Africa Insight
https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ai
<p><em>Africa Insight </em>is a quarterly, peer-reviewed journal of the Africa Institute of South Africa. It is accredited by the South African National Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) and is indexed in the International Bibliography of Social Science (IBSS). It is a multi-disciplinary journal primarily focusing on African Affairs.</p>Africa Institute of South Africaen-USAfrica Insight0256-2804Copyright for articles published in this journal is retained by the journal.The Useless Knowledge in South Africa: The Origins and Way Forward for the Knowledge Economy
https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ai/article/view/261027
<p>This paper critiques Eurocentrism and its racist practices as they relate to academic institutions and unfairness and unjust practices. The critique is located in the context of the growth in literature on the state of scientific knowledge in South Africa. However, scholars and practitioners do not have a shared understanding of this phenomenon. This auto-ethnographic paper revisits this discourse and offers an Afrocentric supervisor’s perspective. The aim is to locate the origins of the notion of ‘useless’ knowledge and proposes measures for realising the envisaged knowledge economy. This aim is achieved by drawing from the author’s insider perspective and interdisciplinary discourse analysis. The author concedes that the quality of scientific knowledge in South Africa is questionable due to several historical factors that manifest in different ways. The author concludes that an argument that such questionable knowledge is useless is misplaced and non-developmental.</p>Kgothatso Brucely Shai
Copyright (c) 2023
2023-12-132023-12-13523116Improving Programme Risk Management Practice in Southern Africa
https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ai/article/view/261028
<p>Large southern African project-based programmes and region-specific implementation challenges require region-specific guidance to optimise programme success. Using an online survey, this mixed method study first quantitatively identified priority programme risk management challenges. The survey data indicated inadequate programme risk management skills as a critical regional challenge. As these skills systemically encompass other identified challenges, the subsequent study phase used a skills-based literature review and interviews with experienced programme risk management practitioners to explore skills improvement. This analysis produced a framework comprising structural, technical and personal enablers of programme risk management skills. The study adds both practical value and insight to an under-explored area critical to the southern African development agenda. It could be replicated in other similar regions, thereby adding value to the existing programme management knowledge base.</p>Emmanuel Mulambya Hermien Zaaiman
Copyright (c) 2023
2023-12-132023-12-135231738Allies or Foes?: The Kenya–Somalia Maritime Triangle Dispute and its Implications for Regional Stability
https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ai/article/view/261029
<p>East Africa has been in a state of insecurity rooted in prolonged wars. Political and socio-economic challenges fuel violent extremism and terrorism. A qualitative research methodology with a thematic analysis elucidated the major conflicting issues. This paper examined the conditions amid unsettled seabed resource discovery along the Indian Ocean. East Africa’s rapid exposure to global challenges led to conflicts that destabilised security. The Kenya–Somalia maritime demarcation dispute resonated globally. The International Court of Justice had to rule to the dissatisfaction of the Kenyan government, which fuelled interstate conflict. Consequently, the study explored Kenya–Somalia bilateral relations. To discern whether Kenya and Somalia are foes or allies amid maritime boundary tensions, it is conclusive that resource-related conflict affects peace and security aspirations. The study recommends multifaceted regional integration to avert consequential insecurity outcomes.</p>Sky Lukas Mkuti
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2023-12-132023-12-135233959Health and Safety Concerns among Beneficiaries of a Housing Scheme in South Africa
https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ai/article/view/261030
<p>Housing provision remains a challenge, with the South African government responding with housing schemes to benefit low-income groups. The aim of the study was to assess the health and safety concerns of beneficiaries. A qualitative approach was used to assess the views of beneficiaries regarding health and safety promotion and injury prevention. Fortyfive participants from three provinces were beneficiaries of a low-cost housing scheme. Their interview responses were analysed using thematic content analysis. Beneficiaries had concerns about the quality of the houses and the associated health and safety risks. Participants showed a negative attitude towards their properties, despite accepting delivery after a long wait. Future studies could focus on improving housing standards and inspecting building structures during construction. Similar studies should explore the influence of politics on housing delivery and the provision of municipal services.</p>Tim Zamuxolo Mkuzo Thokozile MayekisoCalvin Gwandure
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2023-12-132023-12-135236075Reconciling Theory with Practice: A Meta-theoretical Analysis of the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ai/article/view/261031
<p>Since its inception, the United Nations (UN) Peacekeeping operations have evolved alongside changing peace and security dynamics. These changes have led to doctrinal and operational reconfigurations of the architecture and theoretical underpinnings of peacekeeping as a tool for conflict management. In particular, and more recently, the transition from liberal to sustaining peace paradigms has re-affirmed the importance of certain operational peace models and birthed new analytical frames. These new framings notwithstanding, academic literature claiming transformation in the context of the UN’s operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), reflects more of a continuum than transformation in the guiding framework in practice. This paper examines the theoretical and operational frames in the discourse of UN missions and their validity in analysing UN Peacekeeping missions in the DRC. Using a qualitative discourse approach, the authors find significant differences in the conceptual parameters used to evaluate progress made by UN missions and suggest that the gaps be bridged by reconciling theory and practice in a changing global security environment.”</p>Charles NyuykongeSiphamandla Zondi
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2023-12-132023-12-135237693Book Review: The Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Recolonisation of Africa
https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ai/article/view/261032
<p>No Abstract</p>Everisto Benyera
Copyright (c) 2023
2023-12-132023-12-135239496