Land grabbing in Botswana: Modern era dispossession

Land grab refers to the formal transfers of large tracts of communal land to foreign or locally based investors for carrying out activities associated with livestock rearing, carbon trading and commercial food production. With the acquiescence of host governments, transnational and multinational corporations are viewed as key players in land grabs. Among the major consequences of land grab is the involuntary loss of land by the rural poor. While the presence of external players in land grab is portrayed as dominant, this article introduces a land grab model where the  dominant players are the host country’s ruling elite. Using case examples from Botswana, the article aims to expose the land-grabbing tendencies  of the country’s land-tenure reforms, as well as document sites and spaces of resistance available for local communities to curtail land grabbing. It is contended that, in a bid to curb state-sponsored land grabbing, social justice activists in Botswana can draw lessons from the community initiatives discussed in this article.&nbsp

Participatory development planning in Botswana: Exploring the utilisation of spaces for participation

The article examines the utilisation of spaces for participation in the development planning processes in Botswana. It has often been argued that, contrary to the widespread espousal to participatory planning, Botswana’s planning system remains non-participatory. What is perceived as a highly centralised planning system dominated by bureaucrats has often been cited as the greatest impediment to the country’s participatory governance. Despite the above perception, the article demonstrates the fluidity of spaces for participation and how, with creativity, invited spaces for participation have been used to challenge unpopular state policies and practices

Nutrient fluxes within the Berg River from 1976 to 2017, Western Cape, South Africa

Deterioration of freshwater systems due to eutrophication is increasingly a global concern because it puts stress on the already limited freshwater systems. Eutrophication is caused by elevated levels of nutrients in river systems primarily from poor land management whereby excess nutrients are discharged into fresh water bodies. It is exacerbated by factors such as human population growth, economic growth and climate change. The main aim of this study was to analyze the changes in the nutrient status of the Berg River since the 1970s and tendencies toward hypertrophic conditions. The Berg River is an important source of bulk water supply for both domestic and industrial purposes in the Western Province, South Africa. The study examined water quality data from the Department of Water and Sanitation’s Resource Quality Information Services for nine monitoring sites along the Berg River to determine the long-term trends. The data sets were analyzed using parametric statistics. The results show that nutrient levels in the Berg River are increasing at almost all the selected monitoring sites. The long term trend showed low mean values for both upstream and downstream with a peak nutrient levels observed along sections that were densely populated and extensively cultivated. Based on available total phosphorus data, all sites were classified as eutrophic except a monitoring site along the most populated and cultivated section of the Berg River which was permanently hypertrophic. Long-term mean values for total phosphorus exceed the recommended international guidelines for aquatic plant life. The long-term mean values of nitrate and nitrite also exceed the recommended guideline for aquatic plant life. Ortho-phospate mean values for the study showed that all sites experienced hypertrophic states at some stage during 1987 to 2017. Student t-test analyses confirm that nutrient concentration loads had increased in the past decade. The results confirm that anthrophogenic activities and climate change are two major drivers of change resulting in an increase in eutrophication. Therefore, serious attention should be paid to the role of anthrophogenic activites and climate change to mitigate the negative impact on freshwater systems

Indicators of Higher Education and the Public Good in Africa: A Dashboard Approach

Indicators and metrics have gained increasing prominence in international higher education in recent years, and global rankings have become a powerful force in shaping ideas of what the university is and should be. Yet these measures do a poor job of capturing the broad role of the institution, and particularly in recognising its actions in promoting the public good and addressing inequalities. African higher education institutions have struggled to perform well in the conventional rankings, whose indicators rely on extensive resources for high-level research. This article explores the possibilities of alternative metrics for understanding the public good contribution of universities in the context of four African countries: Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. After assessing the shortcomings of the existing indicators and metrics, and the challenges of the availability of data, it puts forward a dashboard approach as a possible new model. Dashboards have the advantage of avoiding the conflation of diverse qualities of importance and allow different profiles of an institution to be compared. The article proposes six main elements for the dashboard: solidarity with society, equitable access and deliberative space (which correspond to the intrinsic notion of public good and graduate destinations, knowledge production and community engagement (which correspond to instrumental notions). Finally, the challenges of implementing public good metrics in practice are discussed

The Interface of Politics and Religion in Zimbabwe: Rethinking Religious Leaders as Agents of Consecration and Repudiation

This article seeks to problematise religious figures and politicians who use religious discourses, narratives and functions to justify oppressive hegemonic systems and structures. In doing so, we show how various religious figures have amalgamated or joined together with oppressive political figures to maintain the status quo, paving the way for what we term the ‘consecration’ and ‘enthronement’ of political figures. Furthermore, we show how religious figures who failed the ZANU PF’s political part of their ideology, were dislodged from enthronement due to their different understanding of democracy. To problematise oppressive religious discourses used in the politics of an oppressive status quo, we position our article within critical emancipatory research (CER) discourse, by paying attention to its tenets, such as social justice, elimination of false consciousness, and emancipation. The article references our observations and findings, deriving from document analysis, on how religious leaders have related to the ZANU PF over the years. The argument is that religion, in the context of politics, should be aimed at improving human conditions, promoting social justice and achieving emancipation, and challenging oppressive political structures. It should unmask violence and represent all religious followers fairly and equally, regardless of political affiliation

Charles Bonnet Syndrome; Presenting as “Innocent Spirits Within’: A Case Report

Charles Bonnet syndrome (CBS) is an under-recognized and under-reported disorder that involves visual hallucinations in visually impaired individuals. These patients have intact cognition, do not have hallucinations in any other sensory modalities, and retain insight into the unreal nature of their hallucinations. In most developing countries like  Botswana where mental health and ophalmology professionals are  scarce, cases like  Charles Bonnet Syndrome are likely to be misdiagnosed for psychosis/’madness’ with consequent  inappropriate biological interventions . Our patient, a 90 year old blind widow pensioner, with no prior psychiatric history, complained to family members that she was seeing people without heads and sometimes without limbs following her. She felt tortured as these people followed her everywhere. She consulted her pastor about these visual hallucinations, and was told not to worry about them as ‘’they were harmless spirits within her’. When she was eventually brought to the Hospital she was given a diagnosis of Charles Bonnet Syndrome and showed marked improvement after being given assurance about her sanity and antidepressants.There is need to increase awareness of rare psychiatric syndromes in the elderly like the Charles Bonnet Syndrome amongst clinicians since they can be easily missed or inappropriately managed more so since the population of the elderly is increasing in Botswana and many other sub-Sahara countries Keywords: Charles Bonnet Syndrome, Hallucinations, Botswan

Dingakeng: a centre for traditional health practitioners - creating a link between traditional and modern medicine

This dissertation explores the fusion of traditional health practise in the context of the city. The primary objective of this dissertation is to expose people to the spirituality and sacredness of the indigenous South African health practices but also help reverse the guilt and inferiority complex usually associated with such practices. People in the city find themselves having to travel long distances to rural areas to consult inyangas and/or sangomas. This dissertation also tries to fi nd a solution on how to design a facility in an urban context that is going to accommodate that is going to accommodate inyangas and sangomas that is going to reflect the indigenousness of the practice. Therefore, people will have easy access and not have to travel long distances for consultation. The Dingakeng Centre is going to be the first step in creating a link between the traditional and the modern health practice. The name Dingakeng Is a Setswana word meaning a place of the traditional healers.Dissertation (MArch (Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2007.Architectureunrestricte

How does the Technology Innovation Agency( TIA) evaluate the relationship between universities of technology and SMMEs for technology transfer: a case study of the Technology Stations Programme

Thesis (M.Com. (Development Theory and Policy))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic and Business Sciences, 2016.Increasingly, innovation through technology transfer is seen as a mechanism through which economic growth can be spurred. The South African National Innovation System (NIS) is built on this premise, leading to the emergence of Technology Transfer Organizations (TTOs) such as the Technology Innovation Agency’s (TIA’s) Technology Stations Programme. The Technology Stations Programme addresses, and attempts to alleviate, the slow overall decline of South African industrial sectors through innovation work for industrialization. It is not clear, however, how the TIA monitors and evaluates, and hence measures the economic and socio-economic outcomes of the Technology Stations Programme. This is because the relationship between the strategic objectives of the programme, and the performance indicators used for impact assessment is not clear. This study identifies the use of the Science, Engineering, Technology and Innovation (SETI) Scorecard of indicators as the framework for performance reporting at the Technology Stations Programme. The study describes the SETI framework and then evaluates it, finding that it is not well defined and lacks the properties required of a framework of indicators to make it an adequate tool for performance reporting. Other problems compromising the reporting on the Technology Stations Programme have to do with the seemingly incomplete nature of reports, occasional incoherence and seeming carelessness where there are graphic errors in the reporting. This inadequate monitoring and evaluation, and performance reporting is concerning because interview work suggests that the Technology Stations Programme is highly successful in supporting SMMEs and offering them technology related services that contribute to industrial policy through innovation work. The failure to have a SETI Scorecard of indicators that is functional enough to make these outcomes in the Technology Stations Programme visible in formal reporting is concerning as programme evaluation should make known the effects of policies. In the case of the Technology Stations Programme these effects are crucial as the technology transfer taking place in the programme is anticipated to achieve grand objectives in the way of economic value adding and industrial expansion. This necessitates the need to capture the outcomes related to these objectives, and make future decisions on the Technology Stations Programme as well as other technology transfer programmes

Social justice for and through sustainable learning environments

Published ArticleIf our intention as parents, educators, educationists, researchers and community members is to create sustainability in the learning environments, then social justice is where we should start and where we should aim. Social justice implies that learners and teachers have to be treated fairly and with respect in terms of the distribution of educational and other supportive resources. It furthermore implies that teachers also have to be treated fairly and justly. Thus respect, mutual validation and beneficiation among all participants have to inform the relationships within such learning environments for them to be sustainable and free of inequities, strive, desperation, marginalisation, oppression and depression to mention a few. The above definitely lead to a socially just and democratic citizenry which is the outcome which all nations, especially ours, aspire for

Developing an employee assistance programme for the University of the North West : an occupational social work study

The goal of this study was to develop a theoretical framework for an institutional EAP. The study aimed at firstly, assessing whether an EAP was needed at the University of the North West. Secondly, ascertaining the extend of knowledge of management, academic staff, support staff and general workers regarding EAPs. Thirdly, developing a theoretical framework, according to which an EAP for management, academic staff, support and general workers can be implemented. The study was conducted at the University of the North West. It comprised of nine members of the management team, twenty- five members of the academic staff; thirty-three support staff members and forty-one general workers. The research tool used with the general workers was the interview schedule. The research tool used with the other three staff constituencies was a self-administered questionnaire. The findings revealed that all four staff constituencies felt that employees experience problems which are in general, a concern to most employees at a workplace. The four staff constituencies maintained that personal problems had a negative effect on the productivity of employees. All employees felt that an EAP should be implemented. The majority of employees stressed that confidentiality was the most important element of an EAP. Consultation with staff associations was considered to be necessary by the majority of employees. The general workers, in the main, felt that EAP practitioners should be members of the disciplinary committee. All four staff constituencies were of the opinion that employees would be willing to utilise EAP services.Dissertation (MSW)--University of Pretoria, 1997.Social Work and CriminologyMS