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The quality of Physical Science education in rural South African schools is a matter of significant concern, particularly in the context of the country's development goals aimed at uplifting education standards in these areas and nurturing a more skilled workforce. Physical Science plays a pivotal role in enhancing scientific literacy across the nation. This qualitative study, framed within Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, sought to identify the challenges faced by Physical Science educators in improving Grade 12 results in rural schools in Vuwani. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and classroom observations involving a purposive selection of ten Physical Science educators from among 49 schools within the district. Thematic analysis was applied to the collected data, yielding insightful interpretations. The findings, primarily from interview responses, reveal that Physical Science educators in Vuwani grapple with various challenges. These challenges encompass resource scarcity, excessive workloads, inadequate support from school management teams (SMT), insufficient training when curricula change, overcrowded classrooms, and suboptimal learning environments. This study underscores the importance of fostering collaborative partnerships between schools, local communities, and business sectors. In particular, it recommends that businesses extend their support to rural schools, addressing infrastructure deficiencies and resource shortages. Such collaborative initiatives between government entities and businesses can enhance the overall quality of education in rural areas, ultimately mitigating the skills deficit and contributing to the nation's socioeconomic development goals.

The Council on Higher Education (CHE)’s report on the doctoral programme review states   that offering postgraduate programmes seems to be a challenge to some South African universities. Amongst others, the report expresses that postgraduate supervision at universities suffers from many challenges, some of which result in students being delayed or not completing their studies. Underpinned by Archer’s (1998) theory of the interplay between structure, culture, and agency (support programmes), the study seeks to examine factors that hinder postgraduate students’ completion of their dissertations and theses. The study adopted narrative research where the qualitative design was used. Postgraduate students (Master and Doctoral) who have registered for these programmes repeatedly in the university served as participants in the study. The purposive sample was used to sample eight postgraduate students who have frequently registered for more than the required residency period. Semi-structured questions were formulated to guide data collection. Data was collected through a focus group of eight Master and Doctoral students. Collected data were analysed using the content analysis method. The study found that the university does not have adequate (or weak) supporting structures for students to complete their degrees in record time.

With a lot of transformation in higher education, teaching, and learning is becoming very complex. To cope with the transformation that is so complex, academics must be innovative in their teaching. Their teaching should also influence the behaviour of their students. Students after completion of their studies must also be able to solve the challenges of society. There are several approaches to teaching and learning such as multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and ideally transdisciplinary, scholarship of teaching and learning, evidence-based teaching and learning, transdisciplinary teaching and learning and competence-based teaching and learning, and deep learning approaches among others. This paper focuses on the transdisciplinary research and teaching and learning approach. The aim of the paper is to investigate the importance of transdisciplinary research, teaching, and learning in a world that is faced with multifaceted challenges. This is a qualitative design paper where systemic desktop research was used. The systematic reviews follow structured and predefined methods to identify, appraise, and synthesise the relevant literature. Desktop research is a research method that involves the use of existing data. These are secondary collected and summarised data to increase the overall effectiveness of the investigation. Secondary research is much more cost-effective than primary research, as it uses existing data, unlike primary empirical research. The secondary literature was collected based on the history, challenges, and benefits of transdisciplinary research, teaching, and learning. The research study concludes that transdisciplinary research and teaching and learning approach is the way to go in solving constant challenges that face the world. The study recommends that university faculties, schools, and departments should engage in transdisciplinary teaching, and learning and research.

In what circumstances may an employer dismiss an employee who deliberately chooses not to disclose information even though she/he was expressly requested to do so? Can a negative inference be drawn against the said employee? These questions are examined within the context of derivative misconduct which emphasises a duty placed upon employees to disclose any misconduct perpetrated by fellow employees. This duty arises out of the implied common law duty of good faith that an employee owes to his/her employer by virtue of the contract of employment. The duty of good faith is a sacrosanct principle of any employment relationship, the breach of which justifies an employee’s dismissal.

The National Peace Accord, signed by all major political parties in 1991, created various structures through which police accountability could be sought. In 1993, the Interim Constitution of South Africa Act 200 of 1993 formalized the establishment of the Community Police Forum (CPF) at police stations. The SAPS Act 68 of 1995 made a formal provision for a partnership between the police and the community in fulfilling the needs of the community regarding policing. CPF aims to ensure police accountability, transparency, and effectiveness in the community, promoting cooperation between the service and the community in fulfilling the community's needs regarding policing and promoting communication between the police and the community. It was established to maintain a partnership between the police and the communities, to jointly identify priorities and solve problems related to crime, disorder, fear, poor police-community relations and service delivery. Therefore, the police's new vision of policing was introduced by setting up CPF at police stations throughout the country. The implementation of community policing through CPFs has brought to bear the complexity, dynamics, and of social and political relationships at both the provincial and local levels. This paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of CPF in crime prevention. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed, and data were collected from 40 community members through face-to-face survey interviews. The research revealed that CPF is ineffective in reducing crime due to the lack of resources to support its functioning. The study recommends proper and frequent communication between the police, CPF and the broader community.

With the recent surge of mob justice in South Africa, this paper investigates whether recourse to mob justice serves a legitimate purpose and especially whether it serves justice or falls within the conceptual meaning of justice. In so doing, the paper undertook a literature review in view first to identify the possible causes of mob justice and whether or not mob justice serves a legitimate purpose in society. The literature reveals that mob justice aims to ensure security and maintain social order due to state inefficiency to provide security to its citizens. Mob justice becomes a mechanism of social control, policing, and society’s expression that the criminal justice system has failed. However, the paper could not find any related literature on the question whether mob justice falls within the philosophical concept of justice. It finds that the current discourse on mob justice literature focuses on the social and economic aspects of mob justice, delving into the possible reasons behind the attacks, or the legal aspects of mob justice. The paper is therefore relevant as its objective is to determine whether mob justice meets the conceptual meaning of justice and if there is a place for such conduct within a constitutional society. The paper found that mob justice falls short of the philosophical understanding of justice and is no more than injustice. It recommends a policy shift in the form of community involvement in policing.

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.

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.

South African teachers are faced with corruption during teacher promotion processes, and this remains unabated. This qualitative paper used three purposively selected case studies of victim teachers to investigate the impact of this corruption on victim teachers. The paper used the Crisis Intervention Theory to underpin the theoretical framework for the analysis. Key informant interviews (KIIs) were administered to a senior union member to solicit crucial data while the primary participants (n=3) were interviewed on a face-to-face approach to collect data. Relevant literature was also used to provide supportive and corroborative scientific propositions. The paper discovered that corruption during teacher promotion processes in the South African Basic Education sector was a reality. However, in some instances, such claims could not be backed by sustainable evidence. Victim teachers have suffered traumatic experiences resulting in stress, health challenges, relational challenges with colleagues and resignations. The department did not assist victim teachers needing emergency counselling and psychological rehabilitation to cope with the emanating pressure. It is recommended that authorities punish perpetrators of corruption. Victim teachers need to be assisted through professional resolving of their grievances and therapeutical intervention. 

This paper aims to assess the nexus of food insecurity, climate change and migration in the developing world. The world is experiencing triple challenges of food insecurity, climate change and unprecedented migration. Food insecurity as a result of climatic variabilities has a likelihood of pushing people to migrate. Interlinkages between food insecurity, climate change and human mobility should be recognised. The methodology employed in this paper is a literature review, specifically an Integrative literature review of all sources related to the topic under investigation. Findings of the study point to the fact that most of the world's poor rely on subsistence farming for their livelihood, yet this industry is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Adverse shocks to agricultural productivity due to climate changes significantly increase emigration from developing countries, with a more significant impact in low-income countries and a smaller one in middle-income countries.

This article examines municipalities on implementation and coordination of social crime prevention programmes in addressing social issues. The White Paper on Safety and Security (1998) clearly proposed that local government should be responsible for implementing and coordinating social crime prevention programmes within areas of concern. Therefore, it is argued that the provincial government is closest to citizens and inimitably placed to contribute to social crime prevention initiatives and readdress the delivery of services to deal with crime prevention successfully. There is little information about this matter in South Africa. This article will reveal the challenges municipalities and the department of social development face on social issues. There seems to be a repetition of social programmes in addressing social issues and there are no programmes targeting youth at risk, juvenile delinquency and child-headed households’ issues. The study concludes that the municipalities should consider the review in social crime prevention strategies to better align its programmes to the provincial mandates. Municipalities should further demonstrate regularly how it responds to social issues that might perpetuate the crime rate.