Challenges Impeding Regional Integration in Southern Africa

Regional integration through the establishment of regional groupings has been taunted as a gateway to regional development and growth, the coming together of countries to share and contribute to knowledge, policy development, peace and security, trade and educational development is undoubtedly seen as the key to the development of Southern Africa. However, regional integration in Southern Africa has been hampered by numerous challenges which have derailed the quest of regional countries to deepen integration and cooperation. By strictly analyzing relevant literature related to regional integration in Southern Africa, it became evident that the region is engulfed with serious challenges that are hindering the quest for deeper integration, and often this is further compounded by internal economic challenges that members’ states are faced with. The study uncovered the fact that regional integration has been difficult to entrench as member states are confronted with numerous internal challenges which are diverting their need to focus on regional matters. Consequently, regional integration is under threat in Southern Africa as many countries are not effectively prioritizing the development of policies aimed at aiding its entrenchment, mainly because of the significance of the challenges that they are facing and this will further affect members’ states regarding socioeconomic development. The study underscored the importance for regional governments to cooperate on issues of common threats and urgently develop and institute policies/mechanisms that would ensure the entrenchment of regional integration and more importantly its sustainability.&nbsp

Cross-border Migration in the Southern African Development Community (SADC): Benefits, Problems and Future prospects

With rapid globalization sweeping through the globe, the movement of people throughout the world has increased significantly over the last 20 years. Motivated by the thrill of earning better salaries and living in countries characterised by better standards of living, people have travelled long distances in search of such opportunities. Undoubtedly, the economic buoyancy of countries like South Africa and Botswana has attracted thousands of migrants from the SADC who are seeking job opportunities, further straining government resources and impeding the effective functioning of border immigration services. The unequal rate of economic development in the region has further created an increasing gap between fast-developing and slow developing nations, hence the unequal rate of migration. Skills transfer and collaborations have been the major benefits of cross border-migration for SADC, although crime and xenophobia have also been identified as problems associated with cross-border migration in Southern Africa. The flow of remittances from South Africa has played a crucial role in fighting poverty and hunger in the migrant’s home country and contributed significantly to government finances. However, the absence of a regionally accepted policy aimed at regulating migration means that illegal cross-border migration will carry on being a problem in the region and unfortunately the absence of policies aiming at spurring collective regional economic growth means illegal cross-border migration will increase in the years to come

The Rise of Chinese Investments in Africa: For Whose Benefit?

Ever since China’s rise as a global superpower, there have been numerous debates about its role in Africa both from an Afrocentric and Eurocentric perspective. This is while some view its presence in Africa as that of a donor because of its growing investments, others are not entirely convinced and see China’s rising footprints in Africa as another colonialist state in need of looting Africa its resources. By utilizing a qualitative methodology, this paper ponders Chinese investments in Africa with the view of assessing the drivers underpinning China-Africa relations and how this has been beneficial to both parties concerned. In this vein, the study shows that China-Africa engagements are not something new, their relations dates back for decades though became more prominent from the 1950s after the Bandung Conference. Since then, China has risen to be a prominent player with regards to investments in Africa. It has further established various institutes aimed at strengthening its grip as a noticeable state in Africa’s development and political landscapes. The paper concludes by outlining that China has in some way benefited Africa through its investments over the past few decades and these relations have been beneficial to both parties. However, it argues that for more prosperous relations moving forward, African leaders should utilize institutes such as the Forum on ChinaAfrica Cooperation (FOCAC) to articulate clear policies for their engagement(s) with China and to protect their small and fragile economies from cheap Chinese imports.&nbsp

South Africa's gender-based violence: an exploration of a single sided account

Gender-based violence (GBV) is a global social problem that has received considerable attention from policymakers and researchers. However, when speaking of GVB, significant attention is paid to women who are seen as being at the receiving end of violence. Although statistics do support the notion that women are mostly exposed to GBV, little attention has been paid to GBV against men as often not, it is the man who is seen as the aggressor and the woman painted as the victim. This article investigates reasons Gender-Based Violence (GBV) against men is not being addressed in South Africa. Males are also victims of GBV in South Africa, although the government, media, and police pay little attention to GBV against males. It is critical to remember, that men, regardless of their muscularity, can be mistreated by men or women. Males may be raped, killed, or attacked, and they also deserve government care and protection. In South Africa, the government is especially concerned about The GBV against women and children, and August is recognized as Women's Month, where women's rights and protections are vigorously contested. However, in South Africa, nothing is done to protect men from gender-based violence. This article acknowledges violence against women and children in South Africa; however, it contends that the government has done insufficient to combat violence against males in South Africa, even though the constitution guarantees males' human rights and recognizes that they can also be victims of GBV

Corruption and Its Implications for Development and Good Governance: A Perspective from Post-Colonial Africa

Abstract: One of the many impediments to a specific region, country and/or continents political, social and economic growth prospects is corruption, the aim of this paper is to unearth the drivers and consequences of corruption in post-colonial Africa. Corruption is a global phenomenon; however when observing global corruption statistics and/or trends, it seems to be more prominent in underdeveloped continents such as Africa. Corruption in Africa is purely driven by low levels of economic growth, bad governance structures weak constitutions political instability, high levels of poverty coupled with high and ever-increasing levels of unemployment. We argue that post the colonial era, there has been a rise of corruption activities within the continent where individuals including some African heads of states have looted the continent of its resources meant for the general populace. In this sense, corruption takes resources meant for the poor, limits foreign direct investments (FDI) and has severe effects on a continent that is already the least developed in the world

Effects of Brain Drain on the South African Health Sector; Analysis of the Dynamics of its Push Factors

While there has been a plethora of studies that addresses migration in Africa, many have yet to successfully unpack the effects of brain drain on the South African health sector. Using textual analysis of the available literature relevant to the topic under consideration; this work seeks to identify the major structural and socio-economic push factors that drive the migration of health professionals in South Africa, relying on Revestain’s laws of migration and Lee’s push/pull theory of migration. The study also looks at explaining other factors that contribute to the migration of health professionals in South Africa. We argue that for South Africa to retain health professionals, the government needs to increase the training of health workers, improve their working conditions and security, upgrade infrastructure and ensure availability of resources as well as develop a more open immigration policy prioritizing skilled immigration

How Does the Institutional Setting for Creditor Rights Affect Bank Lending and Risk-Taking?

This paper investigates how the institutional setting for protection of creditor rights affects bank lending and risk-taking. An analytical model is specified to underpin banks‟ portfolio decisions, between loans and other earning assets such as government securities. The model is augmented with various metrics, which proxy the institutional setting for creditor rights, and is estimated and tested on an unbalanced three-dimensional dataset of commercial banks in 20 African countries for 1995-2008. It is found that three specific metrics induce banks to allocate a high proportion of their earning assets to loans: legal creditor rights; the efficient enforcement of creditor rights; and availability of information sharing mechanisms among banks. However, the three metrics appear to work through different channels. The enforceability of legal rights works not only through mitigating credit risks, but also through a composite effect of market competition and lower costs of information acquisition and contract enforcement. The legal rights metric and information sharing metric exclusively rely on the composite effect

The brain drain of teachers in South Africa: identifying the dynamics of its push factors

South Africa over the years has been losing a considerable number of teachers and this has become a growing concern among policymakers. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to identify the factors that are responsible for enticing teachers to migration out of South Africa. Using a strict textual analysis of the relevant literature, this paper reveals that South Africa has failed to reduce the emigration of teachers due to poor salaries and working conditions, subsequently, this has seen as agents from developed countries (recently Asian countries) aggressively recruiting teachers from the country. Other factors include poor infrastructure and limited career progression opportunities. The study showed that the brain drain of teachers results in a shortage of teachers in rural areas and increased inefficiency in the public educational system. It is therefore suggested that the government should make the retention of teachers a priority through incentives such as promotion, better salaries and the upgrading of infrastructure. The study concluded that teacher emigration has been a long-existing issue in South Africa and the mere fact that there has been no clear cut plan on how to deal with it is deeply worrying, moreover, today in South African schools, the issue of security has become a focal point, the failure to guarantee the safety of teachers in schools has been seen as a new factor encouraging migration either within the country or abroad

The Provision of Free Higher Education in South Africa: A Proper Concept or a Parable?

The provision of free-higher education is one of the most debated issues in South Africa today. The issue of free-higher education has drawn many commentators from sectors such as the media, business and within the political dominions. The main argument is where will the money to fund free-higher education will come from, whether the provision of free-higher education in South Africa is a proper concept or just a parable and also the terms of reference with regards to the provision of free-higher education in the country. By strictly examining the available and relevant literature on the concept of free-higher education in South Africa, the study was able to comprehensively understand the dynamics, implications and probability of providing free-higher education. Infrastructure challenges and economic growth are undoubtedly the major factors hindering the country from providing free-higher education, and unfortunately, with the government already forging ahead with implementing free-higher education without a proper and extensive feasibility study, the hasty implementation of free-higher education will have devastating implications for growth and service delivery in the country.&nbsp