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Biodiversity and environmental education: A contradiction?
Get PDFThe need for the maintenance of biodiversity has become a much-debated environmental concern. However, calling for continued biodiversity exposes one to potential accusations of caring more for the natural environment than for people. This article briefly reviews the development of environmental education and provides an overview of the concepts “biodiversity”, “sustainable development” and “sustainable consumption”. Reasons for maintaining biodiversity while simultaneously allowing for sustainable development and sustainable consumption are considered, but the main purpose of the article is to raise questions about current environmental education practice in South Africa and whether the concern of biodiversity is in actual fact addressed
Teks – konteks: ’n ideologiese magspel of ’n dialektiese dissonansie?
Get PDFText – context: An ideological power game or a dialectical dissonance? The reversal of the conventional relationship between musical foreground and political background and the concomitant formation of a new relationship, that is political foreground – musical background, was the result of the (mainly legitimate) claims of new musicology. The concept of context may be accessed from a variety of theoretical positions, but this article focuses on the role of ideology within a contextual approach. It takes literary theory and current ideological claims as starting-point to view the strained relationship between text and context in a historical perspective. An ideological approach foregrounds the function of the text, rather than its interpretability. More specifically this article is an investigation into the possibilities, boundaries and limitations of interpretation. As opposed to either an approach in which the work of art is regarded as an autonomous aesthetic object, or a contextual approach in which matters outside the text constitute the primary concern, I argue for a more nuanced view in which text and context function as equal partners in a kind of dialogue. Finally I adopt the relationship between consonance and dissonance as metaphor to represent the problematic relationship between text and context
What is life?
Get PDFThe question of the nature of life, and therefore of the soul and spirit, has troubled people since time immemorial, especially if they are seen as essentially immaterial. It is suggested that the soul may be understood as the process of life, the inter-relationship between the parts of the body, and that the spirit is the driving force that motivates life. This is then related to the role of God in life, and particularly as the originator of new life in salvation
Business ethics and corporate governance in the Second King Report: Farsighted or futile?
Get PDFThe relationship between corporate governance and business ethics has always been ambiguous. Does corporate governance per definition have an ethical nature or is it merely self-interested? Is business ethics an integral part of corporate governance or is it marginalised or even excluded by the debate on corporate governance? Does corporate governance also include the governance of ethics? This article will focus on the relationship between corporate governance and business ethics from the perspective of a developing country. More specifically, it will look at a recent development in South Africa where the Second Report on Corporate Governance for South Africa (IOD, 2002), also known as the Second King Report, gave particular prominence to business ethics. The motivation for its emphasis on business ethics as well as its guidelines for the corporate governance of ethics will be explored and, in conclusion, critically reviewed
Begrip vir die lewenskonteks van mense as ’n vereiste vir pastorale begeleiding
Get PDFUnderstanding the life context of people as a prerequisite for pastoral guidance In this article the importance of the context in which contemporary people live is discussed. Megatrends like internasionalism, the search for sense in life, secularism, paradigm changes associated with postmodernism and the African context are discussed. The South African context is also discussed regarding issues like transformation, the morality crisis, change in systems of faith, pressure on families, violence and crime, withdrawal from public life, joblessness, poverty, a new culture of human rights and a need for a work ethic. The value of understanding the life context of people is discussed in order to guide them to serve Christ
The role of the Christian community in a plural society
Get PDFThis article identifies four ways in which our society is often referred to as being plural. It discusses four pluralisms and indicates several challenges associated with each one of them. It argues that the Christian community has to consider all four of these aspects of pluralism when seeking to understand its role. It is argued that part of the role that the Christian community has to take seriously is that of maintaining and establishing institutions that will help in an open confession of Christ. This role includes that of having a vigorous and comprehensive apologetics, in the classical sense, of providing proofs for the central Christian positions, defending Christian positions by providing answers to questions that are raised, as well as offering an offensive that seeks to highlight the problems associated with non-Christian views
\u27The school with the Bible\u27: From meaningless to meaningful Citizenship Education in South Africa
Get PDFCitizenship Education has re-emerged as an important issue in Curriculum 2005. Closer scrutiny of this educational innovation reveals the existence of a number of problems. The aim of this article is, on the one hand, to sensitise policy-makers, curriculum developers and educational administrators who are involved in the drafting of a blueprint for Citizenship Education in public schools, to the need to take note of Reformational Christians’ views on government, citizenship and society, and the quest for the socalled “school with the Bible”; and on the other, to assist Reformational Christian educators responsible for the teaching of Citizenship Education in public schools to teach it from a biblical perspective. To this end, this article intends the following: to explore some tenets of a Reformational Christian theology of state (like John Calvin’s); to revisit the Reformational Christian doctrine of sphere sovereignty; and illustrate the practical implementation of Calvin’s theology of state and the Reformational Christian doctrine of sphere sovereignty in Citizenship Education teaching in public schools
Grondwetlike waardes, openbare administrasie en die reg op toegang tot omgewingsinligting
Get PDFConstitutional values, public administration and the right of access to environmental information During the previous constitutional dispensation in South Africa the management of information tended to be excessively secretive. This position was changed by section 32 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. According to the 1996 Constitution South Africa is a sovereign, democratic state founded on certain values such as human dignity, freedom and equality. The public administration is governed by democratic values and principles such as transparency. In this article the constitutional values and principles that underlie an open and democratic society are discussed. Thereafter the right of access to information and the legislation that gives content to this right are analysed. It is concluded that the right of access to information can provide opportunities to the public sector, the private sector and the general public to form partnerships in sharing environmental information in order to fulfil their constitutional obligations
Die behuisingsbeplanning van informele nedersettings en plakkerskampe
Get PDFThe planning of housing for informal settlements and squatter camps In South Africa approximately 7 million people live in informal settlements and squatter camps. Constitutional provisions and moral considerations necessitate the urgent involvement of different segments of society to alleviate the plight of this hapless part of the South African population. Since the early nineties the government’s policy regarding squatters has changed from the criminalisation of squatting and the destruction of shelters to the acknowledgement of the right to access to adequate housing and the principle that an unlawful occupier may only be forcibly removed if alternative housing is available. This has led to a massive influx of squatters to squatter camps on the fringes of towns and cities. This article deals with the factors that lead to the establishment of informal settlements and squatter camps, the types of informal settlements and the way in which such settlements and squatter camps can be upgraded to become adequate housing. The consequences of self-help schemes and pirate urbanisation, and especially the advantages and disadvantages of such measures, are critically evaluated. The administration of housing in informal settlements by local authorities, the provision of basic services and the eventual upgrading of informal occupation to ownership are discussed. To facilitate this, the government policy regarding housing planning should be further implemented by removing practical obstacles as soon as possible
