In this study, Mapulana male learners’ views on the influences of cultural initiation on their schooling were researched. Rite of passage was adopted as the theorisation for the study. In the context of the study, a rite of passage is when uninitiated male learners (mashoboro) go through the initiation process. Thereafter, their status of being boys is converted to becoming men (monna) through a transition (passage). Likewise, normal schooling is also a rite of passage, and Grades 1 to 12 are interrupted by another form of schooling, initiation, as a rite of passage. This study was motivated by the tension that was observed between the legal and customary, democratic and cultural, and formal and informal schooling. The study was qualitative in nature and rooted in the interpretive paradigm. Semi-structured interviews were employed to understand the Mapulana male learners’ views on the influences of cultural initiation on their schooling. It was found that the operation of initiation schools in Mpumalanga conflicted with the school calendar and this ultimately influenced schooling. Much of this could be attributed to the loopholes in policies governing initiations. This study can capacitate the Mpumalanga Department of Education (MDoE) about possible policy amendments. I recommend that parents raise this problem with principals through school governing bodies (SGBs) and that it be brought to the attention of the MDoE. The authorities should come to an agreement that prospective initiates should undergo medical circumcision before they go into cultural initiation performed in the bush. I also recommend that the above stakeholders should only allow male learners who are less than 15 years of age or those learners who are still in Grades 8 to 11 to undergo cultural initiation. The school management team (SMT) should help male learners who were away for initiation (initiates) with catch- up programmes. The MDoE must work hand-inglove with the Department of Health, Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), and law enforcement agencies to prevent male Mapulana learners from being left behind in the curriculum. It must be ensured that learners’ health comes first and that initiation principals strictly adhere to policies governing initiation schools. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria 2020. / pt2021 / Humanities Education / MEd / Unrestricted

Thesis (M.A.)-- University of Limpopo, 2012

PhD (Botany) / Department of Botany / Ethnobotanical information still needs documentation as this will assist in the preservation of information for future generation. It becomes most important, particularly when considering the neglected ethnic subgroups. From fourteen villages in the Ehlanzeni district; elders, community adults and youth were selected by means of snow balling technique and a semi-structured questionnaire was used to interview them. Data was analysed by calculating the use value of selected plant species on common ailments. Hundred and forty-eight plants were observed as being utilized by Mapulana as food (fruits and African leafy vegetables), fuelwood, medicine and the making of utensils. The majority of the recorded plant species (54%) were native while 46% were naturalized. The majority of plants (37%) were utilized as medicine only, while food contributed only 19 percent usage, followed by medicine (13%), fuelwood (4%) and utensils (1%). A total of hundred and six plant species were identified as medicine treating 50 different ailments. Roots and leaves were the highly preferred plant and herb parts collected. The results showed that Sclerocarya birrea subsp. caffra (use value of 0.86) was reported as being used in four different ways; seconded by Cucurbita maxima (use value of 0.58) with two different uses. Numerous medicinal uses were observed from Aloe zebrina (use value 0.38) and Aloe marlothii (use value 0.29). Ailments with Informant Consensus Factor (ICF) were gonorrhea (1.80), stomach cleansing (1.40), chicken and cow diseases (1.19), bad luck (0.88), flu (0.84), and diarrhea (0.80). There were, in addition, many ailments with low ICF known by the elders and few community adults proving that the elderly are custodians of indigenous knowledge. Twenty-six line transects of 100m x 10m in size were constructed in determining the population structure of Peltophorum africanum Sond. in Bolla-Tau village. A total of 256 individuals were recorded from the transects. Data was analyzed using IBM Statistical Product and Service solutions (SPSS) statistics version 25 and Microsoft Excel 2013 version. The population structure of P. africanum was found to be bell-shaped. Logarithmic analysis, along with generalized log analysis depicts, that there was significance difference between the plant height and stem circumference. Resprouts of P. africanum individuals were only 18% and a majority of individuals (82%) were harvested. The study revealed that 43.84% of P. africanum individuals had traces of crown damage, as compared to individuals with healthy crowns (35.9%). The rest of the individuals had either light or moderate crown-health status. / NRF