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KNOWLEDGE SHARING IN ACADEMIC LIBRARIES: THE CASE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BOTSWANA LIBRARY
Get PDFThe University of Botswana (UB) has articulated its intention to capitalise on its information andcommunication technology (ICT) network system and library and information services to set up acomprehensive knowledge management system (KMS). Research has however established thatmost of these endeavours fail because of poor knowledge sharing practices in organisations sinceorganisations do not have knowledge-oriented leadership which creates a conducive environmentfor knowledge sharing. This interpretive study therefore used the UB main campus library as acase study to investigate knowledge sharing practices in the institution. The qualitative studyadopted the stagewise thematic map theoretical framework to guide the investigation into factorsthat affect knowledge sharing in the University of Botswana Library (UBL). Findings show thatthere are organisational factors that impede knowledge sharing practices in the library. The studyrecommends that strategies should be set up to facilitate knowledge sharing and knowledgemanagement practices in the library
“No Place for Old men”: Ikalanga Oral Narratives and Ageism
Get PDF“Retired but not tired” is an African aphorism that Professor Moteane John Melamu can wear like a fitting cap. Is there perhaps something in African folklore that can unravel the enigma of rejection on account of age when there is much more a person can still offer despite being an elder academic? Ikalanga oral narratives provide a visual window through which stylistic and paralinguistic features of a performer coalesce in an arena to impart a particular expectation on the audience and wider society. These expectations range from mimicking stereotypical behaviour to unorthodox violent reactions. Have oral narratives been unkind to ageism? In the Bakalanga artistic experience, characters tend to portray the old with suspicion, derision, and no small amount of fear. This paper examines the phenomenon of ageism in Ikalanga oral narrative and some narrative types from other cultural experiences
Hermeneutical Aesthetic and Writerly Excursions in Gastronomy
Get PDFThe issue of food plays a prominent role in life and, by extension, literature, and it is garnering new interest in some circles of the medical profession for a reason different from the obvious one that food is one in a line of four life survival items. Human life is dependent on the air we breathe, the water we drink, the sleep we have, and the food we eat, in that order of urgency. Food comes last on the imperative scale, but it is by no means inferior to the other three life sustaining elements. Food is not only of gastronomic importance, itis also of spiritual significance, as illustrated by the fall of Adam and Eve in the biblical account of the advent of sin in human history. The progeny of much literature is located in biblical narrative as is contained in the Holy Bible, therefore, food is in general ascribed a prominent role in secular literature. The novel attempt by medical science to correlate what people eat with sickliness or healthfulness is an interesting development because it shows that the food choices humans make can be a matter of life and death, literally. This essay evaluates the role of food in biblical and other narratives in relation to real life experience
DAMS, DISPLACEMENT, AND COMMUNAL COMPENSATION: A LESOTHO HIGHLANDS LEGAL CASE
Get PDFThis article addresses the major problems created for people and communities who are displaced by the construction of large dams. We focus specifically on the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, (LHWP), one of the largest hydroelectric and water transfer projects of its kind in Africa. The LHWP was implemented in 1986, when a treaty was signed between Lesotho and South Africa to undertake a series of large-scale dams, reservoirs, transfer tunnels and related infrastructure, in a vast multi-phase scheme. LHWP Phase I ended in 2007, having received numerous awards for its engineering components. However, there were and there remain problems with Phase I, in terms of its failure to restore livelihoods of project-affected communities to the point where they were at the time of the first disturbance. Some 644 households were resettled during the course of Phase I, with some cash and in-kind compensation paid to those households. A total of 27,400 people were adversely affected by the project. However, while the project-affected people downstream of the two dams, Katse and Mohale, were promised communal compensation, they have yet to receive that compensation. The Lesotho Highlands Water Authority (LHDA) is now arguing that the downstream communities affected by the project should have development projects implemented for them in a top-down fashion by the Lesotho Highlands Development Project authorities. The communities, for their part, want to be paid the compensation that they were promised under the Treaty and the Order, and under the various compensation policies developed during the course of the project. We examine a legal case brought against the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority in the High Court of Lesotho by the Khabang Lejone Multipurpose Co-operative Society (CIV/APN/370/2012) which was heard on 21 July 2015 and a judgment delivered on 10 September 2015. The Lesotho Highlands Development Authority has complied only partially with the current order. After considerable delay, the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA) complied with part of the court order by paying one third of the compensation owed for the years 2003 to 2012 as ordered by the court. The balance of the compensation due for this period was paid in late 2020. Payment of the annual amount owing for the years 2013 to today, has not yet been paid, apparently because of a change in payment policy adopted by the LHDA. This article considers the legality of such arbitrary changes in policy and the rights of the affected communities entitled to compensation. It concludes with some reflections on the nature of compensation, and it contemplates whether current legal structures for the administration of compensation in Lesotho are compliant with emerging legal norms and recommended international best practice. 
Policy and lived realities: Women’s cattle ownership in Botswana
Get PDFThis article aims to facilitate a dialogue on effective and targeted gender mainstreaming policy in Botswana that can simultaneously fulfill other national development goals. An examination of the circumstances and lived experiences of women cattle owners in Ngamiland demonstrates the importance of cattle to women’s lives as both a subsistence strategy and a means of personal and collective empowerment. This indicates cattle can further gender equality measures while simultaneously supporting rural livelihoods. Policies and programmes seeking to assist women with livestock acquisition are timely in terms of the Government of Botswana’s concurrent gender mainstreaming mandate and their development focus on both agriculture and sustainable livelihoods. Importantly, findings indicate an emphasis on improving communication and service delivery would help to achieve policy uptake by women in all other areas.
 
VOICE AND VOICELESSNESS IN GENOCIDAL FICTION: THE CASE OF JASPAR UTLEY’S THE LIE OF THE LAND
Get PDFThe literary depiction and perception of the Nama and Herero in the Nama/Herero genocide has been neglected by literary academics. The lack of representation, the dehumanisation of the Nama and Herero in this genocide, and by extension, the marginalisation of the locals, renders them voiceless. This paper analyses Jaspar Utley’s The Lie of the Land, a historical travel-writing narrative set in then German South West Africa (GSWA), present day Namibia, during what is now referred to as the first genocide of the 20th century which took place from 1904-1907. Using Marie Louise Pratt’s “imperial eyes” (1992), and more specifically, Elizabeth Baer’s (2019) “genocidal gaze”, this study shows that the narrator provides a typical white male racist view of Africa, and specifically, of the then German colony which invisibilizes the indigenous locals. The paper reveals that the gaze renders the locals voiceless, and the narration silences them just as the genocide brutalises them
THE CONVERGENCE OF STYLES: A STUDY OF JONSON’S VOLPONE AND SOYINKA’S THE LION AND THE JEWEL
Get PDFThe relationship between earlier creative writers and later ones in terms of their treatment of theme(s) and poetic style has been examined in literary criticism to reflect varied shades of influence, imitation, mimicry, and/or originality of the writers’ skills. This essay discusses the relationship between Ben Jonson, a 16th century dramatist, and Wole Soyinka, a 20th century dramatist, with close attention to their artistic choices and stylistic modes, drawing interpretive insight from Bloom’s (1997) poetics to explore how their craft in Volpone (1605) and The lion and the Jewel (1963) manifests semblances and echoes to make a case for the convergence of aesthetic skills. The paper concludes that although Soyinka’s dramatic skills echo Jonson’s, the former’s skills express originality in the artistic choices he makes. Furthermore, it considers how these choices are manipulated to reflect his views on the ridiculous posturing of humans
Criteria for Appointments to Specialized Superior Courts: Perspectives from Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe
Get PDFThe paper discusses and evaluates criteria for judicial appointments to specialized superior courts in Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe. It contends that processes to be followed when making such appointments, as well the eligibility criteria, are important parameters in the assessment of independence of the judiciary. Lack of specificity in the eligibility criteria leaves room for exercise of unfettered discretion by the appointing authority, usually the political executive in African countries. Specificity and clarity in the legislative frameworks, in terms of both the process and eligibility criteria, on the other hand, is a bulwark against unfettered executive discretion in the making of such appointments, and instils public confidence in prospects for judicial independence
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