AFFRIKA Journal of Politics, Economics and Society

Professional development of teachers is significant to classroom practices; this is why it‘s necessary for teachers to engage in regular in-service professional development activities. The purpose of teachers‘ professional development is to enhance their classroom practices for better performance of their learners. This paper aims at providing the need to understand teachers as adult learners in various professional developments designed for teachers. It will help on how teachers are trained with appropriate and needed professional needs, as well as the types of communication approach that can be used in different professional development activities; which can enhance the effectiveness and the usefulness of such professional development activities to teachers‘ classroom practices. Quality of teachers translates to the education system in any country; teachers are critically significant to the educational system. It is, therefore, important that teachers are provided with appropriate and needed professional development activities, where they can actively learn what can be adopted or integrated into their classroom practices. Ideally, professional development activities are to provide collaborative support and training to teachers to make them better in classrooms. These activities should be continuous to sustain the dynamic education system of today. The professional development activities impact meaningfully on teachers‘ development, teachers‘ skills and attitudes are enhanced for classroom practices, further snowballing into the quality of education learners receive. Therefore, the integration of a few basic principles of adult learning into the design of teacher professional development activities can improve classroom practices of teachers. This conceptual paper explores some of these concepts and how the characteristics of adult learners, self-directed learning, transformative learning and critical reflection can enhance classroom practices.

This paper is focusing on the culture of ukuhlola. Ukuhlola is a part of the cultural practices for virginity testing. There is a debate among the chapter 9 institutions that protect constitutional democracy in South Africa on the constitutionality of certain cultures including Ukuhlola. The South Africa Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), as one of the chapter 9 state institutions supporting constitutional democracy, is mandated amongst others to promote respect for human rights and cultural practice. It also promotes the protection, development, and attainment of human rights. It is within this mandate that the Human Rights Commission has observed the debates surrounding the prohibition of Ukuhlola (virginity testing) in the Children‘s Bill. Ukuhlola has been historically regarded as a vital social tool to bring pride to virgin girls, the parents, and the community. Ukuhlola is still practiced in some of the communities in South Africa, Nguni communities. Ukuhlola culture originated from the Zulu culture and is prevalent mostly in the KwaZulu-Natal Province. The motive was to receive the full lobola (the eleventh cow). Ukuhlola practice phased out during the past century but has gradually made a return in various areas of South Africa, including KwaZulu-Natal, in recent years. South Africa‘s Moral Regeneration Movement has decided to use the return of ukuhlola of teenage girls as a tool to fight against women's abuse, teenage pregnancies, and HIV& AIDS. However, gender equality is a chapter 9 organization meant to protect the fundamental human right, while the South African Constitution is the supreme law of the land. And any law that is inconsistent with the Constitution is unconstitutional.

This article investigates whether the practice of ukuhlola could pass the constitutional muster. To achieve this objective, the article considers fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution. The article also considers various case law, journals, textbooks, and internet sources on application and protection of the rights. After considering the fundamental rights and applicable sources, the article concludes that the practice of ukuhlola is indeed unconstitutional.

High rate of youth unemployment in South Africa (highest in the world at 54.7% in 2018) has been associated with several issues. Among other key issues, poor involvement of youth in entrepreneurial activities is prevalent, leaving scholars with tasks of providing lasting solution. Over the years, discourse on the concern revolves around physical, environment, economic, as well as political issues with little attention on social and cultural issues associated with the challenge. Assumptions are that interventions may not suffice given that every society is built on these two actors. In an attempt to address the gap, this study follows an exploratory sequential mixed method research design to provide insight into sociocultural issues responsible for poor involvement of the youth with specific focus on young graduates in Thohoyandou. Snowball sampling was followed in the data collection, utilising semi-structured and structured questionnaires for the interviews. The analysis was performed using Atlas-ti v8 (thematic/report-based analysis) and descriptive statistics through SPSS v25. Drawing from 56 participants, it was observed that reference group and family influence (35%); personal lifestyle and standards 34%; and entrepreneurship orientation in the society (31%) emerged. We recommend community engagement for enhanced orientation on entrepreneurial development. There is also a need to strengthen the place of entrepreneurship in the institutions of higher learning.