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Work-related stress has emerged as a pervasive global issue that needs to be investigated by specialists around the world. Work stress is a condition of pressure brought on by one's line of work and occurs when the demands of the job are too great for an employee's abilities or resources. The study was undertaken to examine the direct and indirect causal effect of some demographic variables on work-stimulated stress among early childhood educators in South Africa. Hence, the researchers developed and validated a model involving causal linkages between early childhood educators’ demographic variables such as age, gender, race, marital status, income and educational qualification, and work-stimulated stress. The study adopted an ex-post-facto research design. The sample comprised one hundred and twenty (120) early childhood educators across twenty (20) Early Childhood Education (ECE) centres. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select the early childhood educators for the study. One validated instrument on work-stimulated stress developed by the researchers on a four-point rating scale was used to collect the data for the study, while path analysis and multiple regression analysis were employed for data analysis. The findings of this study documented the more parsimonious model, which effectively predicts the influence of demographic variables on work-stimulated stress among early childhood educators. The results further indicated that three (Age, Gender, and Marital Status) out of the six predictor variables caused early childhood educators’ work-stimulated stress more than the other variables. The implications of these findings for education policymakers, administrators, and teachers are discussed.

In the last seven years, Limpopo Province experienced a high rate of service delivery protests that turned violent. The service delivery protests in the Vuwani area have received a lot of media coverage and international scrutiny, wherein school, and government buildings were vandalised and burned down. The study adopted a qualitative approach to explore the reasons why the protests turned violent and further questioned the burning of state property. The interviews were held with 40 community members in the Vuwani area and thematic content analyses were used. The long-standing tribal issues and political instability were at the centre of the violent protests in Vuwani area. The findings revealed dissatisfaction with municipal demarcation decisions perpetuated violent service delivery protests in Vuwani. Protest initially begins as peaceful demonstrations as mostly community members participate, the educated and the uneducated. However, protests provide an opportunity for criminals to vandalise state property and loot. The study recommends thorough public participation and consultation during decision-making that involves the community. Political stability should be enforced to avoid political agents inciting violence in the communities. Furthermore, harsher punishment was recommended for those who participate in violent service delivery protests.

Most higher education marketing theories have not explored student recruitment strategies for masters and doctorate qualifications, particularly in Africa. As a result, this study aims to explore student recruitment initiatives used by South African universities when recruiting students for masters and doctorate qualifications. A qualitative method of investigation was adopted to enable the researcher to judge the effectiveness of policies, practices or innovations in the recruitment of masters and doctorate students. Heterogeneous variation sampling was adopted to allow the researcher to compare university similarities and trends. Telephonic and face to face interviews were conducted to obtain information and opinions from research managers and marketing personnel regarding the recruitment of postgraduate students. Thematic analysis was employed to analyse qualitative data obtained during in-depth interviews. The findings indicate that university recruitment initiatives include individualised marketing and product differentiation. The availability of internal systems to encourage staff and current students to enrol for research degrees was also highlighted. University initiatives will ensure that suitable students are attracted to research masters and doctorate studies. With the university alumni, personnel and the internal students, the public universities can increase postgraduate enrolments.

This paper sought to explore and describe the roles and responsibilities of social workers in addiction management. The researchers adopted a qualitative approach and used a multiple-case study design. Purposive and convenience sampling techniques were used to select social workers who specialise in substance/addiction management from two Non-Governmental Organisations and one Government Department. Individual interviews and focus group discussions were used to gather data, then thematically analysed. The study's findings indicated that social service practitioners' roles and responsibilities in the public and private sectors are blurry. It was further found that there is role confusion due to a lack of clarity on this issue as some staff tends to shift their responsibilities. This article provides lenses for higher education institutions in tailoring social work programs to address addiction management issues, as there is a persistent need for the development of a curriculum responding to addiction in social work

The specialty of African politics lies within its historical contents and background. The continent grew from strength to strength to attain its political development stronghold. By doing so over the years, the continent has been reflected in most states’ political development stronghold. While in some states, religion and tribal alliances are critical factors in political affiliation, in states such as South Africa and Kenya, democracy and ethnicity have been the leading courses to political development. Democracy and ethnicity have proven to be part of the party identification and evaluation factors and have also become the center point of growth and development in the state's politics. Thus, by focusing on Kenya and South Africa as case studies, the paper adopted a qualitative method of research to understand democracy as well as ethnicity as the bane of these states’ political development. Although much has been documented on either state's political development, little is understood about democracy and ethnicity as the bane of their political leadership from 1989 to 2021, which is the complete focus of the paper. The paper relied on qualitative research methodology to collect and analyze the data on democracy and ethnicity as the bane of Kenya and South Africa from 1989 to 2021. Therefore, the study relied on secondary sources such as accredited journal articles, books, and reports to collect and analyze data on the phenomenon at hand. Thus, the paper's main findings suggest that democracy and ethnicity are the strongholds of South Africa and Kenya's political leadership development. Therefore, the study relied on secondary sources such as accredited journal articles, books and reports to collect and analyse data on the phenomenon at hand. Thus, the main findings of the paper suggests that democracy and ethnicity are the stronghold of South Africa and Kenyas political leadership development.

The study aimed to establish the challenges of the distant parented adolescent girls in the Chiredzi South Constituency of Zimbabwe. The phenomenon focused on the challenges that distant-parented adolescent girls go through in the absence of migrant parents. The bio-ecological systems theory underpinned the study to bring to the fore the role of different environmental systems surrounding a distant parented adolescent in her development. Qualitative methods of data collection, analysis, and interpretation were used. The study employed a purposive sampling approach to select the twenty-five (25) distant parented adolescent girls participating in the focus group discussions and interviews from five secondary schools. Data were collected and recorded. A thematic analysis was used. Some of the findings were that the distant-parented adolescent girl lacks parental care and support, lackss access to remittances and delayed remittances, wrong choice of friends, poor relationships between them and the migrant parents, and barriers to learning. Based on the findings, the study recommends distant parenting parents should continue to fulfill their roles as parents to their left-behind adolescent girls. Parents should also know their foreign-parented adolescent girls’ friends as some friends may influence them into engaging in anti-social behavior.

This paper examined South African politicians' (re)presentation in Tony Leon’s regular column, On the contrary, which appeared in The Times newspaper from 2012 to 2017. This period in South African politics is made interesting by the fact that it coincides with the time when there was mounting pressure for the then president, Jacob Zuma, of the ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), to step down, especially between 7 January 2015 and 21 March 2017. Tony Leon, who also once served as a councilor for the Democratic Party (DA), one of the major opposition parties in South Africa is the columnist who at the time authors the on the contrary column. This creates interesting research on how the columnist and the newspaper are able or not to maintain ethical journalism. In conducting the study, this article employs the framing theory and critical discourse analysis (CDA) as research tools to assess the columnists’ objectivity and bias in his depiction of the then president and several prominent politicians during the examined period. Data analysis constitutes six newspaper articles which were purposively selected to obtain a representative sample. The results indicated that these articles were well-researched in respect of the information they presented. At the same time, biased tendencies were noted in favor of the political party aligned to the columnist.

The reality is that there is a relationship between language and race as advanced and qualified by ethnolinguistics. Such a relationship points to the subjugation of the isiXhosa language (habitually situated in South Africa), among other prescripts, which was fueled by racial hierarchization that ought to be debated within the paradigm of scholarly discourses. The subjugation, distortion and erosion of the isiXhosa language were led by the colonial, apartheid governance and administration that sought to impose censorship. Therefore, this article employs post-colonial theory to argue and scholarly prove that the language and many South African indigenous languages were oppressed based on racial notions that sought to accelerate neo-liberalist and imperialist perceptions. Hypothetically speaking, the isiXhosa language still suffers from the effects of (post)colonialism carried by colonial agents who continue to mock and humiliate the language. The debates and findings underline that such claims (racial hierarchization of the language) must be validated through theoretical and practical discourses. As a result, closing remarks infuse potential recommendations open to public scrutiny regarding the problematised phenomenon and/or conundrum.

Loyalty Programs (LPs) aim to increase profit by rewarding, with various benefits, customers who patronize the retailer. This study investigated the benefits LPs provide in the South African Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) marketplace and how these influence relationship quality and loyalty between retailer and customer. How the perceived benefits of LPs contribute to relationship quality (satisfaction, trust and commitment), and how they lead to loyalty are examined. To illustrate these relationships, a model showing three independent (perceived benefits, namely altruistic, consumeristic, and egoistic) and three dependent variables (relationship quality, namely trust, satisfaction, and commitment), plus customer loyalty, was developed. A quantitative survey was administered electronically over 11 days to a randomly selected sample of 5000 consumers per day from a commercial database, resulting in 1944 responses. After the deletion of incomplete or inappropriate responses, 479 usable replies remained. Since this sample was self-selected, it should be considered a convenience sample. Structural equation modelling (SEM) with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was applied to test the hypotheses and develop the model. SEM indicated that respondents consider egoistic and consumeristic benefits as the same. Furthermore, trust and satisfaction manifest as a single construct. Both consumeristic and altruistic benefits had a significant positive relationship with this unified construct of trust/satisfaction, and the relationship between altruistic benefits and commitment was also positive and significant. Finally, although neither altruistic nor consumeristic benefits appeared to contribute directly to loyalty, a positive relationship existed between the new construct of trust/satisfaction and those of commitment and loyalty. The pathway to loyalty is indirect, and to reach this sought-after goal, relationship quality constructs must first be achieved.

Studies on organizational ambidexterity have mostly ignored social and environmental performance in favour of focusing on financial performance. This study investigated the relationship between organizational ambidexterity and the sustainable performance of SMEs. Financial, social, and environmental indicators were used to measure sustainable performance. The study used the quantitative research method, and the cross-sectional survey method to collect data from 145 respondents. A self-administered questionnaire was utilized throughout the data-collection phase of the study. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and regression analysis were used for data analysis. The results indicated significant positive relationships between organizational ambidexterity and SMEs' financial, social, and environmental performance. The study recommends that agencies that support small businesses should organize seminars to train and educate SME owners on organizational ambidexterity and sustainable performance. The results of this study can assist small business owners in continuing to educate themselves and their staff about organizational ambidexterity. The study recommends that agencies that support small businesses should organize seminars to train and educate SME owners on organizational ambidexterity and sustainable performance.

In South Africa, the devastating effects of the COVID-19 plague forced several corporates to resort to business rescue proceedings to guarantee the continuance of their operations. However, the low success rates associated with the current South African business rescue regime are a thing of concern among policymakers. In this article, we conduct a systematic literature review highlighting the shortcomings of the current South African business rescue mechanism and recommendations that can be adopted to improve its success rates. The study then proposes a broad agenda for future research. We discover that even though the South African business rescue mechanism is an economically significant, promising framework that gives companies time and space to find solutions for their problems, it is associated with numerous shortcomings that lessen its success rates. Also, the study results indicate that the regime can be improved in more than a few dimensions to augment its success rates. Further, the review divulges that implementing the current South African business rescue framework has some uncharted areas that need to be investigated. As a recommendation, policymakers should improve the business rescue regime to increase its success rates.

Oral interpreting in the setting of diverse languages and multicultural congregants is often understood as integrating the message's content to the receiver. Like any communication or campaign, preaching or sermon takes people's multiple contexts seriously. The one who provides the best insight into understanding "the other," traditionally speaking, could be an interpreter in a multilingual context. Nonetheless, there are reflections, replications, and the loss of spiritual communication with sermonic translation and interpretive dialogue. Sometimes, the sermon the preacher delivers is only the one the congregation hears through the interpreter. In other occurrences, however, interpreting can lead not only to distorted messages but also to dissatisfied audiences and preachers being overshadowed by the pranks of the interpreter. Understanding the context of litotes and hyperbolism embedded in rhetoric and the features of the language, no matter how eloquent the preacher is, an understatement, overemphasis, or repetition of words by the interpreter can make or mar the sermon (speech). Using a qualitative methodology, this paper explores the divergences and conventional assumptions about preachers' interpreters as influenced by spirituality, culture, and language from an empirical and theoretical perspective. Biased translation and the basis of reality suppressing or devaluing spiritual/sacred communication are examined. The results indicate that the interpretation of the declaration of guilt, the history of the congregation, spirituality, attitudes, morals, customs, specific practices, the education of the interpreter, and the environment form intertwined interpreting and misinterpretation. The paper concludes by re-examining these qualities and rearticulating them into a preliminary theory for practice, distinguished from theory, which could enhance the development of more sustainable multilingual interpretation in South African Pentecostal churches.

The article examined corporate governance's effects on the performance of cement-producing companies in Zambia. Assessing the performance of one of the manufacturing segments of the manufacturing industry because of the effects of corporate governance was detrimental to findings on why there is limited growth in the industry. The study specifically assessed the effects of board size, board independence, CEO duality, multiple directorships, and board tenure on the company's performance. A deductive approach strategy was used, which focused on four leading cement-producing companies in Zambia: Lafarge, Dangote, Sinoma, and Zambezi Portland. A sample population of 150 participants was targeted. Questionnaires collected primary and secondary data from the company’s audited reports. This study used the principal components analysis, correlation, and regression analysis using SPSS version 27. The study found and concluded a positive correlation and effect between multiple directorships and board independence on the company's performance. CEO duality positively impacted the company's performance, but it was not statistically significant. On the other hand, it was concluded and found that board tenure and board size had a negative effect on the company's performance. This implied that they had a reducing impact on the performance of the companies in the cement manufacturing industry. Cement companies should tailor the size of their boards to meet their unique requirements, even though board size and tenure have a negative and statistically significant effect on performance.

South Africa and its policing system have been experiencing several incidents of vigilantism where community members partook in killing and administering “instant justice” to persons caught red-handed or suspected of engaging in criminal activities. Vigilantism has become a critical problem for the government, community members, and society. The study explores community perception regarding the incidents of vigilantism perpetuated in Thohoyandou and Musina within Vhembe District in the Limpopo Province. The study adopted an exploratory qualitative methodology. A non-random sampling that included purposive and snowball sampling was used to select the participants. Semi-structured interviews, observation and focus group discussions were used to collect data. Data were analysed using thematic data analysis. The study concludes that vigilantism is now an acute daily occurrence in South Africa. As such, it has brought some negative implications, loss of life, destruction of property, effects on the welfare of children and a vicious cycle of crime. Even though the criminal justice system is the scapegoat for all this, community members point to unemployment, poverty, and alcohol and drug abuse as some of the causes of vigilantism. The article recommends collaboration between state parties and the communities in the administration of justice to fight vigilantism.

Promoting dynamics of curriculum implementation that help all teachers and learners meet their needs and understand who they are is critical.  Such is equally needful in special schools which use the mainstream curriculum to teach learners with disabilities. This study sought to explore the dynamics that enhance implementing a mainstream English curriculum at a school for the deaf in Eswatini. This was aimed to assist teachers in reflecting on and critiquing their practices and experiences to improve their classroom actions; and to raise awareness of the natural identity of both teachers and learners at the school with the hope of meeting individual needs and, ultimately, the teaching and learning goals. Utilizing purposive sampling, this qualitative study selected six teachers of English Language at the school. The pragmatic paradigm, action research design, and natural identity theory framed the study. Semi-structured interviews, Zoom focus-group discussions, document review, and reflective activities were used as data-generation methods. Findings revealed that implementing the mainstream English curriculum at the school seemed to overlook the importance of individual dynamics, which are vital in meeting unique individual needs. Personal dynamics combine the strengths of top-down and bottom-up dynamics Thus, relieving the remarkable tension between the dominant top-down and bottom-up dynamics. Consequently, this study recommends a balance between the top-down, bottom-up, and individual dynamics to successfully implement the mainstream English curriculum at the school.

Modelling volatility using asset price returns has always been at the forefront of financial economics and option pricing. Observing the conditional variance properties in these asset returns, can be very useful for trend analysis and volatility predictions which are ever needed for trading, portfolio management and financial decision making. The aim of the study was to model and forecast volatility in stock markets. Six financial markets namely the Nasdaq, JSE, the DAX, the CAC 40 and the Nikkei 225 were used as samples with a sampling frame from January 29, 2018 to January 29, 2023. The findings of this study revealed that the variance for all the financial markets under consideration changes significantly with the passage of time. Also, volatility in the JSE, DAX & CAC 40 display fat tail distributions and it is expected to move by three standard deviations. Accordingly, volatility will persist in the Nasdaq, DAX and CAC 40 at an increasing rate but will persist at a decreasing rate in the JSE and Nikkei 225. Considering the peril involved in stock market investing, this study makes a notable contribution to estimating market volatility which is an integral component of asset pricing. With this knowledge, analyst and market traders will have a better understanding of the error distribution in stock markets which will assist in specifying predictive asset prices.

The essay is a typical task provided in schools to evaluate learner’s writing abilities and newly acquired knowledge. Because of how text-oriented the world has become, writing has been regarded as one of the most important abilities. As a result, teachers are in tremendous need of efficient methods to boost writing abilities in their classrooms. Yet, most learners lack the ability to write an English essay, particularly in remote areas. The aim of the study is to investigate the underlying reasons for the difficulties teachers encounter while attempting to teach English writing skills in rural schools of OR Tambo Inland District, Eastern Cape Province. The Zone of Proximal Development is highlighted as the issue of collaboration in the education system in order to develop children’s creative writing. Therefore, the study adopted socio-cultural theory as the theoretical framework. The study also adopted a quantitative research method. The participants of the study included six language teachers that were purposefully selected as information-rich participants. The findings of the study revealed that (i) teachers were lacking inappropriate methods, (II) the time spent in teaching essay writing was grossly inadequate, and finally (III) teachers experienced many challenges in reading and writing skills, which included, difficulty in motivating their learners, learners of diverse levels, difficult materials and time constraints to teach the learners. Therefore, the study recommended the use of pre-taught vocabulary, various teacher influences and the implementation of positive literacy practices.

The decline in learner performance in science education in South Africa is a perennial problem. Resource paucity in government schools is ubiquitous and reflects inherent challenges that pervade science classrooms. Scientific resources are imperative to the success of content delivery; however, South African government schools need help in procuring these standardised instruments and resources. Therefore, educators must innovate by employing improvised resources. This study illuminates the relationship between improvised resources and learner performance. A quasi-experimental design is adopted. A local school in Gauteng was used for this study, with 40 Grade 11 Life Science students and 1 Life Science educator participating in the project. A pre-test and post-test were administered to evaluate the effect of improvise resources comparatively. The ANOVA two-factor analysis tool demonstrated significant results of performance between the experimental and controlled groups as a statistical difference is seen in the mean scores, further accentuating the invaluable use of improvised resources.

This paper aimed to explore the use of traditional stories as a tool to facilitate and enhance communicative competence in English Second Language (ESL) classrooms. The sudden switch from in-person to online instruction during COVID-19 caused a decline in communicative activities, including traditional storytelling. Any language program should aim to generate learners who are proficient in communication. According to research, even learners with low motivation and poor academic skills are more inclined to listen and put much effort into the narrative setting. This paper is grounded on Gardener’s Multiple Intelligences Theory, which challenges the traditional view of the Intelligent Quotient Theory and enables teachers to take a renewed look at other views about learning development. This study adopted an interpretive paradigm entrenched in a qualitative approach using a case study design. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from 5 conveniently selected Grade 6 teachers. Content analysis was used to analyse data. Findings revealed that (i) learners are not engaged in traditional storytelling in schools and (ii) a lack of recordings of traditional stories. The lack of traditional storytelling in schools denies learners opportunities to share their cultural knowledge and values. This paper recommends that traditional stories be included in the school curriculum to improve learners’ communication skills. Furthermore, traditional storytelling can act as a vehicle for restoring the learners’ culture.

The primary objective of this article, among other prescripts, is to unravel the lexicological arena of colonialism and apartheid as a pertinent subject in Ncedile Saule’s Umlimandlela (At the cross-roads). The reason to undertake this scholarly discourse is because of the vestigial elements of colonialism and apartheid that continue to subterfuge the constitutional democracy of our country, thereby decaying and delaying social cohesion and consciousness. Post-colonial theory is employed given that it concentrates on matters before and after the formal end of colonialism in South Africa in 1994. On the other hand, qualitative research methodology is utilized to recognize the selected isiXhosa novel as a primary source of data. Through conceptual and contextual discussions, the main findings certify that though South Africa formally ended colonialism, the currently witnessed colonial tendencies are deeply rooted in the colonial and apartheid systems. As a result, it is fair to accept that colonialism and apartheid in South Africa demonstrate resistance and resilience – and that requires maintained and continued discourses in a bid to challenge the conundrum. The concluding remarks call for the recognition and appreciation of isiXhosa modern literature owing to the reality that it provokes colonial and apartheid discourses that will pivot towards reasonable contestations.