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Studying African Religions in the 21st Century: (Re)setting the Agenda
Full text linkThis Introduction offers a brief history of the journal of the African Association for the Study of Religions, and reflects on the journal\u27s relaunch under a new name, Utambuzi, and on a new open access online platform hosted by UJ Press. It also introduces the theme of this special relaunch issue, decicated to \u27(Re)setting the agenda\u27 of the study of African religions in the 21st century
Assessment of Factors Affecting Building Construction Workers When Working at Height
No full textFalls from heights are the leading cause of fatal incidents in the global construction industry. Despite several efforts to mitigate this risk, falls from heights remain the most frequent type of accident in the construction sector. Given this impact, researchers find it critical to assess the factors influencing construction workers when working at height. To validate the study\u27s objectives, 97 employees with expertise in working at height were sampled. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect responses from the participants. The study employed both simple random and purposive sampling techniques. Data analyses were conducted using Excel and SPSS. The study identified four key factors affecting construction workers when working at height: personnel factors, safety checks and safety signs factors, personal protective equipment factors, and overloading factors. The findings suggest that, to protect employees\u27 health and safety, contractors should implement programmes tailored to height-related work at construction sites to raise awareness of the associated risks. Additionally, employers must ensure that workers wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) in compliance with workplace health and safety policies for working at height. This research is limited to the building construction industry in the Akuapem South Municipality and Ga South Municipality, located in Ghana\u27s Eastern and Greater Accra Regions. The findings are relevant to the building construction industry, particularly in Ghana, where studies on working at height are limited. This paper contributes to the existing body of literature on working at height in the Ghanaian building construction sector
Development and Implementation processes:The exploration of interprofessional education programmes
No full textThere have been many calls for Interprofessional Education (IPE) in the last decade. Many authors have attempted to produce guidelines, steps, and processes for developing undergraduate and graduate IPE programmes in health professions education. This scoping review, guided by the enhanced Arksey and O’Malley framework, sought to synthesise the nature, development, and implementation processes of interprofessional education programmes for health professions’ students in higher education institutions
Civil Society under Democracy: An Overview of Non-Governmental Organisation Activity in Supporting South African Whistleblowers
No full textDuring apartheid, the act of disclosing wrongdoing was not a common occurrence in South Africa. With the transition to democratic rule, blowing the whistle on wrongdoing became relatively prominent. However, along with this positive democratic advancement, the South African whistleblower became victim to retaliation. A significant factor contributing to the frequent occurrence of retaliation is the lack of adequate legislative protection for whistleblowers. It is in this context that civil society, which is the voluntary participation of individuals organised around formal and informal associations that are concerned with the advancement of public interests, came forward to support South African whistleblowers. Civil society is, of course, a crucial component for a functional democracy. Nongovernmental organisations form the backbone of civil society. To examine the role of non-governmental organisations in supporting South African whistleblowers, this study employed a qualitative approach. Two qualitative research methods were utilised, namely document analysis which served as the dominant source of data, and semi-structured interviews which were used to supplement the data emerging from the document analysis. The findings indicated that throughout South Africa’s democratic history,non-governmental organisations have advocated for whistleblowers’ rights. They have often aided whistleblowers by providing them legal support, and have made practical tools publicly available to whistleblowers (current and future) to help them better deal with their disclosure experiences. The paper ends with a key recommendation – that non-governmental organisations should better coordinate their efforts to provide whistleblowers more comprehensive support
Managing Corporate Reputation in Higher Education: The Case of the North-West University
No full textThe objective of this article is to evaluate the corporate reputation of the North-West University during a period characterised by significant challenges, such as transformation within the higher education sector and the impact of global trends such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the emergence of new stakeholder groups. These challenges possess the potential to affect North-West University’s corporate reputation. The article explores North-West University’s corporate reputation with an emphasis on the importance of staff members as a key stakeholder group of which to take note. The article assesses this stakeholder group’s perceptions through semi-structured interviews and an online survey characterised by RepTrak™. The findings of the article suggest that there is room for North-West University to improve its corporate reputation among staff members, as these stakeholders perceive the university’s corporate reputation as average. The findings also suggest a need to improve corporate reputation management and the need for development of a formal strategy to achieve this at North-West University. The article furthermore proposes reasons staff members at North-West University perceive the university’s corporate reputation as average and provides recommendations for improving it.
Re-imagining Broadcasting in the Public Interest. SABC TV Broadcasting in a Commercialised Competitive Media System
No full textThe article looks at the South African Broadcasting Corporation as a case study to examine the impact of liberalisation and competition by examining scheduling and programming to ascertain diversity. The public sphere theory was used to evaluate its performance as a public service broadcaster. The article challenges the arguments that, first, liberalisation commercialises public service broadcasting which results in the erosion of the public sphere through excessive similarity in programming, thus excluding certain perspectives, fragmenting audiences and limiting its social and integrative role. Second, commercial interests have undermined the service mandate of public service broadcasting and it has lost legitimacy and relevance. It also decries the dominance of public service broadcasting literature from the North, which focuses on the public‒private dichotomous approach that emphasises collective interest over personal choice, and commonality over diversity. Findings show that the South African Broadcasting Corporation\u27s programming is diverse with high local content, and that responses to competition are not deterministic, while commercialisation and convergence are inherent risks that can be mitigated by creative programming strategies and regulation. Findings further provide insight into the approach of the South African Broadcasting Corporation to scheduling and programming through broadcasting the rainbow nation, a construct that suggests ideals of nation building, unity and diversity as public interest embedded in the broadcasting legislative and organisational frameworks. The notion of the rainbow nation is rooted in diverse cultures and the different racial makeup of South Africa
Exploring the Barriers of Implementing Technology Transfer Practices in Construction Firms in a Developing Economy
Full text linkTechnology Transfer (TT) remains a critical component for enhancing productivity, innovation, and competitiveness in developing economies. However, in Nigeria\u27s construction sector, its full implementation is hindered by a complex mix of institutional, financial, and structural challenges. This study investigates the barriers to implementing technology transfer practices among construction firms in a developing economy, with a focus on professionals in Lagos State, Nigeria. A quantitative approach was adopted using structured questionnaires administered to professionals in consulting and contracting firms. Data from 258 valid responses were analysed and interpreted using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings reveal that barriers to implementing TT practices include the high cost of technologies, inadequate training programmes, maintenance challenges, and a shortage of skilled labour. The findings categorise these challenges into three broad factors: Cost barrier, inadequate resources, and technology gap. The study recommends that government policy should focus on financial incentives, structured training initiatives, and institutional collaborations to promote more effective technology transfer in the construction industry
The African Union Role in Peacebuilding: Prospects and Challenges
Full text linkPeacebuilding is an approach to a complete lay down of interconnected efforts that sustain peace. It aims to transform beliefs, attitudes and behaviours to change the short- and long-term dynamics between individuals and groups toward a more stable and peaceful coexistence. However, the role of African Union (AU) in peacebuilding in Africa is basically situated in building a strong democratic institutions that would promote democratic principle in its member states; stopping unconstitutional change of government; promote constitutional governance; developing a strong peace and security council (PSC) with the task of maintain peace and security and the adoption of norms or principle that would permit intervention into the member state internal affairs. Whatever the situation of the continent is, the fact is that AU role in peacebuilding on the continent has gained little attention due to the numerous challenges that the Union is facing. As such most conflicts remain unresolved, while most member states still received the threat of unconstitutional changes. This article seeks to examine the AU role in peacebuilding on the continent
Women Voices in Inter-Party Debates during the 2021 Ethiopian General Elections
Full text linkIn Ethiopia, multiparty elections are being organised every five years. For the 2021 general election, 47 parties were registered and more than 9,300 candidates ran for seats, of which, 1, 982 were women candidates. This study explored women candidates’ participation in election debates during the 2021 Ethiopian general elections. Using qualitative approach and content analysis technique, 35 television debates streamed in six stations were watched and analysed. Moreover, media legal documents and election reports are reviewed in gender lens. The findings revealed that the Ethiopia mainstream media cover men and women politicians differently during election campaign. The frequency of parties’ appearance in television debates and their gender representation are found to vary depending on the issues discussed and the media style of coverage. Female politicians were primarily being featured under the theme of gender, health, and education debates. Moreover, women candidates’ role in the election debates was limited in introducing and summarising their party policies while their men counterparts took the modest air time to present the details of the policy alternatives and to criticise the existing policies
The DRC Membership of the East African Community: National Security Concerns and Benefits for Tanzania
Full text linkOn March 29, 2022, the Democratic Republic of the Congo was admitted to the East African Community as a new member. The country’s civil wars and existing terrorist groups in its Eastern parts pose a major national security concern to Tanzania and the region. The paper analyzes the existing quantitative data that describes trade volume between the DRC and the EAC with a focus on Tanzania’s benefit and national security concerns of the DRC’s membership. It analyzes the existing literature and Armed Conflict Location and Data (ACLED) tool to identify national security threats to Tanzania and the bloc at large. It finds, among others, that DRC’s membership is likely to have a positive effect on the EAC trade, as the bloc is expected to be a cheaper source for DRC’s imports compared to the rest of the world. In turn, the DRC is likely to export even more primary commodities to the region, but some EAC countries may benefit more than others in this. It also points to security dynamics