Murder they cried: Revisiting medicine murders in literature

African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented 5 August 1996In July 1949 the British Government appointed an anthropologist from Cambridge. G. I. Jones, to inquire into the diretlo murders in the Protectorate of Basutofand. From the report which he compiled, the occurrence of the murders is recorded from 1895, where there were 6 reported cases in that year, rising and declining through the years, until they reached a peak of 20 in 1948 (Jones, 1951:104). According to Jones' report, among a variety of reasons which were responsible for the epidemic political and administrative changes which involved positions of marena (chiefs) and boramotse (headmen) seem to be the uppermost for the practice of diretlo murders. Medicine murder, a concept which is often translated as ritual murder, in Sesotho is dircilo, a cognate of ditlo: According to Jones' definition: "Ditto is the traditional name for flesh and other parts of the body obtained from the body of an enemy killed in the normal course of warfare... diretlo is not obtained from bodies of strangers or enemies, but from a definite person who is thought to possess specific attributes considered essential for the particular medicine being made." We are further informed that a person marked for diretlo is "usually a member of the same community and is frequently a relative of some of the killers. He is killed specifically for this diretlo which has to be cut from his body while he is alive" (1951:14). These diretlo were mixed as an ingredient for a lenaka (horn) medicine. My interest in this phenomenon is limited to the period 1910 and 1960. These dates have no historical significance, but mark the time of the writing or publication of the Sesotho literary texts which deal mainly with diretto murders as a theme. Those which I would like to study in this discussion are: Mofolo's Chaka (1925), Matlosa's Katiba (1950), Mopeli-Paulus' Liretlo (1950) and Khaketla's Mosali a Nkhola (1960). I will also refer to Guma's Morena Mohlomi, Mor'a Monyane (1960), and Ntsane's Nna Stijene Kokobela CID (1963). In critical writings on the literature of Basutoiand so far diretlo has never been addressed as a major theme in these works. Studies generally tend to see this theme as part of the run of the mill Christianity versus Sesotho traditions. This discussion is meant to redress this shortcoming. It also sets out, with reference to the abovementioned texts, to look at the nature of intertextuality - the coreference of texts, and also to study how far given writers could be said to reflect the fears and aspirations of their society, more from an applied than a theoretical perspective. The concept of intertextuality will be broadened so that the social and historical discourse which forms the context of the text will be regarded as text. Bearing the above definition of diretlo in mind, I would like to consider the literary texts in the chronological order of their publication, starting with Mofolo's Chaka. The year 1910 is noted as the time when Mofolo completed the manuscript of this novel

Sources of suspended load in the upper Orange River, South Africa

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.A lot of work has been done on the upper Orange River but little attention has been given to the source of its suspended sediment load. The source of the suspended load is important because it can provide insight into soil erosion, a major problem in South Africa and globally. In this study the composition of the suspended sediment load of upper Orange River tributaries is related to bed rock geology, topography, soils and land use. Orange River catchment bed rock includes sedimentary rocks of the Karoo Supergroup and flood basalts of the Drakensberg Group each with distinct geochemical signatures

Studying South African Black Gay Men’s Experiences: A First-Time Researcher’s Experience of Reflexivity in a Qualitative Feminist Study

Qualitative research on gay experiences in South African society is slowly gaining momentum. However, it is accompanied by serious ethical implications and positionality dilemmas that should be considered in carrying out such research. Black gay researchers’ discussions of reflexivity in research that focuses on gay identities and realities in South Africa remain minimal. This paper focuses on a first-time gay male researcher’s experience of being reflexive in a qualitative feminist study on the realities of Black gay men in mining workplaces. It highlights the importance of reflexivity and how it is enacted by a gay researcher who studies a gay population that they are in some way a part of, especially in South Africa, where sexuality is still a contentious topic. It is easy for a researcher to alter participants’ narratives when they are a part of the population because they already have certain perceptions based on their personal experiences. This paper posits that the sexual and other intersecting identities and personal experiences of a researcher matter in research on vulnerable sexual minorities and should be a basis for critical reflections in qualitative feminist research

Tribute: Mbulelo Vizikhungo Mzamane (1948–2014)

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The role of collective bargaining in business sustainability and the future of work: a South African perspective

Despite Africa's significant legislative and institutional framework developments, collective bargaining remains underdeveloped. As a contribution to the theoretical discourse on collective bargaining in South Africa, this thesis addresses the question: In what ways can collective bargaining support the viability of corporations while securing employment in the changing world of work? It suggests a need to look into various aspects that contribute to business sustainability within the collective bargaining landscape, which is adequately linked to job security, growth, the development of businesses, and strengthening industrial relations. The study adopted a qualitative research method to outline and combine such aspects using doctrinal, open-ended research questionnaires (based on desktop research) and comparative research methods. The thesis further contributes to an understanding that employers and employees have conflicting interests in employment relations. The thesis argues that while businesses seek to make returns, employees also seek fair wages to satisfy their human needs. The findings further show that collective bargaining plays a vital role in the sustainability of a business by negotiating in good faith and recognising and reconciling various parties' interests. Additionally, collective bargaining can be used by employers and employees to ease the movement of skills development in the changing world of work in which the partnership between humans and machines is inevitable because the growing adoption of artificial intelligence will shape the future of work. The purpose of this thesis is to give clarity as to how collective bargaining can continue to serve its purpose in the changing world of work. To this end, the thesis is valuable in that it contributes to a deeper understanding of other relevant aspects of collective bargaining in the world of work

Sexuality Research During a National Lockdown: Reflexive Notes and Lessons from my Ph.D. Fieldwork

The COVID-19 pandemic presented challenges for qualitative researchers since many countries had to implement lockdown policies to control the spread of the virus. Within the South African context, research on sexual minority identities and experiences is automatically sensitive and risky given the extent of intolerance and high regard for heteronormative ideologies and beliefs that continually exclude sexual minorities from the “normal.” The sensitivity is intensified during a national lockdown since there is an excessive reliance on digital public spaces to recruit participants and conduct interviews. Based on the experience of Ph.D. fieldwork, this paper pays attention to a sexuality researcher’s experience of conducting research on gay men’s experiences in the South African military and police services during a national lockdown. Particular attention is given to the dilemmas posed by the government’s restriction on physical movement and reliance on digital spaces, particularly social media to identify gay men who work in the two organizations and form virtual relationships of mutual trust. Ultimately, this paper holds that reflexivity is critical to feminist research on vulnerable sexual minorities when the relationships between the researcher and the researched are established and maintained through digital platforms. While digital spaces offer opportunities to reach vulnerable populations, they present some challenges that may compromise the credibility of the study if not identified by the researcher

A Bisociated Domain-Based Serendipitous Novelty-Recommendation Technique for Recommender Systems

Traditional recommendation paradigms such as content-based filtering (CBF) tend to recommend items that are very similar to user profile characteristics and item input, resulting in the classical twin problem of overspecialization and concentration bias of recommendations. This twin problem is prevalent with CBF recommender systems due to the utilisation of accuracy metrics to retrieve similar items, and, limiting recommendation computations to single recognized user-centered domains, rather than cross-domains.  This paper proposes a Bisociated domain-based serendipitous novelty recommendation techniques using Bisolinkers exploratory creativity discovery technique. The use of Bisolinkers enables establishing unique links between two seemingly unrelated domains, to enhance recommendation accuracy and user satisfaction. The presence of similar terms in two habitually incompatible domains demonstrates that two seemingly unrelated domains contain elements that are related and may act as a link to connect these two domains. Keywords: recommender systems, novelty, machine learning, outlier detection, bisociation &nbsp

The effect of guided discovery instructional strategy on grade nine learners’ performance in chemical reactions in Mankweng Circuit, South Africa

Teaching strategies play a vital role in improving learners’ performance. This study investigated the effect of Guided Discovery Instructional Strategy (GDIS) on Grade nine learners’ performance in chemical reactions and determined the effect of GDIS on gender. A quasi-experimental design with a sample comprising 75 grade nine learners was purposively selected from two schools in Mankweng Circuit based on Grade 12 performance. Learners were randomly assigned to the Experimental Group (EG) (N = 40) and Control Group (CG) (N = 35) taught for two weeks using GDIS for EG and Talk and Chalk Method (TCM) for CG. The results show that there were statistically significant differences in post-test of EG (M = 67.60, SD = 18.70) and CG (M = 37.86, SD = 18.01) (T-test: t(73) = 6.99; p < 0.05) and a Cohen d = 0.6. EG taught using GDIS outperformed CG taught using TCM (ANCOVA: F = 15.93, p < 0.05). GDIS favoured both males and females (Mann Whitney U-test: U = 153.00, p = 0.22, suggesting that GDIS improved all learners’ performance in chemistry, but not TCM. The findings provide teachers and stakeholders with empirical evidence on a strategy that improved learners’ performance. Also, GDIS did not discriminate against gender, suggesting that the strategy encourages girls to study science, contributing to narrowing the existing gender gap between males and females in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjectsPeer Reviewe

Blessings or curses? The contribution of the blesser phenomenon to gender-based violence and intimate partner violence

This article examines the blesser phenomenon in South Africa, which gained rapid popularity in 2016. A large body of research exists that reveals that transactional sex is a significant theme within the phenomenon of blesser and blessee relationships. Scholarship has demonstrated that transactional sex has contributed to an increase in human immunodeficiency virus infection rates, especially amongst women aged 15–24 years, as well as a concerning increase in teenage pregnancy. Whilst these are dire realities of blesser–blessee relationships, the one that is most concerning in the current climate in South Africa is the increase in gender-based violence (GBV), intimate partner violence (IPV) and femicide. Therefore, this article concerns itself primarily with this epidemic as it seeks to demonstrate how the blesser phenomenon contributes to GBV and IPV. Blessees are the young women in the blesser–blessee relationships who experience trauma and shame because of the violence and abuse inflicted on them by the older male blessers. The article argues that the church should be seen to be taking decisive action in addressing the scourge of GBV and IPV. The narrative approach is used to give the blessees the opportunity to share their stories. By applying the techniques of narrative therapy, positive deconstruction and the art of holy listening, the study reaches its key outcome: to offer to the church a framework for a pastoral care and healing methodology to help our sisters in Christ to experience healing and to move from shame to self-worth. Contribution:&nbsp;The Blesser phenomen has never been dealt with in theology, especially from the African perspective. Both sides of the problem need pastoral care. The major issue is where do we begin? I started, pastorally working with the blessee, who is in relationship with an older man. The main question that could be pastorally followed is, why pursue an older man for provision? This is a major pastoral issue, especially in poor communities. The younger women are in need of finance, in order to complete their studies and eke out a living. Beside the Covid 19 pandemic, this is the second major issue affecting black townships