Churches and service delivery in South Africa : the Black Charismatic Church Ministries (BCCMs), as agents for service delivery in the Eastern Cape.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.The research presented in this thesis is both a qualitative and quantitative case study of two Black Charismatic Church Ministries (BCCMs) from semi-urban areas in the Eastern Cape Province; one in uMdantsane Township in Buffalo City Municipality, East London and the other in Kwa-Magxaki Township in Nelson Mandela Metropol Municipality, Port Elizabeth. The study examines how these ministries confront the socio-economic challenges of the communities within their areas of operation. It seeks to ascertain whether or not such ministries are current and potential agents for service delivery in the Province. The ministries’ service delivery efforts are examined against the banner of civil society, as agents that can work with destitute communities, local government and other sectors of civil society for better service delivery. The study was prompted firstly by the prevalence of socio-economic challenges, related to no or poor service delivery in the Province despite government’s efforts and promises. Secondly, it was motivated by government’s call for partnerships with churches and Faith-based Organizations (FBOs) in service delivery (see page 15 Chapter 1). The study is partly ethnographic and used observation, a structured questionnaire and in-depth interviews as data collection methods. The findings suggest that while the BCCMs are willing to be agents of service delivery, their efforts are clouded by a number of challenges. Whereas a CSO is supposed to serve the society in general, the BCCMs discriminate against non-church members. As beneficiaries of service delivery, communities also are concerned that BCCMs efforts prove to be short-term rather than long term strategies for community development. Furthermore they are uninformed on partnering in service delivery. Local governments also do not have clearly defined operational procedures of this partnership. This study presents a number of recommendations: the concept of partnership with churches and FBOs in service delivery needs to be revisited with clarity. Secondly, I suggest a Community Indaba, which will be a neutral community desk of equal participation on service delivery directed at community development through combined efforts of BCCMs, Communities, Local Government and Civil Society Organizations/Non-Government Organizations (CSOs/NGOs) in the Province for better realization of BCCMs’ service delivery efforts (see page 179 Chapter 7)

Codesigning A Big Data Analytic Tool for Girl Child Learner Drop Out from Eastern Cape Province -South Africa

Developing sustainable solutions is critical for adoption of digital solutions. As the high number of learners dropping out of school continues to increase, it is critical to find innovative ways of predicting and preventing high drop out. Current literature has documented a number of factors that influence learner drop out. Innovative ideas, techniques and activities have been undertaken to motivate learners to stay at school. It is unfortunate that most of the initiatives have not helped to avoid drop out of learners. The study is based on a mixed approached that was used targeting female learns from Oliver Tambo District in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa which consists of face-to-face engagements and community codesigning approach. A variety of factors were presented as drop out reasons. These factors represent large data sets that are available to affect learners. A big data analytic tool was co-designed involving key stakeholders in education since they also have an influence on learners. Emerging technologies such as machine learning and big data analytics were applied to produce the presented tool

‘Closing the Gate’: The State and the people in rural South Africa in the time of COVID

The article explores the interaction between the South Africa state and rural communities in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. It suggests that the state adopted a particularly repressive lockdown strategy in the former homelands or rural areas because it feared that customary practices, like male initiation, and rural funerals would emerge as potent ‘super spreaders’ of the COVID-19 virus. The heavy-handed clampdown that followed took rural communities by surprise and created a culture of fear and panic, as many wondered why the state was ‘closing the gate’ on their homesteads, their culture and communities in a time of crisis. This feeling was exacerbated with the collapse of the provincial health service during the first and second waves of infection in 2020 when clinics, hospital and government departments closed across the province for deep cleansing, strike action or due to the lack of medicine and equipment. This entrenched fear and the sense of exclusion and victimisation in rural areas. In 2021, with the arrival of vaccines, the Eastern Cape government was mandated to vaccinate a substantial proportion of the provincial population within a year. Suddenly, the gate opened as the provincial government now sought to communicate with rural people and win popular support for its vaccination drive. The article explores how the gate closed on rural communities in the Eastern Cape within a wider discussion of pandemic politics and state control, on the one hand, and the challenges associated with the emergence of more democratic forms of public health, or what Richards calls ‘people science’ on the other