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This paper evaluates the societal impact of the Ubuntu Project, one of three 2024 Societal Impact Projects implemented by the University of Venda (UNIVEN) in rural Limpopo Province, South Africa, alongside Skills for the Future (SfFP) and Phasing Out of Accounting. Centered on the Ubuntu Project, this project review examines its role in addressing community needs through collaborative engagement with stakeholders in the Vhembe and Mopani Districts. Employing a mixed-methods approach, data were collected through qualitative semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) with beneficiaries and stakeholders, complemented by quantitative surveys with 126 respondents, which were analysed using Thematic Analysis and SPSS software. Findings demonstrate the Ubuntu Project’s success in promoting Ubuntu principles of humanity, interconnectedness, and mutual support, enhancing social cohesion, reducing social isolation, and fostering positive behavioural changes, including decreased crime, teenage pregnancies, and substance abuse in participating villages. Commendations highlight robust community participation and intergenerational learning, though challenges such as limited funding, inconsistent oversight, and incomplete documentation of data were noted. Recommendations include securing sustainable funding, improving monitoring systems, and expanding stakeholder inclusivity. This evaluation underscores the Ubuntu Project’s potential as a culturally resonant university-community initiative, offering a model for societal transformation in rural contexts.

This paper aims to examine the effects of innovative teaching strategies that incorporate learners lived experiences into the implementation of the South African Life Skills curriculum. It also aims to evaluate how current pedagogical approaches align with or diverge from learner-centred methodologies that value indigenous knowledge systems. Employing a qualitative research design grounded in the interpretive paradigm, we conducted semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with 23 purposively selected Life Skills educators from primary schools. These participants were chosen based on their extensive experience in teaching the subject. The collected narratives were analysed thematically through post-colonial and Afrocentric theoretical lenses to reveal underlying pedagogical trends and epistemological biases. Findings from the study demonstrate that (i) despite the transformative goals of the Life Skills curriculum, many educators still rely on teacher-centred, Eurocentric methods; (ii) such approaches marginalise the learners’ socio-cultural backgrounds and exclude their indigenous knowledge from classroom discourse; and (iii) there is a significant gap between curriculum intentions and instructional practices, which hampers effective learner engagement and inclusivity. The study recommends a shift towards learner-centred pedagogies that recognise and integrate home-brewed knowledge systems and cultural experiences as legitimate and valuable. Such an approach not only fosters inclusivity and relevance but also enhances learners’ identity formation and critical thinking. These findings contribute to ongoing debates about decolonising education in South Africa and provide practical guidance for curriculum designers, teacher educators, and policymakers.

From scholarly research, Africa's position on the planet and historical constituents especially minerals expropriation and labour made the continent a strategic partner to most world powers. This was understood during the voyages of the Dutch Indian Company to India.  Even during the Cold War, powerful countries were eager to promote multilateral relationships with some countries in Africa and that strongly impacted the war as well as African politics. This practice did not end with the Cold War but continued and presently Africa is still being influenced by the Cold War proceeds. Through a qualitative method of research, the paper highlights the impact of the cold war and ideology its time on African philosophy as well as the shift in African political dynamics. Hence, the paper investigated how these relationships affected African thought and destabilized Africa as a habitat for culture and African norms especially in the midst of the Ukraine-Russian war. Ukraine-Russian war is of paramount importance in revealing how African states maintain their non-alignment stance on either side while being careful to preserve their long rich history with the former Soviet Union. The further paper noted the advantages or disadvantages that the erstwhile Cold War brought to the African worldview. This culminated in the obliteration of culture and other notions like ubuntu which are the cornerstone of Africanism. The paper concludes by bringing out a strategy that can be utilized to restore African thought post-Cold War era.

This paper examines the need to decolonise entrepreneurship education in South Africa by addressing epistemic inequalities and aligning curricula with local socio-economic realities. Grounded in decolonial and human capital theories, the study critiques existing programmes that are dominated by Western pedagogies privileging individualism and profit maximization. A literature review shows that current curricula inadequately reflect indigenous knowledge, community-oriented practices, and the informal economy, which remains a crucial site for livelihoods and economic participation. Three key gaps are identified: an overreliance on Eurocentric content, weak contextual relevance to South Africa’s socio-economic challenges, and the exclusion of indigenous and community-driven approaches. These shortcomings limit the curriculum’s capacity to prepare students to address pressing issues such as unemployment, inequality, and informality. The study argues for a decolonised curriculum that integrates African epistemologies, emphasizes social and community entrepreneurship, and produces graduates capable of contributing to inclusive and sustainable development. This study adopts a conceptual and integrative literature-based approach to examine the decolonisation of entrepreneurship education in South Africa. Drawing on peer-reviewed journal articles, policy documents, doctoral studies, and prior empirical research conducted within South African higher education contexts, the paper synthesises existing scholarship to identify structural gaps, epistemic exclusions, and contextual misalignments within entrepreneurship curricula. Rather than presenting new primary empirical data, the study draws on illustrative insights from established South African studies to support conceptual arguments. This approach is appropriate given the paper’s aim to advance theoretical clarity, curricular reflection, and contextually grounded recommendations for entrepreneurship education reform.

This paper evaluates the societal impact of the Ubuntu Project, one of three 2024 Societal Impact Projects implemented by the University of Venda (UNIVEN) in rural Limpopo Province, South Africa, alongside Skills for the Future (SfFP) and Phasing Out of Accounting. Centered on the Ubuntu Project, this project review examines its role in addressing community needs through collaborative engagement with stakeholders in the Vhembe and Mopani Districts. Employing a mixed-methods approach, data were collected through qualitative semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) with beneficiaries and stakeholders, complemented by quantitative surveys with 126 respondents, which were analysed using Thematic Analysis and SPSS software. Findings demonstrate the Ubuntu Project’s success in promoting Ubuntu principles of humanity, interconnectedness, and mutual support, enhancing social cohesion, reducing social isolation, and fostering positive behavioural changes, including decreased crime, teenage pregnancies, and substance abuse in participating villages. Commendations highlight robust community participation and intergenerational learning, though challenges such as limited funding, inconsistent oversight, and incomplete documentation of data were noted. Recommendations include securing sustainable funding, improving monitoring systems, and expanding stakeholder inclusivity. This evaluation underscores the Ubuntu Project’s potential as a culturally resonant university-community initiative, offering a model for societal transformation in rural contexts.

This paper examines the need to decolonise entrepreneurship education in South Africa by addressing epistemic inequalities and aligning curricula with local socio-economic realities. Grounded in decolonial and human capital theories, the study critiques existing programmes that are dominated by Western pedagogies privileging individualism and profit maximization. A literature review shows that current curricula inadequately reflect indigenous knowledge, community-oriented practices, and the informal economy, which remains a crucial site for livelihoods and economic participation. Three key gaps are identified: an overreliance on Eurocentric content, weak contextual relevance to South Africa’s socio-economic challenges, and the exclusion of indigenous and community-driven approaches. These shortcomings limit the curriculum’s capacity to prepare students to address pressing issues such as unemployment, inequality, and informality. The study argues for a decolonised curriculum that integrates African epistemologies, emphasizes social and community entrepreneurship, and produces graduates capable of contributing to inclusive and sustainable development. This study adopts a conceptual and integrative literature-based approach to examine the decolonisation of entrepreneurship education in South Africa. Drawing on peer-reviewed journal articles, policy documents, doctoral studies, and prior empirical research conducted within South African higher education contexts, the paper synthesises existing scholarship to identify structural gaps, epistemic exclusions, and contextual misalignments within entrepreneurship curricula. Rather than presenting new primary empirical data, the study draws on illustrative insights from established South African studies to support conceptual arguments. This approach is appropriate given the paper’s aim to advance theoretical clarity, curricular reflection, and contextually grounded recommendations for entrepreneurship education reform.

This paper aims to examine the effects of innovative teaching strategies that incorporate learners lived experiences into the implementation of the South African Life Skills curriculum. It also aims to evaluate how current pedagogical approaches align with or diverge from learner-centred methodologies that value indigenous knowledge systems. Employing a qualitative research design grounded in the interpretive paradigm, we conducted semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with 23 purposively selected Life Skills educators from primary schools. These participants were chosen based on their extensive experience in teaching the subject. The collected narratives were analysed thematically through post-colonial and Afrocentric theoretical lenses to reveal underlying pedagogical trends and epistemological biases. Findings from the study demonstrate that (i) despite the transformative goals of the Life Skills curriculum, many educators still rely on teacher-centred, Eurocentric methods; (ii) such approaches marginalise the learners’ socio-cultural backgrounds and exclude their indigenous knowledge from classroom discourse; and (iii) there is a significant gap between curriculum intentions and instructional practices, which hampers effective learner engagement and inclusivity. The study recommends a shift towards learner-centred pedagogies that recognise and integrate home-brewed knowledge systems and cultural experiences as legitimate and valuable. Such an approach not only fosters inclusivity and relevance but also enhances learners’ identity formation and critical thinking. These findings contribute to ongoing debates about decolonising education in South Africa and provide practical guidance for curriculum designers, teacher educators, and policymakers.

From scholarly research, Africa's position on the planet and historical constituents especially minerals expropriation and labour made the continent a strategic partner to most world powers. This was understood during the voyages of the Dutch Indian Company to India.  Even during the Cold War, powerful countries were eager to promote multilateral relationships with some countries in Africa and that strongly impacted the war as well as African politics. This practice did not end with the Cold War but continued and presently Africa is still being influenced by the Cold War proceeds. Through a qualitative method of research, the paper highlights the impact of the cold war and ideology its time on African philosophy as well as the shift in African political dynamics. Hence, the paper investigated how these relationships affected African thought and destabilized Africa as a habitat for culture and African norms especially in the midst of the Ukraine-Russian war. Ukraine-Russian war is of paramount importance in revealing how African states maintain their non-alignment stance on either side while being careful to preserve their long rich history with the former Soviet Union. The further paper noted the advantages or disadvantages that the erstwhile Cold War brought to the African worldview. This culminated in the obliteration of culture and other notions like ubuntu which are the cornerstone of Africanism. The paper concludes by bringing out a strategy that can be utilized to restore African thought post-Cold War era.