bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Whatsapp and Telephone Calls as Suitable Media of Service of Hearing Notice in Nigeria: Reviewing The Supreme Court Decision in Compact Manifold & Energy Services Ltd v Pazan Services Nig Ltd
Authors: Eyongndi David
Published: September 2022

This article uses the desk-based methodology to appraise the Supreme Court decision in Compact Manifold & Energy Services Ltd v Pazan Services Nig Ltd. In the case, the court held that the service of hearing notice through a text message by the registry of a court to a phone number supplied by the counsel, in this age of prevalence of information technology, is good and sufficient notice of an adjournment. The article argues that, while information technology is dominant, sending a text message, without evidence of its delivery, does not constitute service. It goes further to argue that even if the text is sent, it is common for its delivery to fail or for it to be delayed inordinately due to an unstable network. Even where the text message is delivered, the possibility of the counsel not seeing it cannot be ruled out. Thus, a text message, in a clime with unsteady mobile telecommunication services, may not be a proper medium of service. The article concludes by maintaining that when using a phone call and Whatsapp massaging, receipt of messages can be ascertained and therefore, these are preferable means of valid and sufficient service of hearing notice. Unlike these two mediums, a text message has limitations. In fact, service via Whatsapp has been held to constitute valid service. The article makes vital arguments on the impropriety of service via text message and makes recommendations on reliable means of effecting service.
An Evaluation of the “Designation” of Products, Sectors and Industry for Local Production and Content under the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act 5 of 2000
Authors: Vinti Clive
Published: September 2022

This paper explores the designation framework in South Africa within the confines of the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act 5 of 2000 (the PPPFA). The PPPFA is substantiated by the Preferential Procurement Regulations, 2017. This discussion is pertinent in light of the proposed Public Procurement Act, which seeks to consolidate all legislation on public procurement in South Africa and, in particular, to provide for the designation of products, sectors, and industries for local production and content. It is thus prudent to assess the problems with the current designation framework that is plagued by secrecy and non-compliance to avoid replicating the same problems in the proposed Public Procurement Act.
African Customary Dispute Resolution vs Alternative Dispute Resolution for Juvenile Crime in Ghana
Authors: Hassan Elizabeth
Published: September 2022

Juvenile delinquency is a challenge for most African states, and Ghana is no exception. Recidivism, stigmatisation and victim dissatisfaction indicate that Ghana’s formal criminal justice system, with all its merits, has posed severe challenges to the administration of juvenile justice.
This article examines the practice of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), which utilises restorative conflict resolution processes in place of prosecution and sentencing in juvenile justice systems of various jurisdictions. Through processes such as victim-offender mediation, ADR invites full participation and consensus between victims, offenders and persons indirectly affected by the crime committed and seeks full and direct accountability. Some inadequacies of ADR principles and practices render it less relevant to the African context. The resultant lacuna can be filled with indigenous dispute resolution practices to combat crime and its repercussions, constituting the African Dispute Resolution (AfDR). The reliance on Ubuntu in South Africa's Child Justice Act and traditional justice system mechanisms in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda to deal with the aftermath of genocides and wars are contemporary examples of AfDR. Ghana would need to rely on AfDR to complement its formal criminal justice system to alleviate juvenile delinquency.
Succession to Kingship in the Bapedi Ethnic Group – Cultural Intricacies of Post-conquest South Africa and the Impact of the Constitution
Authors: Ntsoane Lefa , Manthwa Aubrey
Published: September 2022

African kingdoms have existed for centuries predating colonialism and continue to be significant despite assertions that they are autocracies. These claims stem from the fact that kings do not ascend to power through Western democratic means such as elections. Democracy, however, exists in African kingdoms, because communities are afforded opportunities to participate in decision-making. Furthermore, African kingships are often accused of patriarchy since women are not always allowed to ascend to royal thrones. This critique of African kingships is rather hypocritical, because Europe is the bedrock of patriarchy, but this is ignored when accusations are levelled at African kingdoms. The biggest problem that kingdoms in South Africa experience today is that they do not enjoy the separate and independent identity that they enjoyed in the past since they are now subject to the Constitution as the supreme law of the land. This state of affairs is problematic as it denies South Africa a decolonial option and does not achieve restorative justice. The move to a constitutional democracy has led to considerable changes in South Africa, such as the dissipation of important roles that African-style courts used to fulfil, and the powers enjoyed by kings may also wane because of a lack of title to sovereignty over their kingdoms. This article discusses the right of succession to kingship in the light of the Bapedi Kingdom succession dispute, where the Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims and courts recognised the descendants of Kgosi Sekhukhune as the rightful successors to the Bapedi throne. This ruling was important because the usurpation of the throne through bloodshed, although not common, was recognised as a legitimate way to usurp kingship.
Bilateral and Multilateral Treaties
Authors: Office of the Chief State Law Advisor
Published: September 2022

Bilateral agreements signed or that entered into force between 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2021 and; Multilateral agreements signed/acceded/ratified or that entered into force between 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2021.

Please note: The information contained in this document reflects the records in the South African Treaty Register as at the date of search, or the date of this document, whichever is applicable. While every reasonable effort is made to ensure the correctness of the information contained herein, parties relying thereon are advised to verify important facts independently in the event that the information is required for critical purposes.
Analysing the Relationship Between Peremptory Norms of General International Law (Jus Cogens) and Obligations (Erga Omnes)
Authors: Mateus Simon
Published: September 2022

The proposition that obligations erga omnes flow from peremptory norms of general international law (jus cogens) is generally accepted since no clear test for the identification and determination of obligations erga omnes exists. This article seeks to propose a tentative legal framework to govern the identification of obligations erga omnes, particularly for norms that have not reached the status of peremptory norms of general international law (jus cogens), or at the very least, determine erga omnes without placing reliance on whether the obligation in question arises from a norm with jus cogens status.
Who Owns the Kurils? The Question of Territorial Sovereignty Arising from the Kuril Islands Dispute
Authors: Geach Jonathan
Published: September 2022

The Kuril Islands are a group of volcanic islands that stretch between Hokkaido in Japan and Kamchatka in Russia. They are the subject of an ongoing territorial dispute between Russia and Japan, which is largely rooted in historical developments which took place during the closing chapters of the Second World War. There are several legal questions which arise from the dispute between Russia and Japan pertaining to the establishment of territorial sovereignty. These questions are whether a term within the Yalta Conference Agreement lawfully gave a right to the USSR to the sovereign territory of Japan, in the absence of Japanese consent. Whether the USSR had violated international law by annexing the Kuril Islands. Whether Japan still had a lawful claim to the Kuril Islands after the conclusion of the Treaty of San-Francisco, and whether the islands claimed by Japan do indeed form part of the Kuril Islands. This article analyses each of these questions in order to determine whether sovereignty has in fact been lawfully established by Russia over the Kuril Islands and whether Japanese territorial claims have any merit in international law.
Re-assessing the (Continued) Need for UN Security Council Authorisation of Regional Enforcement Action: The African Union Twenty Years On
Authors: Svicevic Marko
Published: September 2022

This article examines the broad and varying spectrum of literature covering questions concerning the necessity of the United Nations Security Council’s authorisation of regional enforcement action. It has been well documented by now that the UNSC may, in fact, authorise the use of force (regional enforcement action) by regional organisations under Article 53 of the UN Charter. At the same time, some regional organisations, most notably the African Union, have developed their own legal regimes governing the use of force. The African Union’s constitutive instruments provide for the unilateral use of force without the need for UNSC authorisation. Even so, after twenty years it has yet to rely on its security framework for any unilateral use of force. This article examines these developments within the AU context and questions whether, scholarship and practice in mind, UNSC authorisation of regional enforcement action remains a requirement.
COVID-19 and International Law: The Continuing Importance of International Law Obligations during Public Emergencies
Authors: Celesté Jadine Moodley  , Max du Plessis
Published: September 2022

The current COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it a number of growing global concerns, apart from its more apparent impact on human lives, economies and health systems across the world. Particularly concerning is an increase in military response to the pandemic, employed by countries as a means of enforcing lockdown regulations and curbing the spread of the virus. This increase in state power, through countries’ armed forces, has seen alarming reports of alleged state abuses during both declared and de facto public emergencies, with alleged abuses ranging from more palpable assaults on human rights to the less obvious. In light of this complexity, this comment reflects on the importance of local responses to COVID-19 in upholding global human rights and humanitarian standards, as a guide to state responses to the pandemic. It does so by highlighting prominent examples from current global affairs, with at least two from South Africa, and extrapolating critical lessons using an international law perspective. The comment aims to serve as a reminder of the importance of human rights in times of crisis, both for South Africa and the world at large.
African Liberation and the Mythical Separation of the Political and the Economic in International Law
Authors: Shai Pheagane Isaac
Published: September 2022

The putative division of public international law and international economic law, as one of the fundamental causes of the unjust international legal order, has received lesser attention, while even the most devastating African-centred critiques of injustices have taken this division for granted. It is in this sense, that I would suggest that an extensive critique of the current international legal order must not skirt around the fundamental critique of the division of public international law and international economic law. However, the precondition for this line of analysis requires a prior analysis of how capitalism instantiates this division.
Retraction Notice: ‘Individual Criminal Responsibility for the Financing of Entities Involved in Core Crimes: Aiding and Abetting’
Authors: Editor The
Published: September 2022

We, the Editors and Publishers of The Comparative and International Law Journal of Southern Africa, have retracted the following article:

Laura Ausserladscheider Jonas and Dire Tladi, ‘Individual Criminal Responsibility for the Financing of Entities Involved in Core Crimes: Aiding and Abetting’ 54(1) 2021Comparative and International Law Journal of Southern Africa

Following its publication, it was brought to our attention that this article contains significant overlap, in the form of continuous paragraphs and their accompanying footnotes, with the following chapter:

Manuel J. Venturas, ‘Aiding and Abetting’ in Jérôme de Hemptinne, Robert Roth, Elies van Sliedregt, Marjolein Cupido, Manuel J. Ventura and Lachezar Yanev (eds), Modes of Liability in International Criminal Law (Cambridge University Press, 2019)  The journal article ‘Individual Criminal Responsibility’ reproduced significant parts of the chapter in Modes of Liability without appropriate attributions or citations.

The second author, Dire Tladi, has requested to be dissociated from the publication.

We have been informed in our decision-making by our policy on publishing ethics and integrity and the COPE guidelines on retractions. The cover page only of the retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked as “Retracted.”
A Comparative Juridical Analysis of the Constitutional Advancement of Women’s Matrimonial Property Rights in Swaziland and Kenya
Authors: Moodley Isabel
Published: September 2022

The equalisation of women’s and men’s marital rights is still a challenge for certain countries on the African continent. Although most African countries have adopted supreme constitutions guaranteeing a host of justiciable human rights, the marginalisation and subjugation of women persists. In this article, we engage in a critical review and assessment of two divergent court decisions (one from Swaziland and the other from Kenya) which concern the matrimonial property rights of women. Those cases will be used as the foundation for investigating and evaluating the degree to which Swaziland and Kenya are either enhancing or constraining women’s matrimonial rights. In this article, we also assess the extent to which national constitutional law is being harmonised with existing and recently promulgated legislation and whether the purported synthesis of enacted marriage laws has affected constitutional equality in those specific countries. Additionally, we contend that the promulgation of new legislation and/or the amendment or repeal of unconstitutional legislation is insufficient to advance true equality. The courts or the judiciary, must also perform their remedial and pre-emptive role in the protection, enforcement and promotion of constitutional rights and the facilitation of equality reform. In our opinion, the matrimonial property rights of women in Africa can be equalised and enhanced even in systems of law that remain rooted in traditionalism and which habitually treat women as inferior to men. Such a mammoth undertaking requires a dual commitment and concerted action from both the legislature and the judiciary.
Investigating the Possibility of Suspending or Terminating a Strike on Account of Violent Conduct: Transplanting Lessons from Australia
Authors: Tenza Mlungisi
Published: September 2022

South Africa has a history of violent industrial strikes, with authorities seemingly unable to exert control. The existing remedies in the form of an interdict and advisory arbitration awards do not appear to address violence during strikes. Violent and lengthy strikes affect members of the public and have long-term effects on the economy, resulting in loss of employment and poverty. Since South Africa does not have the legal mechanisms to deal with or curb violent strikes, this article submits that lessons could be drawn from foreign law on how to deal with these strikes. In this article, Australia is the foreign jurisdiction from which lessons are drawn. This article commences with a comparative analysis of industrial action between Australia and South Africa to answer the question of whether violent strike action is unique to South Africa. The article establishes that the Fair Works Commission (FWC): Australia’s National Workplace Relations Tribunal can suspend or terminate industrial action that is characterised by violence. It then suggests that part of Australian labour law could be transplanted into South African labour law to combat strike-related violence. The article suggests that the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 (LRA) should be amended to include a provision that will empower the Labour Court to suspend or terminate industrial action once it turns violent, thus benefitting the economy and preventing job losses.
South African Creditors May Wield the Gibbs Rule to Confront an Italian Pre-Insolvency Statutory Restructuring Composition
Authors: Smith Alastair , Boraine André
Published: September 2022

This article summarises the judgment in Cooperativa Muratori & Cementisti & others v Companies and Intellectual Property Commission & others, in which the Supreme Court of Appeal confirmed the statutory denial of business rescue to external companies and refused to recognise and apply the Italian restructuring process in South Africa. The article then discusses the private international law (conflict of laws) on the discharge of a contract by a foreign sequestration or liquidation, and the statutory novation of the contract by a foreign pre-insolvency composition or restructuring. Central to the debate over characterisation and choice of law (between contract or insolvency) is the effect of the Gibbs rule, a long-standing feature of the law of the United Kingdom, South Africa, and several other countries, but increasingly controversial because of contemporary ideas of cross-border insolvency law. The article argues for an approach based on contract and company law rather than insolvency law, because pre-insolvency proceedings, by definition, do not involve a winding-up order or a liquidation process, and, if timely and successful, prevent both. The South African private international law on the recognition of a foreign pre-insolvency statutory composition or restructuring as a foreign judgment may thus need to be reconsidered.
Testing the Right to Vote in Free, Fair, and Regular Local Government Elections in South Africa: Challenges from the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Dube Felix
Published: September 2022

This article uses the doctrinal legal research method to examine the challenges that faced South Africa in preparing for the 2021 local government elections. The health risks posed by the COVID-19 pandemic led the national executive to promulgate emergency health regulations and impose lockdowns to combat the spread of the coronavirus. Inadvertently, these measures threatened the freeness and fairness of the local government elections by restricting political mobilisation and freedom of movement and association. They also led the Electoral Commission to attempt, through an inquiry and a court application, to postpone the 2021 local government elections. The discussion shows that contrary to its contentions on the impossibility of holding the elections in 2021, the Electoral Commission had unwittingly demonstrated that it was well-prepared to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 infections. This article concludes that a postponement of the elections was not warranted and would have led to legitimacy and constitutional crises. It would have undermined the democratic foundation of the South African Constitution and would have unlawfully infringed on the right to participate in free, fair, and regular elections.
Prophecy and the Pandemic: The Vindication of Decolonial Legal Critical Scholarship
Authors: Sindane Ntando
Published: September 2022

The ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic offers the legal academy a special opportunity to reflect on various conceptual, ideational, and ideological questions that cleavage the academy and society. In this exposition, I embrace an exegetical-cum-legalist enunciation to analyse the material conditions that define the lives of the historically and presently colonised peoples of South Africa. In the main, this treatise advances two arguments: (1) that the present socio-economic conditions illustrate the decisive thrust of decolonial legal critical scholarship and its ability to predict the future; and (2) that critical approaches to the law constitute a legitimate intellectual prophetic engagement. I conclude by insisting that decolonial legal critical scholarship should be the cornerstone and a focal point of emphasis in the calls to shift [and decolonise] all facets of the law and its curriculum.
COVID-19, Women’s Rights, and the Rule of Law in Africa: Muddying the Waters
Authors: Abioye Funmi
Published: September 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the global space. African countries and societies have been greatly impacted, economies have been brought to the brink, with already established legal mechanisms designed to ensure the functioning of societies, being tested to the limit. In response, the concepts of ‘national lockdown,’ ‘social distancing,’ ‘travel restrictions’ have become too familiar as governments move to try and protect their populations. These measures have had deleterious effects on law, the rule of law and the protection of rights guaranteed by constitutions and regional instruments. In virtually every aspect of life, human rights have suffered the direct and indirect consequences of governments’ responses to the pandemic. This is particularly more so in African states, and among the vulnerable members of the African population. It is said that women in Africa have borne the brunt of the impact of the pandemic during the measures implemented by States in attempts to curb and control the pandemic.
This article examines the impact of these responses on the rights of African women by drawing examples from South Africa. Constitutionalism and the rule of law are affected as rights are limited and at times derogated in an attempt to contain and control the pandemic. These derogations have had the unintended consequence of limiting the guaranteed rights of African women under the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (the Maputo Protocol) and other international, regional and national legislative provisions. The necessary factors that States need to consider before imposing pandemic curtailment measures in future, are discussed and recommended
Treasury Regulations and Educator Accountability For Damages Regarding Unlawful Disciplinary Measures in Public Schools
Authors: Reyneke Mariette
Published: September 2022

Corporal punishment remains a reality in many schools. In MEC for Education, KwaZulu-Natal v Shange 2012 (5) SA 313 (SCA), the Supreme Court of Appeal awarded an adult claimant R4 million in damages for suffering due to the corporal punishment he had to endure as a learner at school. The high incidence of corporal punishment and its severe consequences give rise to the question: Could, and should, the fiscus be responsible for the redress of all delictual claims arising from the use of corporal punishment or other unacceptable disciplinary measures? On the one hand, the State is vicariously liable for damages resulting from the actions of educators. On the other, Treasury regulations require accounting officers to recover damages caused by State officials when they fail to comply with standing orders and instructions, such as the prohibition on corporal punishment. This notwithstanding, accounting officers have a discretion to write off monies owed to the State due to deliction by employees. To promote accountability, Treasury regulations could be strengthened to ensure more stringent application. Yet, the lack of discipline in schools is often the result of systemic problems, which raises the question whether it is justifiable that individual educators, could be held liable for damages caused by the use of such measures of punishment.
The Role of the Regional Economic Communities and their Strategies to Promote and Uphold Credible and Legitimate Electoral Processes in Africa
Authors: Mbanje Tendai
Published: September 2022

Electoral malpractices in Africa are multifaceted, intertwined, and complex. Most African countries have held regular elections, albeit often flawed and contested. Elections have been contested because of structural problems within States and elections have become highly competitive. The rise of authoritarian democracies where most elections serve as a means of survival for African leaders determined to remain in power has resulted in disputed elections. The shrinking political spaces within States has led to a slide towards authoritarian democracy. The capture and neutralisation of democracy-enhancing institutions has caused vote-rigging, voter intimidation, and manipulation of vote results to mention a few. The phenomena of third termism and increasing prospects of life presidencies have been common causes of disputed elections. The use of constitutional and soft coups to retain power has often resulted in contested elections. These and many other structural issues have affected the credibility and legitimacy of elections in Africa mostly. The Regional Economic Communities (RECs) have assumed a role to address these challenges. They have adopted legal instruments to promote democratic elections. They are involved in observing elections (pre- and post-electoral audits), mediation, political negotiations, and dialogues. In some cases, they have imposed sanctions on States violating constitutional order to protect democracy within States. This article discusses how the RECs have dealt with election disputes in the past decades, and their strategies to promote and uphold credible and legitimate electoral processes in their regions. This article concludes by highlighting the challenges of electoral democracy within the RECs, and what they could do better to promote credible and legitimate elections in their regions.
Decreasing Voter Participation in South Africa and the Call for Electoral Reform through Allowing Independent Candidates
Authors: Kreuser Charlene , Slade Bradley
Published: September 2022

Sections 1 and 19 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa provides citizens the right to vote in free, fair and regular elections. The Electoral Act sets out the framework for and regulates national and provincial elections. Although South African elections are generally considered to be free and fair, voter registration and voter turnout has decreased since the first democratic election of 1994. This article considers the trends in voter participation in South Africa at a national level. It considers the various calls for electoral reform in light of the claim brought by New Nation Movement NPC to permit independent candidates to contest elections at national and provincial level.
In New Nation Movement NPC v President of the Republic of South Africa, the Constitutional Court declared relevant sections of the South African Electoral Act invalid as it does not allow for individual candidates in the national and provincial elections and therefore violated section 19(3)(b), read with section 18 of the Constitution. This decision is similar to a 2011 decision of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, where it was held that requiring candidates to form part of political parties to run for office is an unjustifiable restriction of citizen’s political participation in terms of the African Charter. This article considers the reasoning of the Constitutional Court in New Nation Movement in light of the jurisprudence of the African Court, and ultimately, to what extent an amendment to the Electoral Act in the terms prescribed by the Constitutional Court can address the decreasing participation rate in electoral processes.
Adjudicating Presidential Election Disputes in Africa: The Emerging Challenge of Election Technology
Authors: Kaaba O'Brien , Fagbayibo Babatunde
Published: September 2022

Challenging the results of presidential elections in courts in many African countries is largely a phenomenon that accompanied the fall of dictatorships and one-party regimes across Africa in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The reintroduction of multiparty democracy entailed that elections would be genuinely contested between several candidates, with the possibility that opposition leaders could wrestle power from the incumbent leaders. Many constitutions or electoral laws adopted following this wind of change provide for the possibility of aggrieved individuals and/or entities to seek legal redress in courts of law or other quasi-judicial bodies, usually on specified grounds. This phenomenon is now compounded by the increased use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in the electoral process. In the last ten years, almost all presidential election disputes in Africa have revolved around failure or alleged tampering with the ICT facilities in the electoral process. It would, therefore, seem that ICTs, although helpful in increasing efficiency in the electoral process, provide possible new and cleaner ways of stealing elections. This new development presents new challenges to courts as ICTs are often adopted by Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) without appropriate changes to the electoral laws to enhance transparency and accountability. This article analyses how the courts are facing the challenge of increased use of technology in elections and explores the way forward in terms of progressive interpretation and proactive adjudication of election matters.
The Role of Resource Constraints in State Liability for Omissions
Authors: Harding Mila
Published: September 2022

The ambit of delictual liability against the State for negligent omissions resulting in physical harm has extended dramatically since the Constitutional Court case of Minister of Safety and Security v Carmichele. In such expansion, the courts have often mentioned that considerations regarding resource constraints play a role in the imputation of liability on the State, as well as in determining whether the State has been negligent. In examining four Constitutional Court cases from the period of 2013–2017, this article argues that the Constitutional Court’s approach to the State alleging resource constraints has largely been correct. Although many have seen the rapid expansion of liability as cause for concern (as public funds are increasingly being spent paying damages instead of improving public services) the Constitutional Court is correct in refusing to allow bald statements of resource constraints to defeat delictual claims or reduce damages in cases where the negligent omissions of the State have resulted in physical harm. In accordance with the value of accountability, where the State alleges it does not have the resources to fulfil its duties and prevent harm, the State must prove it.
Strained Relations in the Provision of Electricity Services: City of Cape Town v National Energy Regulator of South Africa and Minister of Energy
Authors: Moyo Chantelle Gloria
Published: September 2022

This note considers the judgment in City of Cape Town v National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) and Minister of Energy (unreported case number 51765/17 of 11 August 2020), which attracted much attention for its challenge of the constitutionality of section 34 of the Electricity Regulation Act, 4 of 2006. Although the question of constitutionality was not discussed in the judgment, it is argued that this was an oversight and a missed opportunity to unpack the role of municipalities in the provision of sustainable electricity services. Further, the note considers the challenges of intergovernmental relations in co-operative government (from a conceptual and practical perspective) and concludes that this case highlights the importance of good relations between organs of State, especially where contentious but important issues have arisen.
COVID-19 Pandemic Restrictions in an Informal Economy: Reflections from Zimbabwe’s Informal Sector Livelihoods
Authors: Hlungwani Promise , Yingi Edwin
Published: September 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the world in an unprecedented way. Understanding the response of the Zimbabwean government to the COVID-19 pandemic and how it affected the informal sector economy is important. This study fills the research void on how various interventions by the government have impacted the informal sector. It demonstrates that the livelihoods supported by the informal sector have been negatively affected by the lockdown measures as well as curfews. Farm-produce vendors, entrepreneurs, second-hand clothes importers, taxi operators, barbers and hair salons were classified as non-essential services and had to observe lockdown restrictions. The study observes that these groups were significantly disrupted by the government’s response to the outbreak of COVID-19. Using a qualitative approach, the article reflects on the livelihood experiences of those dependent on this sector during this era by assessing measures that have been introduced to contain the epidemic. Using primary evidence from print and electronic media, the article corroborates the narratives shared in public forums with unobtrusive observations to report on the complex nature of fighting the pandemic in Zimbabwe’s informal sector. An in-depth document analysis as well as evidence from print and electronic media adds to the existing literature on the government’s informal sector policy response to pandemics. It gives an evaluation of the strategies implemented and how the people in the informal sector respond to such policy initiatives. This study explores the experiences of people engaged in informal projects in their quest for socio-economic empowerment given the coronavirus challenge and restrictive measures implemented by the government to curtail the spread of the disease.
COVID-19 and Sub-Saharan African Children: Epidemiology, Direct and Indirect Impacts
Authors: Rukasha Ivy
Published: September 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic affected the lives of many people worldwide. While studies on the effects of COVID-19 on adults are well-outlined, the effects of COVID-19 on children appear to have largely been invisible and minimised. African leaders have largely ignored the effects of COVID-19 on children in favour of more pressing issues, which include food security, adult COVID-19, economic turmoil and internal political wars. However, for Africa, where half of the population is under the age of 18, the effects of COVID-19 on children need to be carefully examined. Children represent the present and future of Africa’s youthful population. This study seeks to highlight COVID-19’s epidemiology and the effects of the pandemic on children on three fronts, namely, the economic, education and health sectors. South Africa has been the hardest hit country with COVID-19 and consequently most studies on African children are from South Africa.
Negotiating a COVID-19 Prevention Strategy with the Family: Youth Perspectives in a Rural Setting in South Africa
Authors: Alfred Modise Motalenyane
Published: September 2022

The coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis is likely to exacerbate hardships experienced by the South African youth, who are already considered the most vulnerable group in South Africa. This study explores a family-negotiating strategy to empower the youth in South Africa during the coronavirus crisis. The participants comprised a purposive sample of 10 (female = 70%, male 30%; age range 18 to 35 years old) from the church youth in South Africa. Data were collected by means of semi-structured individual interviews using social media because of the practice of social distancing and lockdowns in South Africa. The data were thematically analysed. The findings suggest that the youth need to take care of their personal health and accept the new economic status of the family brought about by COVID-19. Adapting to these new routines is essential to avoid spreading the pandemic. However, cultural taboos around family finances need to be lifted. Moreover, the lack of support systems and family solidarity during COVID-19 (regarding the future life and education of the youth) are challenges that should be handled by the family, as well as the youth, if stress and frustration among the youth are to be avoided. As a result, in the event of a lockdown, students may need to learn how to negotiate COVID-19 preventive techniques with their families.
Examining Collaborative Support Provided by Departments of Basic Education and Health towards Mainstream Schools with Dyslexic Learners
Authors: Leseyane-Kgari Monicca M , Mandende Itani P , Cekiso Madoda P , Makgato Mary M
Published: September 2022

This study sought to examine the support provided by the Department of Basic Education (DoBE) and the Department of Health (DoH) towards dyslexic learners in Rustenburg public schools. The study was qualitative in nature, and three officials were purposively selected from each department. The interviews were used to get data from the participants. The findings revealed that both the DoBE and the DoH were not providing the necessary support to schools with dyslexic learners. The results further revealed that the existing alliance between the two departments was not effective with regard to addressing the learning problems of dyslexic learners. Therefore, the study recommends that there is a strong need for the two departments to collaborate by sending language practitioners and psychologists to schools to assist teachers and parents in identifying and supporting learners with dyslexia.
The Effect of Socio-Economic Challenges of Youth Unemployment in Limpopo on the Economy of South Africa
Authors: Kanjere Maria Matshidiso , Choenyane Leornard Letlema
Published: September 2022

Youth unemployment is rife in South Africa, especially in rural communities such as those in the Limpopo province. Young people in those areas therefore end up being affected by drugs, alcohol abuse, HIV/AIDS and crime. Young people in many parts of the country are unskilled or semi-skilled; those with tertiary education are in the minority. Many of these young people are therefore not participating actively in the economy of the country. They depend on the government to meet their basic needs. A study was conducted in the Capricorn District of Limpopo, with participants from two municipalities, namely, Polokwane and Lepelle-Nkumpi. These municipalities were identified because of their number of active youth programmes. A total of 54 individuals participated in the study. They included the municipality officials and young people. A quantitative research approach was used to collect and analyse the data. A Likert scale was used as a research instrument to collect the data. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to the selected participants. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 25 was used to analyse the data. The results indicated that poverty as a socio-economic factor affects the development of youth and their prospects of meaningful contribution to the economy of South Africa. The study therefore recommended that changes be effected in the education system. The youth will have to develop entrepreneurship skills through rigorous programmes.
“Working within the System”: The Case of Stephen Chifunyise’s Waiting for Constitution
Authors: Mukwara Peace
Published: September 2022

This article investigates the writing techniques of one of Zimbabwe’s prolific playwrights, Stephen Chifunyise. By working within the system, this paper demonstrates how Chifunyise’s political plays are not overtly subversive, but liminal and uniquely tailored to critique the status quo in seemingly “balanced” political and social undertones. Chifunyise to some extent demonstrates the possibilities of working within an intolerant system without risking being censored, imprisoned or exiled, as has been the norm in postcolonial Zimbabwe. The article argues that in an ever-expanding unequal terrain of power and class, where fear and suspicion were palpable, and options narrowing from day to day, it was imperative for artists to innovate ways and means of protesting against the status quo. The study discusses the implications of covert and overt techniques in critiquing political excesses. It highlights how Chifunyise’s stylistic choices were able to navigate the constrictions of the rigid political environment created by the ever-growing narcissism of the ruling party, ZANU PF. The article attempts to evaluate the contributions of theatre towards issues of democracy, tolerance and good governance in Zimbabwe by positioning Chifunyise’s plays as theatre that was committed to the socio-political transformation of the Zimbabwean society.
Dramatists and Poets as Agents of Yoruba Culture: A Study of Hubert Ogunde’s and Femi Abodunrin’s Works
Authors: Akinola Ogungbemi Christopher
Published: September 2022

In many ways, people reveal their language, culture, identity, traditions and beliefs through the contents and themes of their performance arts, in addition to other identity moulding and retaining paraphernalia. However, for failing to fit into the mould of the West, the culture and traditions of peoples of African descent have been erroneously misunderstood and, in some cases, even scorned. Beyond the aesthetics and the utilisation of Africa’s oral traditions in passing down African histories and ways of life to current and future generations, the Yoruba artist’s utilisation of performative art forms such as drama and poetry to first, reassure the Yoruba themselves and then, educate the world about Africa’s cultures has become necessary. This article is an exploration of the narratives and nuances in the works of Hubert Ogunde and Femi Abodunrin as tools in the propagation of a Yoruba cultural outlook. It further takes a closer look into how the works of these writers could influence new narratives about Yoruba creativity as cultural agency from Africa’s own perspective. The study reveals the relevance of the artistic, performative and literary works of Ogunde and Abodunrin as agencies of propagation of Yoruba culture in the twenty-first century.
An Overview of Modern Nigerian Literatures and Provisional Notes on “Post-Dictatorship” Cultural Expression
Authors: Akpome Aghogho
Published: September 2022

This article provides a fairly detailed overview of the trajectory of modern Nigerian literatures from their roots in the precolonial oral forms of cultural expression to what has been problematically described as “third-generation” Nigerian writing. It also traces the critical tradition of categorising modern Nigerian writing into three “generations.” I propose that current Nigerian writing as well as a cross-generational array of texts may be more productively described as post-military dictatorship (or simply “post-dictatorship”) cultural expression in view of the enduring influence of prolonged periods of military interventions on textual production in Nigeria well beyond the return to civilian rule in 1999. I demonstrate the workability of this term through concise references to selected works from two representative post-dictatorship writers.
“There Used to be Many of Us”: Encountering Biafra through the Eyes of Wounded Soldiers
Authors: David Stephen Temitope
Published: September 2022

A remarkable corpus of literary and historical texts has emerged from the ruins of the Nigeria-Biafra civil war. These narratives that grapple with the devastating effects of the war and its traumatic afterlife within the Nigerian nation-space have been criticised as accounts authored by men for men. However, these critiques frame “men” as a homogenous category synonymous with a hegemonic position within the wartime society. Thus, in this article, I seek to unsettle this linear conception of masculinity, especially Biafran masculinity, by paying attention to the centrality of the body as an important site in heteropatriarchy’s mapping of inclusion/exclusion from and into maleness. I plumb the forms of violence and erasure that are produced at the intersections of disability and masculinity in Eddie Iroh’s Toads of War. I read wounded soldiers as positioned beyond the binary frames of belonging—Nigeria/Biafra, man/woman, etc.—that are often adopted in reading belonging, agency, and suffering within and outside Biafra. I argue that the in-betweenness of these characters and their transgressive identities are productive in thinking about the slipperiness of “Biafranness” as a neat identity category during the war. My view is that the marginality of wounded bodies produces a profoundly textured and disruptive point of departure from where it is possible to see wartime Biafra beyond a simplistic framing of belligerent positions. The article also examines how these bodies speak and assert their presence as a form of resistance against invisibilisation and historiographic erasure—even from the margins, the zone of abjection to which they have been relegated.
Paradoxes of Prostitution in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Petals of Blood
Authors: Annin Felicia
Published: September 2022

This paper investigates the contradictions surrounding the prostitute figure in Ngugi’s Petals of Blood (1977). The figure of the prostitute is a striking issue in Ngugi’s oeuvre. As a Marxist advocate, Ngugi writes about post-colonialism, anti-colonialism and anti-capitalism in his essays, novels and plays. Ngugi views romantic love as pure, hence not to be soiled or dirtied by material gains. This paper considers the question of material concerns in the romantic relationship through the way in which the prostitute is figured in Petals of Blood. By applying a qualitative descriptive method,  the study will enter into a conversation with other African works, which explore intimate relationships in exchange for material benefits. In these contexts, material concerns do not devalue an idealised love, but are part of the love relationship. However, in Petals of Blood, Ngugi presents “transactional sex” as a means of financial survival among young girls in Kenyan society. In the novel, the woman figure capitalises on her power of sexuality to meliorate herself but ends up enslaved by the male counterpart.
Refiguring Blackness and Decolonisation in Femi Abodunrin’s It Would Tke Time: Conversation with Living Ancestors and Other Poems
Authors: Sebola Moffat
Published: September 2022

This article focuses on Femi Abodunrin’s poetry in order to reflect on the ideological conditions from which his articulation of Blackness and decolonisation emanates. Although Abodunrin’s creative oeuvre transcends a single poetry anthology, the study nevertheless restricts itself to one poetry anthology, It Would Take Time: Conversation with Living Ancestors, and excerpts from three other poems, “Whatever I Hang,” “The Pursuit of Happiness” and “Going to Meet the Man,” published in Splinters of a Mirage Dawn: An Anthology of Migrant Poetry from South Africa. Arguably, Abodunrin’s poetry is a quintessential postulation on Blackness and decolonisation in a postcolonial context. Hence, his work represents a coherent response, a reappropriation and refiguring of the syncretic experiences of Black Africans within the circumstantial whole of a postcolonial social reality. The phenomenology of decolonisation, depersonalisation and an inhabitation of an alienating and somewhat fragmented reality are some of Abodunrin’s thematic interests. His tactic to subvert a Eurocentric approach to the politics of African identity, literature and culture, Africans’ displacement and the psycho-affective dimension of this tussle confirms that despite the struggles, Africans can assert their presence and agency in the conception and articulation of their culture and identity. It Would Take Time and Abodunrin’s other three poems are reflective of the uphill efforts channelled towards recentralising African agency, refiguring Blackness and also emphasising the triumph of a unique ideological outlook on decoloniality without ambiguities of reference.