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African Journal of Public Affairs

Publishes under the auspices of the “African Consortium of Public Administration” within the broader range of issues relating to African Development, African Diaspora, Politics, Economics, Public Policy, African Public Administration, African Leadership, African Diaspora Issues
Publisher | African Consortium of Public Administration (ACPA) |
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Frequency | Quarterly |
Coverage | Vol 9 Issue 5 2017 - current |
Language | English |
Journal Status | Active |
Collection(s) |
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A conceptual analysis for understanding water scarcity and its threats to international peace and security
Although there is awareness of the nature of civil wars and their consequences on human lives in Africa, conflicts triggered by water scarcity have not been explored. The article aims to determine to what extent are watersheds constituting threats to international peace and security. The likelihood of water conflicts is increasing as populations continue to grow and climate change continues to manifest. Water has become a strategic tool and an instrument of ethnic and religious conflicts leading to intrastate and interstate conflicts in Africa and beyond. It led to bloody skirmishes in Tana River, a coastal region of Kenya, in Darfur in the northern region of Sudan and in the Amu Darya basin between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and Israel. The need to enhance mediation and diplomatic negotiation skills, water governance skills, and to deal with impacts of climate change, global warming and the preservation of the environment is significant. The article adopted a qualitative research design in terms of an analytical and exploratory approach.
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Challenges and opportunities for education in the Fourth Industrial Revolution
The purpose of this article is to determine the challenges and opportunities for education in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) context. This article particularly focuses on the South African education sector, and is based on a desktop study. Unobtrusive research techniques, including documentary analysis and conceptual analysis, were used to analyse authoritative sources to conceptualise and contextualise the 4IR and education. The findings of the study suggest that the education sector in South Africa faces a number of challenges in order to adapt to the 4IR. These challenges include insufficient funding, infrastructure, and skills to prepare graduates to participate in the 4IR. The findings also suggest that the government should invest in the development of infrastructure and human, technical, and financial capacity to develop the education system to participate in the 4IR.
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Corruption perceptions and their effects on young graduates’ attitudes towards public sector recruitment processes and trust in public institutions - a quantitative exploration of students from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
Public sector recruitment in South Africa has continued to be a topic of much interest, by virtue of being the country’s largest employer, public sector recruitment processes thus attract significant scrutiny. Moreover, graduate employment in the public sector through learnerships, internships and graduate programmes focusing on the youth in particular is regarded as one of the most important initiatives to deal with skills development and youth unemployment which is also alarmingly high. However, concerns on corruption and maladministration in the public sector has affected trust in key public institutions. Subsequently, data from various research institutions such as Afrobarometer and the Human Sciences Research Council indicates that there has been an increase in corruption concerns from South African citizens across the board. Therefore, it is against this backdrop that through a quantitative research methodology this article seeks to explore what effect, if any, does public corruption perceptions have on young graduates’ attitudes towards public sector recruitment processes, trust in public institutions and their desires towards working in the public sector upon graduating.
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The nexus between water, neoliberalism and sustainable development in postapartheid South Africa
This article investigates the link between water neoliberalism and sustainable development in South Africa. Few studies have provided a comprehensive analysis of how privatising a public resource like water impacts a country like South Africa. In this regard, the article analyses whether the South African government’s postapartheid privatisation policy has reached its goal of ensuring that all citizens have improved access to water and sanitation.The research methodology entailed a desktop analysis of literature and official documents to conceptualise the area of investigation. The methodological approach included specific dimensions of unobtrusive research techniques, such as conceptual and document analysis. Authoritative books, articles, as well as statutory, regulatory and policy documents were used as data-collection sources. Results indicate that the privatisation of water services in South Africa did not entail a change of ownership from public to private management. Rather, it has introduced modern techniques such as marginal cost accounting. The research found that this system does not support the sustainable development of water usage in South Africa’s urban areas. This is mainly due to a lack of required skills and technological expertise to manage municipalities’ water infrastructure. The principle of marginal cost accounting in South Africa’s privatisation process is a product of classical economics that is to the detriment of poor citizens who cannot afford those services.
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Voices of critical skilled migrants in South Africa - a case study of Gauteng province
This study investigates ways in which South Africa could attract, recruit, retain and integrate critical skilled immigrants into different sectors of the economy to meet its acute shortage of skills needed for growth and development. This study focusses on Gauteng province using a primary qualitative survey. The study finds that South Africa attracts critical skills due to its advanced tertiary level education infrastructure, proximity to the home countries of African skilled migrants, relatively better institutional quality, as well as somewhat better economic outlook and better career prospects at a higher level of skills. On the contrary, high crime levels, social unrest and general anti-foreigner sentiments are factors that make South Africa unattractive to critical skilled migrants. South Africa also needs to transition from a reactive to a proactive policy stance in its immigration policy management for critical skills, improve service delivery and design programmes to properly integrate migrants into South African society. South Africa’s global competitiveness in the hunt for the best and brightest will be greatly enhanced if its attractive attributes are properly leveraged and deterrent characteristics comprehensively addressed.
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Community profiling as instrument to enhance project planning in local government
Project planning in the South African local government sector is relatively complex. Therefore, this activity requires specific expertise and knowledge about the community’s context in which projects will be designed and executed. There is ample evidence of ineffective project design in local government and the general absence of robust evidence-based planning instruments to align and match municipal resources, service provider competencies, and project team capabilities with community realities. Municipal project teams thus need an in-depth understanding of the communities they serve. Community-based planning, as mandated by S16(1) of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000, requires a systematic approach to ensure communities interact and engage with the appropriate service delivery interventions. In this regard, an essential instrument entails the applied principles and processes of community profiling.This article contributes to the praxis of applying project management in local government settings. The main contribution is outlining the parameters of a community profiling instrument to improve project planning of local governments in community-based interventions.
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© Publisher: African Consortium of Public Administration (ACPA)

© Publisher: African Consortium of Public Administration (ACPA)