Assessment of the municipal support and intervention programme in selected municipalities of the Eastern Cape
- Authors: Ngwadi, Mzamo
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Municipal services Public administration|
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , D.Admin
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/17061 , vital:40844
- Description: The study assesses the outcomes and impact of Municipal Support and Intervention Programme which was implemented in the study sites of Blue Crane Route and Kouga Local Municipalities, which are falling under Sarah Baartman District Municipality, in the Province of Eastern Cape, in the Republic of South Africa. The researcher’s study is an attempt to pursue and record the foot-prints left by Municipal Support and Intervention Programme (MSIP) in these study sites in order to determine the potential extended implementation of the programme in other municipalities with similar challenges of political instability, poor governance, poor audit opinions, unsound financial management systems leading to poor and unsustainable municipal service delivery. The Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) conducted a diagnosis on the performance of the then 45municipalities (2007/08 Financial Year) and identified challenges of similar nature but different degrees in fifteen municipalities from the erstwhile Transkei Administration. The municipalities comprised: 2 Metropolitans, 37 Locals and 6 Districts. The diagnostic results compelled COGTA and National Treasury to develop a Municipal Support and Intervention Framework (MSIF) which was piloted in those 15 municipalities then and later adopted as a fully-fledged programme, referred to above as MSIP by the Member of Executive Committee (MEC) for COGTA and Mayors in September, 2014 at Komani (Queenstown). x The concern of the researcher is, in spite of numerous efforts by National and Provincial Departments and Treasuries, it has been observed that some municipalities are still faced with challenges of political instability, poor governance and unsound financial management/financial variability which result to poor municipal service delivery. The latter challenges manifest themselves in protests by the citizenry, poor external audit results due to ineffective political oversight coupled with the lack of scarce and critical professional technical skills. A review of existing literature assists the researcher to identify the key concepts of relevance to the study and assists the investigator to become knowledgeable to the limits, challenges and the language of the type of the research they plan to conduct. The research questions or hypothesis are as follows: • What is the understanding of Municipal Support and Intervention Programme by Blue Crane Route and Kouga Local Municipalities towards service delivery? • Which factors have influenced the effectiveness of the implementation of Municipal Support and Intervention Programme in Blue Crane Route and Kouga Local Municipalities? • What are the recommendations for improved implementation of Municipal Support and Intervention Programme in Blue Crane Route and Kouga Local Municipalities? The aim of this study is to assess the impact of Municipal Support and Intervention Programme (MSIP) Implementation by the Provincial Administration at the municipal level, with special reference to Blue Crane Route and Kouga Municipalities. The objectives of the research are: xi • To explore understanding of the Municipal Support and Intervention Programme in Blue Crane Route and Kouga Local Municipalities. • To explore the factors which influence the effectiveness of the Municipal Support and Intervention Programme in Blue Crane Route and Kouga Local Municipalities • To explore some findings on the study of Municipal Support and Intervention Programme in Blue Crane Route and Kouga Local Municipalities. • To explore recommendations towards improving the implementation of the Municipal Support and Intervention Programme in Blue Crane Route and Kouga Local Municipalities. Qualitative and Quantitative Methodologies were utilised for data gathering in the two study sites. The study concluded that when the above-mentioned challenges are existing in a municipality, they will manifest themselves through the demonstrations by citizenry which sometimes lead to damage of infrastructure. It is therefore, recommended that the three spheres of government should go back to the drawing board when deploying councillors in municipality by considering basic relevant educational qualifications because the Local Government Sector is highly legislated and complicated. The learning curve is sometimes a bit longer during a five-year elections term. This should be the same considerations when technocrats are being appointed at the level of Section 54 and 56, in terms of Municipal Systems Act, No. 32 of 2000, especially in the area of scarce and critical professional skills. In the case of educational, training and development gaps, the National Department of Co-operative Governance, National Treasury and the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), could enhance upskilling supporting politicians and municipal senior managers with accredited and refresher courses
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Ngwadi, Mzamo
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Municipal services Public administration|
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , D.Admin
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/17061 , vital:40844
- Description: The study assesses the outcomes and impact of Municipal Support and Intervention Programme which was implemented in the study sites of Blue Crane Route and Kouga Local Municipalities, which are falling under Sarah Baartman District Municipality, in the Province of Eastern Cape, in the Republic of South Africa. The researcher’s study is an attempt to pursue and record the foot-prints left by Municipal Support and Intervention Programme (MSIP) in these study sites in order to determine the potential extended implementation of the programme in other municipalities with similar challenges of political instability, poor governance, poor audit opinions, unsound financial management systems leading to poor and unsustainable municipal service delivery. The Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) conducted a diagnosis on the performance of the then 45municipalities (2007/08 Financial Year) and identified challenges of similar nature but different degrees in fifteen municipalities from the erstwhile Transkei Administration. The municipalities comprised: 2 Metropolitans, 37 Locals and 6 Districts. The diagnostic results compelled COGTA and National Treasury to develop a Municipal Support and Intervention Framework (MSIF) which was piloted in those 15 municipalities then and later adopted as a fully-fledged programme, referred to above as MSIP by the Member of Executive Committee (MEC) for COGTA and Mayors in September, 2014 at Komani (Queenstown). x The concern of the researcher is, in spite of numerous efforts by National and Provincial Departments and Treasuries, it has been observed that some municipalities are still faced with challenges of political instability, poor governance and unsound financial management/financial variability which result to poor municipal service delivery. The latter challenges manifest themselves in protests by the citizenry, poor external audit results due to ineffective political oversight coupled with the lack of scarce and critical professional technical skills. A review of existing literature assists the researcher to identify the key concepts of relevance to the study and assists the investigator to become knowledgeable to the limits, challenges and the language of the type of the research they plan to conduct. The research questions or hypothesis are as follows: • What is the understanding of Municipal Support and Intervention Programme by Blue Crane Route and Kouga Local Municipalities towards service delivery? • Which factors have influenced the effectiveness of the implementation of Municipal Support and Intervention Programme in Blue Crane Route and Kouga Local Municipalities? • What are the recommendations for improved implementation of Municipal Support and Intervention Programme in Blue Crane Route and Kouga Local Municipalities? The aim of this study is to assess the impact of Municipal Support and Intervention Programme (MSIP) Implementation by the Provincial Administration at the municipal level, with special reference to Blue Crane Route and Kouga Municipalities. The objectives of the research are: xi • To explore understanding of the Municipal Support and Intervention Programme in Blue Crane Route and Kouga Local Municipalities. • To explore the factors which influence the effectiveness of the Municipal Support and Intervention Programme in Blue Crane Route and Kouga Local Municipalities • To explore some findings on the study of Municipal Support and Intervention Programme in Blue Crane Route and Kouga Local Municipalities. • To explore recommendations towards improving the implementation of the Municipal Support and Intervention Programme in Blue Crane Route and Kouga Local Municipalities. Qualitative and Quantitative Methodologies were utilised for data gathering in the two study sites. The study concluded that when the above-mentioned challenges are existing in a municipality, they will manifest themselves through the demonstrations by citizenry which sometimes lead to damage of infrastructure. It is therefore, recommended that the three spheres of government should go back to the drawing board when deploying councillors in municipality by considering basic relevant educational qualifications because the Local Government Sector is highly legislated and complicated. The learning curve is sometimes a bit longer during a five-year elections term. This should be the same considerations when technocrats are being appointed at the level of Section 54 and 56, in terms of Municipal Systems Act, No. 32 of 2000, especially in the area of scarce and critical professional skills. In the case of educational, training and development gaps, the National Department of Co-operative Governance, National Treasury and the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), could enhance upskilling supporting politicians and municipal senior managers with accredited and refresher courses
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Social-ecological resilience for well-being : a critical realist case study of Boksburg Lake, South Africa
- Authors: Fox, Helen Elizabeth
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Boksburg Lake and Wetland project , Reservoirs -- South Africa -- Boksburg , Water -- Pollution -- South Africa -- Boksburg , Human ecology -- South Africa -- Boksburg , Social learning -- South Africa -- Boksburg , Critical realism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:6048 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017872
- Description: This thesis is based on a case study of the degraded Boksburg Lake social-ecological system and an environmental education initiative that aimed to support its transformation. This initiative aimed to involve local people in reclaiming the lake’s social and ecological value, through a process of collectively reimagining possibilities, shaping identities, gaining knowledge and developing local human agency. The focus was on social learning processes in schools and churches to explore opportunities for co-engaged reflexivity that might produce transformation. Schools and Christian churches, two institutions that reflect modern, western socialecological worldviews also have the potential to bring about change. Critical Realism was chosen as my philosophical framework as it provided the tools to explore deeper mechanisms beyond empirical reality, both influencing the degrading trajectory as well as providing possibilities for transformation. It also legitimised case study research as a means to understand more generalised processes characterising modern social-ecological systems. The choice of Critical Realism informed the scope of my primary research question: What generative mechanisms constrain and enable the development of social-ecological resilience for well-being, in the modern social-ecological system of Boksburg Lake? The following three goals were formulated to address this primary question. Goal 1: Based on a multitheoretical perspective of social-ecological literature, develop conceptual tools that have explanatory power to probe generative mechanisms operating in the Boksburg Lake social-ecological system. Goal 2: Identify generative mechanisms driving the current degradation of the Boksburg Lake social-ecological system. Goal 3: Identify learning mechanisms that support transformation for greater social-ecological resilience of the Boksburg Lake social-ecological system. By addressing the primary question and research goals I aimed to gain insights into modern global socialecological systems, the mechanisms that drive high social-ecological risk and the requirements for and possibilities of global systemic change. Drawing on a broad reading of social-ecological literature from different vantage points, tools with explanatory power were developed to probe for generative mechanisms in the Boksburg Lake social-ecological system (goal 1). The human capacity for symbolic representation is identified as an emergent property of coevolving human-ecological systems. These symbolic representations become expressed in culture and worldviews, and influence patterns of identifying, types of knowledge and forms of agency. The nature of these will determine the degree that cultural systems are embedded within ecological reality and the extent of cultural-ecological coupling. A cultural system closely coupled with ecological realities is likely to value ecological systems and manage them for their health, while less coupled cultural-ecological systems are likely to lead to the opposite. Because of their integrated nature, the extent of ecological health and value will affect the decline or sustainability of cultural-ecological systems. There are numerous examples of the learning that can take place when cultural-ecological systems are facing decline. This learning can enhance or reduce biophyllic instincts that become encoded in patterns of identifying, types of knowledge and forms of agency. This in turn affects the strength of cultural-ecological coupling and the extent that human societies co-evolve with ecological systems. , Normalising ideologies is a concept coined in the thesis to refer to symbolic representations of reality that have become integral to a social fabric and determine meaning, while maintaining the domination of the powerful. These ideologies determine patterns of identifying, knowledge and agency and are recognised as having a fundamental influence on the resilience of social-ecological systems. Four normalising ideologies are identified that promote apparent human progress at the expense of ecological integrity and social equality and thus alienation with each other and the ecological world. These are human-ecological dualism, anthropocentrism, nature is mechanised and nature is to be controlled. There are also a number of ideologies promoting connectedness with the ecological world that, if they became normalised, would support greater social-ecological resilience for well-being. Generative mechanisms driving the current degradation of the Boksburg Lake socialecological system were identified (goal 2). Drawing on critical methodology, the main method adopted was document analysis of the Boksburg Advertiser archives, Boksburg’s local newspaper. Four generative mechanisms are recognised as most influential. Two of these have been named hegemonic symbolic systems. The primary symbolic system consists of the four normalising ideologies, mentioned above, that promote human progress at the expense of ecological health. The secondary, more explicit symbolic system, built on this, consists of the following normative ideologies: economic growth is imperative, unrestrained development is promoted, competition is the necessary means and consumerism is the good life. These two symbolic systems have had causal influence on the systematic erosion of ecological processes and biological diversity that has occurred in Boksburg, with the consequent undermining of social-ecological resilience for well-being. The third mechanism that constrains resilience is the power dynamics that have shaped Boksburg’s economic history and social-ecological system. This has resulted in a society built on inequality and injustice with all its associated social and environmental ills, expressed as externalities. The fourth mechanism resides in Boksburg’s political and municipal dynamics. These structures are not designed to tackle complex social-ecological problems and they hold considerable agential power, yet seem dysfunctional at present. Learning mechanisms that support transformation for greater social-ecological resilience of the Boksburg Lake social-ecological system were identified (goal 3). By adopting the role of a reflexive practitioner, supported by action research, case study and interpretivist methodologies, data on the empirical manifestations of the environmental educational initiative were collected. Methods included semistructured interviews, focus groups, document analysis and participant observation. Findings indicate that schools and churches are important institutions that can positively influence patterns of identifying, knowledge about and agency for Boksburg Lake and can thus play a role in transforming hegemonic normalising ideologies. Important learning mechanisms identified included: Learning reflexively together within communities of practice that provide opportunities for active rather than passive learning; involving the youth as they are a group of people with notable enthusiasm, vision, energy and motivation; learning through information acquisition, investigation, action and deliberation; learning about abstract concepts and theoretical knowledge but embedding this in local realities; and learning that provides reference markers for how things can be different.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Fox, Helen Elizabeth
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Boksburg Lake and Wetland project , Reservoirs -- South Africa -- Boksburg , Water -- Pollution -- South Africa -- Boksburg , Human ecology -- South Africa -- Boksburg , Social learning -- South Africa -- Boksburg , Critical realism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:6048 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017872
- Description: This thesis is based on a case study of the degraded Boksburg Lake social-ecological system and an environmental education initiative that aimed to support its transformation. This initiative aimed to involve local people in reclaiming the lake’s social and ecological value, through a process of collectively reimagining possibilities, shaping identities, gaining knowledge and developing local human agency. The focus was on social learning processes in schools and churches to explore opportunities for co-engaged reflexivity that might produce transformation. Schools and Christian churches, two institutions that reflect modern, western socialecological worldviews also have the potential to bring about change. Critical Realism was chosen as my philosophical framework as it provided the tools to explore deeper mechanisms beyond empirical reality, both influencing the degrading trajectory as well as providing possibilities for transformation. It also legitimised case study research as a means to understand more generalised processes characterising modern social-ecological systems. The choice of Critical Realism informed the scope of my primary research question: What generative mechanisms constrain and enable the development of social-ecological resilience for well-being, in the modern social-ecological system of Boksburg Lake? The following three goals were formulated to address this primary question. Goal 1: Based on a multitheoretical perspective of social-ecological literature, develop conceptual tools that have explanatory power to probe generative mechanisms operating in the Boksburg Lake social-ecological system. Goal 2: Identify generative mechanisms driving the current degradation of the Boksburg Lake social-ecological system. Goal 3: Identify learning mechanisms that support transformation for greater social-ecological resilience of the Boksburg Lake social-ecological system. By addressing the primary question and research goals I aimed to gain insights into modern global socialecological systems, the mechanisms that drive high social-ecological risk and the requirements for and possibilities of global systemic change. Drawing on a broad reading of social-ecological literature from different vantage points, tools with explanatory power were developed to probe for generative mechanisms in the Boksburg Lake social-ecological system (goal 1). The human capacity for symbolic representation is identified as an emergent property of coevolving human-ecological systems. These symbolic representations become expressed in culture and worldviews, and influence patterns of identifying, types of knowledge and forms of agency. The nature of these will determine the degree that cultural systems are embedded within ecological reality and the extent of cultural-ecological coupling. A cultural system closely coupled with ecological realities is likely to value ecological systems and manage them for their health, while less coupled cultural-ecological systems are likely to lead to the opposite. Because of their integrated nature, the extent of ecological health and value will affect the decline or sustainability of cultural-ecological systems. There are numerous examples of the learning that can take place when cultural-ecological systems are facing decline. This learning can enhance or reduce biophyllic instincts that become encoded in patterns of identifying, types of knowledge and forms of agency. This in turn affects the strength of cultural-ecological coupling and the extent that human societies co-evolve with ecological systems. , Normalising ideologies is a concept coined in the thesis to refer to symbolic representations of reality that have become integral to a social fabric and determine meaning, while maintaining the domination of the powerful. These ideologies determine patterns of identifying, knowledge and agency and are recognised as having a fundamental influence on the resilience of social-ecological systems. Four normalising ideologies are identified that promote apparent human progress at the expense of ecological integrity and social equality and thus alienation with each other and the ecological world. These are human-ecological dualism, anthropocentrism, nature is mechanised and nature is to be controlled. There are also a number of ideologies promoting connectedness with the ecological world that, if they became normalised, would support greater social-ecological resilience for well-being. Generative mechanisms driving the current degradation of the Boksburg Lake socialecological system were identified (goal 2). Drawing on critical methodology, the main method adopted was document analysis of the Boksburg Advertiser archives, Boksburg’s local newspaper. Four generative mechanisms are recognised as most influential. Two of these have been named hegemonic symbolic systems. The primary symbolic system consists of the four normalising ideologies, mentioned above, that promote human progress at the expense of ecological health. The secondary, more explicit symbolic system, built on this, consists of the following normative ideologies: economic growth is imperative, unrestrained development is promoted, competition is the necessary means and consumerism is the good life. These two symbolic systems have had causal influence on the systematic erosion of ecological processes and biological diversity that has occurred in Boksburg, with the consequent undermining of social-ecological resilience for well-being. The third mechanism that constrains resilience is the power dynamics that have shaped Boksburg’s economic history and social-ecological system. This has resulted in a society built on inequality and injustice with all its associated social and environmental ills, expressed as externalities. The fourth mechanism resides in Boksburg’s political and municipal dynamics. These structures are not designed to tackle complex social-ecological problems and they hold considerable agential power, yet seem dysfunctional at present. Learning mechanisms that support transformation for greater social-ecological resilience of the Boksburg Lake social-ecological system were identified (goal 3). By adopting the role of a reflexive practitioner, supported by action research, case study and interpretivist methodologies, data on the empirical manifestations of the environmental educational initiative were collected. Methods included semistructured interviews, focus groups, document analysis and participant observation. Findings indicate that schools and churches are important institutions that can positively influence patterns of identifying, knowledge about and agency for Boksburg Lake and can thus play a role in transforming hegemonic normalising ideologies. Important learning mechanisms identified included: Learning reflexively together within communities of practice that provide opportunities for active rather than passive learning; involving the youth as they are a group of people with notable enthusiasm, vision, energy and motivation; learning through information acquisition, investigation, action and deliberation; learning about abstract concepts and theoretical knowledge but embedding this in local realities; and learning that provides reference markers for how things can be different.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
Farm level institutions in emergent communities in post fast track Zimbabwe: case of Mazowe district
- Authors: Chiweshe, Manase Kudzai
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Land reform -- Zimbabwe -- History -- 21st century Land settlement -- Social aspects -- Zimbabwe Zimbabwe -- Social conditions -- 1980- Zimbabwe -- Economic conditions Zimbabwe -- Politics and government -- 1980-
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3308 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003096
- Description: The thesis seeks to understand how emerging communities borne out of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme in Zimbabwe have been able to ensure social cohesion and social service provision using farm level institutions. The Fast Track Programme brought together people from diverse backgrounds into new communities in the former commercial farming areas. The formation of new communities meant that, often, there were 'stranger households'living next to each other. Since 2000, these people have been involved in various processes aimed at turning clusters of homesteads into functioning communities through farm level institutions. Fast track land reform precipitated economic and political crisis in Zimbabwe characterised by a rapidly devaluating Zimbabwean dollar, enormous inflation and high unemployment figures. This economic crisis has impacted heavily on new farmers who find it increasingly difficult to afford inputs and access loans. They have formed social networks in response to these challenges, taking the form of farm level institutions such as farm committees, irrigation committees and health committees. The study uses case studies from small-scale 'A1 farmers‘ in Mazowe district which is in Mashonaland Central Province. It employs qualitative methodologies to enable a nuanced understanding of associational life in the new communities. Through focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, narratives, key informant interviews and institutional mapping the study outlines the formation, taxonomy, activities, roles, internal dynamics and social organisation of farm level institutions. The study also uses secondary data collected in 2007-08 by the Centre for Rural Development in the newly resettled areas in Mazowe. The major finding of the study is that farmers are organising in novel ways at grassroots levels to meet everyday challenges. These institutional forms however are internally weak, lacking leadership with a clear vision and they appear as if they are transitory in nature. They remain marginalised from national and global processes and isolated from critical connections to policy makers at all levels; thus A1 farmers remain voiceless and unable to have their interests addressed. Farm level institutions are at the forefront of the microeconomics of survival among these rural farmers. They are survivalist in nature and form, and this requires a major shift in focus if they are to be involved in developmental work. The institutions remain fragmented and compete amongst themselves for services from government without uniting as A1 farmers with similar interests and challenges.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
Farm level institutions in emergent communities in post fast track Zimbabwe: case of Mazowe district
- Authors: Chiweshe, Manase Kudzai
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Land reform -- Zimbabwe -- History -- 21st century Land settlement -- Social aspects -- Zimbabwe Zimbabwe -- Social conditions -- 1980- Zimbabwe -- Economic conditions Zimbabwe -- Politics and government -- 1980-
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3308 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003096
- Description: The thesis seeks to understand how emerging communities borne out of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme in Zimbabwe have been able to ensure social cohesion and social service provision using farm level institutions. The Fast Track Programme brought together people from diverse backgrounds into new communities in the former commercial farming areas. The formation of new communities meant that, often, there were 'stranger households'living next to each other. Since 2000, these people have been involved in various processes aimed at turning clusters of homesteads into functioning communities through farm level institutions. Fast track land reform precipitated economic and political crisis in Zimbabwe characterised by a rapidly devaluating Zimbabwean dollar, enormous inflation and high unemployment figures. This economic crisis has impacted heavily on new farmers who find it increasingly difficult to afford inputs and access loans. They have formed social networks in response to these challenges, taking the form of farm level institutions such as farm committees, irrigation committees and health committees. The study uses case studies from small-scale 'A1 farmers‘ in Mazowe district which is in Mashonaland Central Province. It employs qualitative methodologies to enable a nuanced understanding of associational life in the new communities. Through focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, narratives, key informant interviews and institutional mapping the study outlines the formation, taxonomy, activities, roles, internal dynamics and social organisation of farm level institutions. The study also uses secondary data collected in 2007-08 by the Centre for Rural Development in the newly resettled areas in Mazowe. The major finding of the study is that farmers are organising in novel ways at grassroots levels to meet everyday challenges. These institutional forms however are internally weak, lacking leadership with a clear vision and they appear as if they are transitory in nature. They remain marginalised from national and global processes and isolated from critical connections to policy makers at all levels; thus A1 farmers remain voiceless and unable to have their interests addressed. Farm level institutions are at the forefront of the microeconomics of survival among these rural farmers. They are survivalist in nature and form, and this requires a major shift in focus if they are to be involved in developmental work. The institutions remain fragmented and compete amongst themselves for services from government without uniting as A1 farmers with similar interests and challenges.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
Isolation and evolution of novel nucleoside phosphorylases
- Authors: Visser, Daniel Finsch
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: AIDS (Disease) -- Treatment -- Africa HIV Infections -- Treatment -- Africa AIDS (Disease) -- Patients -- Africa HIV-Positive persons -- Africa Antiretroviral agents Pyrimidine nucleotides
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3972 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004031
- Description: Approximately 33.4 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. Of those, 97% live in low and middle income countries, with 22.4 million in sub-Saharan Africa. Only 42% of the people who require anti-retrovirals (ARVs) in low to middle income countries are receiving anti-retroviral therapy (ART). There is a need to develop novel and cost effective methods for producing antiretroviral drugs. Stavudine and azidothymidine (AZT) were identified as potential targets because they could both be produced through a common intermediate – 5 methyluridine (5-MU). It has been established that the biocatalytic production of 5-methyluridine is possible through a reaction known as transglycosylation, in a process which has not previously been demonstrated as commercially viable. A selection of biocatalysts were expressed either in recombinant E. coli strains or in the wild type organisms, purified and then screened for their ability to produce 5-MU. A combination of Bacillus halodurans purine nucleoside phosphorylase 1 (BHPNP1) and E. coli uridine phosphorylase (EcUP) gave the highest 5-MU yield (80%). This result represents the first combination of free enzymes from different organisms, giving high yields of 5-MU under high substrate conditions. Both enzymes were purified and successfully characterised. The established pH optimum was pH 7.0 for both enzymes. Temperature optima and stability data for BHPNP1 (70 C and t1/2 at 60 C of 20.8 h) indicated that the biocatalytic step was operating within the capabilities of this enzyme and would operate well at elevated temperatures (up to 60 C). Conversely, the temperature optimum and stability data for EcUP (optimum of 40 C and t1/2 at 60 C of 9.9 h) indicated that the enzyme remained active at 40 C for the duration of a 25 h biotransformation, but at 60 C would only be operating at 20% of its optimum activity and would lose activity rapidly. BHPNP1 and EcUP were used in a bench scale (650 ml) transglycosylation for the production of 5-MU. A 5-MU yield of 79.1% was obtained at this scale with a reactor productivity of 1.37 g.l-1.h-1. Iterative saturation mutagenesis was used to rapidly evolve EcUP for improved thermostability. A moderately high throughput colorimetric method was developed for screening the mutants based on the release of p-nitrophenol upon phosphorolysis of a pyrimidine nucleoside analogue. By screening under 20 000 clones the mutant UPL8 was isolated. The mutant enzyme showed an optimum temperature of 60 C and improved stability at 60 C (t1/2 = 17.3 h). The increase in stability of UPL8 is due to only 2 mutations (Lys235Arg, Gln236Ala). These mutations may have caused an increase in stability due to interactions with other structural units in the protein, stabilization of the entrance to the binding pocket, or by decreasing the flexibility of the α-helix at the N-terminus. Transglycosylation experiments showed that the mutant enzyme UPL8 is a superior catalyst for the production of 5-MU. A 300% increase in reactor productivity was noted when free enzyme preparations of UPL8 was combined with BHPNP1 at 1.5% m.m-1 substrate loading. The high yield of 5-MU (75-80% mol.mol-1) was maintained at 9% m.m-1 substrate loading. A commercially viable productivity of 31 g.l-1.h-1 was thus realised. Further optimisation of the process could produce still higher productivities. Future work in directed evolution of nucleoside phosphorylases is envisaged for improved stability and enhanced substrate range for application to other commercially relevant transglycosylation reactions.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
- Authors: Visser, Daniel Finsch
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: AIDS (Disease) -- Treatment -- Africa HIV Infections -- Treatment -- Africa AIDS (Disease) -- Patients -- Africa HIV-Positive persons -- Africa Antiretroviral agents Pyrimidine nucleotides
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3972 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004031
- Description: Approximately 33.4 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. Of those, 97% live in low and middle income countries, with 22.4 million in sub-Saharan Africa. Only 42% of the people who require anti-retrovirals (ARVs) in low to middle income countries are receiving anti-retroviral therapy (ART). There is a need to develop novel and cost effective methods for producing antiretroviral drugs. Stavudine and azidothymidine (AZT) were identified as potential targets because they could both be produced through a common intermediate – 5 methyluridine (5-MU). It has been established that the biocatalytic production of 5-methyluridine is possible through a reaction known as transglycosylation, in a process which has not previously been demonstrated as commercially viable. A selection of biocatalysts were expressed either in recombinant E. coli strains or in the wild type organisms, purified and then screened for their ability to produce 5-MU. A combination of Bacillus halodurans purine nucleoside phosphorylase 1 (BHPNP1) and E. coli uridine phosphorylase (EcUP) gave the highest 5-MU yield (80%). This result represents the first combination of free enzymes from different organisms, giving high yields of 5-MU under high substrate conditions. Both enzymes were purified and successfully characterised. The established pH optimum was pH 7.0 for both enzymes. Temperature optima and stability data for BHPNP1 (70 C and t1/2 at 60 C of 20.8 h) indicated that the biocatalytic step was operating within the capabilities of this enzyme and would operate well at elevated temperatures (up to 60 C). Conversely, the temperature optimum and stability data for EcUP (optimum of 40 C and t1/2 at 60 C of 9.9 h) indicated that the enzyme remained active at 40 C for the duration of a 25 h biotransformation, but at 60 C would only be operating at 20% of its optimum activity and would lose activity rapidly. BHPNP1 and EcUP were used in a bench scale (650 ml) transglycosylation for the production of 5-MU. A 5-MU yield of 79.1% was obtained at this scale with a reactor productivity of 1.37 g.l-1.h-1. Iterative saturation mutagenesis was used to rapidly evolve EcUP for improved thermostability. A moderately high throughput colorimetric method was developed for screening the mutants based on the release of p-nitrophenol upon phosphorolysis of a pyrimidine nucleoside analogue. By screening under 20 000 clones the mutant UPL8 was isolated. The mutant enzyme showed an optimum temperature of 60 C and improved stability at 60 C (t1/2 = 17.3 h). The increase in stability of UPL8 is due to only 2 mutations (Lys235Arg, Gln236Ala). These mutations may have caused an increase in stability due to interactions with other structural units in the protein, stabilization of the entrance to the binding pocket, or by decreasing the flexibility of the α-helix at the N-terminus. Transglycosylation experiments showed that the mutant enzyme UPL8 is a superior catalyst for the production of 5-MU. A 300% increase in reactor productivity was noted when free enzyme preparations of UPL8 was combined with BHPNP1 at 1.5% m.m-1 substrate loading. The high yield of 5-MU (75-80% mol.mol-1) was maintained at 9% m.m-1 substrate loading. A commercially viable productivity of 31 g.l-1.h-1 was thus realised. Further optimisation of the process could produce still higher productivities. Future work in directed evolution of nucleoside phosphorylases is envisaged for improved stability and enhanced substrate range for application to other commercially relevant transglycosylation reactions.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
A comparative study of the life histories of the sister species, Pseudobarbus afer and Pseudobarbus asper, in the Gamtoos River system, South Africa
- Authors: Cambray, James Alfred
- Date: 1993
- Subjects: Barbus -- Life cycles , Barbus -- Ecology -- South Africa -- Gamtoos River , Cyprinidae -- Life cycles , Cyprinidae -- Ecology -- South Africa -- Gamtoos River , Minnows -- Life cycles , Minnows -- Ecology -- South Africa -- Gamtoos River
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:5375 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1015730
- Description: This thesis explores the biology, ecology, and life-history styles of two closely-related redfin minnows, Pseudobarbus afer and P. asper (pisces; Cyprinidae), which both occur in the Gamtoos River system of South Africa. Five of the seven species of flexible-rayed redfin minnows are in the South African Red Data Book - Fishes. This investigation was designed to provide the data which would enable conservation authorities to manage the remaining populations of the Pseudobarbus species. A thorough understanding of the Gamtoos River system was necessary to properly interpret the findings of this study. The palaeo river systems and the changing climates since the break-up of Gondwanaland are discussed so that the present day environments could be considered as well as the past environmental changes. P. afer and P. asper occur in the Gamtoos River system with no physical barrier separating the two species. P. afer only occurs in the clear mountain streams of the Cape Fold Mountain Belt whereas P. asper occurs in the highly saline and turbid Karoo section of the system. P. afer were found to be the more precocial form of the sister species. They had bigger eggs, lower relative fecundity, shorter breeding season, lower gonadosomatic indices, larger first feeding larval fish, matured later and had a longer life-span than did P. asper, which had more altricial life-history attributes. They differ in their tradeoffs with P. asper devoting more resources earlier to reproduction and having a shorter lifespan. The improvement in the one aspect of fitness (early maturity) leads to the deterioration in another, namely lifespan. Both species undertake breeding migrations to riffle areas where they spawn in mid-channel immediately above a pool after an increase in water flow. P. afer and P. asper are non-guarders of their non-adhesive eggs and young, open substrate spawners on coarse substrates (rocks) and have photophobic free embryos. The breeding season is shorter for P. afer whereas P. asper can spawn as late as April and impoundment releases can induce them to spawn. A study of comparative neuroecology revealed that of the four groups of fish analyzed (males and females of both species) male P. afer had the largest brains, especially the optic lobes and cerebellum. P. asper females had the smallest brains. No neural compensation in the external gustatory centre, the facial lobe, was found for P. asper inhabiting the turbid waters. P. afer also had significantly larger eyes and longer barbels. P. afer males were also found to have the highest density and largest nuptial tubercles as well as the most pronounced breeding colouration. It was concluded that P. asper is the more derived of the sister species pair with regard to life-history attributes. It is further suggested that investment per offspring is important in determining the life-history trajectories. Paedomorphosis has occurred and by this mechanism variability has been restored to the redfin minnows in the Groot River which enables them to survive in the highly variable, intermittent Karoo stream. The more precocial P. afer do not require this variability in the more constant and predictable environment of the Wit River.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1993
- Authors: Cambray, James Alfred
- Date: 1993
- Subjects: Barbus -- Life cycles , Barbus -- Ecology -- South Africa -- Gamtoos River , Cyprinidae -- Life cycles , Cyprinidae -- Ecology -- South Africa -- Gamtoos River , Minnows -- Life cycles , Minnows -- Ecology -- South Africa -- Gamtoos River
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:5375 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1015730
- Description: This thesis explores the biology, ecology, and life-history styles of two closely-related redfin minnows, Pseudobarbus afer and P. asper (pisces; Cyprinidae), which both occur in the Gamtoos River system of South Africa. Five of the seven species of flexible-rayed redfin minnows are in the South African Red Data Book - Fishes. This investigation was designed to provide the data which would enable conservation authorities to manage the remaining populations of the Pseudobarbus species. A thorough understanding of the Gamtoos River system was necessary to properly interpret the findings of this study. The palaeo river systems and the changing climates since the break-up of Gondwanaland are discussed so that the present day environments could be considered as well as the past environmental changes. P. afer and P. asper occur in the Gamtoos River system with no physical barrier separating the two species. P. afer only occurs in the clear mountain streams of the Cape Fold Mountain Belt whereas P. asper occurs in the highly saline and turbid Karoo section of the system. P. afer were found to be the more precocial form of the sister species. They had bigger eggs, lower relative fecundity, shorter breeding season, lower gonadosomatic indices, larger first feeding larval fish, matured later and had a longer life-span than did P. asper, which had more altricial life-history attributes. They differ in their tradeoffs with P. asper devoting more resources earlier to reproduction and having a shorter lifespan. The improvement in the one aspect of fitness (early maturity) leads to the deterioration in another, namely lifespan. Both species undertake breeding migrations to riffle areas where they spawn in mid-channel immediately above a pool after an increase in water flow. P. afer and P. asper are non-guarders of their non-adhesive eggs and young, open substrate spawners on coarse substrates (rocks) and have photophobic free embryos. The breeding season is shorter for P. afer whereas P. asper can spawn as late as April and impoundment releases can induce them to spawn. A study of comparative neuroecology revealed that of the four groups of fish analyzed (males and females of both species) male P. afer had the largest brains, especially the optic lobes and cerebellum. P. asper females had the smallest brains. No neural compensation in the external gustatory centre, the facial lobe, was found for P. asper inhabiting the turbid waters. P. afer also had significantly larger eyes and longer barbels. P. afer males were also found to have the highest density and largest nuptial tubercles as well as the most pronounced breeding colouration. It was concluded that P. asper is the more derived of the sister species pair with regard to life-history attributes. It is further suggested that investment per offspring is important in determining the life-history trajectories. Paedomorphosis has occurred and by this mechanism variability has been restored to the redfin minnows in the Groot River which enables them to survive in the highly variable, intermittent Karoo stream. The more precocial P. afer do not require this variability in the more constant and predictable environment of the Wit River.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1993
Aspects of the biology, ecology and population dynamics of Galeichthys feliceps (Valenciennes) and G. ater (Castelnau) (Pisces: Ariidae) off the south-east coast of South Africa
- Authors: Tilney, Robin Lewis
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: Catfishes -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:5221 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005064
- Description: This thesis represents a detailed investigation into aspects of the biology, ecology and population dynamics of two endemic ariid species, Galeichthys feliceps and G. ater, off the southeast coast of South Africa. The two species are exploited as a by-catch in the commercial ski-boat fishery off Port Alfred, a fishery dominated by highly fecund sparid and sciaenid species. They collectively constitute approximately 10% of the total annual catch in terms of landed mass G. feliceps outnumber G. ater in the catches by a ratio of 3:1. The investigation was designed to provide the biological data required for stock assessment and to determine optimum management strategies for the two populations. The implications of their K-selected life-history styles for exploitation received particular attention. While the two species were sympatric and had similar depth distributions they were found to be allopatric with respect to their foraging habitats. G. feliceps foraged over sandy and muddy substrata in marine and estuarine environments. G. ater fed only on reef-associated species and did not utilise estuaries. Their feeding-associated morphologies were identical and both species preyed primarily on crustaceans (brachyuran crabs and isopods), echiurids, molluscs and polychaetes. The diet of G. ater was broader in terms of the number of species consumed. The two species are mouth-brooders with low fecundity. G. feliceps and G. ater produced a mean of 49 and 32 eggs each, per annum. The buccal incubation period was determined to be in the region of 140 days for G. feliceps. Embryos hatched after approximately 75-80 days and the young began exogenous feeding thereafter. The young fed intra-buccally on detritus provided by the parent. Adult buccal mucus may also have been used as a food source. Young were released at a total length of ± 55mm. Adult males ceased feeding whilst mouth-brooding. Body musculature, abdominal fat and liver reserves provided energy for basal metabolism and males lost approximately 28% of their body mass during buccal incubation. Females expended less reproductive energy than males. Catches were dominated by mature fish (76% in G. feliceps and 97% in G. ater). Females were significantly more abundant in catches during the spawning and mouth-brooding period. The female to male sex ratios were 1.65:1 and 2.23:1 for G. feliceps and G. ater respectively. Age and growth studies revealed that the two species mature at advanced ages (10 and 9 years for G. feliceps and 9 and 7 years for G. ater males and females respectively). They are long-lived, reaching ages in excess of 18 years in G. feliceps and in excess of 15 years in G. ater. Females live longer than males and grow larger. Yield-per-recruit and spawner biomass-per-recruit analyses demonstrated that G. ater were exploited below FO.1 at a level where spawner biomass-per-recruit was reduced to between 45% and 65% of the unexploited level. The G. ater stock was not adversely affected by current levels of fishing effort. For G. feliceps, both sexes were exploited beyond F₀.₁ where spawner biomass-per-recruit was reduced to between 30% and 22% of the unexploited level. G. feliceps were shown to be sensitive to relatively low levels of exploitation, a phenomenon attributed to their highly Kselected life-history style. Should the species become targeted for in the future, effort restrictions in the form of a closed season during the spawning and mouth-brooding period would prove effective in reducing effort and conserving the population sex ratio.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1991
- Authors: Tilney, Robin Lewis
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: Catfishes -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:5221 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005064
- Description: This thesis represents a detailed investigation into aspects of the biology, ecology and population dynamics of two endemic ariid species, Galeichthys feliceps and G. ater, off the southeast coast of South Africa. The two species are exploited as a by-catch in the commercial ski-boat fishery off Port Alfred, a fishery dominated by highly fecund sparid and sciaenid species. They collectively constitute approximately 10% of the total annual catch in terms of landed mass G. feliceps outnumber G. ater in the catches by a ratio of 3:1. The investigation was designed to provide the biological data required for stock assessment and to determine optimum management strategies for the two populations. The implications of their K-selected life-history styles for exploitation received particular attention. While the two species were sympatric and had similar depth distributions they were found to be allopatric with respect to their foraging habitats. G. feliceps foraged over sandy and muddy substrata in marine and estuarine environments. G. ater fed only on reef-associated species and did not utilise estuaries. Their feeding-associated morphologies were identical and both species preyed primarily on crustaceans (brachyuran crabs and isopods), echiurids, molluscs and polychaetes. The diet of G. ater was broader in terms of the number of species consumed. The two species are mouth-brooders with low fecundity. G. feliceps and G. ater produced a mean of 49 and 32 eggs each, per annum. The buccal incubation period was determined to be in the region of 140 days for G. feliceps. Embryos hatched after approximately 75-80 days and the young began exogenous feeding thereafter. The young fed intra-buccally on detritus provided by the parent. Adult buccal mucus may also have been used as a food source. Young were released at a total length of ± 55mm. Adult males ceased feeding whilst mouth-brooding. Body musculature, abdominal fat and liver reserves provided energy for basal metabolism and males lost approximately 28% of their body mass during buccal incubation. Females expended less reproductive energy than males. Catches were dominated by mature fish (76% in G. feliceps and 97% in G. ater). Females were significantly more abundant in catches during the spawning and mouth-brooding period. The female to male sex ratios were 1.65:1 and 2.23:1 for G. feliceps and G. ater respectively. Age and growth studies revealed that the two species mature at advanced ages (10 and 9 years for G. feliceps and 9 and 7 years for G. ater males and females respectively). They are long-lived, reaching ages in excess of 18 years in G. feliceps and in excess of 15 years in G. ater. Females live longer than males and grow larger. Yield-per-recruit and spawner biomass-per-recruit analyses demonstrated that G. ater were exploited below FO.1 at a level where spawner biomass-per-recruit was reduced to between 45% and 65% of the unexploited level. The G. ater stock was not adversely affected by current levels of fishing effort. For G. feliceps, both sexes were exploited beyond F₀.₁ where spawner biomass-per-recruit was reduced to between 30% and 22% of the unexploited level. G. feliceps were shown to be sensitive to relatively low levels of exploitation, a phenomenon attributed to their highly Kselected life-history style. Should the species become targeted for in the future, effort restrictions in the form of a closed season during the spawning and mouth-brooding period would prove effective in reducing effort and conserving the population sex ratio.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1991
A portrait of a school : Healdtown Missionary Institution (1925-1955) through the eyes of some of its ex-pupils
- Peppeta, Joseph Ability Mzwanele
- Authors: Peppeta, Joseph Ability Mzwanele
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Healdtown Institution , Black people -- Education -- South Africa -- History
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1339 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001405
- Description: The study is on Healdtown Missionary Institution. A broad background has been given from 1855 when the Institution was established by Sir George Grey. The emphasis has, however, been from 1925 when the earliest respondents were admitted, up to 1955 when the Department of Bantu Education took over from the missionaries. This period has been deliberately chosen since Healdtown was largely run by the Wesleyan Missionaries during that time. It must also be mentioned that the administration side of Healdtown has not been covered, since Professor Hewson has given a broad picture of this aspect in his doctoral thesis (1959). Similarly, the situation in the classrooms has not been considered except where appropriate references have been cited by respondents. The stress is on the different activities that took place, mainly in every day life in the Institution. Some of these are the positions of responsibility held by respondents in the Institution and their effect on them (the respondents) in later life. This can be coupled with the contribution the respondents made to their communities after leaving Healdtown. The most important thing about the study is what has been revealed with regard to the three generations: the parents of the respondents, the respondents themselves and the children of the respondents. In this aspect a picture of how elite produces elite has been highlighted. To add more flavour, the memories, both good and bad, have been analysed and in order to see whether these are common or peculiar, a comparison was made with similar day schools (secondary) in Soweto. In the conclusion, especially, the limited opportunities for Black pupils to have secondary education during this period is also highlighted. This goes with the eagerness and efforts shown by parents to give secondary schooling to their children. Last, but not least, in the conclusion to this thesis certain deductions from the study have been exposed. What the graduates think about the future of the Institution together with how they view the pupils of the eighties has received a place. It must also be mentioned that the graduates seem to view Healdtown as having prepared them for life
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
- Authors: Peppeta, Joseph Ability Mzwanele
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Healdtown Institution , Black people -- Education -- South Africa -- History
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1339 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001405
- Description: The study is on Healdtown Missionary Institution. A broad background has been given from 1855 when the Institution was established by Sir George Grey. The emphasis has, however, been from 1925 when the earliest respondents were admitted, up to 1955 when the Department of Bantu Education took over from the missionaries. This period has been deliberately chosen since Healdtown was largely run by the Wesleyan Missionaries during that time. It must also be mentioned that the administration side of Healdtown has not been covered, since Professor Hewson has given a broad picture of this aspect in his doctoral thesis (1959). Similarly, the situation in the classrooms has not been considered except where appropriate references have been cited by respondents. The stress is on the different activities that took place, mainly in every day life in the Institution. Some of these are the positions of responsibility held by respondents in the Institution and their effect on them (the respondents) in later life. This can be coupled with the contribution the respondents made to their communities after leaving Healdtown. The most important thing about the study is what has been revealed with regard to the three generations: the parents of the respondents, the respondents themselves and the children of the respondents. In this aspect a picture of how elite produces elite has been highlighted. To add more flavour, the memories, both good and bad, have been analysed and in order to see whether these are common or peculiar, a comparison was made with similar day schools (secondary) in Soweto. In the conclusion, especially, the limited opportunities for Black pupils to have secondary education during this period is also highlighted. This goes with the eagerness and efforts shown by parents to give secondary schooling to their children. Last, but not least, in the conclusion to this thesis certain deductions from the study have been exposed. What the graduates think about the future of the Institution together with how they view the pupils of the eighties has received a place. It must also be mentioned that the graduates seem to view Healdtown as having prepared them for life
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
Vegetation ecology of the Camdebo and Sneeuberg regions of the Karoo biome, South Africa
- Authors: Palmer, Anthony Riordan
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Plants -- South Africa -- Great Karoo Great Karoo (South Africa)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:4173 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002021
- Description: An hierarchical syntaxonomic classification of the vegetation of the Camdebo and Sneeuberg regions of the karoo biome is presented as a second approximation after the earlier work by Acocks (1953). Details on the geomorphology, geology, climate, and early vegetation history of the area are given. The vegetation of the study area was stratified with the aid of Landsat imagery and the community classification was generated using two-way indicator species analysis (Twins pan) which produced ordered phytosociological tables. Tabular comparisons and final sorting of tables are according to the methods and techniques of the ZiirichMontpellier school of phytosociology. Syntaxonomic ranks are defined as five classes, nine orders and seventeen communities. The classes are Grasslands, Karoo Shrublands, Karoo Dwarf Shrublands, Sub-tropical Transitional Thicket, and Riparian Thicket. The distribution of syntaxa corresponds with the steep precipitation gradient experienced in the study area. These vegetation concepts are applied to the description of the flora of the Karoo Nature Reserve and an analysis of the total flora of the reserve is provided. The communities of the pediments, which contain the highest number of endemics, are poorly conserved. I test the validity of the vegetation classification by interpreting the results of an analysis of soils within the hypothesized vegetation units. There is a gradient of increasing Na, silt and pH levels from the Shrublands and Grasslands to the Succulent and Grassy Dwarf Shrublands of the pediments. A qualitative model of the vegetation history during the glacial-interglacial sequence in the Graaff-Reinet region of the eastern Cape is presented. Using a descriptive approach, the distribution patterns of 68 taxa, which are differential species for Karoo Shrublands, Succulent Thicket and Karoo Dwarf Shrublands, are investigated relative to major southern African biomes. The results indicate that a large proportion of the differential species in the phytosociological classification show affinity with Grassland and Savanna Biomes. Three species groups encountered in the Dwarf Shrublands show affinity with the Nama-Karoo biome. The differential species of the Succulent Thicket have a predominantly subtropical distribution. Using an historical approach, the palaeoenvironment of the region during the past 20 000 years is discussed briefly. On the basis of the descriptive and historical perspectives, a qualitative model of vegetation history is presented. The Succulent Thicket may have become established on edaphically favourable sites in the ameliorating conditions of the warmer, wetter Holocene subsequent to the Last Glacial Maximum. The Dwarf Shrubland and Succulent Dwarf Shrubland are depauperate in relation to ccmmunities in other southern African biomes, but the relatively large number of endemics suggests a long history in the region. Their differential species groups occur under arid conditions, accompanied by soils with high base and fertility status. The Dwarf Shrublands may have been more extensive during the drier glacial times on those sites currently occupied by Shrubland. The Shrublands display the expected affInity with the Grassland and Savanna Biomes. The small number of endemics suggest that these communities may have occupied the region in the period since the Last Glacial Maximum. Species with Succulent Karoo Biome affInity are poorly represented. The reliability of using Landsat products to detect and map the vegetation of the region is assessed. The manual classification of Landsat standard products provides a poor reflection of the vegetation of the arid, sparsely-vegetated bottomlands and pediments. The products provide good representation of the boundaries of thicket vegetation, but this uni-temporal approach does not distinguish between floristically different thicket communities. After analyzing digital Landsat data, I suggest that the multi-spectral scanner detects the boundaries of broad soil pedons and geological formations in areas of low vegetative cover. I describe and map the vegetation categories of the region after manual interpretation of six Landsat scenes. This is an effIcient, cost-effective method of mapping vegetation in extensive regions. The mapping units do not reflect the syntaxonomic classification, representing rather an integration of physiographic, pedological, geological and floristic information. With the view to improving the classification of these units, I develop a qualitative model of the natural resources of the region using an expert system
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
- Authors: Palmer, Anthony Riordan
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Plants -- South Africa -- Great Karoo Great Karoo (South Africa)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:4173 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002021
- Description: An hierarchical syntaxonomic classification of the vegetation of the Camdebo and Sneeuberg regions of the karoo biome is presented as a second approximation after the earlier work by Acocks (1953). Details on the geomorphology, geology, climate, and early vegetation history of the area are given. The vegetation of the study area was stratified with the aid of Landsat imagery and the community classification was generated using two-way indicator species analysis (Twins pan) which produced ordered phytosociological tables. Tabular comparisons and final sorting of tables are according to the methods and techniques of the ZiirichMontpellier school of phytosociology. Syntaxonomic ranks are defined as five classes, nine orders and seventeen communities. The classes are Grasslands, Karoo Shrublands, Karoo Dwarf Shrublands, Sub-tropical Transitional Thicket, and Riparian Thicket. The distribution of syntaxa corresponds with the steep precipitation gradient experienced in the study area. These vegetation concepts are applied to the description of the flora of the Karoo Nature Reserve and an analysis of the total flora of the reserve is provided. The communities of the pediments, which contain the highest number of endemics, are poorly conserved. I test the validity of the vegetation classification by interpreting the results of an analysis of soils within the hypothesized vegetation units. There is a gradient of increasing Na, silt and pH levels from the Shrublands and Grasslands to the Succulent and Grassy Dwarf Shrublands of the pediments. A qualitative model of the vegetation history during the glacial-interglacial sequence in the Graaff-Reinet region of the eastern Cape is presented. Using a descriptive approach, the distribution patterns of 68 taxa, which are differential species for Karoo Shrublands, Succulent Thicket and Karoo Dwarf Shrublands, are investigated relative to major southern African biomes. The results indicate that a large proportion of the differential species in the phytosociological classification show affinity with Grassland and Savanna Biomes. Three species groups encountered in the Dwarf Shrublands show affinity with the Nama-Karoo biome. The differential species of the Succulent Thicket have a predominantly subtropical distribution. Using an historical approach, the palaeoenvironment of the region during the past 20 000 years is discussed briefly. On the basis of the descriptive and historical perspectives, a qualitative model of vegetation history is presented. The Succulent Thicket may have become established on edaphically favourable sites in the ameliorating conditions of the warmer, wetter Holocene subsequent to the Last Glacial Maximum. The Dwarf Shrubland and Succulent Dwarf Shrubland are depauperate in relation to ccmmunities in other southern African biomes, but the relatively large number of endemics suggests a long history in the region. Their differential species groups occur under arid conditions, accompanied by soils with high base and fertility status. The Dwarf Shrublands may have been more extensive during the drier glacial times on those sites currently occupied by Shrubland. The Shrublands display the expected affInity with the Grassland and Savanna Biomes. The small number of endemics suggest that these communities may have occupied the region in the period since the Last Glacial Maximum. Species with Succulent Karoo Biome affInity are poorly represented. The reliability of using Landsat products to detect and map the vegetation of the region is assessed. The manual classification of Landsat standard products provides a poor reflection of the vegetation of the arid, sparsely-vegetated bottomlands and pediments. The products provide good representation of the boundaries of thicket vegetation, but this uni-temporal approach does not distinguish between floristically different thicket communities. After analyzing digital Landsat data, I suggest that the multi-spectral scanner detects the boundaries of broad soil pedons and geological formations in areas of low vegetative cover. I describe and map the vegetation categories of the region after manual interpretation of six Landsat scenes. This is an effIcient, cost-effective method of mapping vegetation in extensive regions. The mapping units do not reflect the syntaxonomic classification, representing rather an integration of physiographic, pedological, geological and floristic information. With the view to improving the classification of these units, I develop a qualitative model of the natural resources of the region using an expert system
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
Time and tense in English
- Authors: De Klerk, Vivian A
- Date: 1979
- Subjects: English language -- Tense -- Study and teaching , English language -- Adverbials -- Study and teaching , Language and logic -- Study and teaching , Linguistics -- Study and teaching , Generative grammar -- Study and teaching
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2344 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002626 , English language -- Tense -- Study and teaching , English language -- Adverbials -- Study and teaching , Language and logic -- Study and teaching , Linguistics -- Study and teaching , Generative grammar -- Study and teaching
- Description: It has not been my aim to provide conclusive evidence for or against anyone hypothesis regarding Time and Tense. I have simply attempted to collect together and collate much of what has been written on the topic of tense in English, in order to show what the current trends of thought are. In Chapter One I presented a brief survey of some of the more basic notions associated with time and tense, in order to provide a background for the more linguistic approach to follow. I therefore examined such issues as the difference between time and tense, the problem of the passage and directionality of time, of the present moment, time and space , tense as a universal, "and various features of tense systems. I sketched Bull's system of scalars, vectors and axes as representative of our English tense system. Chapter Two dealt with time and logic, but as I am a mere layman in matters logical, I refrained from discussing any individual logical system in depth, and rather discussed various problems which appear to confront the logician in formulating a tensed or tenseless logic. This chapter aimed at providing a better understanding of the linguistic issues to follow, for time and logic are intimately connected with language. Chapter Three was more linguistically oriented, and in it I attempted to provide a broad outline of the development of thoughts about tense before the Transformationalist period (pre 1960). Because of the vast scope involved, I had, perforce, to be brief at times. I gave attention to tense in classical grammatical studies, and summarized how it was seen from about 1500 to 1800. I gave more detailed treatment to the twentieth century, focussing specifically on grammarians like Jespersen (1933), Twaddell (1960), Ota (1963), Palmer (1965) and others - all, writers typical of the structuralist era. At the end of Chapter Three I provided an overall summary of ideas on the main tenses by the end of the structuralist period - ideas which were to change radically within the next few years. In Chapter Four I discussed the ideas of tense of some of the main transformationalist/generativists - Diver (1964), Crystal (1966), Huddlestone (1968), Gallagher (1970), McCawley (1971) and Seuren (1974), in an attempt to show how theories on tense were becoming increasingly abstract, and how most data indicated that it is highly probable that tense is an abstract higher predicate of the sentence in which it appears in surface structure, closely related to temporal adverbs. Chapter Five continued in the same vein. I tried to show, using syntactic tests, that tense is a higher predicate, and used arguments involving Conjunction Reduction (based on Kiparsky (1968)), VP Constituency, Sequence of Tense, Pronominalization, and Quantification. In Chapter Six I focussed more closely on tense-time adverbials, in order to show that they have the same syntactic properties as tense, are also probably deep superordinate predicates, and are closely related to tense. My suggestion was that either tense is derived from temporal adverbs or vice versa, as this would simplify the grammar. The derivation procedures at the end of the chapter (6.8) were largely based on Hausmann (1971). I made no detailed reference to extralinguistic matters which affect tenses, in this study - such factors as are diScussed by G. Lakoff (1971) (presuppositions and relative well-formedness) and by R. Lakoff (1975). Tense is not a matter of pure Structuralism, just as language is not - extralinguistic factors ought to be accounted for before any study can claim to be conclusive. For this reason I do not in any way claim to have made an exhaustive study of time and tense - I have simply attempted to summarize and coordinate thoughts on the subject, and to suggest tentatively that the most adequate grammar of English would probably derive tense from underlying temporal adverbs.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1979
- Authors: De Klerk, Vivian A
- Date: 1979
- Subjects: English language -- Tense -- Study and teaching , English language -- Adverbials -- Study and teaching , Language and logic -- Study and teaching , Linguistics -- Study and teaching , Generative grammar -- Study and teaching
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2344 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002626 , English language -- Tense -- Study and teaching , English language -- Adverbials -- Study and teaching , Language and logic -- Study and teaching , Linguistics -- Study and teaching , Generative grammar -- Study and teaching
- Description: It has not been my aim to provide conclusive evidence for or against anyone hypothesis regarding Time and Tense. I have simply attempted to collect together and collate much of what has been written on the topic of tense in English, in order to show what the current trends of thought are. In Chapter One I presented a brief survey of some of the more basic notions associated with time and tense, in order to provide a background for the more linguistic approach to follow. I therefore examined such issues as the difference between time and tense, the problem of the passage and directionality of time, of the present moment, time and space , tense as a universal, "and various features of tense systems. I sketched Bull's system of scalars, vectors and axes as representative of our English tense system. Chapter Two dealt with time and logic, but as I am a mere layman in matters logical, I refrained from discussing any individual logical system in depth, and rather discussed various problems which appear to confront the logician in formulating a tensed or tenseless logic. This chapter aimed at providing a better understanding of the linguistic issues to follow, for time and logic are intimately connected with language. Chapter Three was more linguistically oriented, and in it I attempted to provide a broad outline of the development of thoughts about tense before the Transformationalist period (pre 1960). Because of the vast scope involved, I had, perforce, to be brief at times. I gave attention to tense in classical grammatical studies, and summarized how it was seen from about 1500 to 1800. I gave more detailed treatment to the twentieth century, focussing specifically on grammarians like Jespersen (1933), Twaddell (1960), Ota (1963), Palmer (1965) and others - all, writers typical of the structuralist era. At the end of Chapter Three I provided an overall summary of ideas on the main tenses by the end of the structuralist period - ideas which were to change radically within the next few years. In Chapter Four I discussed the ideas of tense of some of the main transformationalist/generativists - Diver (1964), Crystal (1966), Huddlestone (1968), Gallagher (1970), McCawley (1971) and Seuren (1974), in an attempt to show how theories on tense were becoming increasingly abstract, and how most data indicated that it is highly probable that tense is an abstract higher predicate of the sentence in which it appears in surface structure, closely related to temporal adverbs. Chapter Five continued in the same vein. I tried to show, using syntactic tests, that tense is a higher predicate, and used arguments involving Conjunction Reduction (based on Kiparsky (1968)), VP Constituency, Sequence of Tense, Pronominalization, and Quantification. In Chapter Six I focussed more closely on tense-time adverbials, in order to show that they have the same syntactic properties as tense, are also probably deep superordinate predicates, and are closely related to tense. My suggestion was that either tense is derived from temporal adverbs or vice versa, as this would simplify the grammar. The derivation procedures at the end of the chapter (6.8) were largely based on Hausmann (1971). I made no detailed reference to extralinguistic matters which affect tenses, in this study - such factors as are diScussed by G. Lakoff (1971) (presuppositions and relative well-formedness) and by R. Lakoff (1975). Tense is not a matter of pure Structuralism, just as language is not - extralinguistic factors ought to be accounted for before any study can claim to be conclusive. For this reason I do not in any way claim to have made an exhaustive study of time and tense - I have simply attempted to summarize and coordinate thoughts on the subject, and to suggest tentatively that the most adequate grammar of English would probably derive tense from underlying temporal adverbs.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1979
The economic structure of the Cape Midlands and Karroo Region : a sectoral and spatial survey
- Authors: Blumenfeld, Jesmond P
- Date: 1974
- Subjects: South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1961-1991 , Regional planning -- South Africa -- Cape Province
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:1066 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007660 , South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1961-1991 , Regional planning -- South Africa -- Cape Province
- Description: [The] region, as defined, excludes not only these metropolitan areas themselves but also the inner peripheries of their hinterlands. Thus, virtually all areas within regular (i. e. daily) commuting distance of the metropolitan centres, and all areas into which urban development in the latter might 'spill over' in the foreseeable future are excluded. In the case of Metropolitan Port Elizabeth, these exclusions are reflected in the roughly 'crescent-shaped' southern boundary of the region. The situation of the region can further be described in terms of its major physiographic features which reveal a number of factors which are also of importance for understanding and analysing the economy of the area. Intro., p. 1.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1974
- Authors: Blumenfeld, Jesmond P
- Date: 1974
- Subjects: South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1961-1991 , Regional planning -- South Africa -- Cape Province
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:1066 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007660 , South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1961-1991 , Regional planning -- South Africa -- Cape Province
- Description: [The] region, as defined, excludes not only these metropolitan areas themselves but also the inner peripheries of their hinterlands. Thus, virtually all areas within regular (i. e. daily) commuting distance of the metropolitan centres, and all areas into which urban development in the latter might 'spill over' in the foreseeable future are excluded. In the case of Metropolitan Port Elizabeth, these exclusions are reflected in the roughly 'crescent-shaped' southern boundary of the region. The situation of the region can further be described in terms of its major physiographic features which reveal a number of factors which are also of importance for understanding and analysing the economy of the area. Intro., p. 1.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1974
The geology of a portion of the country between Witvlei and Omitara, South West Africa
- Fey, P
- Authors: Fey, P
- Date: 1972
- Subjects: Petrology -- Namibia , Stratigraphy -- Namibia , Mineralogy -- Namibia , Geology -- Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:5052 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011821
- Description: A brief account of the location and physical aspects of the region is followed by descriptions of mapping and laboratory techniques employed. Recent ideas on regional stratigraphical correlation in South West Africa are critically reviewed. Strata lying southeast of the farm Losberg 105 have, on the basis of lithology and copper mineralisation, been correlated with the Tsumis Formation. The Hasib Formation, of predominantly marine character, has on structural grounds been excluded from the Damara System. The latter here has a greater thickness than elsewhere in South West Africa, unless isoclinal folding is much more prevalent than has been assumed. The occurrence on Eintracht 118 of a pebble conglomerate, tentatively equated with the Chuos Tillite, makes possible a subdivision of the Damara strata into the various series established in the literature. It has been found possible to differentiate between Kamtsas and Damara quartzites on petrological grounds. Further, it is concluded that the bulk of Hakos carbonate rocks originated as dolomites and have subsequently been dedolomitized to a greater or lesser extent. The area contains both ortho- and para-amphibolites, as well as one occurrence of intrusive granite. Evidence is given for at least three periods of deformation. It is oonsidered that, if the Hosib Formation was involved in a pre-Damara orogenic episode, later folding must have been co-axial with this. Sedimentation and metamorphism are treated in broad outline. There appears to have been a deepening of the basin of deposition from Hasib to Damara times. Cyclicity in sedimentation is evidenced by lithological associations in the Damara strata. The entire area falls into the greenschist facies of regional metamorphism. Superficial deposits include river gravel and, silt, quartzite- and vein quartz-rubble, calcrete and Kalahari sand. The economic geology is described with special reference to the widespread copper mineralisation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1972
- Authors: Fey, P
- Date: 1972
- Subjects: Petrology -- Namibia , Stratigraphy -- Namibia , Mineralogy -- Namibia , Geology -- Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:5052 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011821
- Description: A brief account of the location and physical aspects of the region is followed by descriptions of mapping and laboratory techniques employed. Recent ideas on regional stratigraphical correlation in South West Africa are critically reviewed. Strata lying southeast of the farm Losberg 105 have, on the basis of lithology and copper mineralisation, been correlated with the Tsumis Formation. The Hasib Formation, of predominantly marine character, has on structural grounds been excluded from the Damara System. The latter here has a greater thickness than elsewhere in South West Africa, unless isoclinal folding is much more prevalent than has been assumed. The occurrence on Eintracht 118 of a pebble conglomerate, tentatively equated with the Chuos Tillite, makes possible a subdivision of the Damara strata into the various series established in the literature. It has been found possible to differentiate between Kamtsas and Damara quartzites on petrological grounds. Further, it is concluded that the bulk of Hakos carbonate rocks originated as dolomites and have subsequently been dedolomitized to a greater or lesser extent. The area contains both ortho- and para-amphibolites, as well as one occurrence of intrusive granite. Evidence is given for at least three periods of deformation. It is oonsidered that, if the Hosib Formation was involved in a pre-Damara orogenic episode, later folding must have been co-axial with this. Sedimentation and metamorphism are treated in broad outline. There appears to have been a deepening of the basin of deposition from Hasib to Damara times. Cyclicity in sedimentation is evidenced by lithological associations in the Damara strata. The entire area falls into the greenschist facies of regional metamorphism. Superficial deposits include river gravel and, silt, quartzite- and vein quartz-rubble, calcrete and Kalahari sand. The economic geology is described with special reference to the widespread copper mineralisation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1972
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