PsySSA Congratulates Prof Tholene Sodi, PsySSA past president and chair of the Awards Standing Committee, on his appointment as the Research Chair in Mental Health and Society of the University of South Africa (UNISA)!
Freedom is a word intrinsically woven into the fabric of the South African story. You cannot speak of South Africa without a mention of freedom. Over the course of our history, freedom has been taken to refer to the ability to move around without hindrance, then to be able to vote followed by the ability to access the resources of this country without fear or favour. More than two decades after the symbolic achievement for freedom, we now appreciate that economic freedom and an equitable access to resources is one of the ways to true freedom.
Freedom to me means the ability to be seen and heard despite the colour of my skin and my gender. I have a voice and a platform now that allows me to speak for so many who have the same voice but lack a platform. This is the responsibility that comes with the freedom I have attained. Freedom also also refers to the ability to see myself represented in the media through people who look like me and through the stories about people like me which are told through books, movies and other media. Representation is an affirmation of my worth and I am grateful for that.
The fight for freedom in this country was a collective one – it was the effort of a nation that moved this country forward. The next step will require an equally consolidated effort. We need a new social pact, one that looks beyond the individual to the community, and which recognises that even when individuals don’t benefit immediately and personally, that our efforts are laying the foundations of a better future for those still to come.
I am hopeful for a South Africa where freedom moves beyond symbolism into the lived realities of every person who considers themselves off this land. Freedom Day must remain the reminder that our work is not yet done.
Listen to our podcast, by President-Elect,Prof Mercy Tshilidzi Mulaudzi
#Freedom #ConsolidatingAndSafeguardingDemocraticGains #27thCongress #HopeAndHealing
Aligned to PsySSA’s Social Responsibility and mission, kindly note that we have untaken to support a home for Gender-based Violence victims and Youth in underprivileged communities. We invite all members to support these initiatives by donating to us when completing your membership application. Through your donation, we will be able to promote a better and safer society for us all.
Members are also invited to donate to these initiatives throughout the year by simply logging into their profile.
The 21st March 1960 marked a historic day in South Africa. Sixty-nine people died and 180 were wounded when police opened fire on a peaceful crowd that had gathered in Sharpeville to protest the pass laws. Human Rights Day is commemorated as a reminder of our indelible human rights and the enormous sacrifices of achieving human rights in South Africa.
Yet, on the 63rd anniversary of the Sharpeville Massacre, human rights for many South Africans remain out of reach. Recent weeks have seen strike action due to the high cost of living that has prevented sick people from accessing public healthcare services with dire consequences. On 9th March 2023, a 4-year-old child’s body was found in a pit latrine in an Eastern Cape School. That same day, in Bergville, KwaZulu-Natal, a 26-year-old woman was bludgeoned to death with a hammer, allegedly by her husband. Although the right to water is enshrined in our constitution, many South Africans do not have access to a reliable water source. Almost daily, South Africans are dealing with loadshedding and unstable sources of electricity. Corruption, unemployment, poverty and crime continue to undermine social and economic rights. The violation of human rights, particularly of vulnerable and marginalized people, remains rampant in our society.
Commemorative holidays are all too often reduced to an opportunity to have a party and take a selfie… As we pause to reflect on Human Rights Day, we need to be mindful of the ever-widening gap in the realization of social justice, human rights and equality in our society. If we pause and do not act, that trajectory will grow exponentially, the dream of human rights, mere rhetoric. We are at a historic crossroad; we need to pursue a bold transformative agenda to fully realise human rights and sustainable development in our country.
Since PsySSA’s inception 29 years ago, the Society has undergone exponential growth. Aside from remaining active during the COVID-19 pandemic. This past year has been an immensely successful one for the Society.
We would like to highlight our journals that members receive FREE access to. Assisting professionals to remain up to date and aware of the latest developments in psychology in South Africa and Africa.
The South African Journal of Psychology (SAJP) is the official journal of the Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA). The SAJP publishes peer-reviewed contributions in English from all fields of psychology. Whilst the emphasis is on empirical research, the journal also accepts theoretical and methodological papers, review articles, book reviews, and comments on articles published in the journal. Priority is given to articles relevant to Africa and that address psychological issues of social change and development draws scholarly works from both the national and international arena, and the blinded review process ensures high quality publications. Another progressive new development for the SAJP is the Online First publishing feature. This brings the SAJP in line with all of the major international journals in ensuring that accepted manuscripts are published online once accepted, each with a digital object identifier (doi). In order to encourage scholarly writing, the SAJP and PsySSA have facilitated a number of publishing workshops fore merging scholars. The Journal offers quarterly Continuing Professional Development opportunities to PsySSA members at no extra cost.
The African Journal of Psychological Assessment (AJOPA) is published in conjunction with AOSIS. AJOPA is intended to serve as a means of combining the current disparate research being conducted in psychometrics and psychological assessment in Africa. Manuscripts in the areas of psychometrics and psychological assessment are invited. Manuscript submissions must demonstrate a clear contribution to the field and must be of relevance to the African context. Manuscripts can focus on but are not limited to ethics in assessment, establishing the psychometric properties of an instrument, methods in assessment, research on core issues in psychological assessment (eg. assessment in low resource settings, multicultural assessment, acculturation and assessment, language and assessment, assessing people with disabilities) and/or specific areas in assessment (eg. cognitive, personality, vocational, intelligence, aptitude) and/or particular settings (clinical, educational, forensic, organisational, neuropsychological assessment). Manuscripts make take the form of original research studies, theoretical papers, test reviews and methods papers