Mbonalelo kha vhurangaphanda ha vhafumakadzi: young Vhavenḓa women’s views on their traditional leadership roles historically and post-1994
- Authors: Nengwekhulu, Omphulusa
- Date: 2025-04-25
- Subjects: Chiefdoms South Africa , South Africa Politics and government 1994- , Colonialism , Apartheid South Africa , Primogeniture South Africa , Patriarchy South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/478427 , vital:78186
- Description: This is a qualitative research study that examines how young Vhavenḓa women in post-apartheid South Africa views different traditional leadership roles that Vhavenḓa women have historically played and continue to play in Venḓa society. Therefore, the research question that this Master of Arts (MA) research study sought to research is the following: How do young, 21st-century Vhavenḓa women view the traditional leadership roles historically and currently held by Vhavenḓa women in Vhavenḓa society? To grapple with this research question, this study employed a combination of purposive and snowball sampling strategies to recruit seven research participants. Research participants were interviewed using a semi-structured interview approach, which allowed the researcher to build rapport with research participants. Data was manually coded into five themes, namely: 1) The Role of Makhadzi in Traditional Leadership Among the Venḓa Community, 2) The Role of Vhakoma in Traditional Leadership Among the Venḓa Community, 3) The Role of Vhakololo in Traditional Leadership Among the Venḓa Community, 4) The customary practice of male primogeniture and how it contradicts the South African Constitution post-1994, and 5) The socialisation process that puts boys and men on a leadership pedestal. The data was then analysed and discussed in Chapters Four and Five through an Africana Womanist theoretical framework. An important finding in this study is that makhadzi, the father’s sister and also a woman who is a custodian of traditional leadership, is the traditional role that all the participants recognised as the leadership role that Vhavenḓa women have historically played and continue to play. Another role identified by participants as significant within the Venḓa leadership structure is Vhakoma, the Queen Mother and the chief's mother. However, there was limited familiarity with the role of Vhakololo, the royal members or people born into the royal family, as only one participant identified it as a leadership role traditionally occupied by Vhavenḓa women. Research participants suggested that colonial modernity contributes to a lack of knowledge about their culture. Another important finding of this study is that in post-1994 South Africa, there has been a tension between customary practices such as male primogeniture and the South African Constitution. Consequently, some women leaders have used the courts to challenge this practice. Ultimately, this study contributes to the discourse about women’s empowerment and the dismantling of patriarchal structures that undermine women's potential as leaders in the Venḓa context. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Political and International Studies, 2025
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- Date Issued: 2025-04-25
Resisting gender-based violence in post-1994 South Africa
- Authors: Dube, Nobuhle Lynn
- Date: 2025-04-25
- Subjects: Gender-based violence South Africa 1994- , Activism , Social media , Masculinity , Patriarchy , Women Violence against South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/478416 , vital:78185
- Description: This study investigates the origins of gender-based violence, along with some of the legal, policing, and socio-cultural barriers to effectively addressing gender-based violence in post-1994 South Africa, as perceived and articulated by Black women activists. To that end, this study conducted semi-structured interviews with eight Black South African women activists involved in the fight against GBV, based in different parts of the country. The analysis and the discussion of the research findings are framed around six themes and theorised through an African feminism lens. A key finding of this research project is that GBV in post-1994 South Africa can be attributed to multiple sources which include poverty, African culture, women’s liberation in post-1994 South Africa, patriarchy, and toxic masculinities. Another finding of the study is that GBV activists joined the fight against GBV for various reasons, which included personal experience with GBV, a development of feminist consciousness, and a desire to change the justice system and how society understands GBV. A consistent theme in the interviews was that the struggle against GBV is not the sole responsibility of women and girls and that society as a whole bears the responsibility for the fight against GBV. While participants recognised the importance of the compulsory South African high school subject – the life orientation syllabus – participants pointed out that this subject tends to focus mainly on unplanned teenage pregnancies, the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases, and HIV prevention among young people in South Africa. Thus, the life orientation syllabus foregrounds the dangers of sex, rather than prioritising encouraging students to recognise GBV and equip students with tools to effectively deal with it. Research participants highlighted the importance and benefits of getting involved in the fight against GBV. Participants further recounted that it was the #TheTotalShutDown movement in 2018 that led to President Cyril Ramaphosa meeting with the organisers of #TheTotalShutDown and forming an organising committee, consisting of representatives from the presidency, non-profit groups, and the organisers of #TheTotalShutdown, who worked together to produce the National Strategic Plan against GBV & Femicide which led to the introduction of legislation such as the Domestic Violence Amendment Act 14 of 2022, the Criminal and Related Matters Amendment Act 12 of 2022, and The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act 13 of 2022. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Political and International Studies, 2025
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- Date Issued: 2025-04-25
Racism against Black soccer players in the English Premier League
- Authors: Zinyemba, Douglas Takudzwa
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Racism in sports , Soccer players England , Athletes, Black England , FA Premier League , Racism in mass media , Soccer fans , Race discrimination , Online hate speech
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/425300 , vital:72227
- Description: This study analyses racism against black players in the English Premier League. To that end, this thesis studies online articles published between 2018 and 2021 by two British tabloids, namely, The Daily Mail and The Sun, to make sense of the various ways in which black soccer players experience racism. This thesis uses the theoretical concept of “racial xenophobia” to analyse and understand expressions of antipathy towards black players playing in the Premier League. A key finding in the thesis suggests that fans and players racially abuse black players in the stadiums by liking them to animals and treating them as sub-human. Another finding in the study is that fans use the bad performances of black players as an excuse to racially abuse them via social media platforms. Social media in the 21st century has now accelerated the rate at which racism is perpetrated as fans now have more access to players through their accounts. The study also found that tabloids do not only report about racist abuse but are also guilty of portraying black players in racially stereotypical ways. This research concludes that racism against black players remains a constant feature of football in the English Premier League from the time black players started to feature in the sport in the 1970s. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Political and International Studies, 2023
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- Date Issued: 2023-10-13
A discourse analysis of media representation of women political leaders in Uganda
- Authors: Kemirembe, Grace
- Date: 2023-03-30
- Subjects: Discourse analysis , Media representation , Representation (Philosophy) , Women in mass media , Women politicians Uganda
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/408908 , vital:70536
- Description: This study is a qualitative desktop research project. The study employed a Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis to analyse and unpack the discursive ways in which female politicians are discussed and talked about in Ugandan online media. This study was a response to the realisation that online media portrayals of female politicians in Uganda remain largely unexplored. Additionally, the study discovered that the Daily Monitor and The Observer, the two newspapers that this thesis researched, often employ gender stereotypes and sexist coverage of female politicians in Uganda using personalisation, trivialisation and demonisation frames. The study illustrates that these misogynistic frames are intended to diminish women’s importance in the political sphere. Moreover, women who do not conform to the gender stereotypes are portrayed as social deviants. This work concludes that one of the challenges faced by women politicians in Uganda, and in Africa as a whole, is how to exploit online media’s productive capacity while, at the same time, resisting its use as an instrument that undermines them. Given the limited scope of the study using only two media organisations, future studies on media representation of female politicians could expand the range to include print and visual sources to provide generalisable results. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Political and International Studies, 2023
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- Date Issued: 2023-03-30
Enforced sojourn: Zimbabwean dispensation, special and exemption permits
- Authors: Maziyanhanga, Zvikomborero
- Date: 2023-03-30
- Subjects: Citizenship , Immigrants South Africa , Residence permit , Foreign workers, Zimbabwean South Africa , Discrimination , Emigration and immigration law South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/408913 , vital:70537
- Description: This thesis investigates Zimbabwean’s immigration to South Africa. Zimbabwean’s immigration to South Africa dates back to the early 2000s. This thesis uses a combination of theories to interrogate and discuss the Zimbabwe special permits and some of the post-apartheid government’s amendments to the South African Citizenship Act and other immigration policies. Some of the theories that theoretically underpin this research project’s methodology include Marxism, Pan-Africanism, Liberalism and culture-based theories. This thesis interrogates the discursive strategies these permits draw on to frame and understand Zimbabwean immigrants in South Africa. This study has found that these permits use similar operating logic as the White South African governments used the migrant labour system to exploit Blacks from all of Southern Africa in the 20th century. For instance, the migrant labour system used during apartheid made all Blacks in South Africa “guest workers” who could be deported at the government’s whim. The apartheid government used racist pass laws to regulate the movement of Black people in South Africa, whereas the post-apartheid government uses Zimbabwean special permits to regulate the movement of Zimbabweans in South Africa. The pass laws were fundamentally racist, and their ultimate objective was to reinforce the idea of White citizenship, whereas the Zimbabwe special permits are not racist. Their colonial similarity, however, lies in how they make Zimbabwean migrants perpetual migrants in South Africa and the various ways in which they cast Zimbabweans as not deserving of South African citizenship. These special permits force Zimbabwe migrants to become “guest workers” who build the post-apartheid economy and then return home when they are no longer “useful” to the economy. This thesis concludes that the post-apartheid Zimbabwe special permits achieve analogous objectives. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Political and International Studies, 2023
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- Date Issued: 2023-03-30