A critical analysis of the role of coltan in the Eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s second war (1998-2003)
- Authors: Moleko, Teboho Banele
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Congo (Democratic Republic) -- History -- 1997- , Natural resources -- Congo (Democratic Republic) , Tantalite -- Congo (Democratic Republic) , Natural resources -- Political aspects -- Congo (Democratic Republic) , Power (Social sciences) -- Congo (Democratic Republic) , Mines and mineral resources -- Congo (Democratic Republic)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:2889 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017864
- Description: The role of natural resources in African conflicts has been subject to extensive scholarly analysis. However, much of this analysis has taken a narrow economic reductionist bias. As such, it is imperative that the dominant assumptions and accepted concepts and theories about the role of natural resources in African conflicts be re-examined. The aim of this thesis is to offer a revaluation of the role of coltan during the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) Second War (1998-2003) through a critical engagement with the resource wars literature. The purpose is to offer a re-reading of the role of coltan in the DRC Second War and the broader regional and global economic context in which this conflict took place. It rejects the commonly cited assumption that the presence of coltan in the DRC means it is an initiator of conflict. Rather, this thesis argues that the central role of coltan in the DRC Second War was as an aggravator of conflict in that its exploitation was used by different parties to fund their military and political ambitions. This thesis also argues that the DRC’s weak state structures and pivotal role within the Great Lakes region, as well as the international trade of coltan and the nature of the DRC coltan mining industry are all key factors in understanding coltan exploitation in the country’s Eastern Region during the Second War.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Moleko, Teboho Banele
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Congo (Democratic Republic) -- History -- 1997- , Natural resources -- Congo (Democratic Republic) , Tantalite -- Congo (Democratic Republic) , Natural resources -- Political aspects -- Congo (Democratic Republic) , Power (Social sciences) -- Congo (Democratic Republic) , Mines and mineral resources -- Congo (Democratic Republic)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:2889 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017864
- Description: The role of natural resources in African conflicts has been subject to extensive scholarly analysis. However, much of this analysis has taken a narrow economic reductionist bias. As such, it is imperative that the dominant assumptions and accepted concepts and theories about the role of natural resources in African conflicts be re-examined. The aim of this thesis is to offer a revaluation of the role of coltan during the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) Second War (1998-2003) through a critical engagement with the resource wars literature. The purpose is to offer a re-reading of the role of coltan in the DRC Second War and the broader regional and global economic context in which this conflict took place. It rejects the commonly cited assumption that the presence of coltan in the DRC means it is an initiator of conflict. Rather, this thesis argues that the central role of coltan in the DRC Second War was as an aggravator of conflict in that its exploitation was used by different parties to fund their military and political ambitions. This thesis also argues that the DRC’s weak state structures and pivotal role within the Great Lakes region, as well as the international trade of coltan and the nature of the DRC coltan mining industry are all key factors in understanding coltan exploitation in the country’s Eastern Region during the Second War.
- Full Text:
A critical Fanonian understanding of black student identities at Rhodes University, South Africa
- Mercadal-Barroso, Adriana Kimberly
- Authors: Mercadal-Barroso, Adriana Kimberly
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Fanon, Frantz, 1925-1961 -- Political and social views , Rhodes University , Education, Higher , College graduates, Black -- South Africa -- Grahamstown -- Attitudes , Identity , Black people -- Ethnic identity
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3391 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016375
- Description: South African history is rooted in racial identities, inequalities and injustices, which the post-apartheid government has sought to address for twenty years since 1994. The transition to a post-apartheid society though has been a difficult one with the social structure and everyday life still marked by the racial past. Though racial classifications on an official basis no longer exist, racial identities continue to pervade the country. Of particular significance to this thesis are black identities including the possibility of black inferiority, which I examine in relation to black post-graduate university students in contemporary South Africa, specifically at Rhodes University. In examining this topic, I draw extensively on the work of Frantz Fanon, who wrote about both colonial society and the emerging post-colonial experience. Fanon was a young black intellectual whose work was in part based on his own experiences of being a once-colonised black person in a world which he perceived as being dominated by whiteness. In his work he expresses his own perceptions of whiteness and how the black identity has come to be shaped by and around this dominant white foundation. Fanon extensively discussed the lives of black intellectuals and elites, and demonstrated how the black identity becomes shaped by and around the world of whiteness. In doing so, he raised a range of themes, such as black inferiority, mimicry and double consciousness. I draw upon the work of Fanon in a critically sympathetic manner to delve into the experiences of black postgraduate students as they negotiate their way through a university setting dominated by a white institutional culture. I bring to the fore the argument that the racial identities of these students is not fixed and sutured but, rather, is marked by considerable fluidity and ambiguity such that black identity must be understood not just as a state of being but also as a process of becoming.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Mercadal-Barroso, Adriana Kimberly
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Fanon, Frantz, 1925-1961 -- Political and social views , Rhodes University , Education, Higher , College graduates, Black -- South Africa -- Grahamstown -- Attitudes , Identity , Black people -- Ethnic identity
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3391 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016375
- Description: South African history is rooted in racial identities, inequalities and injustices, which the post-apartheid government has sought to address for twenty years since 1994. The transition to a post-apartheid society though has been a difficult one with the social structure and everyday life still marked by the racial past. Though racial classifications on an official basis no longer exist, racial identities continue to pervade the country. Of particular significance to this thesis are black identities including the possibility of black inferiority, which I examine in relation to black post-graduate university students in contemporary South Africa, specifically at Rhodes University. In examining this topic, I draw extensively on the work of Frantz Fanon, who wrote about both colonial society and the emerging post-colonial experience. Fanon was a young black intellectual whose work was in part based on his own experiences of being a once-colonised black person in a world which he perceived as being dominated by whiteness. In his work he expresses his own perceptions of whiteness and how the black identity has come to be shaped by and around this dominant white foundation. Fanon extensively discussed the lives of black intellectuals and elites, and demonstrated how the black identity becomes shaped by and around the world of whiteness. In doing so, he raised a range of themes, such as black inferiority, mimicry and double consciousness. I draw upon the work of Fanon in a critically sympathetic manner to delve into the experiences of black postgraduate students as they negotiate their way through a university setting dominated by a white institutional culture. I bring to the fore the argument that the racial identities of these students is not fixed and sutured but, rather, is marked by considerable fluidity and ambiguity such that black identity must be understood not just as a state of being but also as a process of becoming.
- Full Text:
An analysis of the development model for ex-farmworkers and adjacent communities in the Indalo association of private game reserves in the Eastern Cape
- Tessendorf, Samantha Millicent
- Authors: Tessendorf, Samantha Millicent
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Game reserves -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agricultural laborers -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Land reform -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Land use -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Land use -- Citizen participation , Rural development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural development -- Citizen participation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3399 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018547
- Description: Over the past fifteen years there has been an extensive conversion of land use from traditional farming practices to conservation and private game reserves. It has been suggested by Langholz and Kerley (2006:2) that privately owned preserved areas can engage in ecotourism initiatives by protecting biodiversity, succeeding financially and contributing to social upliftment. However, ecotourism has to operate within the context of historical land dispossession of the majority black population and current land reform initiatives to address this problem. In view of the economic, social and environmental importance of ecotourism based private game reserves (PGRs) in South Africa, particularly the Eastern Cape, the main goal of this research is to examine the Indalo association of private game reserves in the Eastern Cape Province’s development model for ex-farmworkers and adjacent communities. This was done through a literature survey and analysis of existing studies and by interviewing the managers of the Indalo PGRs and a few farmworkers to get their opinions of the tension between what they are doing and the imperatives of land reform. This involved an exploration of their community development work, particularly around issues of job creation, participation in decision-making, capacity building and sustainability. The thesis comes to the following conclusions. The first is that the establishment of PGRs have a significant positive impact on the local areas in which they are established. As a land-use, ecotourism based game reserves are an economically and ecologically desirable alternative to other land uses. Therefore the ecotourism based private game reserve industry with its extensive community development focus for farmworkers and local communities is a viable and sustainable alternative to conventional land reform. The second is that the Indalo PGRs development work has built capacity in the communities it has served. However, community participation, particularly in decision-making is limited and needs more attention if productive and sustainable development is to be achieved. Lastly, communities rely heavily on external support for their development and upliftment. However, the majority of the PGRs have/or are putting measures in place to ensure the continuation of community development projects to ensure the long-term sustainability of projects.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Tessendorf, Samantha Millicent
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Game reserves -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agricultural laborers -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Land reform -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Land use -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Land use -- Citizen participation , Rural development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural development -- Citizen participation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3399 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018547
- Description: Over the past fifteen years there has been an extensive conversion of land use from traditional farming practices to conservation and private game reserves. It has been suggested by Langholz and Kerley (2006:2) that privately owned preserved areas can engage in ecotourism initiatives by protecting biodiversity, succeeding financially and contributing to social upliftment. However, ecotourism has to operate within the context of historical land dispossession of the majority black population and current land reform initiatives to address this problem. In view of the economic, social and environmental importance of ecotourism based private game reserves (PGRs) in South Africa, particularly the Eastern Cape, the main goal of this research is to examine the Indalo association of private game reserves in the Eastern Cape Province’s development model for ex-farmworkers and adjacent communities. This was done through a literature survey and analysis of existing studies and by interviewing the managers of the Indalo PGRs and a few farmworkers to get their opinions of the tension between what they are doing and the imperatives of land reform. This involved an exploration of their community development work, particularly around issues of job creation, participation in decision-making, capacity building and sustainability. The thesis comes to the following conclusions. The first is that the establishment of PGRs have a significant positive impact on the local areas in which they are established. As a land-use, ecotourism based game reserves are an economically and ecologically desirable alternative to other land uses. Therefore the ecotourism based private game reserve industry with its extensive community development focus for farmworkers and local communities is a viable and sustainable alternative to conventional land reform. The second is that the Indalo PGRs development work has built capacity in the communities it has served. However, community participation, particularly in decision-making is limited and needs more attention if productive and sustainable development is to be achieved. Lastly, communities rely heavily on external support for their development and upliftment. However, the majority of the PGRs have/or are putting measures in place to ensure the continuation of community development projects to ensure the long-term sustainability of projects.
- Full Text:
An examination of the Mobisam project and Grocott's Mail : towards mobile social accountability monitoring in Grahamstown
- Authors: Reinecke, Romi Kami
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Grocott's Mail (Grahamstown, South Africa) , Electronic discussion groups -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Citizen journalism -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Municipal services -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Government accountability -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Social action -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Municipal services -- Citizen participation , Municipal government -- South Africa -- Grahamstown
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3541 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017782
- Description: This thesis critically examines the nature and purpose of the MobiSAM partnership, in relation to its value as a model resonating with normative theories on the role of the media in South African democratic society. The MobiSAM project introduces a mobile polling application, designed for citizens to provide real-time, user-generated data on crucial municipal service delivery such as clean water in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa. The project has partnered with the local community newspaper, Grocott's Mail, to broadcast this data, with the aim to facilitate citizen participation in public problem solving and support local government accountability in service delivery. Despite pervasive poverty in areas such as the Eastern Cape, mobile penetration in South Africa is near universal. The MobiSAM partnership is an ongoing effort to forge new links between social accountability monitors, new media, traditional media, citizens and local government around public issues in Grahamstown, in line with the development objectives of the post-apartheid South African state. The overall theoretical framework for this thesis is taken from Christians, Glasser, McQuail, Nordenstreng and White's Normative Theories of the Media, which provides an analysis of four roles of the media in a democratic society, that is: the monitorial, the facilitative, the radical and the collaborative roles. Within each of these roles, the stated journalistic approach is explored, that is investigative journalism, public journalism, radical journalism and development journalism. Public journalism is focused on as having the most resonance with the goals of the MobiSAM partnership. The chosen research design is a critical realist case study with the selected methods of thematic document analysis and, primarily, in-depth interviews with key project participants. The research goals were to analyse this primary data against the normative theory on the role of the media in a democratic society, and the 'real world' constraints posed by the project’s specific political and socioeconomic context. The findings conclude by offering certain recommendations and areas for further research, such as the central importance of a dedicated municipal reporter for covering complex public issues. This critical realist case study, drawing on qualitative interviews with both the accountability monitors and the media practitioners, interrogates the philosophical understandings on the role of the media in this new project, towards an empirical model for advancing substantive socio-economic change through media in South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Reinecke, Romi Kami
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Grocott's Mail (Grahamstown, South Africa) , Electronic discussion groups -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Citizen journalism -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Municipal services -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Government accountability -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Social action -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Municipal services -- Citizen participation , Municipal government -- South Africa -- Grahamstown
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3541 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017782
- Description: This thesis critically examines the nature and purpose of the MobiSAM partnership, in relation to its value as a model resonating with normative theories on the role of the media in South African democratic society. The MobiSAM project introduces a mobile polling application, designed for citizens to provide real-time, user-generated data on crucial municipal service delivery such as clean water in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa. The project has partnered with the local community newspaper, Grocott's Mail, to broadcast this data, with the aim to facilitate citizen participation in public problem solving and support local government accountability in service delivery. Despite pervasive poverty in areas such as the Eastern Cape, mobile penetration in South Africa is near universal. The MobiSAM partnership is an ongoing effort to forge new links between social accountability monitors, new media, traditional media, citizens and local government around public issues in Grahamstown, in line with the development objectives of the post-apartheid South African state. The overall theoretical framework for this thesis is taken from Christians, Glasser, McQuail, Nordenstreng and White's Normative Theories of the Media, which provides an analysis of four roles of the media in a democratic society, that is: the monitorial, the facilitative, the radical and the collaborative roles. Within each of these roles, the stated journalistic approach is explored, that is investigative journalism, public journalism, radical journalism and development journalism. Public journalism is focused on as having the most resonance with the goals of the MobiSAM partnership. The chosen research design is a critical realist case study with the selected methods of thematic document analysis and, primarily, in-depth interviews with key project participants. The research goals were to analyse this primary data against the normative theory on the role of the media in a democratic society, and the 'real world' constraints posed by the project’s specific political and socioeconomic context. The findings conclude by offering certain recommendations and areas for further research, such as the central importance of a dedicated municipal reporter for covering complex public issues. This critical realist case study, drawing on qualitative interviews with both the accountability monitors and the media practitioners, interrogates the philosophical understandings on the role of the media in this new project, towards an empirical model for advancing substantive socio-economic change through media in South Africa.
- Full Text:
Challenges of post-apartheid state-owned company pension fund reform: a case study of the controversy around the Transnet-Transport Pension Fund
- Authors: Goqoza, Noluyolo Juliet
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/54766 , vital:26610
- Description: This thesis examines the restructuring of the pension funds of Transnet, a South African state-owned company involved in transportation, from the 1990s. Two of its main pension funds, the Transport-Transnet Pension sub-Fund (TTPF) and the Transnet Second Defined Benefit Fund (TSDBF), have been surrounded by controversy, with major court actions brought by aggrieved pensioners in 2006-2012 and again from 2013, and smaller cases in 1997-1999 and 2004. (There were also a number of smaller cases, mostly unsuccessful, but the thesis will not examine them). The case that started in 2013 is the biggest class action in the country‟s history, and makes claims of serious mismanagement and bad faith against the Transnet management. But the fundamental grievance is that (according to the 2013 legal case) “more than 80% of pensioners earn less than R4 000.00 a month… 62 % earn less than R2 500.00… 45% of the pensioners earn less than the state‟s ordinary old-age pension” grant for the poor. Although that case is ongoing, this thesis examines the background and controversies that frame the case. It provides an overview of the history and development of the South African pensions system and South African state-owned companies; it examines how these have been shaped by the apartheid and post-apartheid periods, and by the rise of neo-liberalism; it examines the evolution of Transnet and its pensions systems, from the early days of the South African Railways and Harbours Administration (SAR&H, formed 1910), to its restructuring into the South African Transport Services (SATS) in 1982, and then into Transnet in 1990. The thesis shows that the operations of the TTPF and TSDBF, which are closed to new members, have had serious effects on pensioners that rely upon them. Pensions are very low (the main reason for the various court cases), and this is for a range of reasons. Annual increases in pensions are formally set at below-inflation levels, leading to falling real incomes. More pressure on pensioners‟ livelihoods has arisen from Transnet‟s cuts to other benefits, like the medical aid Transmed, provided to pensioners. While the schemes are solvent, the pensions generally started at a low base, partly because most pensioners were relatively poorly paid workers before retirement (and the pensions were linked to former salaries). There is also a racial dimension: while most white workers at SAR&H/ SATS and Transnet were poorly paid, black, Coloured and Indian workers were paid even worse, and, further, were only brought into the pension schemes late. Both TTPF and TSDBF are defined benefit funds, which means members are guaranteed specific benefits at retirement, with the employer obligated to inject funds to meet shortfalls where needed. Yet neither the state nor Transnet has been willing to take actions to lift the basic pensions, such as investments into the funds, or to make systematic ex gratia payments to bring the pensions to a reasonable level, to remove historic racial inequalities between pensioners, to increase medical aid co-payments or coverage or to otherwise address the pensioners‟ situation. It does not seem that the reason for the problems is that the two funds have been severely mismanaged or asset-stripped, as alleged in the 2013 class action: it must be noted that both funds report surpluses. But the surpluses are possible because the pensions are low and falling in real terms, and the numbers of pensioners declining due to deaths. It seems clear that Transnet is unable or unwilling to act to decisively improve the situation of the pensioners: ensuring a surplus on existing pension funds is a major goal. This is partly because Transnet itself has ongoing financial problems, and partly because it operates in the context of neo-liberal restructuring, like corporatisation, commercialisation and privatisation, which places limits on the additional funding of the funds. At the same time, the pensioners have very little real, as opposed to a nominal, say in the administration of the pension schemes, limiting their ability to affect the rules and administration or raise issues. The thesis seeks to use historical institutionalism, which sees policies and major institutions, including state-owned companies, as shaped by power and conflict, especially between classes. This is used to try and explain changing state policies and the changing role and actions of state-owned companies, as a way of understanding Transnet‟s actions, as well as its treatment of its pensioners.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Goqoza, Noluyolo Juliet
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/54766 , vital:26610
- Description: This thesis examines the restructuring of the pension funds of Transnet, a South African state-owned company involved in transportation, from the 1990s. Two of its main pension funds, the Transport-Transnet Pension sub-Fund (TTPF) and the Transnet Second Defined Benefit Fund (TSDBF), have been surrounded by controversy, with major court actions brought by aggrieved pensioners in 2006-2012 and again from 2013, and smaller cases in 1997-1999 and 2004. (There were also a number of smaller cases, mostly unsuccessful, but the thesis will not examine them). The case that started in 2013 is the biggest class action in the country‟s history, and makes claims of serious mismanagement and bad faith against the Transnet management. But the fundamental grievance is that (according to the 2013 legal case) “more than 80% of pensioners earn less than R4 000.00 a month… 62 % earn less than R2 500.00… 45% of the pensioners earn less than the state‟s ordinary old-age pension” grant for the poor. Although that case is ongoing, this thesis examines the background and controversies that frame the case. It provides an overview of the history and development of the South African pensions system and South African state-owned companies; it examines how these have been shaped by the apartheid and post-apartheid periods, and by the rise of neo-liberalism; it examines the evolution of Transnet and its pensions systems, from the early days of the South African Railways and Harbours Administration (SAR&H, formed 1910), to its restructuring into the South African Transport Services (SATS) in 1982, and then into Transnet in 1990. The thesis shows that the operations of the TTPF and TSDBF, which are closed to new members, have had serious effects on pensioners that rely upon them. Pensions are very low (the main reason for the various court cases), and this is for a range of reasons. Annual increases in pensions are formally set at below-inflation levels, leading to falling real incomes. More pressure on pensioners‟ livelihoods has arisen from Transnet‟s cuts to other benefits, like the medical aid Transmed, provided to pensioners. While the schemes are solvent, the pensions generally started at a low base, partly because most pensioners were relatively poorly paid workers before retirement (and the pensions were linked to former salaries). There is also a racial dimension: while most white workers at SAR&H/ SATS and Transnet were poorly paid, black, Coloured and Indian workers were paid even worse, and, further, were only brought into the pension schemes late. Both TTPF and TSDBF are defined benefit funds, which means members are guaranteed specific benefits at retirement, with the employer obligated to inject funds to meet shortfalls where needed. Yet neither the state nor Transnet has been willing to take actions to lift the basic pensions, such as investments into the funds, or to make systematic ex gratia payments to bring the pensions to a reasonable level, to remove historic racial inequalities between pensioners, to increase medical aid co-payments or coverage or to otherwise address the pensioners‟ situation. It does not seem that the reason for the problems is that the two funds have been severely mismanaged or asset-stripped, as alleged in the 2013 class action: it must be noted that both funds report surpluses. But the surpluses are possible because the pensions are low and falling in real terms, and the numbers of pensioners declining due to deaths. It seems clear that Transnet is unable or unwilling to act to decisively improve the situation of the pensioners: ensuring a surplus on existing pension funds is a major goal. This is partly because Transnet itself has ongoing financial problems, and partly because it operates in the context of neo-liberal restructuring, like corporatisation, commercialisation and privatisation, which places limits on the additional funding of the funds. At the same time, the pensioners have very little real, as opposed to a nominal, say in the administration of the pension schemes, limiting their ability to affect the rules and administration or raise issues. The thesis seeks to use historical institutionalism, which sees policies and major institutions, including state-owned companies, as shaped by power and conflict, especially between classes. This is used to try and explain changing state policies and the changing role and actions of state-owned companies, as a way of understanding Transnet‟s actions, as well as its treatment of its pensioners.
- Full Text:
Conscientious objection and South African medical practitioners' constructions of termination of pregnancy and emergency contraception
- Authors: Chiwandire, Desire
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Abortion -- South Africa , Abortion -- Moral and ethical aspects -- South Africa , Emergency contraceptives -- South Africa , Contraception -- Moral and ethical aspects -- South Africa , Medical personnel -- Attitudes -- South Africa , Patients -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- South Africa , Reproductive rights -- South Africa , Women's rights -- South Africa , Liberty of conscience
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:2888 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017863
- Description: Aim: The 1996 Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act decriminalized abortion in South Africa and the South African Medicines Control Council in 2000 approved the dispensing of emergency contraceptive methods by pharmacists to women without a doctor's prescription. This legislation has been hailed as among the most progressive in the world with respect to women's reproductive justice. However the realisation of these rights in practice has not always met expectations in part due to medical practitioners' ethical objections to termination of pregnancy and the provision of related services. The aim of this study was to interpret the varying ways in which medical practitioners frame termination of pregnancy and emergency contraceptive services, their own professional identities and that of their patients/clients. Methods: Sample of 58 doctors and 59 pharmacists drawn from all nine provinces of South Africa. Data collected using an anonymous confidential internet-based self-administered questionnaire. Participants were randomly recruited from online listings of South African doctors and pharmacists practicing in both private and public sectors. Data were analysed using theoretically derived qualitative content analysis. Results: Participants drew on eight frames to justify their willingness or unwillingness to provide termination-of-pregnancy related services: the foetal life frame, the women's rights frame, the balancing frame, the social justice frame, the do no harm frame, the legal and professional obligation frame, the consequences frame and the moral absolutist frame. Conclusion: Health professionals' willingness or unwillingness to provide termination of pregnancy related services is highly dependent on how they frame or understand termination of pregnancy, and how they understand their own professional identities and those of their patients/clients.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Chiwandire, Desire
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Abortion -- South Africa , Abortion -- Moral and ethical aspects -- South Africa , Emergency contraceptives -- South Africa , Contraception -- Moral and ethical aspects -- South Africa , Medical personnel -- Attitudes -- South Africa , Patients -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- South Africa , Reproductive rights -- South Africa , Women's rights -- South Africa , Liberty of conscience
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:2888 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017863
- Description: Aim: The 1996 Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act decriminalized abortion in South Africa and the South African Medicines Control Council in 2000 approved the dispensing of emergency contraceptive methods by pharmacists to women without a doctor's prescription. This legislation has been hailed as among the most progressive in the world with respect to women's reproductive justice. However the realisation of these rights in practice has not always met expectations in part due to medical practitioners' ethical objections to termination of pregnancy and the provision of related services. The aim of this study was to interpret the varying ways in which medical practitioners frame termination of pregnancy and emergency contraceptive services, their own professional identities and that of their patients/clients. Methods: Sample of 58 doctors and 59 pharmacists drawn from all nine provinces of South Africa. Data collected using an anonymous confidential internet-based self-administered questionnaire. Participants were randomly recruited from online listings of South African doctors and pharmacists practicing in both private and public sectors. Data were analysed using theoretically derived qualitative content analysis. Results: Participants drew on eight frames to justify their willingness or unwillingness to provide termination-of-pregnancy related services: the foetal life frame, the women's rights frame, the balancing frame, the social justice frame, the do no harm frame, the legal and professional obligation frame, the consequences frame and the moral absolutist frame. Conclusion: Health professionals' willingness or unwillingness to provide termination of pregnancy related services is highly dependent on how they frame or understand termination of pregnancy, and how they understand their own professional identities and those of their patients/clients.
- Full Text:
Entrepreneurial intention among Rhodes University undergraduate students
- Authors: Bell, Jonathan Andrew
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Rhodes University -- Undergraduates , Entrepreneurship -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Social cognitive theory , Intention , Attitude (Psychology) , Influence (Psychology) , South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1991-
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3267 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1020011
- Description: The entrepreneurial intentions of university students are important factors to consider when developing entrepreneurship offerings at tertiary level institutions. This research study reports on pertinent findings from a study which set out to determine Rhodes university undergraduate students‟ entrepreneurial intentions and their pull and push factors that have brought them to the decision to become entrepreneurs. A survey, using a 43 question structured web-based instrument was used to capture the responses from undergraduate students across different departments at Rhodes University, Grahamstown. Key findings suggest that few undergraduate students intend to enter into an entrepreneurship career immediately after completion of their studies, whereas many of the respondents were more interested in doing so five years after graduation. The vast majority of students were satisfied without having formal entrepreneurial education and factors such as previous employment in entrepreneurial activities, and family influence had a statistical significant relationship with entrepreneurial intention.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Bell, Jonathan Andrew
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Rhodes University -- Undergraduates , Entrepreneurship -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Social cognitive theory , Intention , Attitude (Psychology) , Influence (Psychology) , South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1991-
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3267 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1020011
- Description: The entrepreneurial intentions of university students are important factors to consider when developing entrepreneurship offerings at tertiary level institutions. This research study reports on pertinent findings from a study which set out to determine Rhodes university undergraduate students‟ entrepreneurial intentions and their pull and push factors that have brought them to the decision to become entrepreneurs. A survey, using a 43 question structured web-based instrument was used to capture the responses from undergraduate students across different departments at Rhodes University, Grahamstown. Key findings suggest that few undergraduate students intend to enter into an entrepreneurship career immediately after completion of their studies, whereas many of the respondents were more interested in doing so five years after graduation. The vast majority of students were satisfied without having formal entrepreneurial education and factors such as previous employment in entrepreneurial activities, and family influence had a statistical significant relationship with entrepreneurial intention.
- Full Text:
Evaluating support service co-operation in the Netcare-Settlers public private partnership, Grahamstown, South Africa
- Authors: Mahote, Tulisa
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Settlers Hospital , Netcare 911 , Public-private sector cooperation -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Privatization -- South Africa , Medical care -- Privatization -- South Africa , Health services accessibility -- South Africa , Contracting out -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3408 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1020834
- Description: The neo-liberal restructuring of state assets and facilities, which has taken place internationally over the past three decades, as well as in South Africa, has been a matter of great controversy. Privatisation, in particular, has been a polarising issue, especially when applied to fields like healthcare. Supporters of privatisation view it as cutting costs, mobilising funding, expertise and innovation, resulting in improved delivery, and opening possibilities for a spread of ownership. Critics claim the process involves retrenchments, declining services for the (poorer) majority of people, and a focus on the elites as citizens become transformed into customers, and with any economic empowerment going to the already prosperous. This thesis examines these issues by looking at the privatisation of hospitals in South Africa, with a case study of the Netcare-Settlers Public Private Partnership (PPP) (also known as the Settlers Private Hospital) in Grahamstown, South Africa. Netcare is South Africa’s largest private hospital company, and also has substantial operations in the United Kingdom. The thesis sets out the context: a highly inequitable healthcare system in the country, the rise of privatisation in the apartheid and post-apartheid eras, and healthcare privatisation. In terms of the Netcare-Settlers PPP, the thesis examines how the PPP was structured and developed, focusing on the impact of the PPP on non-clinical operations. The thesis argues that the results of the PPP are mixed, that it has greatly improved areas like facilities, maintenance, cleaning and catering, performed less well in increasing the doctor/ patient ratio or in attracting specialists, and is associated with the widespread and problematic use of outsourcing of service workers like cleaners and security. Overall, the PPP has improved healthcare, with some effective sharing of resources between the public and private parts of the hospital, but also relies on a pool of relatively low waged, under-unionised, labour. In terms of the general debate over privatisation, the Netcare-Settlers PPP shows that both supporters and critics have some valid points, and that privatisation in practice is not an either/ or, black/ white, good/ bad proposition, but something more complex. The success and failure of PPPs depend on the details of the contracts, and these can be used to maximise the performance of both the public and private partners. Better contracts may help avoid the uneven results seen at institutions like the Netcare-Settlers PPP.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Mahote, Tulisa
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Settlers Hospital , Netcare 911 , Public-private sector cooperation -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Privatization -- South Africa , Medical care -- Privatization -- South Africa , Health services accessibility -- South Africa , Contracting out -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3408 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1020834
- Description: The neo-liberal restructuring of state assets and facilities, which has taken place internationally over the past three decades, as well as in South Africa, has been a matter of great controversy. Privatisation, in particular, has been a polarising issue, especially when applied to fields like healthcare. Supporters of privatisation view it as cutting costs, mobilising funding, expertise and innovation, resulting in improved delivery, and opening possibilities for a spread of ownership. Critics claim the process involves retrenchments, declining services for the (poorer) majority of people, and a focus on the elites as citizens become transformed into customers, and with any economic empowerment going to the already prosperous. This thesis examines these issues by looking at the privatisation of hospitals in South Africa, with a case study of the Netcare-Settlers Public Private Partnership (PPP) (also known as the Settlers Private Hospital) in Grahamstown, South Africa. Netcare is South Africa’s largest private hospital company, and also has substantial operations in the United Kingdom. The thesis sets out the context: a highly inequitable healthcare system in the country, the rise of privatisation in the apartheid and post-apartheid eras, and healthcare privatisation. In terms of the Netcare-Settlers PPP, the thesis examines how the PPP was structured and developed, focusing on the impact of the PPP on non-clinical operations. The thesis argues that the results of the PPP are mixed, that it has greatly improved areas like facilities, maintenance, cleaning and catering, performed less well in increasing the doctor/ patient ratio or in attracting specialists, and is associated with the widespread and problematic use of outsourcing of service workers like cleaners and security. Overall, the PPP has improved healthcare, with some effective sharing of resources between the public and private parts of the hospital, but also relies on a pool of relatively low waged, under-unionised, labour. In terms of the general debate over privatisation, the Netcare-Settlers PPP shows that both supporters and critics have some valid points, and that privatisation in practice is not an either/ or, black/ white, good/ bad proposition, but something more complex. The success and failure of PPPs depend on the details of the contracts, and these can be used to maximise the performance of both the public and private partners. Better contracts may help avoid the uneven results seen at institutions like the Netcare-Settlers PPP.
- Full Text:
In search of the comprador: self-exoticisation in selected texts from the South Asian and Middle Eastern diasporas
- Authors: Shabangu, Mohammad
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Rushdie, Salman. Midnight's children -- Criticism and interpretation , Kureishi, Hanif. Buddha of suburbia -- Criticism and interpretation , Hosseini, Khaled. Kite runner -- Criticism and interpretation , Hosseini, Khaled. Thousand splendid suns -- Criticism and interpretation , Compradors , Exoticism in literature , Literature and transnationalism -- Middle East , Literature and transnationalism -- South Asia , Middle Eastern literature (English) -- History and criticism , South Asian literature (English) -- History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:2328 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017770
- Description: This thesis is concerned with transnational literature and writers of the Middle Eastern and South Asian diasporas. It argues that the diasporic position of the authors enables their roles as comprador subjects. The thesis maintains that the figure of the comprador is always acted upon by its ontological predisposition, so that diasporic positionality often involves a single subject which straddles and speaks from two or more different subject positions. Comprador authors can be said to be co-opted by Western metropolitan publishing companies who stand to benefit by marketing the apparent marginality of the homelands about which these authors write. The thesis therefore proceeds from the notion that such a diasporic position is the paradoxical condition of the transnational subject or writer. I submit that there is, to some degree, a questionable element in the common political and cultural suggestions that emerge upon closer evaluation of diasporic literature. Indeed, a charge of complicity has been levelled against authors who write, apparently, to service two distinct entities – the wish to speak on behalf of a minority collective, as well as the imperial ‘centre’ which is the intended interlocutor of the comprador author. However, it is this difference, the implied otherness or marginality of the outsider within, which I argue is sometimes used by diasporic writers as a way of articulating with ‘authenticity’ the cultures and politics of their erstwhile localities. This thesis is concerned, therefore, with the representation of ‘the East’ in four novels by diasporic, specifically comprador writers, namely Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia, and Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. I suggest that the ‘third-world’ and transnational literature can also be a selling point for the transnational subject, whose representations may at times pander to preconceived ideas about ‘the Orient’ and its people. As an illustration of this double-bind, I offer a close reading of all the novels to suggest that on the one hand, the comprador author writes within the paradigm of the ‘writing back’ movement, as a counter-discourse to the Orientalist representations of the homeland. However, the corollary is that such an attempt to ‘write back’, in a sense, re-inscribes the very discourse it wishes to subvert, especially because the literature is aimed at a ‘Western’ audience. Moreover, the template of the comprador could be used to explain how a transnational post-9/11 text from an Afghan-American, for instance, may be put to the service of the imperial machine, and read, therefore, as a supporting document to the U.S. policy on Afghanistan.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Shabangu, Mohammad
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Rushdie, Salman. Midnight's children -- Criticism and interpretation , Kureishi, Hanif. Buddha of suburbia -- Criticism and interpretation , Hosseini, Khaled. Kite runner -- Criticism and interpretation , Hosseini, Khaled. Thousand splendid suns -- Criticism and interpretation , Compradors , Exoticism in literature , Literature and transnationalism -- Middle East , Literature and transnationalism -- South Asia , Middle Eastern literature (English) -- History and criticism , South Asian literature (English) -- History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:2328 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017770
- Description: This thesis is concerned with transnational literature and writers of the Middle Eastern and South Asian diasporas. It argues that the diasporic position of the authors enables their roles as comprador subjects. The thesis maintains that the figure of the comprador is always acted upon by its ontological predisposition, so that diasporic positionality often involves a single subject which straddles and speaks from two or more different subject positions. Comprador authors can be said to be co-opted by Western metropolitan publishing companies who stand to benefit by marketing the apparent marginality of the homelands about which these authors write. The thesis therefore proceeds from the notion that such a diasporic position is the paradoxical condition of the transnational subject or writer. I submit that there is, to some degree, a questionable element in the common political and cultural suggestions that emerge upon closer evaluation of diasporic literature. Indeed, a charge of complicity has been levelled against authors who write, apparently, to service two distinct entities – the wish to speak on behalf of a minority collective, as well as the imperial ‘centre’ which is the intended interlocutor of the comprador author. However, it is this difference, the implied otherness or marginality of the outsider within, which I argue is sometimes used by diasporic writers as a way of articulating with ‘authenticity’ the cultures and politics of their erstwhile localities. This thesis is concerned, therefore, with the representation of ‘the East’ in four novels by diasporic, specifically comprador writers, namely Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia, and Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. I suggest that the ‘third-world’ and transnational literature can also be a selling point for the transnational subject, whose representations may at times pander to preconceived ideas about ‘the Orient’ and its people. As an illustration of this double-bind, I offer a close reading of all the novels to suggest that on the one hand, the comprador author writes within the paradigm of the ‘writing back’ movement, as a counter-discourse to the Orientalist representations of the homeland. However, the corollary is that such an attempt to ‘write back’, in a sense, re-inscribes the very discourse it wishes to subvert, especially because the literature is aimed at a ‘Western’ audience. Moreover, the template of the comprador could be used to explain how a transnational post-9/11 text from an Afghan-American, for instance, may be put to the service of the imperial machine, and read, therefore, as a supporting document to the U.S. policy on Afghanistan.
- Full Text:
Occupational health and safety and industrial relations in the South African construction industry : case studies of selected construction firms in Grahamstown
- Nene, Sinenhlanhla Sindisiwe
- Authors: Nene, Sinenhlanhla Sindisiwe
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Industrial safety -- South Africa , Industrial relations -- South Africa , Construction industry -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Management -- Employee participation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3401 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018663
- Description: The construction industry is one of the most dangerous industries in the world, with many workplace fatalities every day. The existence of legislation that governs Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) is an intervention to ensure that all governments, employers and employees play their part in establishing and implementing policies that will help secure healthy and safe working environments. The study is qualitative and with the help of an interview guide, semistructured interviews were used to collect the data. The respondents were selected using purposive and snowball sampling methods. Ten managers from ten (five small, five large) construction firms, two employees from each firm, and the OHS inspector from the Department of Labour in Grahamstown were interviewed. Having explored management’s practices, communication methods, training and distribution of information, employee representation and participation, and industrial relations, several conclusions were reached. During the study it was found that there are a number of obstacles that are hampering effective OHS in the construction industry. Some of these include; management’s lack of commitment to a participatory approach in OHS decision-making, limited resources to invest adequately in OHS, and the lack of sufficient trade union involvement. In addition, we know very little about OHS in the construction industry, and the mere existence of OHS legislation does not help reduce the risks associated with construction work, especially when there is a shortage of skilled personnel to enforce the legislation and regulations.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Nene, Sinenhlanhla Sindisiwe
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Industrial safety -- South Africa , Industrial relations -- South Africa , Construction industry -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Management -- Employee participation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3401 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018663
- Description: The construction industry is one of the most dangerous industries in the world, with many workplace fatalities every day. The existence of legislation that governs Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) is an intervention to ensure that all governments, employers and employees play their part in establishing and implementing policies that will help secure healthy and safe working environments. The study is qualitative and with the help of an interview guide, semistructured interviews were used to collect the data. The respondents were selected using purposive and snowball sampling methods. Ten managers from ten (five small, five large) construction firms, two employees from each firm, and the OHS inspector from the Department of Labour in Grahamstown were interviewed. Having explored management’s practices, communication methods, training and distribution of information, employee representation and participation, and industrial relations, several conclusions were reached. During the study it was found that there are a number of obstacles that are hampering effective OHS in the construction industry. Some of these include; management’s lack of commitment to a participatory approach in OHS decision-making, limited resources to invest adequately in OHS, and the lack of sufficient trade union involvement. In addition, we know very little about OHS in the construction industry, and the mere existence of OHS legislation does not help reduce the risks associated with construction work, especially when there is a shortage of skilled personnel to enforce the legislation and regulations.
- Full Text:
Reconceptualising notions of South African Indianess : a personal narrative
- Authors: Kunvar, Yogita
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: East Indians -- South Africa , East Indians -- South Africa -- Ethnic identity , East Indians -- Cultural assimilation -- South Africa , National characteristics, East Indian , East Indian diaspora , Identity (Psychology) , South Africa -- Social conditions -- 1961-1994 , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1948-1994 , South Africa -- Race relations
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:2123 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017767
- Description: The theoretical challenge of conceptualising South African Indianess is suffused with a plethora of variables that suggest complexity. While being misleadingly homogenous, Indian identity encompasses a multitude of expressions. This thesis seeks to reconceptualise notions of South African Indianess through personal narrative. The research context is contemporary South Africa with a specific focus on Johannesburg’s East Rand Reef. Inspired by the dearth of literature on contemporary Indianess this study addresses the gap in the present discourse. Following the autoethnographic work of Motzafi-Haller (1997) and Narayan (1993) the thesis presents a layered narrative by juxtaposing the experiences of research participants with my own. Using multi-sited autoethnographic data the thesis explores the question of what it means to be Indian in relation to South Africa’s Apartheid past. By drawing on concepts in popular diaspora theory and critiquing their application, the thesis illustrates the inadequacies inherent in the definitions of diaspora and suggests a broader understanding of its application. Through exploring layers of Indianess the thesis illustrates the inherent complexity in reconceptualising South African Indianess. The study suggests that as a result of changing global and local flows, South African Indians are reconceptualising what it means to be South African Indian.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Kunvar, Yogita
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: East Indians -- South Africa , East Indians -- South Africa -- Ethnic identity , East Indians -- Cultural assimilation -- South Africa , National characteristics, East Indian , East Indian diaspora , Identity (Psychology) , South Africa -- Social conditions -- 1961-1994 , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1948-1994 , South Africa -- Race relations
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:2123 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017767
- Description: The theoretical challenge of conceptualising South African Indianess is suffused with a plethora of variables that suggest complexity. While being misleadingly homogenous, Indian identity encompasses a multitude of expressions. This thesis seeks to reconceptualise notions of South African Indianess through personal narrative. The research context is contemporary South Africa with a specific focus on Johannesburg’s East Rand Reef. Inspired by the dearth of literature on contemporary Indianess this study addresses the gap in the present discourse. Following the autoethnographic work of Motzafi-Haller (1997) and Narayan (1993) the thesis presents a layered narrative by juxtaposing the experiences of research participants with my own. Using multi-sited autoethnographic data the thesis explores the question of what it means to be Indian in relation to South Africa’s Apartheid past. By drawing on concepts in popular diaspora theory and critiquing their application, the thesis illustrates the inadequacies inherent in the definitions of diaspora and suggests a broader understanding of its application. Through exploring layers of Indianess the thesis illustrates the inherent complexity in reconceptualising South African Indianess. The study suggests that as a result of changing global and local flows, South African Indians are reconceptualising what it means to be South African Indian.
- Full Text:
The cognitive rehabilitation of a sample of children living with HIV : a specific focus on the cognitive rehabilitation of sustained attention
- Authors: Basterfield, Candice
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: HIV-positive children -- Rehabilitation , Antiretroviral agents , HIV (Viruses) -- Side effects , Brain damage -- Patients -- Rehabilitation , Cognition disorders -- Patients -- Rehabilitation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3258 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017881
- Description: Pharmacological interventions to treat Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) with antiretrovirals (ARVs), have dramatically improved the survival rates of HIV positive children maturing into adulthood. However, HIV-associated neurocognitive decline still persists in the era of ARVs. Within the framework of brain plasticity, a number of researchers have begun to assess the feasibility of cognitive rehabilitation therapy as a complement to ARVs to reverse neurocognitive decline as a result of HIV (e.g., Becker et al., 2012). Only one study has been conducted in South Africa, by Zondo & Mulder (2014), assessing the efficacy of cognitive rehabilitation in a paediatric sample. The current research builds on the above mentioned study by implementing an experimental approach to examine the effect of cognitive rehabilitation in a sample of both HIV positive and HIV negative children. Five HIV positive and six HIV negative children were assigned to either an experimental or control group. The experimental group underwent two months of cognitive rehabilitation therapy remediating sustained attention, whereas the control group took part in placebo activities. Sustained attention measures were taken before and after the intervention training sessions, using a sustained attention subtest from the Test of Everyday Attention for Children (TEA-CH). A Mann Whitney U Test revealed that the experimental group (Mdn=38.50) did not differ significantly from the control group (Mdn = 37.00) after the cognitive rehabilitation intervention, U=12.00, z= -.55, p= .66, r= -.17. But a Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test found that there was a significant improvement from pretest scores (Mdn=31.00) to posttest scores (Mdn=38.00) following the rehabilitation for HIV positive participants in the sample, T=15.00, z = -2.02, p= .04, r= -.90. This raises the possibility that cognitive rehabilitation could be used as a low cost intervention in underdeveloped contexts
- Full Text:
- Authors: Basterfield, Candice
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: HIV-positive children -- Rehabilitation , Antiretroviral agents , HIV (Viruses) -- Side effects , Brain damage -- Patients -- Rehabilitation , Cognition disorders -- Patients -- Rehabilitation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3258 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017881
- Description: Pharmacological interventions to treat Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) with antiretrovirals (ARVs), have dramatically improved the survival rates of HIV positive children maturing into adulthood. However, HIV-associated neurocognitive decline still persists in the era of ARVs. Within the framework of brain plasticity, a number of researchers have begun to assess the feasibility of cognitive rehabilitation therapy as a complement to ARVs to reverse neurocognitive decline as a result of HIV (e.g., Becker et al., 2012). Only one study has been conducted in South Africa, by Zondo & Mulder (2014), assessing the efficacy of cognitive rehabilitation in a paediatric sample. The current research builds on the above mentioned study by implementing an experimental approach to examine the effect of cognitive rehabilitation in a sample of both HIV positive and HIV negative children. Five HIV positive and six HIV negative children were assigned to either an experimental or control group. The experimental group underwent two months of cognitive rehabilitation therapy remediating sustained attention, whereas the control group took part in placebo activities. Sustained attention measures were taken before and after the intervention training sessions, using a sustained attention subtest from the Test of Everyday Attention for Children (TEA-CH). A Mann Whitney U Test revealed that the experimental group (Mdn=38.50) did not differ significantly from the control group (Mdn = 37.00) after the cognitive rehabilitation intervention, U=12.00, z= -.55, p= .66, r= -.17. But a Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test found that there was a significant improvement from pretest scores (Mdn=31.00) to posttest scores (Mdn=38.00) following the rehabilitation for HIV positive participants in the sample, T=15.00, z = -2.02, p= .04, r= -.90. This raises the possibility that cognitive rehabilitation could be used as a low cost intervention in underdeveloped contexts
- Full Text:
The developmental impact of non-contributory social grants in South Africa : a study of Ezibeleni, Queenstown
- Authors: Xaba, Mzingaye Brilliant
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Economic assistance, Domestic -- South Africa , Poor -- South Africa -- Queenstown , Poverty -- South Africa -- Queenstown , South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1991- , South Africa -- Social conditions -- 1994-
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3402 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018919
- Description: Amartya Sen argued that poverty was the “deprivation” of the capability to lead a “good life”, therefore ending poverty meant meeting basic physical and social needs, and enabling meaningful economic and political choices. The principal objective of this research was to investigate whether (and if so, in what ways) post-apartheid state-provided non-contributory cash social grants in South Africa reduced “poverty” in Sen’s sense. This thesis used Ezibeleni, a historically black working class township at Queenstown, in the Eastern Cape, as a reference area. Using in-depth interviews, it found that social grants did help reduce poverty, both in terms of helping meet basic needs and enabling grant recipients to make more choices, including facilitating job searches and small businesses. However, it was also found that grants fall short of ending poverty, as the grants were too small to adequately cover basic needs in the context of large family sizes, a serious and long-term lack of resources, persistent unemployment, and high indebtedness, and could also enable only a limited expansion of choices. The grants played a positive role, but were inadequate to remove the “unfreedoms” facing the poor.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Xaba, Mzingaye Brilliant
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Economic assistance, Domestic -- South Africa , Poor -- South Africa -- Queenstown , Poverty -- South Africa -- Queenstown , South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1991- , South Africa -- Social conditions -- 1994-
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3402 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018919
- Description: Amartya Sen argued that poverty was the “deprivation” of the capability to lead a “good life”, therefore ending poverty meant meeting basic physical and social needs, and enabling meaningful economic and political choices. The principal objective of this research was to investigate whether (and if so, in what ways) post-apartheid state-provided non-contributory cash social grants in South Africa reduced “poverty” in Sen’s sense. This thesis used Ezibeleni, a historically black working class township at Queenstown, in the Eastern Cape, as a reference area. Using in-depth interviews, it found that social grants did help reduce poverty, both in terms of helping meet basic needs and enabling grant recipients to make more choices, including facilitating job searches and small businesses. However, it was also found that grants fall short of ending poverty, as the grants were too small to adequately cover basic needs in the context of large family sizes, a serious and long-term lack of resources, persistent unemployment, and high indebtedness, and could also enable only a limited expansion of choices. The grants played a positive role, but were inadequate to remove the “unfreedoms” facing the poor.
- Full Text:
The effects of labour law on small firms in South Africa : perceptions of employers in the hospitality sector in Pretoria, Gauteng
- Authors: MacNeill, Jessica Dawn
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Labor laws and legislation -- South Africa , Small business -- South Africa -- Pretoria , Small business -- South Africa -- Pretoria -- Personnel management , Hospitality industry -- South Africa -- Pretoria -- Personnel management , Manpower policy -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3405 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018934
- Description: The South African government has attempted to find a balance of interests between the employer and the employee by the introduction of the Labour Relations Act in 1995 and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act in 1997. It is critical to the health of the South African economy that these labour laws do not impact small businesses to the extent that the Gross Domestic Product of the country is negatively affected. There are conflicting reports as to how these labour laws affect small businesses. It is therefore important for government to be able to understand, define and measure the impact of its labour laws on small businesses, in order for it to strategise corrective measures, which may include reconsidering the application of the legislative directive, regulated flexibility, if required. The study was limited in the sense that it was solely based on evidence collected from employers. An interpretivist approach was applied as a research methodology to data collected through in-depth interviews. The main findings of the empirical analysis demonstrate that labour legislation does not heavily impact small firms. It was thus determined that extensive measures were not needed with regard to correcting the framework of regulated flexibility.
- Full Text:
- Authors: MacNeill, Jessica Dawn
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Labor laws and legislation -- South Africa , Small business -- South Africa -- Pretoria , Small business -- South Africa -- Pretoria -- Personnel management , Hospitality industry -- South Africa -- Pretoria -- Personnel management , Manpower policy -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3405 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018934
- Description: The South African government has attempted to find a balance of interests between the employer and the employee by the introduction of the Labour Relations Act in 1995 and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act in 1997. It is critical to the health of the South African economy that these labour laws do not impact small businesses to the extent that the Gross Domestic Product of the country is negatively affected. There are conflicting reports as to how these labour laws affect small businesses. It is therefore important for government to be able to understand, define and measure the impact of its labour laws on small businesses, in order for it to strategise corrective measures, which may include reconsidering the application of the legislative directive, regulated flexibility, if required. The study was limited in the sense that it was solely based on evidence collected from employers. An interpretivist approach was applied as a research methodology to data collected through in-depth interviews. The main findings of the empirical analysis demonstrate that labour legislation does not heavily impact small firms. It was thus determined that extensive measures were not needed with regard to correcting the framework of regulated flexibility.
- Full Text:
The role of civil society in advancing education rights : the case of Gadra Education, Grahamstown, South Africa
- Authors: Msindo, Esteri Makotore
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Gadra Education (Grahamstown, South Africa) , Right to education -- South Africa , State departments of education -- South Africa , Educational change -- South Africa , Social justice -- South Africa , Civil society -- South Africa , Social contract
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3392 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016500
- Description: This thesis has identified and analysed the role of an NGO called Gadra Education in advancing education rights to the less advantaged people of Grahamstown in South Africa. Gadra Education’s role has been identified as twofold. Firstly as an educational NGO, Gadra Education’s initiatives directly impact on the lives of the less economically and socially privileged learners who, due to their previous learning environment in state schools, do not achieve academic results that ensure entry into tertiary level. Secondly its role is identified in its nature as an organisation that emerged due to the deficiencies in the state schooling system. It therefore stands de facto as a critical institution for critique of the state’s education system. The thesis concludes that without confronting the Department of Education or collaborating with it, Gadra Education offers a significant alternative approach which can potentially influence the state to improve the state schooling system. Its strategy of non-confrontation to the state, informal and non-corporatist is advantageous as an NGO that focuses on the actual provision of education. It focuses on instilling Ubuntu values of sharing and giving that are of critical significance in teaching and learning. The context of the thesis is located broadly within socio-economic rights and specifically on education rights. In South Africa where the state has not adequately met the educational obligations for the economically and socially less privileged citizens, the emergence of educational NGOs that focus on providing education to the poor is of vital importance. Although other NGOs that confront the state are important in pushing the state to deliver especially on school infrastructure, teacher deployment and other educational challenges, Gadra Education model ensures academic success for the learner. Lessons can be drawn from Gadra Education which can be potentially useful to state schools and other NGOs that seek to advance education rights to disadvantaged communities.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Msindo, Esteri Makotore
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Gadra Education (Grahamstown, South Africa) , Right to education -- South Africa , State departments of education -- South Africa , Educational change -- South Africa , Social justice -- South Africa , Civil society -- South Africa , Social contract
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3392 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016500
- Description: This thesis has identified and analysed the role of an NGO called Gadra Education in advancing education rights to the less advantaged people of Grahamstown in South Africa. Gadra Education’s role has been identified as twofold. Firstly as an educational NGO, Gadra Education’s initiatives directly impact on the lives of the less economically and socially privileged learners who, due to their previous learning environment in state schools, do not achieve academic results that ensure entry into tertiary level. Secondly its role is identified in its nature as an organisation that emerged due to the deficiencies in the state schooling system. It therefore stands de facto as a critical institution for critique of the state’s education system. The thesis concludes that without confronting the Department of Education or collaborating with it, Gadra Education offers a significant alternative approach which can potentially influence the state to improve the state schooling system. Its strategy of non-confrontation to the state, informal and non-corporatist is advantageous as an NGO that focuses on the actual provision of education. It focuses on instilling Ubuntu values of sharing and giving that are of critical significance in teaching and learning. The context of the thesis is located broadly within socio-economic rights and specifically on education rights. In South Africa where the state has not adequately met the educational obligations for the economically and socially less privileged citizens, the emergence of educational NGOs that focus on providing education to the poor is of vital importance. Although other NGOs that confront the state are important in pushing the state to deliver especially on school infrastructure, teacher deployment and other educational challenges, Gadra Education model ensures academic success for the learner. Lessons can be drawn from Gadra Education which can be potentially useful to state schools and other NGOs that seek to advance education rights to disadvantaged communities.
- Full Text:
The transition of Rhodes University graduates into the South African labour market : a case study of the 2010 cohort
- Authors: Ntikinca, Kanyiso Lungani
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Rhodes University -- Graduate students , Labor market -- South Africa , College graduates -- Employment -- South Africa , Labor supply -- Research -- South Africa , Market segmentation -- South Africa , Employability -- South Africa , Race discrimination -- South Africa , Sex discrimination -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3395 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018198
- Description: Recent studies have shown that graduates from historically White universities (HWUs) experience better labour market outcomes than graduates from historically Black universities (HBUs). This is a result of the legacy of apartheid which promoted racial inequality in all spheres of South African society, more especially in higher education and the labour market. Post-1994, government dedicated large amounts for the restructuring of the higher education sector of South Africa in order to level out the playing field. However, graduates from HWUs still experience better labour market success than graduates from HBUs. That said, there is limited information about the labour market outcomes and experiences of graduates from a former White university (especially graduates from Rhodes University). Therefore, the central aim of this dissertation is to show that graduates from a historically White university (Rhodes University) experience varying and unequal outcomes in the South African labour market on account of (among other factors) their chosen fields of study, race and sex. This study is informed by the heterodox labour market approach, which is partly inspired by the critical realist account of the labour market. As a result, this theoretical framework allowed the researcher to use the Labour Market Segmentation (LMS) theory as a tool to inform this analysis. The study has adopted a quantitative survey design and has incorporated some of the key methodological lessons learned from the collection of international graduate tracer studies. The findings from this study indicated that ‘field of study’ is a strong determiner of the outcomes of Rhodes graduates in the labour market. This was visible in the persistence of a skills bias towards commerce and science graduates. Evidently, even when we controlled for race and sex, graduates from the commerce and science faculties experience better labour market outcomes than humanities graduates. This is a result of a skills biased South African economy, which has a higher demand for certain skills over others. However, the findings from this study also show evidence of pre-labour market discrimination and inequality (based on race and sex) in the supply-side institutions such as the family, schooling and university. The findings also show continuities and discontinuities of labour market discrimination (based on race and sex) in the outcomes of Rhodes graduates in the South African labour market. More importantly, this dissertation indicates that Rhodes graduates experience varying outcomes in the labour market as a result of (among other factors) their chosen fields of study, race and sex.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Ntikinca, Kanyiso Lungani
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Rhodes University -- Graduate students , Labor market -- South Africa , College graduates -- Employment -- South Africa , Labor supply -- Research -- South Africa , Market segmentation -- South Africa , Employability -- South Africa , Race discrimination -- South Africa , Sex discrimination -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3395 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018198
- Description: Recent studies have shown that graduates from historically White universities (HWUs) experience better labour market outcomes than graduates from historically Black universities (HBUs). This is a result of the legacy of apartheid which promoted racial inequality in all spheres of South African society, more especially in higher education and the labour market. Post-1994, government dedicated large amounts for the restructuring of the higher education sector of South Africa in order to level out the playing field. However, graduates from HWUs still experience better labour market success than graduates from HBUs. That said, there is limited information about the labour market outcomes and experiences of graduates from a former White university (especially graduates from Rhodes University). Therefore, the central aim of this dissertation is to show that graduates from a historically White university (Rhodes University) experience varying and unequal outcomes in the South African labour market on account of (among other factors) their chosen fields of study, race and sex. This study is informed by the heterodox labour market approach, which is partly inspired by the critical realist account of the labour market. As a result, this theoretical framework allowed the researcher to use the Labour Market Segmentation (LMS) theory as a tool to inform this analysis. The study has adopted a quantitative survey design and has incorporated some of the key methodological lessons learned from the collection of international graduate tracer studies. The findings from this study indicated that ‘field of study’ is a strong determiner of the outcomes of Rhodes graduates in the labour market. This was visible in the persistence of a skills bias towards commerce and science graduates. Evidently, even when we controlled for race and sex, graduates from the commerce and science faculties experience better labour market outcomes than humanities graduates. This is a result of a skills biased South African economy, which has a higher demand for certain skills over others. However, the findings from this study also show evidence of pre-labour market discrimination and inequality (based on race and sex) in the supply-side institutions such as the family, schooling and university. The findings also show continuities and discontinuities of labour market discrimination (based on race and sex) in the outcomes of Rhodes graduates in the South African labour market. More importantly, this dissertation indicates that Rhodes graduates experience varying outcomes in the labour market as a result of (among other factors) their chosen fields of study, race and sex.
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Understanding policy making and policy implementation with reference to land redistribution in South Africa : case studies form the Eastern Cape
- Mbokazi, Nonzuzo Nomfundo Mbalenhle
- Authors: Mbokazi, Nonzuzo Nomfundo Mbalenhle
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Land reform -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Land reform -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Land reform -- Case studies , Agriculture and state -- South Africa , South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1918-1961 , South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1961-1991 , South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1991- , Reconstruction and Development Programme (South Africa)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3394 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018197
- Description: This thesis focuses on land reform in post-apartheid South Africa and specifically on land redistribution, as one of the main pillars of land reform. There have been many studies undertaken on land redistribution in South Africa and these studies offer deep criticisms of the prevailing land redistribution model (a market-led, but state-assisted model) and the ways in which this model has failed to meaningfully address colonial dispossession of land. Further, studies have focused on post-redistribution livelihoods of farmers and the many challenges they face. One significant gap in the prevailing literature is a sustained focus on the state itself, and particularly questions around policy formation and implementation processes pertaining to land redistribution. Delving into policy processes is invariably a difficult task because outsider access to intra-state processes is fraught with problems. But a full account of land redistribution in South Africa demands sensitivity to processes internal to the state. Because of this, it is hoped that this thesis makes a contribution to the existing South African land redistribution literature. In pursuing the thesis objective, I undertook research amongst farmers on selected redistributed farms outside Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape, as well as engaging with both current and former state land officials. Based on the evidence, it is clear that the policy process around land in South Africa is a complex and convoluted process marked not only by consensus-making and combined activities but also by tensions and conflicts. This, I would argue, is the norm with regard to what states do and how they work.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Mbokazi, Nonzuzo Nomfundo Mbalenhle
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Land reform -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Land reform -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Land reform -- Case studies , Agriculture and state -- South Africa , South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1918-1961 , South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1961-1991 , South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1991- , Reconstruction and Development Programme (South Africa)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3394 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018197
- Description: This thesis focuses on land reform in post-apartheid South Africa and specifically on land redistribution, as one of the main pillars of land reform. There have been many studies undertaken on land redistribution in South Africa and these studies offer deep criticisms of the prevailing land redistribution model (a market-led, but state-assisted model) and the ways in which this model has failed to meaningfully address colonial dispossession of land. Further, studies have focused on post-redistribution livelihoods of farmers and the many challenges they face. One significant gap in the prevailing literature is a sustained focus on the state itself, and particularly questions around policy formation and implementation processes pertaining to land redistribution. Delving into policy processes is invariably a difficult task because outsider access to intra-state processes is fraught with problems. But a full account of land redistribution in South Africa demands sensitivity to processes internal to the state. Because of this, it is hoped that this thesis makes a contribution to the existing South African land redistribution literature. In pursuing the thesis objective, I undertook research amongst farmers on selected redistributed farms outside Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape, as well as engaging with both current and former state land officials. Based on the evidence, it is clear that the policy process around land in South Africa is a complex and convoluted process marked not only by consensus-making and combined activities but also by tensions and conflicts. This, I would argue, is the norm with regard to what states do and how they work.
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Understanding the poverty-reducing livelihoods of child support grant caregivers in Riebeeck East, South Africa
- Authors: Chikukwa, Vimbainashe
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Archer, Margaret Scotford -- Political and social views , Child caregivers -- South Africa -- Riebeek-Oos , Public welfare -- South Africa -- Riebeek-Oos , Grants-in-aid -- South Africa -- Riebeek-Oos , Poverty -- South Africa -- Riebeek-Oos , Critical realism , South Africa -- Social conditions -- 1994- , South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1991-
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3393 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018196
- Description: In 1994, racial domination in the form of apartheid ended in South Africa and the first postapartheid government was elected through a non-racial and democratic franchise. The new government inherited an entrenched system of racial inequality as well as widespread poverty amongst the formerly oppressed population, and it sought to address these challenges through policies of redistribution based on a new progressive constitution which emphasised the realisation of socio-economic rights. At the same time, and despite its redistributive measures, the post-apartheid government has pursued a macro-economic strategy with pronounced neoliberal dimensions. One of its critical redistributive measures focuses on social assistance to poor blacks, and this has entailed the construction and expansion of a massive social grant system including the child support grant which is received by millions of black South Africans on a monthly basis. The objective of this thesis is to examine and understand the livelihoods of child support grant recipients (or caregivers) in the context of conditions of extreme vulnerability marked by poverty. It does so by focusing on the small town of Riebeek East located in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Though undoubtedly child support grant caregivers are victims of poverty, the thesis demonstrates that they are not without agency. They exist in structural conditions of vulnerability and poverty, but they nevertheless seek to manoeuvre and negotiate their way in and through their conditions of existence. This does not necessarily alleviate their poverty in any significant manner but it does show evidence of reflexivity, decision-making and responsibility in the pursuit of livelihood practices and outcomes. In making this argument, I draw upon the mega-theory of Margaret Archer (specifically, her morphogenetic approach) and the more middle-level perspective of the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework. Beyond contributing to the prevailing academic literature on the child support grant in South Africa, this thesis also hopefully makes a small contribution to controversies about structure and agency within sociology.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Chikukwa, Vimbainashe
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Archer, Margaret Scotford -- Political and social views , Child caregivers -- South Africa -- Riebeek-Oos , Public welfare -- South Africa -- Riebeek-Oos , Grants-in-aid -- South Africa -- Riebeek-Oos , Poverty -- South Africa -- Riebeek-Oos , Critical realism , South Africa -- Social conditions -- 1994- , South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1991-
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3393 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018196
- Description: In 1994, racial domination in the form of apartheid ended in South Africa and the first postapartheid government was elected through a non-racial and democratic franchise. The new government inherited an entrenched system of racial inequality as well as widespread poverty amongst the formerly oppressed population, and it sought to address these challenges through policies of redistribution based on a new progressive constitution which emphasised the realisation of socio-economic rights. At the same time, and despite its redistributive measures, the post-apartheid government has pursued a macro-economic strategy with pronounced neoliberal dimensions. One of its critical redistributive measures focuses on social assistance to poor blacks, and this has entailed the construction and expansion of a massive social grant system including the child support grant which is received by millions of black South Africans on a monthly basis. The objective of this thesis is to examine and understand the livelihoods of child support grant recipients (or caregivers) in the context of conditions of extreme vulnerability marked by poverty. It does so by focusing on the small town of Riebeek East located in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Though undoubtedly child support grant caregivers are victims of poverty, the thesis demonstrates that they are not without agency. They exist in structural conditions of vulnerability and poverty, but they nevertheless seek to manoeuvre and negotiate their way in and through their conditions of existence. This does not necessarily alleviate their poverty in any significant manner but it does show evidence of reflexivity, decision-making and responsibility in the pursuit of livelihood practices and outcomes. In making this argument, I draw upon the mega-theory of Margaret Archer (specifically, her morphogenetic approach) and the more middle-level perspective of the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework. Beyond contributing to the prevailing academic literature on the child support grant in South Africa, this thesis also hopefully makes a small contribution to controversies about structure and agency within sociology.
- Full Text:
Water security amongst impoverished households in the Sundays River Valley Municipality : community experiences and perspectives
- Authors: Molony, Lara
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Water security -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Poor -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Water-supply -- Management , Water consumption -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Water quality management -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Municipal services -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Water quality -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Municipal water supply -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Political ecology -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:4788 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018932
- Description: Water security is influenced by the complex interplay between ecological, socio-political, governance and water management systems. Achieving water security is essential for ensuring sustainable development, and challenges with water security are closely linked to the overall experience of poverty that many countries throughout the world, including South Africa, confront. These problems can broadly be understood through three main factors: water availability, access and usage; water governance and management underpin these factors. Water insecurity can often be seen in townships within South Africa, where water service delivery and water access is precarious. This study provides a lens into the water security experiences of two poor township communities in the Sundays River Valley Municipality (SRVM) namely Nomathamsanqa in Addo and Aquapark in Kirkwood. The research assessed water security patterns amongst RDP, township and informal settlement households serviced by the SRVM and found that communities face severe water security problems. Specifically, it was found that all township households encounter frequent water shortages, cuts in municipal water supply and water quality concerns. Issues around the payment for water and dissatisfaction with water service delivery also emerged. The purpose of this research was to allow for community experiences and perspectives to be expressed in an academic space that has previously been dominated by water management and policy makers. The study concludes that these communities within the SRVM experience significant challenges in securing safe water and these are largely due to social water scarcity issues and the difficulties the municipality faces concerning water service delivery.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Molony, Lara
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Water security -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Poor -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Water-supply -- Management , Water consumption -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Water quality management -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Municipal services -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Water quality -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Municipal water supply -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Political ecology -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:4788 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018932
- Description: Water security is influenced by the complex interplay between ecological, socio-political, governance and water management systems. Achieving water security is essential for ensuring sustainable development, and challenges with water security are closely linked to the overall experience of poverty that many countries throughout the world, including South Africa, confront. These problems can broadly be understood through three main factors: water availability, access and usage; water governance and management underpin these factors. Water insecurity can often be seen in townships within South Africa, where water service delivery and water access is precarious. This study provides a lens into the water security experiences of two poor township communities in the Sundays River Valley Municipality (SRVM) namely Nomathamsanqa in Addo and Aquapark in Kirkwood. The research assessed water security patterns amongst RDP, township and informal settlement households serviced by the SRVM and found that communities face severe water security problems. Specifically, it was found that all township households encounter frequent water shortages, cuts in municipal water supply and water quality concerns. Issues around the payment for water and dissatisfaction with water service delivery also emerged. The purpose of this research was to allow for community experiences and perspectives to be expressed in an academic space that has previously been dominated by water management and policy makers. The study concludes that these communities within the SRVM experience significant challenges in securing safe water and these are largely due to social water scarcity issues and the difficulties the municipality faces concerning water service delivery.
- Full Text:
Women's micro-narratives of the process of abortion decision-making : justifying the decision to have an abortion
- Mavuso, Jabulile Mary-Jane Jace
- Authors: Mavuso, Jabulile Mary-Jane Jace
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Abortion -- Psychological aspects , Pregnancy, Unwanted -- Psychological aspects , Narrative therapy , Post-abortion syndrome
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3262 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017885
- Description: Much of the research on abortion is concerned with determining women’s psychological outcomes post-abortion. There is a small, but increasing, body of research around women’s experiences of abortion (conducted predominantly in Scandinavian countries where abortion laws are liberal). However, research around the decision-making process regarding abortion, particularly research that locates the decision to have an abortion within the economic, religious, social, political, and cultural aspects of women’s lives and that looks at women’s narratives, is virtually non-existent. Drawing on Foucauldian and feminist post-structuralism as well as a narrative-discursive approach, this study sought to explore women’s micro-narratives of the abortion decision-making process in terms of the discourses used to construct these micro-narratives and the subject positions made available within these discourses. This study also sought to determine whether the power relations referred to by participants contributed to unsupported and unsupportable pregnancies and the implications this had for reproductive justice. Purposive sampling was used to recruit a total of 25 participants from three different abortion facilities in the Eastern Cape. Participants were ‘Black’ women, mostly unemployed and unmarried with ages ranging between 19 and 35 years old. In analysing and interpreting participants’ narratives, the picture that emerged was an over-arching narrative in which women described the abortion decision as something that they were ‘forced’ into by their circumstances. To construct this narrative, women justified the decision to have an abortion by drawing on discourses that normalise certain practices located within the husband-wife and parent-child axes and make the pregnancy a problematic, unsupported and unsupportable one. Gendered and generational power relations reinforced this and contributed to the denial of reproductive justice
- Full Text:
- Authors: Mavuso, Jabulile Mary-Jane Jace
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Abortion -- Psychological aspects , Pregnancy, Unwanted -- Psychological aspects , Narrative therapy , Post-abortion syndrome
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3262 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017885
- Description: Much of the research on abortion is concerned with determining women’s psychological outcomes post-abortion. There is a small, but increasing, body of research around women’s experiences of abortion (conducted predominantly in Scandinavian countries where abortion laws are liberal). However, research around the decision-making process regarding abortion, particularly research that locates the decision to have an abortion within the economic, religious, social, political, and cultural aspects of women’s lives and that looks at women’s narratives, is virtually non-existent. Drawing on Foucauldian and feminist post-structuralism as well as a narrative-discursive approach, this study sought to explore women’s micro-narratives of the abortion decision-making process in terms of the discourses used to construct these micro-narratives and the subject positions made available within these discourses. This study also sought to determine whether the power relations referred to by participants contributed to unsupported and unsupportable pregnancies and the implications this had for reproductive justice. Purposive sampling was used to recruit a total of 25 participants from three different abortion facilities in the Eastern Cape. Participants were ‘Black’ women, mostly unemployed and unmarried with ages ranging between 19 and 35 years old. In analysing and interpreting participants’ narratives, the picture that emerged was an over-arching narrative in which women described the abortion decision as something that they were ‘forced’ into by their circumstances. To construct this narrative, women justified the decision to have an abortion by drawing on discourses that normalise certain practices located within the husband-wife and parent-child axes and make the pregnancy a problematic, unsupported and unsupportable one. Gendered and generational power relations reinforced this and contributed to the denial of reproductive justice
- Full Text:
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