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Administrative office employees spend much time confined in their workspaces as they work hard to provide the critical support required for the overall performance of their organizations. As a result, their comfort should be given priority by their organizations, be it private or public. This article investigated the administrative employees’ perceptions of their offices’ physical environment comfort in a public university. Different aspects of their physical environment, such as furniture, noise, office temperature, lighting and space, were examined as variables influencing their performance. The systematization of literary sources for solving the problem of arranging a comfortable physical environment in private organizations proved a significant dependence of the productivity of employees on the physical environment in which they perform their duties. However, there is the scarcity of research conducted in a public organization, especially in the higher education sector. The methodological tool of the research was the method of quantitative analysis, in which a questionnaire was used to collect data from 81 administrative staff of a public university with several campuses in South Africa. The findings indicated that many respondents generally perceived a comfortable physical environment necessary to increase performance. These were, however, not always matched by their perceptions of what transpired at their offices. For instance, 63% of respondents viewed comfortable furniture as critical for the performance of their duties. Nevertheless, only 55% of respondents agreed that their university furniture was comfortable, with 24% disagreeing and 21% taking a neutral stance. The split in perceptions makes it imperative for the university to attend to areas of weakness and inequality in providing physical environment resources. A future study could examine whose offices are more comfortable than others in university contexts. In addition, a promising direction of future research should be the reconciliation of employees’ perception of the comfort of the physical environment in offices with the results of observations. This will enrich the obtained results.

The shortage of nurses is a global crisis, particularly in remote and rural communities. Contributory factors are retirements, resignations, recent increased deaths due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the reduced production of nurses because of high attrition rates. This article's purpose was to investigate the provision of student support in the nursing education institution (NEI) of the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province in South Africa and come up with a model to improve completion rates. The researchers intentionally selected three KZN campuses based on their demographical location and programme offerings for the study. For data collection through in-depth interviews, the study adopted a case study design and employed a qualitative explorative approach, purposely sampling the NEI's senior academic staff. Strauss and Corbin's stages of coding were used to conduct the data analysis. The findings suggest comprehensive orientation and academic support as strong measures applied by the NEI to provide student support services and highlighted a need to improve enabling resources. Psychosocial support was predominantly provided by the hospital, which implied a lack of on-site comprehensive support. A necessity for developing a comprehensive student support model for the NEI emerged from the study. The model is expected to enhance the support and, in turn, increase completion rates.

The Constitution for the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996) embraces language as a basic human right and multilingualism as a national resource. One latest foreign language to be given recognition by the Department of Basic Education (DBE) in 2015 is Mandarin, a Chinese language, for incremental implementation as a non-official optional language from 2016 in primary schools. One of the stakeholders at the centre of the implementation of this latest foreign language to be recognised, whose voice has not been heard, are teachers. The methodology adapted in the collection of data is quantitative in that pre-service teachers completed a questionnaire. The results indicate mixed attitudes with more appearing to be not entirely supportive of this move by the DBE. Teachers do not share the same sentiments that are expressed at political level about the significance of Mandarin for trade and globalisation. The findings suggest a need for the DBE to rethink this plan and training proportional to the minimum training requirements for the teaching of a foreign language to be provided to teachers. There would need to be some consultation to ensure a greater teachers’ support as the project continues to be piloted and implemented in more schools across the country.

Born a Crime: Stories from South African Childhood is a captivating memoir penned by a globally acclaimed South African comedian, Trevor Noah, delving into the hardships he and those around him endured during the oppressive Apartheid-era government and colonialism. This article analyzes instances where the comedian author employs a self-deprecating humour style to add depth to his narrative of stories from South African childhood. To conduct this analysis, we adopt cognitive and incongruity theoretical frameworks. Our methodology is qualitative, involving the analysis of selected texts to present thematic data. The findings reveal that the author's transparency about his life, from the title of the book to his relationships with others, delves into painful details of his childhood experiences during the traumatic history of the nation in which there was oppression. However, he presents these experiences with selfdeprecating humour that simultaneously entertains and educates readers about the socioeconomic issues prevalent in South Africa at the time. Noah's storytelling strategy can be understood within the context of comedians' freedom to explore sensitive matters about themselves to entertain their audience.

Over the years, curriculum reforms have formed part of Lesotho's attempt to address the socio-economic development factor through education policies such as the Lesotho curriculum and assessment policy (CAP) framework, introduced in 2009. This framework is meant to guide curriculum development and design processes. Through content analysis, this article seeks to highlight the representation of the curricular spider-web model's concepts, which guide effective curriculum development, in the policy framework. Curriculum and assessment policy framework and the guide to continuous assessment document, which is a counteractive document that acts as an amendment of the 2009 policy, were analysed using the guided analysis method. Findings suggest that there are some concepts, which are neglected by the framework. This may have a negative bearing on the curriculum development process. This article draws from the curricular spider-web to recommend a review of the CAP framework towards inclusion and alignment of omitted concepts for the facilitation of an effective curriculum design process.

This study examines the advertising tactics and possible misleading components in two television ads for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), WAW detergent, and Sunlight. Research identifies and examines the types of claims, deceptive tactics, and message content used in each commercial using Schrank's framework of advertising claims. According to the analysis, both brands used implied and unique claims to differentiate themselves from the competition and convey the advantages of their brands, especially when using suggestive language and visual storytelling. Through subtle and distinctive claims, Sunshine detergent emphasized freshness and cleaning power; puffery was found to be the only dishonest component, mostly in the overstated repetition of advantages such as long-lasting freshness. However, the WAW detergent commercial used a wider variety of persuasive strategies, including implied, unique, and puffery claims in addition to more overtly dishonest advertising. This included manipulation, which involved emotional appeals and exaggerated claims about the product's efficacy, as well as puffery, which used superlative and exaggerated terms like \"amazing\" and \"a lot.\" The results raise ethical questions regarding the use of exaggerated imagery and emotionally charged messaging in the promotion of FMCG products, as they imply that WAW's commercial engaged in more extensive deceptive advertising practices than Sunlight. In assessing advertising content, the study emphasizes the importance of critical media literacy and more stringent regulatory oversight. The study concludes that advertisers frequently use unique and implied claims to convey the advantages of their products and differentiate them from rivals. These claim types were purposefully employed to appeal to consumers' needs for freshness and efficient cleaning.

“Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood” is a bestselling memoir that was written by Trevor Noah, a South African-born comedian of global acclaim. In the book, Noah relives his upbringing in South Africa, when apartheid policies and legislation were designed and harshly implemented to keep the country’s citizens apart based on race and ethnicity. Yet, in relieving this oppressive and traumatic period and proceeding to the 1994 democratic era, Noah applies humor as a storytelling strategy to downplay this harsh period. Hence, this paper adopts the incongruity theory to present the juxtaposition that is evident in the form of surprises and tensions in the narrative, which the readers may find humorous. In addition, the paper draws on Apartheid Studies and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as theoretical frameworks to conduct this qualitative study. CDA is used as a research tool to indicate how a text authored by a comedian from the global south is used to humorously resist political and social power relations. It is found that Noah manages to criticize the segregation that was there in a subtle manner and to educate the audience through humor about socio-economic challenges in the country. Even though his writing is mainly in a language of the global north for possible economic reasons, he draws from the languages of the global south to correctly represent the culture of the South African people he is part of.

This paper examined South African politicians' (re)presentation in Tony Leon’s regular column, On the contrary, which appeared in The Times newspaper from 2012 to 2017. This period in South African politics is made interesting by the fact that it coincides with the time when there was mounting pressure for the then president, Jacob Zuma, of the ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), to step down, especially between 7 January 2015 and 21 March 2017. Tony Leon, who also once served as a councilor for the Democratic Party (DA), one of the major opposition parties in South Africa is the columnist who at the time authors the on the contrary column. This creates interesting research on how the columnist and the newspaper are able or not to maintain ethical journalism. In conducting the study, this article employs the framing theory and critical discourse analysis (CDA) as research tools to assess the columnists’ objectivity and bias in his depiction of the then president and several prominent politicians during the examined period. Data analysis constitutes six newspaper articles which were purposively selected to obtain a representative sample. The results indicated that these articles were well-researched in respect of the information they presented. At the same time, biased tendencies were noted in favor of the political party aligned to the columnist.

\"Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood\" is a bestselling memoir that was written by Trevor Noah, a South African-born comedian of global acclaim. In the book, Noah relives his upbringing in South Africa, when apartheid policies and legislation were designed and harshly implemented to keep the country's citizens apart based on race and ethnicity. Yet, in relieving this oppressive and traumatic period and proceeding to the 1994 democratic era, Noah applies humor as a storytelling strategy to downplay this harsh period. Hence, this paper adopts the incongruity theory to present the juxtaposition that is evident in the form of surprises and tensions in the narrative, which the readers may find humorous. In addition, the paper draws on Apartheid Studies and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as theoretical frameworks to conduct this qualitative study. CDA is used as a research tool to indicate how a text authored by a comedian from the global south is used to humorously resist political and social power relations. It is found that Noah manages to criticize the segregation that was there in a subtle manner and to educate the audience through humor about socio-economic challenges in the country. Even though his writing is mainly in a language of the global north for possible economic reasons, he draws from the languages of the global south to correctly represent the culture of the South African people he is part of.

African Indigenous Knowledge Systems (AIKS) are values that were passed among African generations by word of mouth. Despite the Fourth Industrial Revolution's (4IR) facilitation of rapid communication for every aspect of society, many Africans have not embraced it to store AIKS, mainly due to concerns over biases and prejudices embedded in aspects like information and communication technologies (ICTs). Using decoloniality theory, this paper aims to show the importance of AIKS, which faces extinction due to the combined effects of the deaths of members of the old generation and acculturation. In the methodology section, Afrocentricity, which celebrates rootedness in African culture and history, was used together with storytelling as a means to examine the perceptions of Afrocentric scholars as revealed in their folktale works that were analyzed qualitatively. Results revealed that lack of exposure to ICTs is one of the main reasons for the scant AIKS virtual literature. Many African people do not have access to other needs like food, education, clothing, electricity, and shelter, which effectively renders ICTs ‘secondary, yet access to information and participation are fundamental rights. We urge stakeholders to implement policies that promote the preservation of AIKS in electronic repositories. Memory devices and other ICT accessories should be responsive to African cultures. Investment in ICT infrastructure and training, reliable electricity, and addressing all the basics are critical.