The Christian church in Zimbabwe radically indicated the courage and consciousness to identify itself with the struggle for liberation of the marginalised, the oppressed and the impoverished, more specifically in the context of chimurenga or the armed struggle. Thus, the Kairos model of ecclesiology consistently and unequivocally supported masses who were the majority Zimbabweans during the protracted struggle of the 1970s against racial system, thereby assuming such designations as the church of struggle, the Church of chimurenga, the church in trenches (...) and combat with the people; hence, the liberationist language signalled a symbol of Kairos consciousness for Zimbabwean ecclesiology. Kairos consciousness implies the liberationist methodological framework of ecclesiology when the church becomes the interlocutor and articulator identified and associated with non-persons. Furthermore, the non-persons, the impoverished and the marginalised occupy the epicentre of epistemological space in ecclesiological discourse. Precisely, the socio-economic and political landscape of Zimbabwe radically shifted from 2000 onwards, marking the genesis of a crisis. This article based on ecclesiology investigates prophetic role and the impact of the church in the context of Zimbabwean crisis. (shrink)

The decision to divorce marks a turning point for every individual involved. It can be viewed as more than just a legal process. From a psychological perspective, it does not matter who initiated the divorce, since it always comes with emotional ramifications for all those involved. Statistically, there is a high rate of divorce in South Africa and there have been significant shifts in trends over time. While black South African men’s experience of divorce has been relatively neglected in the (...) research on divorce, it is important for understanding contemporary social arrangements and processes, and, in particular, for broadening the understanding of black South African men’s lives. How black South African men describe their experience and respond to marital dissolution may point to their positions in the gender-structured community as well as illuminate how they interpret the nature of social practice, marriage, divorce and their position in society. The aim of the research reported on in this paper was to explore black South African men’s experience of divorce. The theoretical framework underpinning this qualitative study was broadly that of Symbolic Interactionism, with Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis employed as both the research design and data analytic theory and process. The eight participants were volunteers who were recruited purposively. In keeping with IPA guidelines, data-collection proceeded by means of biographical questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The emerging themes were grouped into three superordinate themes, namely, perceptions of divorce, social support, and experiencing of pain. Each superordinate theme had corresponding subordinate themes and experiential claims. Weed’s recommendations for the interpretative synthesis of interview data were applied. (shrink)

Faced with the serious threat of the deadly coronavirus, governments of different nations were swift to respond to the pandemic by declaring national lockdowns. Having confirmed fewer than ten cases of coronavirus that had tested positive, Zimbabwe called for a national lockdown which initially lasted three weeks before declaring it ‘indefinite’. Despite the fact that the lockdown declared in Zimbabwe was in the interest of public health, anecdotal evidence indicates that there has been an inextricable nexus between the lockdown and (...) increased corrupt tendencies. This paper, which is a product of qualitative research, utilised a narrative research approach and documentary analysis to explicate the relationship between Zimbabwe’s coronavirus lockdown and corruption. The paper looks at the different forms of corruption that occurred during the coronavirus lockdown in Zimbabwe and the implication of these on the well-being and welfare of economically vulnerable groups. In conclusion, the paper indicates the role that can be played by pro-human rights professionals such as social workers in the fight against corruption during emergency times to ensure transparency and accountability. (shrink)

Modelling that exploits visual elements and information visualisation are important areas that have contributed immensely to understanding and the computerisation advancements in many domains and yet remain unexplored for the benefit of the law and legal practice. This paper investigates the challenge of modelling and expressing structures and processes in legislation and the law by using visual modelling and information visualisation (InfoVis) to assist accessibility of legal knowledge, practice and knowledge formalisation as a basis for legal AI. The paper uses (...) a subset of the well-defined Unified Modelling Language (UML) to visually express the structure and process of the legislation and the law to create visual flow diagrams called lawmaps, which form the basis of further formalisation. A lawmap development methodology is presented and evaluated by creating a set of lawmaps for the practice of conveyancing and the Landlords and Tenants Act 1954 of the United Kingdom. This paper is the first of a new breed of preliminary solutions capable of application across all aspects, from legislation to practice; and capable of accelerating development of legal AI. (shrink)

Corporate citizenship is a prominent international issue as contemporary corporations are no longer expected to perform financially, but are also expected to have an ethical relationship of responsibility between the corporate itself and the society in which it operates and performs it business activities. Provides an up-to-date theoretical content pertaining to corporate citizenship, providing local and global examples and case studies.