The renewed incidents of xenophobia, which engulfed South Africa, dented this country's image, continentally and internationally. These occurrences invoke an unresolved question, thus: Can xenophobic attacks be attributed to tighter or discriminatory immigration policies or are people caught in quandary for socio-economic survival? Similarly to the pogroms in Poland against Jews, xenophobia left fatal scars, not only amongst Africans and nonAfricans, and has affected the informal economy negatively. This article explores the impact of xenophobia on the operations of the informal economy on which the poor depend for socio-economic survival. For the most part of April-May 2015, the streets of Durban were deserted because of the xenophobic attacks on non-South African businesses, particularly those owned by Africans from different parts of the continent. Fear was planted in the city of Durban, which in turn led to the decline in economic activity, both formal and informal sectors, with the later bearing the most brunt. The city was turned into a battle field whereby Afro-hatred was perpetuated with the intention of causing bodily harm and making deportation threats. Nationals from other African countries, mainly Nigerians, Somalis, Malawians, Zimbabweans, Mozambicans, Ethiopians and Congolese were accused of taking jobs meant for locals and suffocating their businesses as well as taking their women. In fear of their lives, non-South Africans were forced to close their businesses and to go into hiding. This article argues that the impact of xenophobia is a double-edged sword and has farreaching implications for both South Africans and non-South Africans as the local city dwellers depend on the services provided by informal businesses. The article uses both primary and secondary data. The empirical data was extracted mainly from the street traders and hawkers eking a living in the informal sector.
This chapter addresses graduate unemployment through student entrepreneurship in the context of South African higher education. The graduate unemployment rate of South Africa is estimated at 33.5% for the youth (15-24) and 10.2% for those aged 25-34. Unemployed graduate phenomenon as depicted by the FeesMustFall campaign is exacerbated by untransformed curriculum which does not provide students with relevant skills matching the labour demands. In this regard, the chapter argues that student entrepreneurship remains one of the strategies university-based youth or students could not only a space to gain business skills and experience, but also a forum where they can put their creative ideas into income generating projects. The chapter first looks at student entrepreneurship and the challenges faced by tertiary students. Second, it explores the opportunities created through entrepreneurship, the challenges faced by student entrepreneurs, and finally, the support needed to run successful student entrepreneurship.
This chapter interrogates the notion of community engagement or service learning. The chapter argues that universities pay lip service to community engagement to the detriment of teaching and research functionaries. Most prestige universities operate on the belief that it is only research that matters; hence, research is prioritized. Universities and their staff have adopted an ‘ivory tower' attitude. This modus operandi negates the reality that reliable knowledge could be produced through responsible community engagement and can become the source of empirical data that can be used for teaching and shared through publications. For universities to impact transformational change within and in their surroundings, community engagement should be elevated to equal teaching and learning.
This chapter critically analyses the FeesMustFall (FMF) campaign led by tertiary students between 2015 and 2017 academic years and its impact in (de)activating student politics and activism at South African universities. Students through their various formations and movements went on a rampage. Considering the decline of students' activism compounded by the dominance of mainstream political parties on campuses, this chapter argues that the 2015-2017 FMF campaign revived the student movement and was fundamental in activating student politics and activism. The chapter argues that despite the sporadic activities led by students, the student movement's activism is in decline. Since this is qualitative study, data from secondary sources (books, accredited journals) were utilized, supplemented by empirical data from selected interviews with individual students and student movements involved in the FMF campaign.
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