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AJSW, Volume 3, Number 1, 2013                                                       Editorial Note 

African Journal of Social Work, 3(1), August 2013                                                ii 

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EDITORIAL NOTE 

It gives me great pleasure to announce the publication of the first issue 

of the third volume of AJSW. The AJSW journey has not been a 

wonderful one. Readers may recall that the first two volumes were 

published in 1999 and 2000 respectively under the tutelage of Nigel 

Hall, who is now a Senior Lecturer, School of Social Work, Faculty of 

Health & Social Care Sciences, Kingston University, UK. Since then, no 

other publication was available due to funding and human resource 

constraints. It took quite some effort, from a number of people, to have 

this third volume. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the 

Editorial Board and reviewers for their support. I would want to single 

out Professor Karen Lyons (PhD, CQSW, Emeritus Professor, 

International Social Work, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 

London Metropolitan University, UK) for immense contribution during 

the process of re-introducing this journal. Thanks also to Noel Muridzo, 

President of the NASW for direction and guidance. I wish also to thank 

the solicitor of articles Jacob Mugumbate for working tirelessly to have 

this journal running again. He did not only propose the idea to NASW, 

but consulted and addressed all technical requirements. Last but not 

least, I wish to thank the IDA Publishers for the work well done and for 

agreeing to freely host the online edition of AJSW until a dedicated 

website is available.  

The first paper was provided by Dhemba from the University of Lesotho. 

He looked at social security issues, challenges and prospects of the 

elderly in Zimbabwe with a focus on the Older Persons Act (Chapter 

17:11) of 2012. He concludes that in order to guarantee income and 

good health in old age, there is need to transform existing social 

protection measures in order to increase their coverage and to review 

the Older Persons Act so that it provides public assistance universally to 

the elderly. The second paper came from Biri and Mutambwa from the 

University of Zimbabwe. They explored socio-cultural dynamics and 

education for development in Zimbabwe and concluded that in order to 

realise sustainable development, attention should be paid to socio-

religious ethics that ‘disempower’ women but are often ignored by 



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AJSW, Volume 3, Number 1, 2013                                                       Editorial Note 

African Journal of Social Work, 3(1), August 2013                                                iii 

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scholars, politicians and other stakeholders. The third paper explores 

human rights in Zimbabwe and it came from Mtetwa and Muchacha 

who are based at the University of Zimbabwe. The paper recommends 

that social workers should take an interest in the political situation of 

the communities in which they work through advocacy  as a way to 

safeguard the rights of the most vulnerable members of society. The 

fourth paper takes an interesting dimension: spirituality and social 

work. It was provided by Mabvurira from Bindura University and 

Nyanguru from University of Zimbabwe. The paper argues that social 

work clients in Zimbabwe might be losing out due to an academic 

amnesia that is around spirituality. Social workers in Zimbabwe are, 

therefore, encouraged to research on spirituality and social work. 

Similarly, academics are encouraged to incorporate topics on 

spirituality in the social work curriculum. The last paper came from 

Mugumbate and Nyanguru. Mugumbate is based at the Bindura 

University. Their paper looked at the concept of ubuntu, how it has been 

applied in different fields and lessons that can be drawn for the social 

work profession. Mugumbate and Nyanguru conclude that successful 

utilisation of the ubuntu concept in other disciplines makes it suitable 

for application in social work especially to enhance practice ethics, 

community work and conduct in research. The last one is a Brief 

Communication on the work of Father Ted Rogers in Zimbabwe. He 

played a commendable role in introducing social work education in 

Zimbabwe. He also was involved in improving education in Zimbabwe 

and enhancing the lives of disadvantaged people through formation of 

various non-profit making organisations.  I wish Ted well and hope to 

read his memoirs soon. 

The next issue of this journal is expected towards the end of the year. 

With all the experience gained in this issue, it is hoped the next issue is 

going to come timorously and will be quite improved.  

Lastly, may I appeal for support towards the running of our dear 

journal. Support is mainly needed to fund the print edition and to 

initiate a dedicated website. 

 


