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The purpose of this study is to explore the challenges and opportunities of the COVID-19 pandemic for women entrepreneurs operating in the informal food sector. An exploratory qualitative approach is used to guide the collection and analysis of data which were collected from a sample of twenty women entrepreneurs. Verbatim transcriptions of digital recordings were analyzed thematically. The findings of the study indicate that women experienced the worst economic effects of the pandemic and faced a range of challenges, such as decreased customer base and demand, loss of income, lack of government and private support, safety and security fears, disrupted supply chains, and requirement for trading permits. Whereas the opportunities encompassed usage of digital technologies, alternative markets and new product offerings, and establishment of Informal women business networks. From the study findings, it is hence vital that policies acknowledge the importance of women and informal food vendors in the nation's informal food system.

Continuing Professional Teacher Development (CPTD) refers to the ongoing learning and development of teachers throughout their careers. It involves a range of activities, programs, and initiatives designed to help teachers improve their knowledge, skills, and effectiveness in the classroom. CPTD programs can take many different forms, such as workshops, seminars, mentoring programs, online courses, and peer networks. This desktop review paper examines the role of CPTD on teachers' and learners’ achievement. The paper reviews among others the following; the nature and concept of  CPTD, the importance of  CPTD, South African teacher education policy framework and CPTD, the educational achievement and CPTD, school effectiveness and CPTD, learner and teacher learning and CPTD. The paper uses social learning theory as a theory that underpins the paper and makes some plausible recommendations.

Attitudinal barriers and discriminatory practices continue to prevent the full participation of learners with disabilities in developmental learning contexts. Although disability has been on the psychological agenda for some time, there is limited empirical evidence on adopting African models to buffer prejudices. This paper addresses this critical gap by examining the experiences of disabled children subjected to prejudices in inclusive settings and the adaptation of the Afrocentric model to buffer those behaviors. The paper was guided by Allport's Social Reflection Theory, which explains why some groups may be targets of prejudice. The exploratory qualitative case study was undertaken in 4 inclusive schools in Gauteng province. Participants were 20 educators and 40 disabled learners in inclusive schools. Purposive sampling was used to choose participants in the study. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with educators, and the researcher observed the engagement of the educators and 40 disabled learners.  Data collected were analyzed through qualitative thematic data analysis. From the themes that emerged in the findings, the following themes were discussed: advancing the truth in our praxis, fairness, harmony, and humanness. The paper, therefore, recommends that educators apply the practice of including the emerged themes in their learning content for improved grades and low dropout rates. Keywords: Prejudices, Disabled learners, Inclusive settings, Afrocentric inclusion model

The paper examines the educators’ perceptions of the influence of administrative communication on effective teaching in a selected school in South Africa. The paper adopted a case study research design of a qualitative research approach. Purposive sampling techniques were used to determine eight (8) participants that, comprises of 4 (four) educators and 4 (four) principals of some selected public schools in Buffalo City Metropolitan.  A semi-structured interview was used to elicit information from the participants. The findings indicated that administrative communication influences educators’ task performance and communication is revealed to influence the attainment of goals and school objectives. Also, the principals use different communication channels according to the skills of their educators to make valuable decisions. Educators performed better when they have a sense of belonging and receive constant communication from the principal. It is, however, recommended that the principals should endeavour to understand the type of communication skills possessed by the educators so that such skills will be used constantly to promote effective teaching.

Recently, many developing nations are disproportionately experiencing the impact of shocks and stressors compared to the rest of the world due to increasing inadequate capability and capacity to withstand the shocks. In particular, farmers and farming households are faced with diverse repeated and unanticipated shocks, which may be socio-economic, ecological and/or environmental in nature. All these shocks become unbearable and worsen in terms of food insecurity. The welfare costs associated with the shocks are significant, attracting humanitarian and development policy experts’ attention to developing suitable interventions to build a resilient food system and society. Consequently, this study analyzed the correlates of farmers’ resilience to food insecurity in South-West Nigeria. Drawing on the data collected from 472 smallholder farmers randomly sampled, descriptive statistics, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s food insecurity experience scale approach, composite score technique, principal component analysis (PCA) and Structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to analyze the data. The findings indicated that more than half (55.3%) of the respondents were inadequate in almost all the resilience indicators and components, had low resilience capacity, and were vulnerable to food shocks and food insecurity. In comparison, only 7.8% have a high resilience capacity to be a buffer against food shocks. 54% of the respondents fall into a high food insecurity category, while only 1.9% fall into a very-low food insecurity continuum. The SEM analysis also revealed that social safety net (p<0.01), climate extreme events (p<0.01), access to essential services (p<0.01), presence of enabling institutional environment (p<0.01), and technical level (p<0.05) made direct impacts on the farmers’ food insecurity status. Conversely, possession of assets (p<0.01), and social capital/neighborhood effect (p<0.1) had inverse impacts on the farmers’ food insecurity status. The study recommended transparently implementing a social protection program to assist the farmer in building buffers against shocks. There is also a greater need for sustained investments across the resilience pillars and indicators to build farmers’ resilience capacity to food insecurity and other shocks.

The significance of SMMEs in local government is closely associated with job creation and income generation; SMMEs subscribe to the stimulation of socioeconomics in South Africa. The main aim of the study was to investigate the challenges affecting the implementation of renewable energy on Small, Medium, and Micro Enterprises in South African Local Government. The study was conducted at Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality in Alice and municipal officials and SMME owners taking part as participants within the same area. The study followed an interpretive philosophy with a case study research design. The sample size was 12 participants, using a non-probability sampling method and purposive sampling technique. The study's target population included SMME owners and municipal officials from the Directorate of Engineering and Services from Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality. The study collected primary data using semi-structured interviews. Thematic Data Analysis was used to analyze the data. The study findings revealed financial barriers, lack of technical expertise, and the challenge of permits and approvals to connect renewable energy systems to the grid as the main challenges affecting the implementation of renewable energy for SMMEs.  The study's recommendations include financial incentives through grants, capacity-building workshops, collaboration with various stakeholders, and community solar projects. The contribution of this study will be significant since most SMMEs struggle with electricity supply during load shedding, which negatively affects business production and operations.

Community policing was introduced in post-apartheid South Africa to rebuild trust between law enforcement and communities. However, its crime prevention role is limited by persistent challenges. This study explores these limitations through the perceptions of police officers and community members in Bizana, Eastern Cape, using a qualitative design and semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis identified key obstacles: limited police resources, rural–urban inequalities, weak community engagement, and inadequate training. While community policing contributes to social control, crime prevention, and safety, its impact is undermined by poor police–community cooperation and fear of victimisation, which deters reporting and hotspot identification. Structural factors, including poor roads and a shortage of police vehicles, fuel rising rural crime, especially stock theft and drug-related offences. Limited institutional support for Community Policing Forums and night patrols further reduces their sustainability and effectiveness. The study offers context-specific insights into the implementation of community policing in rural South Africa and underscores the need for better resource allocation, stronger partnerships, and context-responsive strategies. It also advances global development priorities, particularly SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), by emphasising accountable, inclusive, and effective policing systems.

This paper aims to explore how service quality mediates the relationship between emotional intelligence and non-financial performance in Zimbabwe's tourism centres.  The study further examines the relationship between emotional intelligence and non-financial performance of tourism centres in Zimbabwe. Furthermore, the paper investigates the relationship between service quality and non-financial performance of tourism centres in Zimbabwe. Using a positivist paradigm, quantitative methods, and a sample of 549 respondents, data were collected via self-administered questionnaires and analysed with SPSS 29 and Amos 24 software. Main findings of the study demonstrate that  (i) emotional intelligence significantly enhance non-financial performance of tourism centres in Zimbabwe (ii) service quality has a statistical significance impact, but it negatively correlates with non-financial performance of tourism centres and finally (iii) service quality does not mediates the relationship between emotional intelligence and non-financial performance of tourism centres in Zimbabwe relationship. These findings imply that managers should prioritise emotional intelligence directly rather than relying on service quality improvements alone. Policy recommendations include enhancing human capital, encouraging financial institutions to support tourism ventures, and integrating emotional intelligence and service quality into training curricula to foster better performance across Zimbabwe’s tourism sector.

Extortion through protection fees has become a major challenge to small businesses in rural towns of the Eastern Cape, South Africa. This study examines how extortion operates as a form of localised criminal governance and its socio-economic effects on small business owners. The researcher adopted a qualitative approach, conducting semi-structured interviews with 12 small business owners and 4 key informants, including local government officials and community leaders, in 3 rural towns in the Eastern Cape. Thematic analysis showed that the issue of extortion arises from systematic demands for protection fees and the creation of parallel governance structures that undermine state authority, leading to significant socio-economic consequences, such as business closures, decreased investment, job losses, and psychological distress. The findings also suggest that perpetrators target vulnerabilities, including the absence of the state, economic disparities, to establish territorial power, and withdraw resources from both sectors, the informal and formal economy. The study concludes by emphasising that extortion is not only criminal opportunism but also reflects institutional failures in governance that affect the success of economic development, state legitimacy, and social cohesion in rural areas. Strategies to improve must focus on both law enforcement limitations and the underlying socio-economic challenges that enhance criminal behaviours. This study contributes to the advancement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) by highlighting threats to small business sustainability, SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) through its focus on criminal governance and weakened state authority, and SDG 1 (No Poverty) by demonstrating how extortion exacerbates economic vulnerability in rural communities. Key Terms: Extortion; Protection fees; Criminal governance; Rural crime; Small businesses; Eastern Cape; Informal economy, Local governance

E-hailing services have become an integral part of student mobility in South African cities, offering convenience and flexibility within transport systems that are often fragmented and unreliable. However, for female university students, the use of these services extends beyond issues of accessibility and cost, intersecting with persistent concerns about personal safety, vulnerability and exposure to gender-based violence. This study examines female students' perceptions of safety and risk when using e-hailing services within an urban university context in the Eastern Cape province. Adopting a qualitative research design grounded in an interpretivist paradigm, the study draws on in-depth, semi-structured interviews with female students who regularly use e-hailing platforms for academic, social, and personal travel. The findings reveal that while e-hailing services are often perceived as safer alternatives to walking or traditional public transport, they simultaneously generate new forms of anxiety linked to driver behaviour, route deviations, inadequate platform accountability and broader societal violence against women. Participants described engaging in continuous risk assessment and adopting self-protective strategies such as monitoring routes, restricting travel times, and relying on peer-based safety networks to navigate perceived threats. The study further highlights the limitations of existing platform safety features, which are frequently experienced as symbolic rather than substantively protective. These findings underscore the need for a more coordinated response involving e-hailing companies, universities, and policymakers to strengthen passenger safety beyond individual vigilance. The study contributes to SDG 5 (Gender Equality) by highlighting the structural and social conditions that limit women’s ability to move freely and safely in public and semi-private spaces. It further aligns with SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), specifically the goal of ensuring safe, inclusive, and accessible transport systems for all, with particular attention to the needs of women and vulnerable populations. Furthermore, by centring female students lived experiences, this study contributes to ongoing debates on gendered mobility, digital transport governance, and safety within higher education environments in the Global South.