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This study delves into the dynamic interplay between traditional African leadership paradigms and imposed democratic systems, with a focus on the extended tenures of Robert Mugabe, Yoweri Museveni and Paul Kagame. Anchored in post-colonial theory, political culture theory and leadership theory, it elucidates the cultural underpinnings that contribute to leaders’ reluctance to cede power and their subsequent impact on democratic governance. Employing a qualitative methodology with in-depth case studies, the study reveals a profound conflict between entrenched traditional norms and modern democratic ideals. The findings underscore the persistent influence of traditional leadership practices characterised by authoritarianism and electoral manipulation. This study situates these findings within the broader legacy of colonialism and the ongoing struggle for democratic consolidation, offering a nuanced understanding of the cultural dimensions of political leadership in Africa. The study proposes directions for future research and policy interventions aimed at enhancing political stability and democratic governance across the continent.

This paper explored the role of municipal collaboration in addressing migration-related challenges within the diverse contexts of the UK and South Africa, aiming to promote DEI in the process of nation-building. Through a secondary data research method and comparative evaluation of policies, initiatives and procedures in both countries, the paper examined how municipal collaboration strategies contribute to fostering unity amidst dynamic migration patterns. The findings highlighted the essential role of collaboration in harnessing collective expertise and resources to tackle migration challenges, enhance social cohesion, and advance the DEI principles. The key components of the paper include an examination of unique migration challenges, an analysis of initiatives, policies, and procedures in both countries, and an emphasis on the importance of collaboration in shaping inclusive societies. Overall, this paper advocates the significance of municipal collaboration as a cornerstone of nation-building, facilitating the creation of cohesive and harmonious communities.

This paper intricately examines Vhavenda indigenous governance systems in juxtaposition with the modern administrative systems in South Africa. Through a comparative analysis using qualitative research methods and secondary data analysis, the paper reveals nuanced strengths and weaknesses in each framework, suggesting avenues for collaborative synergy and improved service provision in rural areas. Purposive and snowball sampling, along with a focus group discussion, were employed for data collection. Textbooks, academic journals, papers, and online sources were analysed. The findings not only enrich the understanding of indigenous governance but also provide actionable insights for policymakers and practitioners to enhance governance efficacy and community well-being. This paper represents a vital step towards fostering inclusive and equitable governance practices in a rapidly evolving socio-political landscape, emphasising the importance of embracing the complexities of tradition and modernity for a system that meets the diverse needs of all community members. Thus, the findings and recommendations presented in this paper are at the heart of efforts to foster sustainable development and promote social cohesion — a foundational aspect of effective nation-building endeavours.

The contemporary global and African food security agenda is heavily dominated by the narrative that food insecurity is primarily a rural phenomenon. This presupposes that food insecurity is a rural predicament requiring a stupendous increase in smallholder production. This agenda is advancing despite the growing evidence in scholarly accounts of rapid urbanisation and the expansion of the likelihood of an urban future for a plethora of Africans. In the context of South Africa, the advent of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) laid bare the extent to which the country’s urban spaces are food insecure. While food insecurity is a universal challenge, in South Africa, it has particularising aspects that are rooted in colonial legacies, which include, among others, spatial and environmental injustices and urbanisation. These threats to food security interact with such factors as markets and access to credit, pricing policies and other factors to threaten food supply. This paper is qualitative in nature and uses content analyses and a combination of both the Marxist theory of conflict and the intersectionality theory as methodological insights used to obtain data. The aim is to analyse the persistent crisis of urban food security, framing it as an enduring consequence of class contradiction inherent in the post-1994 state administration. The context of its consideration is Johannesburg, South Africa. The paper found that urban food insecurity, particularly in South African townships, has increased exponentially over the years, and as a result, this has reproduced the cycle of generational poverty and disenfranchisement among the natives. The paper concludes and recommends that the panacea to urban food insecurity is the recognition of the informal economy in government policy as a key driver of food access for the urban poor.

This paper critically evaluates the effectiveness of South Africa’s local government tendering system in driving sustainable development and addressing historical injustices, drawing a comparative analysis with the United Kingdom's County Councils’ tendering practices in the health and social care sector. Through a secondary data approach, this research benchmarks the two systems, using qualitative data from government reports, tender documents, and policy reviews. Grounded in the Public Choice Theory, the paper interrogates how public sector tendering fosters economic equity and service delivery efficiency. The research reveals that while South Africa’s tendering framework promotes inclusive development, systemic corruption and inefficiencies impede its transformative potential. The UK’s model, conversely, demonstrates higher levels of accountability and market competitiveness, offering key lessons for reform. The paper argues for improved transparency, accountability, and stakeholder participation to recalibrate South Africa’s tendering system for sustainable governance outcomes.

While South Africa’s democratic project seems so entrenched, it would be foolhardy for everyone, including civil society organisations, to rest on their laurels and assume that the ‘war’ is over. The deepening of democratic institutions remains very important like a race without a finishing line. It is of critical importance that the issue of funding of civil society organisations be considered an essential ingredient to the growth and strengthening of democracy in South Africa. The need to counterpoise the tyrannical tendencies of governments is the fundamental reason civil society organisations should continue getting funding from various quarters in an effort to support mass-based civic society programmes, advocacy projects, and public interest litigation in an effort to provide the checks and balances that the democratic state requires so as to remain on the straight and narrow. For South Africa, through the seventh administration, to achieve the goals of a capable, ethical, and developmental state that requires ethical, professional, responsive, and meritocratic public servants, as encapsulated in the National Development Plan, the need remains for civil society organisations to play a pivotal role in holding the state and its institutions accountable to its promises. The article, therefore, sought to examine the upshot of funding and its impact on the role that civil society organisations play in protecting the democratic gains. The article touched on the importance of funding as a means of enhancing the ability of civil society in pursuing public interest litigation as a preferred strategy of contesting some of the unpopular measures the state has taken against the citizenry.

South Africa is still grappling with the triple injustices of poverty, unemployment, and inequality, which are regressive in nature. The country is further experiencing the highest forms of violent crime statistics, and that is cause for concern. This makes the investigation into the contributors to violent crime interesting and relevant. This paper was primarily aimed at exploring how unemployment plays a role in perpetrating violent criminal activities, particularly murder. The study was qualitative in nature. It was grounded in rational choice theory. The theory perceives individuals as rational participants because of their capability of making their own choices. This is inclusive of the choice to commit violent crime. The individuals have the capacity to weigh the pros and cons of committing violent crimes. The study utilised qualitative methodology as it provided deeper understanding of the linkage between unemployment and violent crime, particularly murder. A document review of journals, strategies, policies, reports, and plans was used to gather data, and thematic data analysis was conducted. Evidence drawn from themes indicates the weak contribution of unemployment to violent crime because the rate of intimate partner violence is increasing. The findings show that violent crime in South Africa exposes symptoms of cognitive, emotional, political, and socio-economic challenges. It was revealed that some forms of murder are related to specific forms of street culture masculinity. It is recommended that the psychosocial, socio-economic well-being of South Africans be taken care of. This will prevent violent, aggressive, and violent behaviour. The root causes should be explored and understood. This will facilitate the use of appropriate mitigating factors when addressing challenges culminating in murder.

The South African government has been focused on repealing unconstitutional laws, passing transformative policies, and building democratic and transparent policies responsive to the demands of the current generation and the public. This erected a need to have policy systems that largely resonate and address the problems upstretched in societies, intending to improve the quality of lives and advance communities. The National Framework for Municipal Indigent Policies issued a guiding document as a source of reference for the formulation and implementation of municipal indigent policies, with the intent of reducing poverty and eliminating service delivery backlogs in municipalities. The study seeks to examine and explore how indigent policies are implemented in rural municipalities to propose strategies to enhance the framework for sustainable service delivery. The objective of the study is to determine whether municipal indigent policies fulfil their dual purpose, which is to improve the lives of indigents and improve access to basic services. The study has established that indigent policies are deemed not sufficient to address the needs of indigents living in poverty and are reinforcing poverty rather than alleviating it. This has resulted in the dysfunction of municipal administration in terms of their indigent policies' implementation, failing the policies to yield their intended objectives, and as a result, most rural municipalities ended up being characterised as poor in their service delivery. The study argues that indigent policies can be consistent and serve as appropriate tools to fulfil the needs of indigent households, given that they are effectively formulated and their implementation yields desired outcomes. The study employed a qualitative research methodology supplemented by scholarly review of existing literature and document analysis. The study significantly contributes to theory and practice, concludes by proposing possible ways in which the challenges confronting municipal indigent policies can be effectively dealt with, and recommends that further empirical research be conducted to draw conclusions from both primary and secondary data.

This paper sought to prompt rethinking, retooling and remodelling the role of parliamentary diplomacy in the formulation and execution of foreign policy in Zimbabwe. This is in view of the findings from a study the researcher (Gwakwara, 2022) conducted at the Parliament of Zimbabwe, titled “The Role of Parliament of Zimbabwe in Foreign Policy Formulation and Execution (2000-2017)”. The study conducted at the Parliament of Zimbabwe sought to complement studies on parliamentary diplomacy as a critical component of Zimbabwe’s foreign policy, an ultimately critical tool in shaping and controlling foreign policy. It was guided by the social contract theory and role theory. The research used a mixed research methodology. A convenient sample of 70 was interviewed and responded to the survey. Furthermore, an assortment of newspaper articles, documents and other relevant literature on the role of parliamentary diplomacy in foreign policy formulation were also used. The study concluded that the Parliament of Zimbabwe’s involvement in inter-parliamentary bodies (parliamentary diplomacy) from 2000 to 2017 did not make much impact on the executive’s foreign policy position as it lacked substance and vigour due to lack of knowledge, resources, fear of the sponsoring party and an intensely domineering executive. These findings prompted the researchers to propose ways in which retooling and remodelling can assist the Parliament of Zimbabwe to be more effective in the formulation and execution of the country’s foreign policy

A study of every industrial revolution would be incomplete without any reference to the scant inclusion of women in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector. It remains true that a plethora of women are still not extricated from the obfuscation of social inclusion in the technological space. The gender inequalities in ICT remains a perennial problem, consequently prompting a new debate. Closely related to this debate is the scant rate of the inclusion of women in the fourth industrial revolution (4IR). This article opines that men have more freedom to utilise technological devices than women due to, inter alia, limited knowledge regarding technological infrastructure. The article is conceptual in nature and relied on critical scholarship review as a methodological approach to obtain insights. The objective is to argue that gender inequality in ICT is most likely to persist in the 4IR. Furthermore, it provides a summation and conclusion on the 4IR.