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There has been a global recognition of the importance of the Ubuntu philosophy to decolonizing education in Africa and beyond. This recognition is a result of the usefulness of Ubuntu in decolonizing education and addressing the critical areas of value orientation among indigenous people, particularly in Africa. The call for integrating the principles of Ubuntu into the curriculum will facilitate behavioral modification and embed indigenous values and spirituality into the education system in Africa. However, this study aims to investigate the extent of research conducted on Ubuntu philosophy and the Decolonization of Education in Africa. The researchers performed a bibliometric analysis using Biblioshiny, a component of the bibliometric package in RStudio designed for text mining analysis, to collect data from the WoS database, the largest database. Data selection followed certain criteria, including that articles must be peer-reviewed, published between 2010 and 2024, and in English. The authors used the PRISMA flow model for data collection, which was analyzed with the RStudio statistical package to identify the most cited institutions and countries, production trends, and the most productive country. Results show South Africa as the most productive and cited country on Ubuntu philosophy and Decolonization. The findings also indicate the majority of the productions are single-country collaborations. The review also reveals authors like Metz (2010), Gade (2012), Letseka (2012), and Le Grange (2012) as the most influential authors emphasizing integration of Ubuntu philosophy in education theory and practice.

This study employs a qualitative desk-based research design grounded in Social Ecological Systems (SES) Theory to examine the role of technological innovation in bolstering climate resilience across South Africa. Recognizing the intrinsic interdependence between social dynamics and ecological stability, the research utilizes a desk-based qualitative methodology to synthesize multi regional data from Mpumalanga, the Eastern Cape, and Limpopo. The findings demonstrate that technology significantly enhances adaptive capacity through improved resource management and community mobilization. In the Eastern Cape, mobile water management applications have become vital for agricultural continuity amidst protracted droughts. In Limpopo, community based digital platforms and social media have proven essential for real time knowledge sharing and emergency response coordination. A cross cutting theme is the necessity of cultural relevance. Study emphasized that for digital tools to be effective, must align with local habits and traditional leadership structures. However, the study identifies a significant risk regarding Intellectual Property (IP), recommending the establishment of legal frameworks to protect indigenous data from unauthorized exploitation during digitization. The study concludes that while high smartphone penetration and internet connectivity among youth and traditional leaders provide a fertile ground for modernization, success depends on participatory, culturally sensitive interventions that ensure technology is both accessible and community-owned.

Rural police stations in South Africa continue to operate under conditions of severe resource scarcity. This study examines the operational realities of police officers working in under-resourced rural police stations in the Eastern Cape Province, focusing on how they adapt through improvisation and coping strategies. A qualitative research approach was employed using semi-structured interviews with 15 purposively selected police officers involved in frontline and investigative duties. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings show that officers face shortages that affect patrols, response times, and investigations. To manage these constraints, officers depend on improvisation strategies such as sharing resources, adjusting work routines, using personal devices, and cooperating closely with local communities. While these strategies demonstrate resilience and commitment, they also place pressure on officers and risk normalising inadequate working conditions. This study contributes to rural policing scholarship by demonstrating how policing is sustained through everyday adaptation under conditions of chronic scarcity and highlights the implications for institutional accountability and officer wellbeing. In doing so, the study aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), through its focus on improving working conditions and supporting police officers operating in resource-constrained rural environments.

Despite growing scholarly attention to occupational stress and gender, the role of organisational design in shaping gendered stress experiences remains insufficiently theorised and empirically explored. This study addresses a critical gap by examining how organisational design, beyond individual or role-based factors, shapes gender-specific stress experiences and productivity outcomes. While existing research has explored occupational stress and gender dynamics, limited attention has been given to how organisational structures, cultures, and embedded norms sustain these disparities within specific professional contexts. Focusing on Social Auxiliary Workers in a South African public sector setting, the study provides contextually grounded insights into the organisational determinants of gendered stress. It explores how organisational arrangements generate systemic challenges experienced differently by men and women, influencing both well-being and performance. The study highlights gendered perceptions of workplace stressors, including those related to hierarchical positioning, role expectations, and unequal access to career opportunities. Data were collected from male and female Social Auxiliary Workers employed by the Mpumalanga Department of Social Development. Guided by Person–Environment Fit Theory, the study conceptualises stress as arising from the alignment or misalignment between individual characteristics and organisational environments. The findings underscore the need for gender-sensitive organisational practices, inclusive workplace cultures, and targeted wellness interventions to mitigate stress and promote equity. The study contributes to scholarship by extending theoretical and empirical understandings of gendered occupational stress within under-researched public sector contexts, while highlighting the importance of addressing organisational stressors to enhance employee well-being, sustainable productivity, and equity.

This study examines the effectiveness of police visibility in reducing crime and enhancing community trust in the police within the selected area in Tembisa township, South Africa. Guided by Rational choice theory to explain how the presence of police visibility alters cost-benefit analysis by increasing the risk of detection and apprehension.  A mixed-method approach was employed; qualitative data were collected using structured interviews with 151 participants, including police officers, community policing forum members and community residents, while quantitative data were gathered using paper-based questionnaires and analysed using descriptive statistics in SPSS. Thematic analysis was used to interpret qualitative responses. The findings indicate that police visibility in identified crime hot spots was frequent and unpredictable, implemented through strategies such as roadblocks, stop-and-search operations, random night patrols, and escorting commuters to taxi ranks during early morning hours. Participants reported a notable reduction in street and violent crime, accompanied by improved perceptions of safety and increased community trust in the police. However, challenges including over-policing, internal misconduct and poor professionalism, such as officers soliciting money during patrols, undermined trust in some areas. the study recommends strengthening hot-spot policing through increased personnel, improved oversight, and the use of body-worn cameras for urgent government investment in police operations. 

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.