South Africa

In February 2016, the South African Law Deans Association (SALDA) organized a workshop in Lanseria, Johannesburg, on the integration of information technology law into the legal curriculum. Hosted by the University of Pretoria on behalf of SALDA, this forward-looking initiative is decades overdue, considering how far behind the legal profession in Southern Africa lags in the integration of information and communications technology (ICT). The Lanseria workshop brought together a cross-section of the South African legal fraternity, notably featuring ICT professionals, legal practitioners, government officials and law lecturers. Also in attendance were two representatives from the University of Namibia who had been invited by SALDA. So much is at stake because, with the current acute shortage of ICT skills and knowledge in the profession, lawyers may become increasingly irrelevant and law graduates less employable. ICT competence is a basic requirement for productivity in today’s job market. Though most offer ICT law as an elective subject, law faculties at many South African universities and at the University of Namibia do not yet offer any module on ICT law. And in the few universities that do, the focus is more on content than on skills.

The central premise of this contribution is that calls from African Union (AU) members for Africa to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) are self-defeating and premature. We argue that these calls from a number of African political leaders contradict the continent's own values, its substantial contribution to the ICC and its own efforts at establishing peace and security. We further argue that the threatened withdrawal is untimely because the continent does not yet have its own institutional capacity to handle war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and crimes of aggression. As a result, African nations will be better off-for now-to call for the reform of the ICC rather than demand withdrawal from the Court.

Drawing on the case of South Africa, this chapter addresses the role of social workers during political conflict and post-conflict periods. The authors focus on the last ten years of the Afrikaner nationalist government (1984-1994) and the initial period following the April 1994 transition into a post-conflict era. We consider the role of social work in and post conflict in relation to key social work themes, viz., human rights, social justice and social activism, and the ways in which social work can become complicit with systems of oppression. We draw on the autobiographical material of the two authors, who were on 'opposite sides of the fence' during the struggle years: one worked as a political activist, while the other worked for the South African Defence Force. The authors narrate the complexity of their roles as social workers during this time. A critical reflection on their narratives, in relation to the key social work themes, leads to a set of five lessons learned to assist social workers struggling to operate in times of political conflict or post-conflict.

Among the many youth transitioning to young adulthood, a group that has been found to be particularly vulnerable is young people transitioning out of care, particularly residential care. Research on this population of youth has burgeoned over the past few decades, but in South Africa it remains limited. This article focuses on the resilience processes that facilitate better transitions of young women out of care and towards independent living. It replicates the research design of a previous study with young men, with the aim of determining to what extent the resilience process of young women are similar to those of men. A sample of nine women was purposively selected, interviewed in-depth and data analysed using grounded theory methods. The findings indicate that the same resilience process found among male care-leavers are evident also in the narratives of female care-leavers, confirming the findings of the previous study. However, these processes had a slightly stronger relational focus among women than was seen among men. The authors conclude that similar resilience-building programmes can be implemented to prepare both males and females for leaving care.

Although a future focus is recognized as a contributing factor to resilience, the content of future focus is seldom explored. Care-leavers in South Africa exit the statutory system and enter into adulthood largely unsupported. Their futures are hampered by limited preparation for leaving care, the absence of follow-up services and contextual factors such as high unemployment rates. Having a well-developed future focus may contribute to better outcomes for care-leavers. Drawing on data from a small qualitative study carried out in four child and youth care centres in a town in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, this article argues that possible selves methods provide a useful tool with which to unpack the content of future focus, and in doing so identify contributors to resilience. Study findings reveal a reciprocal interaction between possible selves and resilience: resilience enablers help to generate compelling possible selves, while possible selves lead to activities that promote resilience.

This study sought to determine the potential place of Afrikaans and IsiXhosa as indigenous languages to promote communication education in South African Universities. This study examined the approaches and curriculum development of the use of Afrikaans and IsiXhosa to teach journalism trainees in Rhodes and NorthWest Universities. For the purpose of this study, uses and gratification theory was employed to examine how communication and engineering instructors have adopted Afrikaans and IsiXhosa to teach and train students in the field of engineering and journalism. The method adopted for this study was a mixed method approach combining qualitative content analysis, observation and interviews. Furthermore, a review of previous studies on the adoption of Afrikaans and IsiXhosa for communication and engineering education was examined. The result showed that many of communication and engineering trainers believed that the use of Afrikaans for communication and engineering education aids socio-cultural development among white South Africans. indicated that Rhodes School of Journalism has a course focused on IsiXhosa for Journalism, which is a compulsory course for first year undergraduate students to understand the application of IsiXhosa in journalism practice for creating community based solutions. The study, therefore, recommends that communication educators can adopt indigenous languages for teaching communication and engineering education in Nigeria and other African countries. The adoption of indigenous languages in teaching communication education would facilitate social integration and multicultural development

This is a special edition episode that marks the start of a limited-run series called Global Innovators—this will be in addition to our ongoing monthly episodes. This Special Series will focus specifically work in the humanitarian intervention space.

We kick off the series with a dear friend, Dr. Tiffany Masson, Campus Dean of the Online Campus of the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, where she provides oversight and advances the growth of the institution’s highly successful online campus. She was appointed by the Chicago School’s President to co-lead the University’s strategic plan and develop a new division for the University known as “TCSPP Global.”

Dr. Masson earned her Doctorate of Psychology in 2002 and went on to complete her post-doctoral training at U.C. Davis’ Children’s Hospital-CAARE Center, and was employed as a staff psychologist by the Cook County Juvenile Court and Northwestern University School of Law. Her leadership positions include having served as the Department Chair of International Psychology, Executive Director of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and Campus Dean of The Chicago School of Professional Psychology during her 11 year tenure. During that time she also has maintained an active forensic private practice, been an international speaker, and recently, she published a new textbook, Inside Forensic Psychology.

We do an in-depth discussion of Dr. Masson’s work as a global innovator vis-à-vis developing and managing international partnerships and on specific international human capacity development projects in Africa. Of particular interest is a country specific 12-day trauma training program, known as the “Global HOPE Training Initiative” which aids teachers in effectively recognizing, assessing, and intervening with traumatized children. It originated in Rwanda through government and private partnerships, and had grown to programs in Zambia and South Africa. We also discuss study abroad programs in graduate education and their impact on students as well as those they collaborate with internationally.

Dr. Masson also shares how she manages so many initiatives on top of her other responsibilities as well as some helpful and actionable advice to those interested in participating or even starting an international activity or NGO.

We delve into what drives her passion in this area as well, and I think you will find it to be quite touching and inspirational.

There are concerns that medical pluralism may delay patients' progression through the HIV cascade-of-care. However, the pathways of impact through which medical pluralism influence the care of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in African settings remain unclear. We sought to establish the manifestation of medical pluralism among PLHIV, and explore mechanisms through which medical pluralism contributes bottlenecks along the HIV care cascade. We conducted a multicountry exploratory qualitative study in seven health and demographic surveillance sites in six eastern and southern African countries: Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa. We interviewed 258 PLHIV at different stages of the HIV cascade-of-care, 48 family members of deceased PLHIV and 53 HIV healthcare workers. Interviews were conducted using shared standardised topic guides, and data managed through NVIVO 8/10/11. We conducted a thematic analysis of healthcare pathways and bottlenecks related to medical pluralism. Medical pluralism, manifesting across traditional, faith-based and biomedical health-worlds, contributed to the care cascade bottlenecks for PLHIV through three pathways of impact. First, access to HIV treatment was delayed through the nature of health-related beliefs, knowledge and patient journeys. Second, HIV treatment was interrupted by availability of alternative options, perceived failed treatment and exploitation of PLHIV by opportunistic traders and healers. Lastly, the mixing of biomedical healthcare providers and treatment with traditional and faith-based options fuelled tensions driven by fear of drug-to-drug interactions and mistrust between providers operating in different health-worlds. Medical pluralism contributes to delays and interruptions of care along the HIV cascade, and mistrust between health providers. Region-wide interventions and policies are urgently needed in sub-Saharan Africa to minimise potential harm and consequences of medical pluralism for PLHIV. The role of sociocultural beliefs in mediating bottlenecks necessitate adoption of culture-sensitive approaches intervention designs and policy reforms appropriate to the context of sub-Saharan Africa.

This article was downloaded by: [66.249.67.3] On: 06 July 2011, At: 10:27 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

This article was downloaded by: [66.249.67.3] On: 06 July 2011, At: 10:27 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

It goes without saying that property investing is the most lucrative and worthwhile investment that can be considered when building net worth. To add, it’s a simple formula – loan money from the bank, buy property, rent it out, let someone pay off your debt. Lest it be forgotten, however, buying a physical property is very expensive, and is nothing more than a dream for most people.

The hedge fund industry in South Africa is among the most established in the emerging markets, and probably the world, we are one of the first countries to put in place comprehensive regulation for hedge funds. With a market riddled with investment professionals and entrepreneurs looking for a rewarding entrepreneurial endeavour, we unpack the exclusive and mysterious nature of hedge funds in South Africa, and give the rundown of how to start your own hedge fund and how to invest in one.