Cape Flats Research Articles

Fibromyalgia Today: The Importance Of Psychotherapy

Teachers in high-risk South African schools suffer from stress and burnout as a result of on-going violence and lack of student discipline. An evolutionary psychological approach to self-care was researched in a mixed-method pilot study of 63 teachers in schools in high-risk communities exposed to continuous traumatic stress on the Cape Flats, Western Cape. The before-after control research design comprised interventions based on tension and trauma release exercises (TRE) for primal brain response, transpersonal psychology for paleomammalian emotional brain functions, and transactional analysis for neomammalian cognitive brain insights. This paper considers qualitative findings of perceived benefits of TRE with a group of 17 male and female teachers, 45-50 years, for 15 hours over 10 weeks. These exercises were developed as an integrative neurophysiological approach that recognises the homeostatic and thus therapeutic value of this type of tremor in the human body under stress. Content coding analysis from workshop evaluation forms showed that the TRE intervention offered intra-individual tools, leading to self-understanding and body awareness. It was considered a self-help tool, effective for calm and relaxation. A bottom-up thematic analysis of focus group interviews post-intervention considered relationship with the self, with physical and emotional impacts, self-concept and thinking processes. It also considered relationships with others and the school. It was found that problem-focused somatic coping, with repetition of skills learned in TRE workshops, contributed to teachers developing a sense of self-control and optimism needed to cope better with stressors, thus promoting classroom competency and preventing burnout.

HIV/AIDS in South Africa: Graphic signs countering the stigma and silence

South Africa is one of the countries most affected by HIV/AIDS. Despite this strong presence of HIV/AIDS in South African society the disease remains stigmatised and is not openly talked about. The silence about HIV/AIDS maintained in everyday conversations and the superstitions associated with it have led to creative uses of social media to discuss HIV/AIDS-related issues. This study aims to investigate how South African users resort to specific graphic signs to talk about HIV/AIDS online. The analysis is situated within a theoretical frame-work of small stories. An important feature of the small stories analysed is the stigmatisation of HIV/AIDS and numerous related issues. For this study 368 Facebook status updates and comments concerning HIV/AIDS and its side effects were analysed. All of the participants (80 in total), aged 14–48, lived in the Cape Flats area of Cape Town at the moment of data collection. In most cases the graphic signs display a graphic depiction of the physical, mental and social effects of the illness, different ways of transmission, and everyday life with HIV/AIDS. These semiotic practices employed on Facebook provide insight into how Capetonian users, on the one hand, express solidarity and sympathy with people suffering from HIV/AIDS. On the other hand, the graphic signs are used to (negatively) label and blame people affected by HIV/AIDS. This leads to acts of othering and distancing of people affected by HIV/AIDS. Thus, in the South African context social media have become an important space and means for communicating HIV/AIDS issues. As users from the Cape Flats draw on a range of graphic signs to discuss diverse HIV/AIDS-related issues online despite the stigmatisation, these graphic signs might create new opportunities to fight HIV/AIDS.

The Restoration of Erica verticillata

The Threatened Species Programme at the South African National Biodiversity Institute, Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, is integrated to include both ex situ and in situ conservation activities. Plant conservation is driven by South Africa’s Strategy for Plant Conservation which was developed in response to the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation.
 This case study examines the conservation of Erica verticillata (whorl heath), a flagship for threatened species at Kirstenbosch, and documents the integration of ex situ with in situ conservation at three areas on the Cape Flats. The whorl heath was thought to be extinct by 1950. Horticulturists have since rediscovered eight clones in botanic gardens worldwide, the Heather Society and commercial growers. Ex situ conservation in botanic garden collections and the Millennium Seed Bank has since allowed in situ conservation in the critically endangered Cape Flats Sand Fynbos vegetation type. The process of restoring the whorl heath presented many challenges. Initially attempts were hampered by limited available knowledge on suitable niche habitats. Pioneering work carried out at Rondevlei Nature Reserve identified the suitable habitat and this was applied in subsequent in situ work at Kenilworth Racecourse Conservation Area and at Tokai Park – the only natural areas remaining in or near this species’ historical distribution range. Successful re-establishment of this species depends upon its capacity to recruit after fire, which is an essential ecological process in the fynbos. Many clones have been in cultivation for a long time and are poor seed producers: seed production was first recorded at Rondevlei only after additional clones were planted together. Only one population (Rondevlei) to date has seen a fire and thus has recruited seedlings; however these are competing with vigorous companion plants.
 The study continues and is currently exploring the role of herbivory in the restoration process. The key lesson learnt to date is the need to include sustainable management of the entire ecosystem in the restoration process and not limit it to single species. Success in restoring a species depends upon a healthy stand of the vegetation type in place, along with pollinators and other key fauna and other natural ecosystem processes. It is recommended that successful re- establishment of a species in fynbos requires the reintroduced population to survive three fire cycles.

Youth ministry as an agency of youth development for the vulnerable youth of the Cape Flats

Religiosity has a profound role and influence on youth development within a community. Religiosity promotes risk reduction and positive moral characteristics and thus remains an avenue of opportunity for transformation in considering the lived experiences of vulnerable young people living on the Cape Flats in the Western Cape, South Africa. The Cape Flats is an area that is overwhelmed with unemployment, poverty, gang violence, chemical substance abuse and a general societal abandonment of young people. It is out of dire hopelessness that a meaningful relationship with God can be experienced by youth. The Cape Flats is, therefore, a fertile space for an intervention of religiosity. This article will research how the agency of youth ministry as a positive youth development can assist in youth development within a community in tension like that of the Cape Flats. While youth development is a broad category for consideration and research, this article will primarily focus on identity formation of young people, in particular, the vulnerable youth living on the Cape Flats.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The agency of youth ministry, in an evangelical epistemology, should seek to address the influencers on adolescent identity formation, as one’s identity has a direct bearing on faith formation. The potential outcome of the article would allow the youth ministry to take serious the impact of the lived realities of youth and adjust their programmatic designs and outcomes, in relation to youth faith formation.

Changing state of pediatric injuries in South Africa: An analysis of surveillance data from a Pediatric Emergency Department from 2007 to 2011

Pediatric injuries are associated with significant morbidity and mortality, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Data to characterize the cause and risk factors associated with childhood injuries in low- and middle-income countries are very scarce. The aim of this study is to describe the cause of pediatric injuries and their possible changes between 2007 and 2011 using hospital-based data in Cape Town, South Africa. Data from injured children <13years of age who presented to the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital's emergency department in 2007 and 2011 were captured in Childsafe South Africa's trauma surveillance system. Poisson regression was used to assess changes in rates of injury between 2007 and 2011 in terms of demographics, geographic location of injury, type of injury mechanism, injury severity, and anatomic region of the sustained injury. In total, 14,915 injured children with 15,414 injuries presented to Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital in 2007 and 2011. The mean age was 5.01±3.5years and 60.3% were male. Common mechanisms of injury included falls (n=6,036; 40%), road traffic injuries (n=1,939; 13%), burns (n=1,885; 12.6%), and assault (n=640; 4.3%). Comparing 2011 to 2007, the incidence of road traffic injuries has decreased by 7% (P<.05) while burn injuries increased 11% (P<.05). Seventy-three percent (73%) of injuries that presented to Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital occurred in the Cape Flats area of Cape Town, where many informal settlements exist. These epidemiologic findings suggest that while road traffic injuries decreased and burn injuries increased at Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, there is a need for data that are population-based and not hospital based. If we could describe injuries accurately within the pediatric population of a city such as Cape Town, we could in turn use this data to strengthen the need for targeted interventions to address risk factors for pediatric injuries. Despite this, hospital-based data remain a powerful tool to study injuries in low and middle-income countries.

A technological and economic exploration of phosphate recovery from centralised sewage treatment in a transitioning economy context

Phosphate is one of the substances which wastewater treatment works (WWTW) have to lower in order to meet the South African regulatory discharge standard of 1 mg/L. Wastewater is increasingly viewed as a ‘water-carried waste’, presenting opportunities for resource recovery. South Africa has commenced its transition to a low-carbon and resource-efficient economy, all whilst it struggles to provide universal access to basic needs and is faced with massive infrastructure maintenance as well as upgrading backlogs in the sanitation sector in particular. Although phosphate recovery methods exist, there is little evidence to indicate that these techniques would be economically viable or socially accepted in South Africa. This paper explores the potential for centralized recovery of nutrients, through the conceptual design and techno-economic pre-feasibility assessment of two phosphate recovery options, at the largest WWTW in the Western Cape, South Africa. This assessment revealed that the digestate stream at the 200 ML/d Cape Flats WWTW (CFWWTW) has the potential to produce ~470 kg/d of struvite fertilizer, whilst recovering 4–8% of the plant’s costs in 20 years. When contrasted with the more familiar, yet less sustainable, chemical precipitation process, low-grade and high-grade struvite production establishment costs are 10 and 25 times higher, respectively. Still, to reduce effluent phosphate loading to within regulated standards, the low-grade struvite production option at an estimated net present cost of R25.4 million over a 20-year lifetime is more affordable than chemical precipitation at a net present cost of R51.2 million. Low-grade struvite production is thus concluded to be technically feasible and the economically most affordable option from a lifecycle-costs perspective. Although it is a simple process, it is not cheap. Municipalities will need to consider the lower operating costs, as well as the environmental benefit of producing a useful phosphate fertilizer, over the immediate capital investment, if they decide to install such an operation.

Mix En Meng It Op: Emile YX?'s Alternative Race and Language Politics in South African Hip-Hop

Mix En Meng It Op: Emile YX?'s Alternative Race and Language Politics in South African Hip-Hop

Dragging rights, queering publics: realness, self-fashioning and the Miss Gay Western Cape pageant

As a response to significant changes in social conditions for minorities, the Miss Gay Western Cape (MGWC) annual pageant started in Cape Town almost immediately after the change in rights for homosexual and transgendered people that came with the establishment of the new South African constitution in 1996. Over the past two decades, the MGWC has become the most publicly visible and well-attended drag pageant in the Western Cape. In the article, I trace how the pageant – whose aim is to provide a platform for queers of color to perform in a secure environment without exploitation – entails a number of complex movements: across the urban landscape, between poorer peripheral suburbs (Cape Flats, Atlantis) and the predominantly white city center; among and between gender identities, from a fluid and performative conception of drag to the intentional fixity of trans identities; from local performance contexts to the powerful influence of the global phenomenon RuPaul’s Drag Race, a US reality television program in which performers compete for the title “America’s next drag superstar.”

Beyond food security: women’s experiences of urban agriculture in Cape Town

Urban agriculture is an important source of food and income throughout Africa. The majority of cultivators on the continent are women who use urban agriculture to provide for their family. Much research on urban agriculture in Africa focuses on the material benefits of urban agriculture for women, but a smaller body of literature considers its social and psychological empowering effects. The present study seeks to contribute to this debate by looking at the ways in which urban agriculture empowers women on the Cape Flats, a region of Cape Town where urban agriculture is supported by nongovernmental organisations (NGOs). Based on interviews with cultivators, the findings show that NGO-run urban agriculture projects not only aid food security, but also help women to develop supportive networks that unlock benefits across the personal, social and economic spectrum.

Can evolutionary insights into the brain’s response to threat suggest different group interventions for perceived stress and burnout of teachers in high-risk schools?

Evolutionary brain responses to threat suggested three psychoeducational group interventions for perceived stress and burnout reduction. The interventions were based on trauma release exercises for primal brain response, transpersonal psychology for paleomammalian emotional brain functions, and transactional analysis for neomammalian cognitive brain insights. In total, 43 teachers in high-risk schools on the Cape Flats, Western Cape, South Africa, participated in one of the three different interventions, which were conducted in group sessions for 15 hr over 10 weeks. Twenty teachers were part of the control group. This pilot study, with a before-after control research design, utilised the Perceived Stress Scale for perception of stress and the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory for personal, work, and learner burnout. Multivariate comparison of trauma release exercises, transpersonal psychology, and transactional analysis intervention groups with the control group yielded significant effects for interventions within and between groups. The findings suggested that evolutionary insights into the brain’s response to threat can provide a basis from which to design stress and burnout interventions.

The personal and social benefits of urban agriculture experienced by cultivators on the Cape Flats

ABSTRACTUrban agriculture is considered a grassroots solution to food security in Africa. Research consistently supports this belief, and in South Africa urban agriculture is promoted by national and local government. One city supporting urban agriculture is Cape Town, the only South African city with an urban agriculture policy. Although many questions remain regarding the sustainability of non-governmental organisation (NGO)-supported urban agriculture projects in Cape Town and their contribution to food security, this study argues that one must look beyond economics and the physical benefits of urban agriculture to the personal and social benefits. By capturing the lived experiences of cultivators on the Cape Flats in Cape Town, the study shows that urban agriculture not only contributes to food security but builds social capital, which improves livelihood strategies and interpersonal relations. This is especially the case where urban agriculture projects are facilitated by NGOs that fund, train and oversee cultivators in these impoverished communities.

Impacts of invasive alien trees on threatened lowland vegetation types in the Cape Floristic Region, South Africa

This study investigated the autogenic recovery potential of native vegetation after clearing of dense stands of invasive alien trees in two critically endangered vegetation types in South Africa's Cape Floristic Region: Cape Flats Lowland Fynbos and Swartland Alluvium Fynbos. Sampling was done in areas previously occupied by the invasive tree Acacia saligna and plantations of Pinus radiata and in a fynbos reference site. Treatments varied in terms of the length of invasion and management histories.Plots previously under pines recovered well in terms of indigenous perennial species richness, but indigenous species cover decreased with increasing number of planting rotations. Areas cleared of acacia recovered poorly in terms of indigenous species cover (after one cycle of invasion), and indigenous species richness exhibited a declining trend with increasing cycles of invasion. Proteoid overstorey was lost in all previously invaded/planted plots and this element will need to be re-introduced to areas after one cycle of invasion regardless of the invasive species. Acacias changed some abiotic variables after two cycles of invasion.Follow-up clearing generally promoted better vegetation recovery in terms of overall species richness and structure but care should be taken not to damage indigenous ericoid shrubs. Overall, acacia invasion caused a greater change in biodiversity and vegetation structure than pine plantations.

Heat and smoke pre‐treatment of seeds to improve restoration of an endangered Mediterranean climate vegetation type

AbstractInvasive alien plants impact ecosystems, which often necessitates their removal. Where indigenous species recovery fails following removal alone, an active intervention involving reintroduction of seed of native species may be needed. This study investigated the potential for a combination of the fire cues of smoke and heat as a pre‐treatment of seeds in breaking dormancy and facilitating increased germination. Species were selected to represent different functional types within Cape Flats Sand Fynbos; a fire‐prone, critically endangered vegetation type in South Africa. Seeds were exposed to either a heat pulse (temperatures between 60 and 300°C for durations of between 30 s and 20 min) or dry after‐ripening (1 or 2 months at milder temperatures of 45°C or less). Thereafter, seeds were soaked in smoke solution for 18 h and subsequently placed on agar at 10/20°C for germination. Most species fell into one of two main groups: Seed germination in the first group was greatest following a lower temperature (60°C) heat pulse, an extended period of mild temperature (20/40°C or 45°C) exposure, or no pre‐treatment with heat. Seed germination in the second group was promoted after brief exposure to higher (100°C) temperatures. No germination occurred in any species following heat treatments of 150°C or higher. Species which responded better to higher temperatures were mainly those possessing physical dormancy, but seed morphology did not correlate with germination success. This study showed that heat stimulation of seeds is more widespread in fynbos plant families than previously known and will enable the development of better seed pre‐treatment protocols before large‐scale sowing as an active restoration treatment after alien plant clearing.

Queering Hip-Hop, Queering the City: Dope Saint Jude’s Transformative Politics

Queering Hip-Hop, Queering the City: Dope Saint Jude’s Transformative Politics

Late-Holocene palaeolimnological and climate dynamics at Princessvlei, South Africa: Evidence from diatoms

The ‘Cape Flats’ region, situated in the winter rainfall zone of South Africa, is a low-lying tombolo underlain by recent fluvial and aeolian sands and characterised by numerous small lakes and wetlands. One of these is Princessvlei, a eutrophic, freshwater coastal lake. The lake lies in an inter-dunal depression encroached on in the more recent past by high-density residential, industrial and agricultural land uses. A 210-cm core extracted from the lake periphery yielded high diatom fossil concentrations for the upper 174 cm. Princessvlei appears to oscillate between two ecologically stable states, namely, a state characterised by clear water, oligotrophic, benthic communities and a turbid state dominated by eutrophic, planktonic species. The two stable ecological states are interpreted to be a function of the relative dominance of catchment precipitation or groundwater influx which augments the open water conditions. From 2600 to 1500 cal. BP (173–135 cm), the system is predominantly turbid with greater moisture availability before a relatively rapid development of oligotrophic and dilute conditions from 1300 to 610 cal. BP (135–30 cm). A brief period of deeper water depths and meso-eutrophic conditions is observed between 550 and 445 cal. BP (23–13 cm). Following a short-lived hiatus, poly-hypertrophic, alkaline species are abundant in the top 10 cm coinciding with European colonisation in the region from the 17th century.

Literacy lessons learnt from parents in a community programme

&lt;p&gt;The purpose of this study was to find out how parents can contribute to the early reading development of children in a Grade R class. The research was conducted in a low-income area in the Cape Flats. To gain a deeper understanding of the parents’ cultural values and aspirations when interacting with the Home-School Partnership Programme (HSPP) literacy programme, I elected to frame my study within the work of Paulo Freire, who argued that the purpose of education, at the time of his writing, was to make oppressed people passive. Qualitative data were gathered in a case study research design, utilising focus group interviews and semistructured questionnaire tools, as well as footage from a local broadcasting studio. The findings show that the parents, who were previously unable to assist their children with literacy skills at home, were keen to change and to be active partners in their children’s early literacy learning. This research is a descriptive example of how the home, the school and the community can collaborate in a meaningful and sustained way, especially in poverty-stricken areas where unemployment is rife.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Keywords: &lt;/strong&gt;case study, Grade R, literacy, parents; Paulo Freire; poverty; qualitative&lt;/p&gt;

The Cape Times’s portrayal of school violence

This study explores the Cape Times’s portrayal of school violence in the Western Cape (WC), South Africa, reporting on findings from a qualitative content analysis of 41 news articles retrieved from the SA Media database. The findings shed light on the victims and their victimisation, the perpetrators, as well as the context of the violence, identifying gangsterism, as well as school administrative and community factors as the reasons for violence in WC schools. It is argued that school violence and gangsterism are inextricably linked to the Cape Flats in particular, and that the interaction of forms of inequality and oppression such as racism, class privilege and gender oppression are structural root causes for school violence in this area of the WC. The study highlights the negative consequences of school violence on teaching and learning and on the economy. It is concluded that even if the Cape Times paints an exaggerated and atypical picture of violence in the gangriddled parts of the WC, the detrimental effects thereof on the regions cannot be denied. The study therefore recommends a holistic approach to addressing the structural root causes of school violence where it takes place in the WC.

The story of a narrative: Teaching and assessing English writing in a township school

The new language curriculum in South Africa recommends that extended writing be taught through a combination of text-based (or genre) and process approaches. This article reports on a study of the teaching and assessment of narrative writing in English as a first additional language (FAL) at a time of curriculum change. The setting is a Cape Flats township school. In focusing on a story written by a Grade 9 learner and assessed by her teacher, the study sought evidence of the use of text-based and process approaches. The theoretical frame is informed by genre theory, which draws on Systemic Functional Linguistics and social constructivist approaches to language learning. A qualitative research paradigm was used. Data obtained for this case study included the learner’s writing, interviews with the teacher, and classroom observation. The study finds very little evidence of a scaffolded approach to the teaching and assessment of writing, and explores the constraints on the realisation of the curriculum cycle in English FAL. These relate to the teacher’s understanding of writing as well as to material conditions in township schools.

Assessment of post-burn removal methods for Acacia saligna in Cape Flats Sand Fynbos, with consideration of indigenous plant recovery

The Greater Cape Floristic Region (GCFR) of South Africa is a biodiversity hotspot threatened by the impacts of habitat transformation and invasive alien species. Cape Flats Sand Fynbos (CFSF) is a critically endangered vegetation type occurring within the GCFR, and its largest remaining fragment is the focus of a large-scale invasive plant control and biodiversity restoration project. Acacia saligna is a highly problematic invasive in CFSF and the main target of the control. To mitigate damage caused by this species, stands are removed and burned, which stimulates both the large invasive seed-bank and the indigenous seed-bank in the soil. Although there are no clear methods on how to manage the re-invasion at this stage without damaging indigenous plant recovery, three post-burn removal methods have the potential to be effective: (1) cutting the Acacia saplings below the coppicing point, (2) cutting the saplings and applying herbicide to the stumps, and (3) foliar herbicide spray. The aims of this study were to (i) find the most effective post-burn A. saligna control treatment, (ii) find the treatment that causes the least harm to indigenous plant recovery, (iii) determine the most cost-effective treatment, and (iv) establish which treatment is the most suitable for large-scale use. Cutting below the coppicing point of the A. saligna provided the most effective removal and was also the least damaging to indigenous vegetation recovery. The foliar spray treatment, however, saved the most time and costs. The best method is therefore dependent on the project goals, scale, and density of the A. saligna invasion. These results may be applicable to other types of fynbos and to other fire-stimulated invasive Acacia species.

To be a somebody: Probing roots of community in District Six

The term community is a moving target, widely used and often misused in defining a group of people in a particular area or with similar cultural practices. In Cape Town the sense of a loss of community is precisely what residents of an area known as District Six mourn following their eviction and its destruction in the 1970s in terms of the racial Group Areas Act. What was it they perceived they had? And what did they lose following their removal to the Cape Flats? In asking these questions it’s possible to get a clearer understanding of the way in which multiple perceptions and relationships stitch together a social cohesiveness which undergirds the notion of community. And what happens when it’s lost.