional dynamics. Current studies call for the study of factionalism to focus on intra-party group dynamics instead of the traditional organisation forms of factions. It is in this context that this study argues that survival or fall of factions within (ZANU-PF) is framed around issues of heroism that is around one's perceived contribution or non-contribution to the liberation struggle. This article demonstrates this growing phenomenon in ZANU-PF veteran leaders whose status has been reshaped by new political moments as factionalism intensified. Inlight of rising factionalism, we argue that, war hero/heroine status in ZANU-PF is not permanent, but is highly shaped by obtaining factional political moments.

Background: Effective supply chain management (SCM) processes across all South Africa’s three spheres of government has become critical in view of increasing demand for public services amidst scarcity of resources. Objectives: This article provides an assessment of the implementation of reverse logistics within the supply chain management (SCM) system of the South African Police Service (SAPS), in order to produce public value. Method: The article utilised a qualitative desktop approach, drawing from an extensive review of literature, in particular, SAPS reports, policy documents relevant to journal and online articles on SCM, and reverse logistics. Results: It is hoped that through the implementation of reverse logistics in SAPS SCM processes, public value is enhanced; there is better financial performance, legislative compliance, employment and preservation of resources. It was found that a shortage of resources, lack of skills, institutional capacity, inadequate control systems and corruption are all detrimental to public value. In order to optimise the efficiency of reverse logistics in enhancing public value, SCM managers must develop policies to manage procurement and resource management processes, as well as implement information systems and automation for the entire reverse flow. Conclusion: In order to mitigate the reverse logistics challenges and enhance public value in SAPS, there is a need for redesigning the institutional budget priorities, implementation of adequate control measures, recycling of resources, reskilling of SCM personnel, automation and review of the SCM processes.

Health workers are often exposed to health risks and danger in the discharge of their duties. This is especially distressing during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study employs a multiple case study design to investigate the COVID-19 emergency management of frontline workers in South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria. The findings from the study reveal that governments in the selected countries prioritize the response phase of the emergency management theory over the mitigation and preparedness phases. The response phase was meted with inevitable consequences. Health workers feared risking their lives, and the majority threatened to abandon their jobs due to insufficient personal protective equipment (PPE) and welfare support. The study concludes that the government should prioritize all the phases of emergency management instead of focusing on the response phase, which involves the use of both human and financial resources on an overwhelming pandemic. They should have prepared the frontline workers adequately and equipped their health systems in preparation for any impending epidemic.

The article discusses the implications of South Africa-Brazil Russia India China-Southern African Development Community (BRIC-SADC) trade alliances on South Africa’s economic growth. The analysis follows the periods in which South Africa is mired by fluctuating exchange rate and rising cost of living, as denoted by the rising consumer price index (CPI). In order to understand the implications, an autoregressive redistributive modelling (ARDL) was utilized on quarterly data from 2005 quarter 1 to 2017 quarter 3, regressing South Africa’s growth against South Africa-BRIC and South Africa-SADC trade balances, the main variables of interest. The empirical results identify a significant long-run relationship of the selected variables. However, the results review a negative contribution of South Africa-BRIC trade on South Africa’s economy, while the South Africa-SADC trade produced positive results. Trade composition remains a major challenge for South Africa-BRIC trade. Continued innovation and research and development will shift reliance on primary commodities for exports to mechanized products, hence increasing gains from the lucrative BRICS trade and the non-utilized SADC trade.

The military poses an ongoing threat to modern democratic rule in some African countries, especially in the Zimbabwean context. This paper reveals the ways in which Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) gen...

This paper examines the institutional management of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) in Botswana. We analyse the often contested roles of the state and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as recipients of GFATM and partners in extending public health service provision to communities. Of importance is that Botswana’s first GFATM grant had to be administratively closed, and the country was not awarded any other grant (especially for HIV/AIDS) until over a decade later. Following this, it is of interest to understand the ways in which institutions manage grant programmes. This article concludes that the “big brother” relationship of the state in relation to NGOs is crippling the critical and constructive effects of these organisations to deliver needed community-based health services in Botswana. GFTAM represents a window of opportunity for creating an effective civil society whose local activities will not be seen as being led covertly by the state. This article contributes to both theory and practice within the scholarship of development aid in Africa. Qualitative research methods were used, including in-depth interviews with public sector policy makers, all GFATM principal and sub-recipients, members of the Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) and NGOs.Keywords: aid effectiveness, health services, country coordinating mechanism, power and accountability, principal recipient

Data for the research was drawn from documentary evidence and primary interviews with municipal officials, elected officials and local citizens. The study concluded that though the municipality is conscious of the need for public participation in budgeting, the involvement of the public in the process needs to be improved. Capacity building is also needed to increase the participation of city officials, elected officials and citizens. This study contributes to citizen-focused service delivery in municipalities. It also contributes to the scholarly understanding of effective public participation in local government.

While the human rights impact of the deployment of state security agencies in the Chiadzwa diamond fields has been explored, it is important to continue to expose the increasing tendency within the sector to take public resources that should be protected by the state and used for the benefit of the people and channel them for personal gain. The security sector stranglehold of President Robert Mugabe and the ruling political party, the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), has facilitated the siphoning of Chiadzwa diamond revenue into the pockets of individual security personnel. The unfolding sociopolitical crisis in Zimbabwe has also meant that these security personnel have been deployed beyond conflict zones and into traditionally civilian domains, with dire consequences for the public purse. With this in mind, it is asserted that these issues have driven state security agencies to enrich themselves through what is termed in this article as a ‘goat mentality’. The article th...

This paper discusses the utilisation of social movement trade unionism by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in seeking to influence the government to pursue policies that improve ...