The construction of household livelihood strategies in urban areas: the case of Budiriro, Harare, Zimbabwe
- Authors: Chevo, Tafadzwa
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Income -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Cost and standard of living -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Quality of life -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Informal sector (Economics) -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Agricultural wages -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Households -- Economic aspects -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Macrosociology , Zimbabwe -- Social conditions -- 1980- , Zimbabwe -- Economic conditions -- 1980- , Livelihoods Framework
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63043 , vital:28357
- Description: The main objective of this thesis is to understand and explain the ongoing construction of livelihood activities by urban households in the low-income high-density area of Budiriro, Harare, Zimbabwe in a context characterised by systemic crisis and a general decline of the national economy. The study utilised a mixed methods research approach, which combined both qualitative and quantitative research, including a survey, life histories and focus group discussions. The thesis discusses a diverse range of livelihood activities of Budiriro households, such as formal employment, informal trading and agricultural activities, and the ways in which households seeks to diversify their livelihood portfolio. It does this by way of also examining the contemporary and historical factors influencing the livelihood activities pursued by these households, along with the shocks and disturbances encountered and experienced by households in trying to construct viable livelihoods. The thesis makes useful contributions to the existing literature on livelihoods studies. Firstly, the thesis disaggregates the households by showing the existence of three wealth categories in Budiriro and the varying livelihood strategies of households in different wealth categories. Secondly, the study highlights the significance of intra-household dynamics in Budiriro for livelihoods as well as of inter-household kinship networks, which transcend the urban space and entail multi-spatial livelihoods. Thirdly, the thesis examines livelihoods over time, such that it goes beyond a strictly synchronic examination, therefore providing a diachronic analysis of diverse and complicated livelihood pathways. Finally, the Livelihoods Framework is located within broader macro-sociological theorising including the work of Pierre Bourdieu. In this respect, important insights arise about livelihood choices and practices in the light of ongoing debates within sociology about human agency.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Chevo, Tafadzwa
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Income -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Cost and standard of living -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Quality of life -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Informal sector (Economics) -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Agricultural wages -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Households -- Economic aspects -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Macrosociology , Zimbabwe -- Social conditions -- 1980- , Zimbabwe -- Economic conditions -- 1980- , Livelihoods Framework
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63043 , vital:28357
- Description: The main objective of this thesis is to understand and explain the ongoing construction of livelihood activities by urban households in the low-income high-density area of Budiriro, Harare, Zimbabwe in a context characterised by systemic crisis and a general decline of the national economy. The study utilised a mixed methods research approach, which combined both qualitative and quantitative research, including a survey, life histories and focus group discussions. The thesis discusses a diverse range of livelihood activities of Budiriro households, such as formal employment, informal trading and agricultural activities, and the ways in which households seeks to diversify their livelihood portfolio. It does this by way of also examining the contemporary and historical factors influencing the livelihood activities pursued by these households, along with the shocks and disturbances encountered and experienced by households in trying to construct viable livelihoods. The thesis makes useful contributions to the existing literature on livelihoods studies. Firstly, the thesis disaggregates the households by showing the existence of three wealth categories in Budiriro and the varying livelihood strategies of households in different wealth categories. Secondly, the study highlights the significance of intra-household dynamics in Budiriro for livelihoods as well as of inter-household kinship networks, which transcend the urban space and entail multi-spatial livelihoods. Thirdly, the thesis examines livelihoods over time, such that it goes beyond a strictly synchronic examination, therefore providing a diachronic analysis of diverse and complicated livelihood pathways. Finally, the Livelihoods Framework is located within broader macro-sociological theorising including the work of Pierre Bourdieu. In this respect, important insights arise about livelihood choices and practices in the light of ongoing debates within sociology about human agency.
- Full Text:
The current utility of oligonucleotide aptamers in targeting the MUC1 mucin tumour marker
- Authors: Flanagan, Shane Patrick
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62969 , vital:28348
- Description: Expected release date-April 2020
- Full Text:
- Authors: Flanagan, Shane Patrick
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62969 , vital:28348
- Description: Expected release date-April 2020
- Full Text:
The ecological risk of acid mine drainage in a salinising landscape
- Authors: Vellemu, Emmanuel Captain
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Acid mine drainage Environmental aspects South Africa Mpumalanga , Salinization South Africa Mpumalanga , Water salinization South Africa Mpumalanga , Water quality South Africa Mpumalanga , Aquatic animals Effect of water quality on South Africa Mpumalanga , Freshwater ecology South Africa Mpumalanga
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60563 , vital:27797
- Description: Acid mine drainage (AMD) and increasing salinity of freshwater ecosystems pose serious threats to water quality in water-stressed South Africa. These threats are exacerbated by mining activities, mainly gold and coal from both active and abandoned mines that continue to release acidic water that is rich in toxic metals and high sulphate concentrations. Therefore, the overarching hypothesis for this study was that “the combination of AMD and sulphate salts confers high ecological risk to the aquatic biota”. The study employed both laboratory and field investigations to test this hypothesis and provide appropriate tools to protect freshwater ecosystems from increasing anthropogenic impacts. Firstly, a laboratory investigation was carried out to develop risk-based water quality guidelines (WQGs) for sulphates and treated AMD (TAMD) using the species sensitivity distributions (SSDs) technique. Five South African freshwater species belonging to five different taxonomic groupings, including Adenophlebia auriculata (insect), Burnupia stenochorias (mollusc), Caridina nilotica (crustacea), Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata (algae) and Oreochromis mossambicus (fish) were exposed to varying concentrations of sodium sulphate (Na2SO4), magnesium sulphate (MgSO4) and calcium sulphate (CaSO4), as well as TAMD in separate ecotoxicological experiments, applying short-term (96 h) non-renewal and long-term (240 h) renewal exposure test methods. Secondly, a novel trait-based approach (TBA) was also used to predict the vulnerability of taxa to treated acid mine drainage (TAMD). The TBA used a combination of carefully selected traits of organisms that are mechanistically linked to TAMD for their potential vulnerability predictions. Leptoceridae (caddisflies) and Leptophlebiidae (mayflies) were selected taxa for evaluation of the trait-based vulnerability predictions to TAMD for laboratory toxicity exposures. This was followed by a field investigation to assess macroinvertebrates assemblage responses, abundance and richness to a TAMD-impacted stream using the South African Scoring System version 5 (SASS5) protocol. Outcomes form the above three sources were combined in a multi-criteria analysis (MCA) to develop an appropriate water quality management strategy in a form of a trait-based decision-making support tool. Results of the risk-based WQGs revealed that Na2SO4 was the most toxic of the tested salts. A concentration of 0.020 g/L Na2SO4, 0.055 g/L CaSO4, and 0.108 g/L MgSO4 or a combined sulphate salts limit of 0.067 g/L were derived as long-term WQGs to protect over 95% of the population species in a natural environment considered as relatively pristine. This means that the generic 0.25 g/L sulphate compliance limit for South African freshwater systems is under-protective. Burnupia stenochorias was the most sensitive to AMD after long-term exposures, and it was adjudged as a good indicator of AMD along with P. subcapitata. Long-term scenario-specific WQG for AMD for the protection of over 95% of the population species was derived as 0.014%. Results of the TBA revealed that the relative abundance and diversity of taxa at a site that received direct impact from TAMD generally corresponded to trait-based predictions. The site that received direct TAMD was largely dominated by members of the Corixidae and Naucoridae families. However, Leptoceridae was more vulnerable to TAMD than Leptophlebidae contrary to predictions. Its assemblage did not match the predictions although Leptophlebiidae corresponded to predictions in terms of its assemblage and diversity. As water quality improved further downstream of the TAMD source, macroinvertebrates assemblage and diversity also improved as predicted. However, it is important to note that other equally important traits that were not studied might influence the response of organisms during toxicity test exposures. The MCA findings suggest that the trait-based decision-making support tool is a useful management strategy for the predicting vulnerability of taxa aquatic stressors including AMD and increasing salinity. Overall, the outcome of this study suggests that AMD poses an ecological risk to aquatic biota, but this becomes riskier in the presence of excess sulphate salts. Albeit, the WQGs for sulphate salts and AMD as well as the developed trait-based decision support tool all contribute novel sound scientific knowledge basis for managing the AMD and increasing salinity in freshwater ecosystems. The study recommends incorporating different life stages of indigenous species tested to determine if their sensitivity to AMD and sulphate would correspond to current findings because early life stages could be more sensitive to aquatic stressors than juveniles or adults. This is important for the derivation of strong and relevant WQGs. The TBA requires further refinement for its incorporation in ecotoxicology on a wide scale.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Vellemu, Emmanuel Captain
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Acid mine drainage Environmental aspects South Africa Mpumalanga , Salinization South Africa Mpumalanga , Water salinization South Africa Mpumalanga , Water quality South Africa Mpumalanga , Aquatic animals Effect of water quality on South Africa Mpumalanga , Freshwater ecology South Africa Mpumalanga
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60563 , vital:27797
- Description: Acid mine drainage (AMD) and increasing salinity of freshwater ecosystems pose serious threats to water quality in water-stressed South Africa. These threats are exacerbated by mining activities, mainly gold and coal from both active and abandoned mines that continue to release acidic water that is rich in toxic metals and high sulphate concentrations. Therefore, the overarching hypothesis for this study was that “the combination of AMD and sulphate salts confers high ecological risk to the aquatic biota”. The study employed both laboratory and field investigations to test this hypothesis and provide appropriate tools to protect freshwater ecosystems from increasing anthropogenic impacts. Firstly, a laboratory investigation was carried out to develop risk-based water quality guidelines (WQGs) for sulphates and treated AMD (TAMD) using the species sensitivity distributions (SSDs) technique. Five South African freshwater species belonging to five different taxonomic groupings, including Adenophlebia auriculata (insect), Burnupia stenochorias (mollusc), Caridina nilotica (crustacea), Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata (algae) and Oreochromis mossambicus (fish) were exposed to varying concentrations of sodium sulphate (Na2SO4), magnesium sulphate (MgSO4) and calcium sulphate (CaSO4), as well as TAMD in separate ecotoxicological experiments, applying short-term (96 h) non-renewal and long-term (240 h) renewal exposure test methods. Secondly, a novel trait-based approach (TBA) was also used to predict the vulnerability of taxa to treated acid mine drainage (TAMD). The TBA used a combination of carefully selected traits of organisms that are mechanistically linked to TAMD for their potential vulnerability predictions. Leptoceridae (caddisflies) and Leptophlebiidae (mayflies) were selected taxa for evaluation of the trait-based vulnerability predictions to TAMD for laboratory toxicity exposures. This was followed by a field investigation to assess macroinvertebrates assemblage responses, abundance and richness to a TAMD-impacted stream using the South African Scoring System version 5 (SASS5) protocol. Outcomes form the above three sources were combined in a multi-criteria analysis (MCA) to develop an appropriate water quality management strategy in a form of a trait-based decision-making support tool. Results of the risk-based WQGs revealed that Na2SO4 was the most toxic of the tested salts. A concentration of 0.020 g/L Na2SO4, 0.055 g/L CaSO4, and 0.108 g/L MgSO4 or a combined sulphate salts limit of 0.067 g/L were derived as long-term WQGs to protect over 95% of the population species in a natural environment considered as relatively pristine. This means that the generic 0.25 g/L sulphate compliance limit for South African freshwater systems is under-protective. Burnupia stenochorias was the most sensitive to AMD after long-term exposures, and it was adjudged as a good indicator of AMD along with P. subcapitata. Long-term scenario-specific WQG for AMD for the protection of over 95% of the population species was derived as 0.014%. Results of the TBA revealed that the relative abundance and diversity of taxa at a site that received direct impact from TAMD generally corresponded to trait-based predictions. The site that received direct TAMD was largely dominated by members of the Corixidae and Naucoridae families. However, Leptoceridae was more vulnerable to TAMD than Leptophlebidae contrary to predictions. Its assemblage did not match the predictions although Leptophlebiidae corresponded to predictions in terms of its assemblage and diversity. As water quality improved further downstream of the TAMD source, macroinvertebrates assemblage and diversity also improved as predicted. However, it is important to note that other equally important traits that were not studied might influence the response of organisms during toxicity test exposures. The MCA findings suggest that the trait-based decision-making support tool is a useful management strategy for the predicting vulnerability of taxa aquatic stressors including AMD and increasing salinity. Overall, the outcome of this study suggests that AMD poses an ecological risk to aquatic biota, but this becomes riskier in the presence of excess sulphate salts. Albeit, the WQGs for sulphate salts and AMD as well as the developed trait-based decision support tool all contribute novel sound scientific knowledge basis for managing the AMD and increasing salinity in freshwater ecosystems. The study recommends incorporating different life stages of indigenous species tested to determine if their sensitivity to AMD and sulphate would correspond to current findings because early life stages could be more sensitive to aquatic stressors than juveniles or adults. This is important for the derivation of strong and relevant WQGs. The TBA requires further refinement for its incorporation in ecotoxicology on a wide scale.
- Full Text:
The efficacy of multi-track diplomacy in resolving intrastate and internationalised conflicts in Africa: the case of the 2007/2008 post-election violence in Kenya
- Authors: Natolooka, Kepha
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63546 , vital:28434
- Description: Expected release date-April 2019
- Full Text:
- Authors: Natolooka, Kepha
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63546 , vital:28434
- Description: Expected release date-April 2019
- Full Text:
The environmental imagination in Arthur Nortje’s poetry
- Authors: Kaze, Douglas Eric
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Nortje, Arthur, 1942-1970 -- Criticism and interpretation , Ecology in literature , Race awareness in literature , South African poetry (English) -- History and criticism , Nature in literature , Transversal postcolonial environmental criticism
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/58024 , vital:27033
- Description: This thesis seeks to contribute to the conversations in the humanities about the treatment of the physical environment in the context of a global ecological fragility and increased scholarly interest in the poetry of Arthur Nortje, a South African poet who wrote in the 1960s. While previous studies on Nortje concentrate on the political, psychic and technical aspects of his poetry, this study particularly explores the representations of the environment in Nortje’s poetic imagination. Writing in the dark period of apartheid in South Africa’s history, Nortje’s poetry articulates a strong interest in the physical environment against the backdrop of official racialization of space and his personal nomadic life and exile. The poetry abounds with constant intersections of nature and culture (industrialism, urbanity and the quotidian), a sense of place and a deep sense of dislocation. The poems, therefore, present a platform from which to reevaluate conventional ecocritical ideas about nature, place-attachment and environmental consciousness. Drawing mainly on Felix Guattari’s ideas of three ecologies and transversality along with other theories, I conduct the study through what I call a transversal postcolonial environmental criticism, which considers the ecological value of the kind of assemblages that Nortje’s works represent. The first chapter focuses on conceptualizing a postcolonial approach to the environment based on Guattari’s concept of transversality to lay the theoretical foundation for the whole work. The second chapter analyses Nortje’s poetic imagination of place and displacement through his treatment of the private-public tension and the motif of exile. While the third chapter examines Nortje’s depiction of nature as both an everyday and urban phenomenon, the fourth chapter turns to his direct treatment of environmental crises handled through his imagination of the Canadian urban spaces, exile memory of apartheid geography, war and ecocide and the human body as a subject of environmental degradation. The fifth chapter, which is the conclusion, takes a brief look at the implication of Nortje’s complex treatment of the environment on postcolonial environmentalism.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Kaze, Douglas Eric
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Nortje, Arthur, 1942-1970 -- Criticism and interpretation , Ecology in literature , Race awareness in literature , South African poetry (English) -- History and criticism , Nature in literature , Transversal postcolonial environmental criticism
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/58024 , vital:27033
- Description: This thesis seeks to contribute to the conversations in the humanities about the treatment of the physical environment in the context of a global ecological fragility and increased scholarly interest in the poetry of Arthur Nortje, a South African poet who wrote in the 1960s. While previous studies on Nortje concentrate on the political, psychic and technical aspects of his poetry, this study particularly explores the representations of the environment in Nortje’s poetic imagination. Writing in the dark period of apartheid in South Africa’s history, Nortje’s poetry articulates a strong interest in the physical environment against the backdrop of official racialization of space and his personal nomadic life and exile. The poetry abounds with constant intersections of nature and culture (industrialism, urbanity and the quotidian), a sense of place and a deep sense of dislocation. The poems, therefore, present a platform from which to reevaluate conventional ecocritical ideas about nature, place-attachment and environmental consciousness. Drawing mainly on Felix Guattari’s ideas of three ecologies and transversality along with other theories, I conduct the study through what I call a transversal postcolonial environmental criticism, which considers the ecological value of the kind of assemblages that Nortje’s works represent. The first chapter focuses on conceptualizing a postcolonial approach to the environment based on Guattari’s concept of transversality to lay the theoretical foundation for the whole work. The second chapter analyses Nortje’s poetic imagination of place and displacement through his treatment of the private-public tension and the motif of exile. While the third chapter examines Nortje’s depiction of nature as both an everyday and urban phenomenon, the fourth chapter turns to his direct treatment of environmental crises handled through his imagination of the Canadian urban spaces, exile memory of apartheid geography, war and ecocide and the human body as a subject of environmental degradation. The fifth chapter, which is the conclusion, takes a brief look at the implication of Nortje’s complex treatment of the environment on postcolonial environmentalism.
- Full Text:
The impact of South African business on employment relations in Mozambique: a case study of Banco Austral, a subsidiary of ABSA
- Mtyingizana, Beata Nontlahla
- Authors: Mtyingizana, Beata Nontlahla
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Industrial sociology -- Mozambique , Industrial relations -- Mozambique , Industrial relations -- Cross-cultural studies , Industrial sociology -- Political aspects , Personnel management -- Mozambique , Personnel management -- Political aspects , ABSA Bank , Banco Austral
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60267 , vital:27760
- Description: This thesis examines the impact of South African business on employment relations in Mozambique. The study specifically focuses on a case study of Banco Austral, a subsidiary of the Amalgamated Banks of South Africa (ABSA), to provide a richer and deeper analysis of employment practices. The study examines the extent to which the expansion of South African businesses in Mozambique has influenced the development of employment relations there. It examines whether the employment relations that exist at Banco Austral are a direct result of the influence of its parent firm, ABSA. It assesses whether the prevailing managerial practices at Banco Austral are distinctly local and a product of Mozambican history or whether the employer and employee relations that exist in that bank are an outcome of some form of hybridised host country and parent firm practices. The study is contextualised within the period of transition that both countries underwent. In the South African context, the end of apartheid promised political stability, democracy and racial harmony. It facilitated South Africa’s reinsertion into the international economy and enabled its investors to embark on large-scale penetration of potential markets. It also opened up opportunities for investors to take advantage of the new global order in the rest of Africa and particularly in Mozambique. Similarly, in Mozambique, the transition to capitalism and to liberal democracy in 1994 marked a clear shift of policy from an authoritarian one-party state characterised by a planned socialist economy. In embracing a liberal market economy, Mozambique facilitated a transference of ownership of major state assets to the private sector and opened itself to the private sector’s market-driven business practices and managerial cultures. The study found that the impact of these historical developments on the evolution of employment relations at Banco Austral has been contradictory. ABSA’s ownership of Banco Austral opened as many opportunities as it closed them. On the one hand, it marked an opportunity for the growth and development of the ABSA brand across Mozambique. It presented opportunities for the integration of the Mozambican workforce into the larger ABSA Group and thereby enabling the transference of innovative managerial practices, world class human resources management techniques and advanced banking technology from ABSA and into Banco Austral. ABSA’s acquisition of Banco Austral also opened prospects for the development of skills for the workforce, enhanced the chances of job mobility as well as opened opportunities for Banco Austral workers to take advantage of the newly created jobs. On the other hand, however, the managerial practices and the human resource management techniques transferred from ABSA was reported by Banco Austral workers to be far from innovative. Instead, they resembled traits of past practices characteristic of Mozambique’s colonial workplace regime and South Africa’s apartheid workplace regime. This tilted the balance of power in favour of managers who arbitrarily exercised their authority in ways similar to that of the Portuguese managers in colonial Mozambique and that of the production councils during the post-independence socialist period. Access to senior positions and training opportunities continued to be allocated along national and racial lines. Many Mozambican workers were said to be ABSA-unfit and could not be trained in critical areas to improve their relevance in the larger ABSA Group. Despite these findings however, this study shows that Banco Austral workers were not helpless actors in the employment relationship. Rather, they remained agents of change in their own right, endowed with varying degrees of power, which they used to minimise the impact of arbitrary management practices and influence the direction of the employment relationship to advance their interests. The argument of this thesis is advanced by locating the study within Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical triad of capital, field and habitus. Bourdieu’s theoretical triad is used as important analytical tools for understanding how ABSA-specific practices evolved and continued to shape the conduct and thoughts of its managers and workers alike. This study also makes special contribution to Marxism by revisiting Marx’s conception of the labour process to expose a number of analytical dilemmas when Marx is applied to bank labour.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Mtyingizana, Beata Nontlahla
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Industrial sociology -- Mozambique , Industrial relations -- Mozambique , Industrial relations -- Cross-cultural studies , Industrial sociology -- Political aspects , Personnel management -- Mozambique , Personnel management -- Political aspects , ABSA Bank , Banco Austral
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60267 , vital:27760
- Description: This thesis examines the impact of South African business on employment relations in Mozambique. The study specifically focuses on a case study of Banco Austral, a subsidiary of the Amalgamated Banks of South Africa (ABSA), to provide a richer and deeper analysis of employment practices. The study examines the extent to which the expansion of South African businesses in Mozambique has influenced the development of employment relations there. It examines whether the employment relations that exist at Banco Austral are a direct result of the influence of its parent firm, ABSA. It assesses whether the prevailing managerial practices at Banco Austral are distinctly local and a product of Mozambican history or whether the employer and employee relations that exist in that bank are an outcome of some form of hybridised host country and parent firm practices. The study is contextualised within the period of transition that both countries underwent. In the South African context, the end of apartheid promised political stability, democracy and racial harmony. It facilitated South Africa’s reinsertion into the international economy and enabled its investors to embark on large-scale penetration of potential markets. It also opened up opportunities for investors to take advantage of the new global order in the rest of Africa and particularly in Mozambique. Similarly, in Mozambique, the transition to capitalism and to liberal democracy in 1994 marked a clear shift of policy from an authoritarian one-party state characterised by a planned socialist economy. In embracing a liberal market economy, Mozambique facilitated a transference of ownership of major state assets to the private sector and opened itself to the private sector’s market-driven business practices and managerial cultures. The study found that the impact of these historical developments on the evolution of employment relations at Banco Austral has been contradictory. ABSA’s ownership of Banco Austral opened as many opportunities as it closed them. On the one hand, it marked an opportunity for the growth and development of the ABSA brand across Mozambique. It presented opportunities for the integration of the Mozambican workforce into the larger ABSA Group and thereby enabling the transference of innovative managerial practices, world class human resources management techniques and advanced banking technology from ABSA and into Banco Austral. ABSA’s acquisition of Banco Austral also opened prospects for the development of skills for the workforce, enhanced the chances of job mobility as well as opened opportunities for Banco Austral workers to take advantage of the newly created jobs. On the other hand, however, the managerial practices and the human resource management techniques transferred from ABSA was reported by Banco Austral workers to be far from innovative. Instead, they resembled traits of past practices characteristic of Mozambique’s colonial workplace regime and South Africa’s apartheid workplace regime. This tilted the balance of power in favour of managers who arbitrarily exercised their authority in ways similar to that of the Portuguese managers in colonial Mozambique and that of the production councils during the post-independence socialist period. Access to senior positions and training opportunities continued to be allocated along national and racial lines. Many Mozambican workers were said to be ABSA-unfit and could not be trained in critical areas to improve their relevance in the larger ABSA Group. Despite these findings however, this study shows that Banco Austral workers were not helpless actors in the employment relationship. Rather, they remained agents of change in their own right, endowed with varying degrees of power, which they used to minimise the impact of arbitrary management practices and influence the direction of the employment relationship to advance their interests. The argument of this thesis is advanced by locating the study within Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical triad of capital, field and habitus. Bourdieu’s theoretical triad is used as important analytical tools for understanding how ABSA-specific practices evolved and continued to shape the conduct and thoughts of its managers and workers alike. This study also makes special contribution to Marxism by revisiting Marx’s conception of the labour process to expose a number of analytical dilemmas when Marx is applied to bank labour.
- Full Text:
The investigation of type-specific features of the copper coordinating AA9 proteins and their effect on the interaction with crystalline cellulose using molecular dynamics studies
- Authors: Moses, Vuyani
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Copper proteins , Cellulose , Molecular dynamics , Cellulose -- Biodegradation , Bioinformatics
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/58327 , vital:27230
- Description: AA9 proteins are metallo-enzymes which are crucial for the early stages of cellulose degradation. AA9 proteins have been suggested to cleave glycosidic bonds linking cellulose through the use of their Cu2+ coordinating active site. AA9 proteins possess different regioselectivities depending on the resulting cleavage they form and as result, are grouped accordingly. Type 1 AA9 proteins cleave the C1 carbon of cellulose while Type 2 AA9 proteins cleave the C4 carbon and Type 3 AA9 proteins cleave either C1 or C4 carbons. The steric congestion of the AA9 active site has been proposed to be a contributor to the observed regioselectivity. As such, a bioinformatics characterisation of type-specific sequence and structural features was performed. Initially AA9 protein sequences were obtained from the Pfam database and multiple sequence alignment was performed. The sequences were phylogenetically characterised and sequences were grouped into their respective types and sub-groups were identified. A selection analysis was performed on AA9 LPMO types to determine the selective pressure acting on AA9 protein residues. Motif discovery was then performed to identify conserved sequence motifs in AA9 proteins. Once type-specific sequence features were identified structural mapping was performed to assess possible effects on substrate interaction. Physicochemical property analysis was also performed to assess biochemical differences between AA9 LPMO types. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were then employed to dynamically assess the consequences of the discovered type-specific features on AA9-cellulose interaction. Due to the absence of AA9 specific force field parameters MD simulations were not readily applicable. As a result, Potential Energy Surface (PES) scans were performed to evaluate the force field parameters for the AA9 active site using the PM6 semi empirical approach and least squares fitting. A Type 1 AA9 active site was constructed from the crystal structure 4B5Q, encompassing only the Cu2+ coordinating residues, the Cu2+ ion and two water residues. Due to the similarity in AA9 active sites, the Type force field parameters were validated on all three AA9 LPMO types. Two MD simulations for each AA9 LPMO types were conducted using two separate Lennard-Jones parameter sets. Once completed, the MD trajectories were analysed for various features including the RMSD, RMSF, radius of gyration, coordination during simulation, hydrogen bonding, secondary structure conservation and overall protein movement. Force field parameters were successfully evaluated and validated for AA9 proteins. MD simulations of AA9 proteins were able to reveal the presence of unique type-specific binding modes of AA9 active sites to cellulose. These binding modes were characterised by the presence of unique type-specific loops which were present in Type 2 and 3 AA9 proteins but not in Type 1 AA9 proteins. The loops were found to result in steric congestion that affects how the Cu2+ ion interacts with cellulose. As a result, Cu2+ binding to cellulose was observed for Type 1 and not Type 2 and 3 AA9 proteins. In this study force field parameters have been evaluated for the Type 1 active site of AA9 proteins and this parameters were evaluated on all three types and binding. Future work will focus on identifying the nature of the reactive oxygen species and performing QM/MM calculations to elucidate the reactive mechanism of all three AA9 LPMO types.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Moses, Vuyani
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Copper proteins , Cellulose , Molecular dynamics , Cellulose -- Biodegradation , Bioinformatics
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/58327 , vital:27230
- Description: AA9 proteins are metallo-enzymes which are crucial for the early stages of cellulose degradation. AA9 proteins have been suggested to cleave glycosidic bonds linking cellulose through the use of their Cu2+ coordinating active site. AA9 proteins possess different regioselectivities depending on the resulting cleavage they form and as result, are grouped accordingly. Type 1 AA9 proteins cleave the C1 carbon of cellulose while Type 2 AA9 proteins cleave the C4 carbon and Type 3 AA9 proteins cleave either C1 or C4 carbons. The steric congestion of the AA9 active site has been proposed to be a contributor to the observed regioselectivity. As such, a bioinformatics characterisation of type-specific sequence and structural features was performed. Initially AA9 protein sequences were obtained from the Pfam database and multiple sequence alignment was performed. The sequences were phylogenetically characterised and sequences were grouped into their respective types and sub-groups were identified. A selection analysis was performed on AA9 LPMO types to determine the selective pressure acting on AA9 protein residues. Motif discovery was then performed to identify conserved sequence motifs in AA9 proteins. Once type-specific sequence features were identified structural mapping was performed to assess possible effects on substrate interaction. Physicochemical property analysis was also performed to assess biochemical differences between AA9 LPMO types. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were then employed to dynamically assess the consequences of the discovered type-specific features on AA9-cellulose interaction. Due to the absence of AA9 specific force field parameters MD simulations were not readily applicable. As a result, Potential Energy Surface (PES) scans were performed to evaluate the force field parameters for the AA9 active site using the PM6 semi empirical approach and least squares fitting. A Type 1 AA9 active site was constructed from the crystal structure 4B5Q, encompassing only the Cu2+ coordinating residues, the Cu2+ ion and two water residues. Due to the similarity in AA9 active sites, the Type force field parameters were validated on all three AA9 LPMO types. Two MD simulations for each AA9 LPMO types were conducted using two separate Lennard-Jones parameter sets. Once completed, the MD trajectories were analysed for various features including the RMSD, RMSF, radius of gyration, coordination during simulation, hydrogen bonding, secondary structure conservation and overall protein movement. Force field parameters were successfully evaluated and validated for AA9 proteins. MD simulations of AA9 proteins were able to reveal the presence of unique type-specific binding modes of AA9 active sites to cellulose. These binding modes were characterised by the presence of unique type-specific loops which were present in Type 2 and 3 AA9 proteins but not in Type 1 AA9 proteins. The loops were found to result in steric congestion that affects how the Cu2+ ion interacts with cellulose. As a result, Cu2+ binding to cellulose was observed for Type 1 and not Type 2 and 3 AA9 proteins. In this study force field parameters have been evaluated for the Type 1 active site of AA9 proteins and this parameters were evaluated on all three types and binding. Future work will focus on identifying the nature of the reactive oxygen species and performing QM/MM calculations to elucidate the reactive mechanism of all three AA9 LPMO types.
- Full Text:
The Kenya National Human Rights Commission and the promotion, protection and monitoring of socio-economic rights in Kenya
- Khayundi, Francis Bulimo Mapati
- Authors: Khayundi, Francis Bulimo Mapati
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Kenya Human Rights Commission , Economic rights -- Kenya , Social rights -- Kenya , Kenya -- Economic conditions , Kenya -- Social conditions , Kenya -- Politics and government
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60413 , vital:27777
- Description: The promulgation of the 2010 Constitution of Kenya introduced socio-economic rights (SERs) amid widespread poverty and rising inequality. This study seeks to answer the overarching question, what role can the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) play in promoting, protecting and monitoring SERs in Kenya? Further research questions included whether the KNCHR has the requisite powers to perform its mandate and what lessons could be learned from the South African context. The research sought to understand how the local context affects the ability of KNCHR to carry out its mandate. Likewise, it analyses some of the contributions KNCHR has made in the promotion and protection of SERs while identifying the challenges the Commission faces in carrying out its mandate. Several methodologies were utilised to answer the research questions above. The methodologies included the doctrinal method, analysis of secondary sources and interviews with key informants. A comparative legal research methodology was also employed, with the SAHRC being used as a case study on how NHRIs can promote, protect and monitor SERs. The findings from the research argue that the Paris Principles provide the minimum guidelines on the establishment of NHRIs. Compliance with these Principles has not necessarily guaranteed the effectives of NHRIs. Any assessment of an NHRI should be based on its performance and legitimacy considering the local factors obtaining within its jurisdiction. The domestic protection and judicial enforcement of human rights in Kenya, though crucial to the realisation of SERs, has been fraught with challenges. These challenges have meant that the realisation of SERs has been curtailed and necessitated complementary institutions for human rights to be realised. Given the country’s constitutional architecture, the KNCHR was one such institution that could complement the role of the judiciary given its wide mandate. With SERs a new feature of the 2010 Constitution, the KNCHR had to find ways to promote SERs in the country considering the local peculiarities such as poverty, a highly political climate and lack of political goodwill from the legislature and executive sometime characterised by open hostility. These challenges and the new nature of these rights called for a comparative study with the SAHRC given some similarities between the two jurisdictions. The SAHRC provided valuable lessons having had more experience in dealing with SERs while navigating similar challenges the KNCHR faced or might face. The findings of the research prompted recommendations directed at the KNCHR and other stakeholders, specifically the legislature and executive on how to address the challenges curtailing the performance of the KNCHR in general and particularly ways in which the Commission could go about in promoting, protecting and monitoring SERs.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Khayundi, Francis Bulimo Mapati
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Kenya Human Rights Commission , Economic rights -- Kenya , Social rights -- Kenya , Kenya -- Economic conditions , Kenya -- Social conditions , Kenya -- Politics and government
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60413 , vital:27777
- Description: The promulgation of the 2010 Constitution of Kenya introduced socio-economic rights (SERs) amid widespread poverty and rising inequality. This study seeks to answer the overarching question, what role can the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) play in promoting, protecting and monitoring SERs in Kenya? Further research questions included whether the KNCHR has the requisite powers to perform its mandate and what lessons could be learned from the South African context. The research sought to understand how the local context affects the ability of KNCHR to carry out its mandate. Likewise, it analyses some of the contributions KNCHR has made in the promotion and protection of SERs while identifying the challenges the Commission faces in carrying out its mandate. Several methodologies were utilised to answer the research questions above. The methodologies included the doctrinal method, analysis of secondary sources and interviews with key informants. A comparative legal research methodology was also employed, with the SAHRC being used as a case study on how NHRIs can promote, protect and monitor SERs. The findings from the research argue that the Paris Principles provide the minimum guidelines on the establishment of NHRIs. Compliance with these Principles has not necessarily guaranteed the effectives of NHRIs. Any assessment of an NHRI should be based on its performance and legitimacy considering the local factors obtaining within its jurisdiction. The domestic protection and judicial enforcement of human rights in Kenya, though crucial to the realisation of SERs, has been fraught with challenges. These challenges have meant that the realisation of SERs has been curtailed and necessitated complementary institutions for human rights to be realised. Given the country’s constitutional architecture, the KNCHR was one such institution that could complement the role of the judiciary given its wide mandate. With SERs a new feature of the 2010 Constitution, the KNCHR had to find ways to promote SERs in the country considering the local peculiarities such as poverty, a highly political climate and lack of political goodwill from the legislature and executive sometime characterised by open hostility. These challenges and the new nature of these rights called for a comparative study with the SAHRC given some similarities between the two jurisdictions. The SAHRC provided valuable lessons having had more experience in dealing with SERs while navigating similar challenges the KNCHR faced or might face. The findings of the research prompted recommendations directed at the KNCHR and other stakeholders, specifically the legislature and executive on how to address the challenges curtailing the performance of the KNCHR in general and particularly ways in which the Commission could go about in promoting, protecting and monitoring SERs.
- Full Text:
The knowledge commons, pan-Africanism, and epistemic inequality: a study of CODESRIA
- Authors: Hoffmann, Nimi
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Pan-Africanism , Codesria , Equality -- Africa , Social justice -- Africa , Feminist criticism -- Africa , Sex discrimination against women -- Africa , Postcolonialism -- Africa , Women intellectuals -- Africa , Academic freedom -- Africa , Africans -- Intellectual life
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60303 , vital:27764
- Description: This study is about the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA). Conceived in 1964 and formalised in 1973, CODESRIA is the longest-standing pan-African intellectual organisation on the continent. It was established with the primary objective of fostering greater collaboration between African scholars, and has acquired a reputation for challenging the marginalisation and fragmentation of African scholarship. However, there has been no systematic account of this important organisation. This study aims to cast light on this organisation and its intellectual contributions in the post-independence period. It examines CODESRIA as a knowledge commons - a community of scholars that creates, manages and shares intellectual goods outside of the state and the market. It asks: what factors have shaped CODESRIA as a pan-African knowledge commons in the context of epistemic inequality? As a way of answering this question, it examines three key debates: the different meanings of pan-Africanism in CODESRIA, CODESRIA’s defence of the academic project during structural adjustment, and African feminists’ struggles to change CODESRIA. These debates exemplify the ways in which different generations of African scholars in the post - independence period have sought to make sense of and respond to the problems of inequality - both outside of CODESRIA and within CODESRIA. This thesis approaches CODESRIA as a case study. It combines a document analysis with semi-structured interviews to construct and critique key intellectuals' understandings of the organisational design and practices of CODESRIA, the nature of its community and intellectual work. It supplements this with a descriptive analysis of CODESRIA’s bibliometric and administrative data. The study finds that CODESRIA has forged a distinctive form of pan-Africanism that offers a non-governmental and intellectual alternative to state-centric and bureaucratic forms of pan-Africanism. As a powerful counter-narrative to prevailing ideas of African intellectual inferiority, pan-Africanism has been an important motivational source for establishing and cohering CODESRIA’s community. Although its pan-African organisational form has been complicated by the enduring influence of colonial frameworks and limited by the the material and institutional weaknesses of African universities, it has nevertheless acted as a mode of collective enquiry for troubling and expanding the colonial conception of Africa. This study further finds that structural adjustment fundamentally reshaped the intellectual and material underpinnings of CODESRIA with complex and ambiguous results. In the short term, CODESRIA’s analysis of structural adjustment led to considerable intellectual and organisational innovation so that it grew in size and influence. In the long-run, however, structural adjustment eroded the public universities upon which CODESRIA relied. This eroded the mechanisms to maintain its intellectual vigour and democratic character, and increased CODESRIA’s dependency on donors. The study also finds that the struggles of feminist scholars to change unequal gender norms in CODESRIA have been a source of significant intellectual and organisational renewal. Contestations over gender inequality within CODESRIA have given rise to a distinctive form of African feminism, which emphasises the historicity of gender relations in ways that reject essentialist and teleological accounts of African societies. Feminist struggles have also given rise to new standards of scholastic excellence that mark a meaningful departure from the skewed standards introduced under colonial rule. Nevertheless, the persistent minoritisation of female scholars in CODESRIA has significantly limited their capacity to effect institutional change, such that the ghettoization of feminist scholarship and the hollowing out of feminist discourses on gender remains a constant threat. The central argument of this study is that inequality can motivate marginalised members to engage in the collective action required to create and reshape knowledge commons, but it can also constrain their collective action and threaten the long-term sustainability of the commons. The collective agency of marginalised individuals is therefore central to the flourishing of knowledge commons. Second, knowledge commons are intimately dependent on public goods, such as universities. Public goods are plausibly the source, and therefore the limit, of knowledge commons’ capacity to flourish over the long-term. As a consequence, it is likely that knowledge commons are complements to public goods provision, rather than substitutes. Rethinking the knowledge commons in terms of the predicaments of African intellectual communities, I contend, provides new ways of understanding the possibilities, constraints and contradictions of knowledge commons in an unequal world. This study contributes to the empirical literature on African intellectual communities. In particular, it provides critical knowledge on a scholarly community that has not only endured, but has managed to thrive in a context of profound economic and political instability. This provides an indication of the institutions, practices, and intellectual resources that are required to ensure that African knowledge systems flourish over the long-term. This study also makes a theoretical contribution to the literature on knowledge commons, which are largely theorised using examples from the global North. It shows how reconceptualising knowledge commons in terms of inequality opens up new lines of empirical investigation. Building on existing commons research, it develops a methodological framework for comparative research on southern knowledge commons, which may also be of use for investigating commons in general.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Hoffmann, Nimi
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Pan-Africanism , Codesria , Equality -- Africa , Social justice -- Africa , Feminist criticism -- Africa , Sex discrimination against women -- Africa , Postcolonialism -- Africa , Women intellectuals -- Africa , Academic freedom -- Africa , Africans -- Intellectual life
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60303 , vital:27764
- Description: This study is about the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA). Conceived in 1964 and formalised in 1973, CODESRIA is the longest-standing pan-African intellectual organisation on the continent. It was established with the primary objective of fostering greater collaboration between African scholars, and has acquired a reputation for challenging the marginalisation and fragmentation of African scholarship. However, there has been no systematic account of this important organisation. This study aims to cast light on this organisation and its intellectual contributions in the post-independence period. It examines CODESRIA as a knowledge commons - a community of scholars that creates, manages and shares intellectual goods outside of the state and the market. It asks: what factors have shaped CODESRIA as a pan-African knowledge commons in the context of epistemic inequality? As a way of answering this question, it examines three key debates: the different meanings of pan-Africanism in CODESRIA, CODESRIA’s defence of the academic project during structural adjustment, and African feminists’ struggles to change CODESRIA. These debates exemplify the ways in which different generations of African scholars in the post - independence period have sought to make sense of and respond to the problems of inequality - both outside of CODESRIA and within CODESRIA. This thesis approaches CODESRIA as a case study. It combines a document analysis with semi-structured interviews to construct and critique key intellectuals' understandings of the organisational design and practices of CODESRIA, the nature of its community and intellectual work. It supplements this with a descriptive analysis of CODESRIA’s bibliometric and administrative data. The study finds that CODESRIA has forged a distinctive form of pan-Africanism that offers a non-governmental and intellectual alternative to state-centric and bureaucratic forms of pan-Africanism. As a powerful counter-narrative to prevailing ideas of African intellectual inferiority, pan-Africanism has been an important motivational source for establishing and cohering CODESRIA’s community. Although its pan-African organisational form has been complicated by the enduring influence of colonial frameworks and limited by the the material and institutional weaknesses of African universities, it has nevertheless acted as a mode of collective enquiry for troubling and expanding the colonial conception of Africa. This study further finds that structural adjustment fundamentally reshaped the intellectual and material underpinnings of CODESRIA with complex and ambiguous results. In the short term, CODESRIA’s analysis of structural adjustment led to considerable intellectual and organisational innovation so that it grew in size and influence. In the long-run, however, structural adjustment eroded the public universities upon which CODESRIA relied. This eroded the mechanisms to maintain its intellectual vigour and democratic character, and increased CODESRIA’s dependency on donors. The study also finds that the struggles of feminist scholars to change unequal gender norms in CODESRIA have been a source of significant intellectual and organisational renewal. Contestations over gender inequality within CODESRIA have given rise to a distinctive form of African feminism, which emphasises the historicity of gender relations in ways that reject essentialist and teleological accounts of African societies. Feminist struggles have also given rise to new standards of scholastic excellence that mark a meaningful departure from the skewed standards introduced under colonial rule. Nevertheless, the persistent minoritisation of female scholars in CODESRIA has significantly limited their capacity to effect institutional change, such that the ghettoization of feminist scholarship and the hollowing out of feminist discourses on gender remains a constant threat. The central argument of this study is that inequality can motivate marginalised members to engage in the collective action required to create and reshape knowledge commons, but it can also constrain their collective action and threaten the long-term sustainability of the commons. The collective agency of marginalised individuals is therefore central to the flourishing of knowledge commons. Second, knowledge commons are intimately dependent on public goods, such as universities. Public goods are plausibly the source, and therefore the limit, of knowledge commons’ capacity to flourish over the long-term. As a consequence, it is likely that knowledge commons are complements to public goods provision, rather than substitutes. Rethinking the knowledge commons in terms of the predicaments of African intellectual communities, I contend, provides new ways of understanding the possibilities, constraints and contradictions of knowledge commons in an unequal world. This study contributes to the empirical literature on African intellectual communities. In particular, it provides critical knowledge on a scholarly community that has not only endured, but has managed to thrive in a context of profound economic and political instability. This provides an indication of the institutions, practices, and intellectual resources that are required to ensure that African knowledge systems flourish over the long-term. This study also makes a theoretical contribution to the literature on knowledge commons, which are largely theorised using examples from the global North. It shows how reconceptualising knowledge commons in terms of inequality opens up new lines of empirical investigation. Building on existing commons research, it develops a methodological framework for comparative research on southern knowledge commons, which may also be of use for investigating commons in general.
- Full Text:
The missing ingredient: rethinking the drought disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation nexus in Chirumhanzu District, Zimbabwe
- Authors: Grey, Mashoko Stephen
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Climatic changes -- Zimbabwe -- Chirumanzu District , Climatic changes -- Government policy -- Zimbabwe -- Chirumanzu District , Climatic changes -- Economic aspects -- Zimbabwe -- Chirumanzu District , Natural disasters -- Risk assessment -- Zimbabwe -- Chirumanzu District , Drought management -- Zimbabwe -- Chirumanzu District , Hazard mitigation -- Zimbabwe -- Chirumanzu District
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/58298 , vital:27207
- Description: Two of the main challenges facing communities and governments in developing countries are the reduction of risks of hydro-meteorological hazards and adaptation to climate change. As climate variability and change impacts are becoming more visible in the form of disasters, and are negatively affecting climate sensitive livelihoods and eroding communities' ability to fully recover, leading to increased vulnerability to subsequent climate risks. The unpredictability of current weather systems, therefore, makes it very difficult for poor governments and households to deal with adverse impacts of climate change. Furthermore, the fragmented approach to DRR and CCA with regards to practice, policy and organisational frameworks for dealing with climate risks is resulting in coordination challenges for the government departments. This study aimed to explore how local households and communities perceive and are experiencing and coping with climate change and drought, and what that means for integrating hydro-meteorological disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. The study was carried out in Chirumhanzu district and the methods used for data collection included: 217 household surveys; six focus group discussions; participatory learning actions methods; key informant's interviews and document review. The majority of households owned low value material assets and had low levels of livelihood capitals and this exposed them to the impacts of climate variability and successive droughts. This low adaptive capacity largely affected their ability to engage effective drought risk reduction and adaptation strategies for their livelihood activities in small-scale farming and livestock rearing. Vulnerability to climate risks was exacerbated by seasonal weather forecasts, which were deemed by some households to be unreliable, inaccurate and not easily understood, while others used of indigenous knowledge. Successive droughts affected households' access to food and cash income for other household demands. Other non-climatic factors that contributed to adverse drought impacts at the household level were an emphasis on reactive humanitarian aid approach and the poor economy in Zimbabwe. Additionally, the policy framework for dealing with climate change and drought hazards is fragmented and weak; and is housed in different government departments making it difficult to coordinate and implement. To improve climate risk management, there is need for the government to appreciate that drought risk reduction and climate change adaptation are all about reducing vulnerability. Understanding this, might assist in improving government focus on addressing the underlying causes of vulnerability and mainstreaming DRR and CCA into development processes through addressing specific and generic adaptive capacities. The thesis argues that as long as rural households are involved in climate sensitive livelihood activities and not getting meaningful intervention to diversity and/or better intensify their livelihood activities, they will continue to be vulnerable to successive climate risks. This fragmented approach to dealing with climate risks, is not yielding any successful results with regards to building resilience, risk reduction or adaptation of rural households.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Grey, Mashoko Stephen
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Climatic changes -- Zimbabwe -- Chirumanzu District , Climatic changes -- Government policy -- Zimbabwe -- Chirumanzu District , Climatic changes -- Economic aspects -- Zimbabwe -- Chirumanzu District , Natural disasters -- Risk assessment -- Zimbabwe -- Chirumanzu District , Drought management -- Zimbabwe -- Chirumanzu District , Hazard mitigation -- Zimbabwe -- Chirumanzu District
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/58298 , vital:27207
- Description: Two of the main challenges facing communities and governments in developing countries are the reduction of risks of hydro-meteorological hazards and adaptation to climate change. As climate variability and change impacts are becoming more visible in the form of disasters, and are negatively affecting climate sensitive livelihoods and eroding communities' ability to fully recover, leading to increased vulnerability to subsequent climate risks. The unpredictability of current weather systems, therefore, makes it very difficult for poor governments and households to deal with adverse impacts of climate change. Furthermore, the fragmented approach to DRR and CCA with regards to practice, policy and organisational frameworks for dealing with climate risks is resulting in coordination challenges for the government departments. This study aimed to explore how local households and communities perceive and are experiencing and coping with climate change and drought, and what that means for integrating hydro-meteorological disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. The study was carried out in Chirumhanzu district and the methods used for data collection included: 217 household surveys; six focus group discussions; participatory learning actions methods; key informant's interviews and document review. The majority of households owned low value material assets and had low levels of livelihood capitals and this exposed them to the impacts of climate variability and successive droughts. This low adaptive capacity largely affected their ability to engage effective drought risk reduction and adaptation strategies for their livelihood activities in small-scale farming and livestock rearing. Vulnerability to climate risks was exacerbated by seasonal weather forecasts, which were deemed by some households to be unreliable, inaccurate and not easily understood, while others used of indigenous knowledge. Successive droughts affected households' access to food and cash income for other household demands. Other non-climatic factors that contributed to adverse drought impacts at the household level were an emphasis on reactive humanitarian aid approach and the poor economy in Zimbabwe. Additionally, the policy framework for dealing with climate change and drought hazards is fragmented and weak; and is housed in different government departments making it difficult to coordinate and implement. To improve climate risk management, there is need for the government to appreciate that drought risk reduction and climate change adaptation are all about reducing vulnerability. Understanding this, might assist in improving government focus on addressing the underlying causes of vulnerability and mainstreaming DRR and CCA into development processes through addressing specific and generic adaptive capacities. The thesis argues that as long as rural households are involved in climate sensitive livelihood activities and not getting meaningful intervention to diversity and/or better intensify their livelihood activities, they will continue to be vulnerable to successive climate risks. This fragmented approach to dealing with climate risks, is not yielding any successful results with regards to building resilience, risk reduction or adaptation of rural households.
- Full Text:
The National Skills Fund and green skills: towards a generative mechanism approach
- Authors: Sauls, Gideon George
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: South Africa. National Skills Fund , Environmental education Finance South Africa , Green technology Study and teaching South Africa , Postsecondary education South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63740 , vital:28482
- Description: The aim of the study was to investigate the role of the South African National Skills Fund (NSF) in responding to green skills training for the sake of better integration and optimal effectiveness in relation to the green economy in South Africa. The NSF is a multi-billion rand fund for skills development, with the responsibility to respond effectively to the country’s skills development needs. Part of the NSF’s mandate is to ensure the development of green skills in South Africa, with special reference to the allocation of grants, as a key mechanism in ensuring adherence to properly governed skills development funding requirements. This study considers the identification of green skills funding as a skills planning and implementation challenge within the post-school education and training context, the NSF, the green economy and related skills debates, both locally and globally. The study contributes to a growing body of research in South Africa that seeks a wider systemic perspective on green skills concerns. The NSF and its functioning is a critical dimension of the wider skills system and is a significant system element influencing further emergence of a coherent national system for green skills development. Providing further rationale for this study is the 2011 finding of the International Labour Organisation, that the green skills development system in South Africa is re-active and poorly systematised, a finding that was also noted in the first ever Environmental Sector Skills Plan for South Africa undertaken by the Department of Environmental Affairs in 2010. As the study is mainly focused on one aspect of the policy system, namely the NSF’s role in green skills funding, the bulk of the data used in this study is documentary. Research information was obtained from NSF documentary sources to describe the NSF organisationally. Information was also obtained from green skills documentary sources to obtain a better understanding of the nature and purpose of the development of green skills in South Africa. The study has also drawn on references related to grant management as a mechanism for seeding meaningful transformations and skills development research in South Africa to understand the skills development landscape, with special reference to the Department of Higher Education and Training’s (DHET) post-school education and training system. Documentary data was supplemented by selected key respondent interviews from the skills sector and from the green skills research community to provide further perspective on the research focus. Critical realism (CR) is utilised as a meta-theoretical framework that seeks to inform the overall academic reflection and interpretation process. The work of Danermark, Ekström, Jakobsen and Karlsson (2002), which describes the process of data analysis in critical realism, was adapted into a four-phased research approach for this particular policy study, which I framed as a Quadrilateral Policy Analysis Framework (QPAF). This provided a data analysis framework which allowed for taking account of the mechanisms shaping the NSF as an important systemic funding agency within South Africa’s emerging post-school education and training context, as this relates to green skills. However, to further analyse this research question and context, I needed to work with substantive policy theory. Given the nature of the policy object that I was investigating, I found Feiock’s (2013) Institutional Collective Action Framework to be a helpful substantive policy theory as it has adequate nuance with which I could describe the NSF’s core function, namely that of grant-making for the post-schooling policy context. Based on the critical realist meta-theoretical framework and the substantive policy theoretical frameworks, I developed four phases of analysis, namely a) descriptive analysis which is divided into Part A (describing the green skills landscape and its funding demands ) and Part B (describing the NSF as it relates to green skills); b) component analysis which further analyses key components of the above; c) abductive policy analysis which identifies critical mechanisms and how they operate; and d) generative mechanism analysis which identifies the underlying generative mechanisms shaping the NSF’s engagement with green skills (or lack thereof). The following main findings are identified: • It emerged that the responsiveness of the NSF to green skills is emergent, essential and yet multifaceted due to competing stakeholder interests, expectations and claims; • Key strategic relations with critical role players within South Africa’s skills levy funding matrix emerged as a fundamental requirement towards the achievement of the NSF’s organisational mandate to respond effectively to national green skills needs and expectations; • Contracting is the central mechanism driving the NSF grant-making process. Related to this is the finding that partnerships emerged as the most versatile and underutilised mechanism that cuts across all four of the NSF grant-making phases; • The NSF’s current method of making sense of funding policy indications as per national policy documents is too reductionist because the method betrays an alignment-mirroring form of sense-making awareness that uncritically endorses substratum philosophical assumptions like Human Capital Theory (HCT) and associated neoclassical economic theories embedded in the policy frameworks. These assumptions contradict and potentially limit engagement with wider theories and policy frameworks for guiding skills development that are oriented towards the wider common good as argued by non-anthropocentric orientations in critical realism and the green skills sector. In summary, an argument is put forward that the NSF is a key funding mechanism towards green skills delivery in South Africa, but that this funding mechanism is under-utilised and inadequately mobilised for transitioning towards sustainability in South Africa. The study recommends that, in pursuit of better integration and optimal effectiveness thereof and in line with the fund’s legislative, organisational and public mandate, a consensual negotiation skills planning mechanism be considered from an institutional collective action response platform. In terms of recommendations for further research, it is proposed that a comparative analysis study could be considered between the NSF and other leading global funding agencies or other national skills funding mechanisms that are also concerned with the inclusion of green skills development. Comparative studies of this nature could potentially enhance the fund’s policy-making process and assist in the development of more appropriate institutional arrangements towards optimal funding responsiveness. Lastly, in the light of the NSF’s current contribution to green skills in the country, an impact evaluation study on the return on green skills investment presents an additional intriguing research endeavour which would contribute further perspective on the arguments presented in this study.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Sauls, Gideon George
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: South Africa. National Skills Fund , Environmental education Finance South Africa , Green technology Study and teaching South Africa , Postsecondary education South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63740 , vital:28482
- Description: The aim of the study was to investigate the role of the South African National Skills Fund (NSF) in responding to green skills training for the sake of better integration and optimal effectiveness in relation to the green economy in South Africa. The NSF is a multi-billion rand fund for skills development, with the responsibility to respond effectively to the country’s skills development needs. Part of the NSF’s mandate is to ensure the development of green skills in South Africa, with special reference to the allocation of grants, as a key mechanism in ensuring adherence to properly governed skills development funding requirements. This study considers the identification of green skills funding as a skills planning and implementation challenge within the post-school education and training context, the NSF, the green economy and related skills debates, both locally and globally. The study contributes to a growing body of research in South Africa that seeks a wider systemic perspective on green skills concerns. The NSF and its functioning is a critical dimension of the wider skills system and is a significant system element influencing further emergence of a coherent national system for green skills development. Providing further rationale for this study is the 2011 finding of the International Labour Organisation, that the green skills development system in South Africa is re-active and poorly systematised, a finding that was also noted in the first ever Environmental Sector Skills Plan for South Africa undertaken by the Department of Environmental Affairs in 2010. As the study is mainly focused on one aspect of the policy system, namely the NSF’s role in green skills funding, the bulk of the data used in this study is documentary. Research information was obtained from NSF documentary sources to describe the NSF organisationally. Information was also obtained from green skills documentary sources to obtain a better understanding of the nature and purpose of the development of green skills in South Africa. The study has also drawn on references related to grant management as a mechanism for seeding meaningful transformations and skills development research in South Africa to understand the skills development landscape, with special reference to the Department of Higher Education and Training’s (DHET) post-school education and training system. Documentary data was supplemented by selected key respondent interviews from the skills sector and from the green skills research community to provide further perspective on the research focus. Critical realism (CR) is utilised as a meta-theoretical framework that seeks to inform the overall academic reflection and interpretation process. The work of Danermark, Ekström, Jakobsen and Karlsson (2002), which describes the process of data analysis in critical realism, was adapted into a four-phased research approach for this particular policy study, which I framed as a Quadrilateral Policy Analysis Framework (QPAF). This provided a data analysis framework which allowed for taking account of the mechanisms shaping the NSF as an important systemic funding agency within South Africa’s emerging post-school education and training context, as this relates to green skills. However, to further analyse this research question and context, I needed to work with substantive policy theory. Given the nature of the policy object that I was investigating, I found Feiock’s (2013) Institutional Collective Action Framework to be a helpful substantive policy theory as it has adequate nuance with which I could describe the NSF’s core function, namely that of grant-making for the post-schooling policy context. Based on the critical realist meta-theoretical framework and the substantive policy theoretical frameworks, I developed four phases of analysis, namely a) descriptive analysis which is divided into Part A (describing the green skills landscape and its funding demands ) and Part B (describing the NSF as it relates to green skills); b) component analysis which further analyses key components of the above; c) abductive policy analysis which identifies critical mechanisms and how they operate; and d) generative mechanism analysis which identifies the underlying generative mechanisms shaping the NSF’s engagement with green skills (or lack thereof). The following main findings are identified: • It emerged that the responsiveness of the NSF to green skills is emergent, essential and yet multifaceted due to competing stakeholder interests, expectations and claims; • Key strategic relations with critical role players within South Africa’s skills levy funding matrix emerged as a fundamental requirement towards the achievement of the NSF’s organisational mandate to respond effectively to national green skills needs and expectations; • Contracting is the central mechanism driving the NSF grant-making process. Related to this is the finding that partnerships emerged as the most versatile and underutilised mechanism that cuts across all four of the NSF grant-making phases; • The NSF’s current method of making sense of funding policy indications as per national policy documents is too reductionist because the method betrays an alignment-mirroring form of sense-making awareness that uncritically endorses substratum philosophical assumptions like Human Capital Theory (HCT) and associated neoclassical economic theories embedded in the policy frameworks. These assumptions contradict and potentially limit engagement with wider theories and policy frameworks for guiding skills development that are oriented towards the wider common good as argued by non-anthropocentric orientations in critical realism and the green skills sector. In summary, an argument is put forward that the NSF is a key funding mechanism towards green skills delivery in South Africa, but that this funding mechanism is under-utilised and inadequately mobilised for transitioning towards sustainability in South Africa. The study recommends that, in pursuit of better integration and optimal effectiveness thereof and in line with the fund’s legislative, organisational and public mandate, a consensual negotiation skills planning mechanism be considered from an institutional collective action response platform. In terms of recommendations for further research, it is proposed that a comparative analysis study could be considered between the NSF and other leading global funding agencies or other national skills funding mechanisms that are also concerned with the inclusion of green skills development. Comparative studies of this nature could potentially enhance the fund’s policy-making process and assist in the development of more appropriate institutional arrangements towards optimal funding responsiveness. Lastly, in the light of the NSF’s current contribution to green skills in the country, an impact evaluation study on the return on green skills investment presents an additional intriguing research endeavour which would contribute further perspective on the arguments presented in this study.
- Full Text:
The place of language in supporting children’s mathematical development: two Grade 4 teachers’ use of classroom talk
- Authors: Robertson, Sally-Ann, 1952-
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Mathematics Study and teaching (Elementary) South Africa , Multilingual education South Africa , Language and education South Africa , Translanguaging (Linguistics) , Language policy South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62072 , vital:28104
- Description: Measures of mathematics achievement (documented locally, and in internationally comparative terms) have shown that South African learners whose first language (L1) is different from their language of learning and teaching (LoLT) are at a significant disadvantage, most particularly learners from vulnerable or marginalised communities. This transdisciplinary case study looks at two experienced Grade 4 teachers’ mathematics classroom talk practices. It is situated within a second language (L2) teaching/learning context in which teachers and learners share the same first language, but mathematics learning and teaching takes place officially through an L2 (English). The study is located within a qualitative and interpretive framework. It brings together insights from a range of distinct but complementary theoretical disciplines in its analysis of the empirical classroom observation and interview data. Its theoretical framing derives initially from professional literature relating to L2 teaching and learning. This is then embedded within a broader theoretical frame deriving from the work of Vygotsky, Bernstein and Halliday, each of whom has focussed on the centrality of language to the teaching/ learning process, as well as contributed to a heightened appreciation of socio-cultural influences on learners’ meaning-making processes. The study illuminates some of the linguistic challenges to L2 children’s maximal participation in the learning of school mathematics. It points too to the significant challenge many South African mathematics teachers face in trying to meet curriculum coverage and pacing demands, while simultaneously facilitating their learners’ ongoing induction – in and through L2 predominantly – into mathematically-appropriate discourse. Grade 4 is a year in which such challenges are often more acutely felt. Independently of the transition across to an L2 for the majority of South African learners, this is the year also where - relative to the foundation phase years - learners encounter an expansion of knowledge areas and more specialised academic text. Many learners struggle to adjust to these higher conceptual and linguistic demands, often leading to what has been termed a ‘fourth-grade slump’. The study highlights the need for more sustained and proactive challenging of perceptions that English as LoLT is the obvious route to educational - and subsequent economic - opportunity. Recognition of the consequences deriving from the choice of English as the main LoLT for mathematics teaching and learning could help counterbalance deficit discourses implicating poor teaching as a major contributor to South Africa’s poor mathematics education outcomes. The study highlights further that, if language is genuinely to be used as the ‘tool’ for learning it is claimed to be, synergistic opportunities for the dovetailing of insights into L2 learners’ literacy/ numeracy development require further exploration. It points to the need for ongoing professional development support for teachers of mathematics (at both pre- and in-service levels) that focuses on broadening and deepening their understandings around the linguistic, and hence epistemological, consequences of learning mathematics through an L2. Expanding mathematics teachers’ repertoires of strategies for supporting learners’ developing cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP) in mathematics (in both L1 and L2) would involve a conception of ‘academic language’ in mathematics which goes beyond a constrained interpretation of ‘legitimate’ mathematical text as that which is in texts such as curriculum documents and text books. Especially important here are strategies which foreground the value of classroom talk in assisting L2 children towards becoming more confident, competent and explorative bilingual learners, and thereby, more active agents of their own mathematical meaning-making processes. The study argues that such meaning-making processes would be further strengthened were additive bilingualism (in place of current predominantly subtractive practices) to be genuinely taken up as core to any teaching and learning of mathematics in contexts such as those described in this case study.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Robertson, Sally-Ann, 1952-
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Mathematics Study and teaching (Elementary) South Africa , Multilingual education South Africa , Language and education South Africa , Translanguaging (Linguistics) , Language policy South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62072 , vital:28104
- Description: Measures of mathematics achievement (documented locally, and in internationally comparative terms) have shown that South African learners whose first language (L1) is different from their language of learning and teaching (LoLT) are at a significant disadvantage, most particularly learners from vulnerable or marginalised communities. This transdisciplinary case study looks at two experienced Grade 4 teachers’ mathematics classroom talk practices. It is situated within a second language (L2) teaching/learning context in which teachers and learners share the same first language, but mathematics learning and teaching takes place officially through an L2 (English). The study is located within a qualitative and interpretive framework. It brings together insights from a range of distinct but complementary theoretical disciplines in its analysis of the empirical classroom observation and interview data. Its theoretical framing derives initially from professional literature relating to L2 teaching and learning. This is then embedded within a broader theoretical frame deriving from the work of Vygotsky, Bernstein and Halliday, each of whom has focussed on the centrality of language to the teaching/ learning process, as well as contributed to a heightened appreciation of socio-cultural influences on learners’ meaning-making processes. The study illuminates some of the linguistic challenges to L2 children’s maximal participation in the learning of school mathematics. It points too to the significant challenge many South African mathematics teachers face in trying to meet curriculum coverage and pacing demands, while simultaneously facilitating their learners’ ongoing induction – in and through L2 predominantly – into mathematically-appropriate discourse. Grade 4 is a year in which such challenges are often more acutely felt. Independently of the transition across to an L2 for the majority of South African learners, this is the year also where - relative to the foundation phase years - learners encounter an expansion of knowledge areas and more specialised academic text. Many learners struggle to adjust to these higher conceptual and linguistic demands, often leading to what has been termed a ‘fourth-grade slump’. The study highlights the need for more sustained and proactive challenging of perceptions that English as LoLT is the obvious route to educational - and subsequent economic - opportunity. Recognition of the consequences deriving from the choice of English as the main LoLT for mathematics teaching and learning could help counterbalance deficit discourses implicating poor teaching as a major contributor to South Africa’s poor mathematics education outcomes. The study highlights further that, if language is genuinely to be used as the ‘tool’ for learning it is claimed to be, synergistic opportunities for the dovetailing of insights into L2 learners’ literacy/ numeracy development require further exploration. It points to the need for ongoing professional development support for teachers of mathematics (at both pre- and in-service levels) that focuses on broadening and deepening their understandings around the linguistic, and hence epistemological, consequences of learning mathematics through an L2. Expanding mathematics teachers’ repertoires of strategies for supporting learners’ developing cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP) in mathematics (in both L1 and L2) would involve a conception of ‘academic language’ in mathematics which goes beyond a constrained interpretation of ‘legitimate’ mathematical text as that which is in texts such as curriculum documents and text books. Especially important here are strategies which foreground the value of classroom talk in assisting L2 children towards becoming more confident, competent and explorative bilingual learners, and thereby, more active agents of their own mathematical meaning-making processes. The study argues that such meaning-making processes would be further strengthened were additive bilingualism (in place of current predominantly subtractive practices) to be genuinely taken up as core to any teaching and learning of mathematics in contexts such as those described in this case study.
- Full Text:
The role of upwelling in determining the composition, species distribution and genetic structure of intertidal communities in a time of climate change
- Lourenço, Carla Sofia Emídio Rodrigues
- Authors: Lourenço, Carla Sofia Emídio Rodrigues
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Upwelling (Oceanography) , Intertidal organisms -- Morocco -- Atlantic Coast , Intertidal organisms -- Canary Current -- Effect of water currents on , Intertidal animals -- Canary Current -- Effect of water currents on , Intertidal animals -- Morocco -- Atlantic Coas , Mytilus galloprovincialis -- Morocco -- Atlantic Coast , Mytilus galloprovincialis -- Canary Current -- Effect of water currents on , Intertidal ecology -- Canary Current , Sea surface microlayer -- Morocco -- Atlantic Coast
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/61614 , vital:28042
- Description: Upwelling is an oceanographic process that strongly influences coastal species and the communities they belong to. In upwelling areas, colder, denser, nutrient-rich subsurface waters are transported to the nearshore surface, replacing warmer superficial waters that are advected offshore. Such effects influence the composition and dynamics of coastal communities, for example by affecting species abundance, recruitment, dispersal and distribution. Upwelling areas are key model regions to study the responses of coastal species to climate change because they are characterized by cooler conditions and experience lower warming rates than adjacent regions. In particular, intertidal rocky shore species are ideal coastal sentinel organisms to study distributional changes driven by climate warming because they inhabit the interface between marine and terrestrial habitats and are exposed to extremely severe environmental conditions. In fact, sharp distributional shifts have been reported for multiple intertidal species as a response to ocean warming. Although some studies have investigated the role of upwelling in influencing abundance and distribution of intertidal species, little is known about its potential as refugia against climate warming and the degree to which upwelling shapes species genetic structure is yet not fully understood. The aim of this thesis is to understand the influence of the Canary Current upwelling system on intertidal community composition, including species distribution and the genetic structure of intertidal species under current climate change. To do this, I investigated community structure of intertidal assemblages along the Atlantic shores of Morocco and Western Sahara, performed large scale surveys on species distribution, evaluated species abundance and frequency of parasitism and examined species genetic patterns. I further coupled biological data with upwelling indices, sea surface temperatures (SST) and the rate of SST warming. I demonstrate that strong upwelling influences abundance and distribution of intertidal rocky shore species and that upwelling cells can act as refugia from climate change by ameliorating thermal conditions. Upwelling cells also conserve the genetic diversity of the marine macroalga Fucus guiryi, promoting intraspecific genetic diversity by preserving unique genetic lineages. However, no evidence was found that upwelling affects the genetic structure for either F. guiryi or the brown mussel Perna perna. Instead, the genetic patterns presented in this thesis seem to result from a combination of species’ life history traits, population size and habitat suitability. My results also suggest that upwelling intensity affects the frequency of endolithic parasitism on the Mediterranean mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis. In times of climate change, upwelling events provide suitable environmental conditions for species to counter act climatic change. As upwelling is project to intensify in the future, its influence on benthic intertidal species might be greater than previously anticipated.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Lourenço, Carla Sofia Emídio Rodrigues
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Upwelling (Oceanography) , Intertidal organisms -- Morocco -- Atlantic Coast , Intertidal organisms -- Canary Current -- Effect of water currents on , Intertidal animals -- Canary Current -- Effect of water currents on , Intertidal animals -- Morocco -- Atlantic Coas , Mytilus galloprovincialis -- Morocco -- Atlantic Coast , Mytilus galloprovincialis -- Canary Current -- Effect of water currents on , Intertidal ecology -- Canary Current , Sea surface microlayer -- Morocco -- Atlantic Coast
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/61614 , vital:28042
- Description: Upwelling is an oceanographic process that strongly influences coastal species and the communities they belong to. In upwelling areas, colder, denser, nutrient-rich subsurface waters are transported to the nearshore surface, replacing warmer superficial waters that are advected offshore. Such effects influence the composition and dynamics of coastal communities, for example by affecting species abundance, recruitment, dispersal and distribution. Upwelling areas are key model regions to study the responses of coastal species to climate change because they are characterized by cooler conditions and experience lower warming rates than adjacent regions. In particular, intertidal rocky shore species are ideal coastal sentinel organisms to study distributional changes driven by climate warming because they inhabit the interface between marine and terrestrial habitats and are exposed to extremely severe environmental conditions. In fact, sharp distributional shifts have been reported for multiple intertidal species as a response to ocean warming. Although some studies have investigated the role of upwelling in influencing abundance and distribution of intertidal species, little is known about its potential as refugia against climate warming and the degree to which upwelling shapes species genetic structure is yet not fully understood. The aim of this thesis is to understand the influence of the Canary Current upwelling system on intertidal community composition, including species distribution and the genetic structure of intertidal species under current climate change. To do this, I investigated community structure of intertidal assemblages along the Atlantic shores of Morocco and Western Sahara, performed large scale surveys on species distribution, evaluated species abundance and frequency of parasitism and examined species genetic patterns. I further coupled biological data with upwelling indices, sea surface temperatures (SST) and the rate of SST warming. I demonstrate that strong upwelling influences abundance and distribution of intertidal rocky shore species and that upwelling cells can act as refugia from climate change by ameliorating thermal conditions. Upwelling cells also conserve the genetic diversity of the marine macroalga Fucus guiryi, promoting intraspecific genetic diversity by preserving unique genetic lineages. However, no evidence was found that upwelling affects the genetic structure for either F. guiryi or the brown mussel Perna perna. Instead, the genetic patterns presented in this thesis seem to result from a combination of species’ life history traits, population size and habitat suitability. My results also suggest that upwelling intensity affects the frequency of endolithic parasitism on the Mediterranean mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis. In times of climate change, upwelling events provide suitable environmental conditions for species to counter act climatic change. As upwelling is project to intensify in the future, its influence on benthic intertidal species might be greater than previously anticipated.
- Full Text:
The rupture in the Rainbow: an exploration of Joburg Pride’s fragmentation, 1990 to 2013
- Authors: McLean, Nyx Nicolene Cindy
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Gay pride celebrations -- South Africa -- Johannesburg , Sexual minorities -- South Africa , Sexual minorities -- Crimes against -- South Africa , Hate crimes -- South Africa , Group identity -- South Africa -- Johannesburg , Identity politics -- South Africa -- Johannesburg , Racism -- South Africa , One in Nine Campaign
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63822 , vital:28492
- Description: In 2012 Joburg Pride was disrupted by the One in Nine Campaign who asked for a moment of silence to honour the lives of victims of hate crimes1 and violence. This interruption of the parade was met with violence from Joburg Pride organisers, marshals and participants, who explicitly told the campaign’s activists that they “had no right to be at the parade.” The activists were predominantly black lesbians and gender non-conforming people. This response suggested that there was no place within Joburg Pride for honouring and mourning the lives of LGBTIAQ people of colour that had been lost to hate crimes. In addition to the call for one minute of silence, the One in Nine Campaign argued that Joburg Pride had become depoliticised as a result of its increased commercialisation. This study is motivated by a need to understand this rupture that occurred in 2012, and to situate it within the history of the LGBTIAQ movement in South Africa. In particular, it investigates the argument made by the One in Nine Campaign that Joburg Pride had become depoliticised and commercialised. The tensions that were facilitated by the 2012 clash and the subsequent formation of alternative Pride events in 2013 are interesting in light of current conversations circulating in broader South African discourse around what it means to be a South African citizen. The study applies a poststructuralist, anti-racist queer feminist lens informed by queer theory, critical theory, critical race theory, and whiteness studies to the historical and current fractures within Joburg Pride. The study analyses Exit newspaper articles from 1990 to 2013, alongside interviews with key stakeholders involved in the 2012 clash. The analysis, informed by both thematic and discursive approaches, interrogates the following themes: depoliticisation, commercialisation, “community”, assimilation, whiteness, racism, rainbowism and rainbow-washing. In this thesis I argue that the commercial interests and apolitical stance of predominantly white Joburg Pride organisers came to exclude LGBTIAQ people of colour’s experiences, at a time when political organising around hate crimes was most necessary. The analysis further highlights a politics of assimilation rooted in rights-based discourse informed by the Rainbow Nation rhetoric of post-apartheid South Africa. Further, this study problematises the notion of “community”, and discusses its strategic use in assimilationist politics within the LGBTIAQ “community”. This study shows that the rupture in the rainbow that occurred at Joburg Pride 2012 was constituted by multiple ruptures that exist in South African society. The issues explored in this thesis are therefore not only useful for constructing more inclusive spaces for LGBTIAQ people, but also for the nation building project of South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Authors: McLean, Nyx Nicolene Cindy
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Gay pride celebrations -- South Africa -- Johannesburg , Sexual minorities -- South Africa , Sexual minorities -- Crimes against -- South Africa , Hate crimes -- South Africa , Group identity -- South Africa -- Johannesburg , Identity politics -- South Africa -- Johannesburg , Racism -- South Africa , One in Nine Campaign
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63822 , vital:28492
- Description: In 2012 Joburg Pride was disrupted by the One in Nine Campaign who asked for a moment of silence to honour the lives of victims of hate crimes1 and violence. This interruption of the parade was met with violence from Joburg Pride organisers, marshals and participants, who explicitly told the campaign’s activists that they “had no right to be at the parade.” The activists were predominantly black lesbians and gender non-conforming people. This response suggested that there was no place within Joburg Pride for honouring and mourning the lives of LGBTIAQ people of colour that had been lost to hate crimes. In addition to the call for one minute of silence, the One in Nine Campaign argued that Joburg Pride had become depoliticised as a result of its increased commercialisation. This study is motivated by a need to understand this rupture that occurred in 2012, and to situate it within the history of the LGBTIAQ movement in South Africa. In particular, it investigates the argument made by the One in Nine Campaign that Joburg Pride had become depoliticised and commercialised. The tensions that were facilitated by the 2012 clash and the subsequent formation of alternative Pride events in 2013 are interesting in light of current conversations circulating in broader South African discourse around what it means to be a South African citizen. The study applies a poststructuralist, anti-racist queer feminist lens informed by queer theory, critical theory, critical race theory, and whiteness studies to the historical and current fractures within Joburg Pride. The study analyses Exit newspaper articles from 1990 to 2013, alongside interviews with key stakeholders involved in the 2012 clash. The analysis, informed by both thematic and discursive approaches, interrogates the following themes: depoliticisation, commercialisation, “community”, assimilation, whiteness, racism, rainbowism and rainbow-washing. In this thesis I argue that the commercial interests and apolitical stance of predominantly white Joburg Pride organisers came to exclude LGBTIAQ people of colour’s experiences, at a time when political organising around hate crimes was most necessary. The analysis further highlights a politics of assimilation rooted in rights-based discourse informed by the Rainbow Nation rhetoric of post-apartheid South Africa. Further, this study problematises the notion of “community”, and discusses its strategic use in assimilationist politics within the LGBTIAQ “community”. This study shows that the rupture in the rainbow that occurred at Joburg Pride 2012 was constituted by multiple ruptures that exist in South African society. The issues explored in this thesis are therefore not only useful for constructing more inclusive spaces for LGBTIAQ people, but also for the nation building project of South Africa.
- Full Text:
The South African general anti-tax avoidance rule and lessons from the first world: a case law approach
- Pidduck, Teresa Michelle Calvert
- Authors: Pidduck, Teresa Michelle Calvert
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Tax evasion -- South Africa , Taxpayer compliance -- South Africa , Taxation -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , South Africa. Income Tax Act, 1962 , Taxation -- Law and legislation -- Australia , Taxation -- Law and legislation -- Canada , Tax evasion -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , General anti-avoidance rule (GAAR)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60328 , vital:27768
- Description: Tax avoidance has been a concern to revenue authorities since the time that the concept of tax was first introduced. Revenue authorities worldwide constantly strive to ensure taxpayer compliance, while combating impermissible tax avoidance. South Africa uses a general anti-avoidance rule (GAAR) as part of its arsenal to combat the increasingly innovative ways in which taxpayers seek to minimise their tax. However, the GAAR has been the source of much criticism and its effectiveness in combatting impermissible tax avoidance is untested in the courts. Therefore, the use of hindsight to criticise the GAAR is not possible. This study applied a qualitative approach to compare the South African, Australian and Canadian GAARs in order to propose changes which are intended to improve the efficacy of the South African GAAR. This research was performed by first comparing the three GAARs using a doctrinal research methodology and then applying the South African GAAR to the facts of selected cases from Australia and Canada in the form of reform-oriented research. In order to apply the South African GAAR to the facts of the cases a framework was developed in phase 1 of the research in order to ensure consistency in the application. This allowed for a more reliable analysis to be made regarding the areas where the South African GAAR could be improved. The convergence of results from the two research methodologies validated many of the suggestions made for the improvement of the South African GAAR This thesis examined the GAARs in South Africa, Australia and Canada with a view to identifying if there are any lessons to be learned for their application and interpretation, in order to suggest improvements which can be made to the South African GAAR. Further, relevant Australian and Canadian case law was found to be instructive as to the approach that could be adopted for purposes of applying the South African GAAR. The findings of the research revealed that while the South African, Australian and Canadian GAARs differ in their structure, each is directed to achieve the same end. The results of the study identified two types of improvements to the South African GAAR. Firstly, the South African GAAR should be consolidated into a three-part enquiry instead of the current four-part enquiry. In doing so the tainted elements (previously the abnormality requirement) could be used to inform an objective test of purpose. Secondly, guidance on areas of uncertainty regarding the application of the South African GAAR needs to be provided in order to prevent possible inconsistent judicial interpretations that may limit the efficacy of the GAAR whilst still protecting the right for taxpayers to legitimately minimise their tax burdens. One additional cause for concern highlighted in this research is the use of provisions from other jurisdictions without guidance on the application in the South African context. The use of similar provisions to that of its much-criticised predecessor has also introduced areas of uncertainty regarding the application of the South African GAAR. These areas of weakness and uncertainty arguably prevent the South African GAAR from being an effective deterrent to tax avoidance and many could be addressed by the legislature.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Pidduck, Teresa Michelle Calvert
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Tax evasion -- South Africa , Taxpayer compliance -- South Africa , Taxation -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , South Africa. Income Tax Act, 1962 , Taxation -- Law and legislation -- Australia , Taxation -- Law and legislation -- Canada , Tax evasion -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , General anti-avoidance rule (GAAR)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60328 , vital:27768
- Description: Tax avoidance has been a concern to revenue authorities since the time that the concept of tax was first introduced. Revenue authorities worldwide constantly strive to ensure taxpayer compliance, while combating impermissible tax avoidance. South Africa uses a general anti-avoidance rule (GAAR) as part of its arsenal to combat the increasingly innovative ways in which taxpayers seek to minimise their tax. However, the GAAR has been the source of much criticism and its effectiveness in combatting impermissible tax avoidance is untested in the courts. Therefore, the use of hindsight to criticise the GAAR is not possible. This study applied a qualitative approach to compare the South African, Australian and Canadian GAARs in order to propose changes which are intended to improve the efficacy of the South African GAAR. This research was performed by first comparing the three GAARs using a doctrinal research methodology and then applying the South African GAAR to the facts of selected cases from Australia and Canada in the form of reform-oriented research. In order to apply the South African GAAR to the facts of the cases a framework was developed in phase 1 of the research in order to ensure consistency in the application. This allowed for a more reliable analysis to be made regarding the areas where the South African GAAR could be improved. The convergence of results from the two research methodologies validated many of the suggestions made for the improvement of the South African GAAR This thesis examined the GAARs in South Africa, Australia and Canada with a view to identifying if there are any lessons to be learned for their application and interpretation, in order to suggest improvements which can be made to the South African GAAR. Further, relevant Australian and Canadian case law was found to be instructive as to the approach that could be adopted for purposes of applying the South African GAAR. The findings of the research revealed that while the South African, Australian and Canadian GAARs differ in their structure, each is directed to achieve the same end. The results of the study identified two types of improvements to the South African GAAR. Firstly, the South African GAAR should be consolidated into a three-part enquiry instead of the current four-part enquiry. In doing so the tainted elements (previously the abnormality requirement) could be used to inform an objective test of purpose. Secondly, guidance on areas of uncertainty regarding the application of the South African GAAR needs to be provided in order to prevent possible inconsistent judicial interpretations that may limit the efficacy of the GAAR whilst still protecting the right for taxpayers to legitimately minimise their tax burdens. One additional cause for concern highlighted in this research is the use of provisions from other jurisdictions without guidance on the application in the South African context. The use of similar provisions to that of its much-criticised predecessor has also introduced areas of uncertainty regarding the application of the South African GAAR. These areas of weakness and uncertainty arguably prevent the South African GAAR from being an effective deterrent to tax avoidance and many could be addressed by the legislature.
- Full Text:
Tomographic imaging of East African equatorial ionosphere and study of equatorial plasma bubbles
- Authors: Giday, Nigussie Mezgebe
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Ionosphere -- Africa, Central , Tomography -- Africa, Central , Global Positioning System , Neural networks (Computer science) , Space environment , Multi-Instrument Data Analysis System (MIDAS) , Equatorial plasma bubbles
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63980 , vital:28516
- Description: In spite of the fact that the African ionospheric equatorial region has the largest ground footprint along the geomagnetic equator, it has not been well studied due to the absence of adequate ground-based instruments. This thesis presents research on both tomographic imaging of the African equatorial ionosphere and the study of the ionospheric irregularities/equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) under varying geomagnetic conditions. The Multi-Instrument Data Analysis System (MIDAS), an inversion algorithm, was investigated for its validity and ability as a tool to reconstruct multi-scaled ionospheric structures for different geomagnetic conditions. This was done for the narrow East African longitude sector with data from the available ground Global Positioning Sys-tem (GPS) receivers. The MIDAS results were compared to the results of two models, namely the IRI and GIM. MIDAS results compared more favourably with the observation vertical total electron content (VTEC), with a computed maximum correlation coefficient (r) of 0.99 and minimum root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 2.91 TECU, than did the results of the IRI-2012 and GIM models with maximum r of 0.93 and 0.99, and minimum RMSE of 13.03 TECU and 6.52 TECU, respectively, over all the test stations and validation days. The ability of MIDAS to reconstruct storm-time TEC was also compared with the results produced by the use of a Artificial Neural Net-work (ANN) for the African low- and mid-latitude regions. In terms of latitude, on average,MIDAS performed 13.44 % better than ANN in the African mid-latitudes, while MIDAS under performed in low-latitudes. This thesis also reports on the effects of moderate geomagnetic conditions on the evolution of EPBs and/or ionospheric irregularities during their season of occurrence using data from (or measurements by) space- and ground-based instruments for the east African equatorial sector. The study showed that the strength of daytime equatorial electrojet (EEJ), the steepness of the TEC peak-to-trough gradient and/or the meridional/transequatorial thermospheric winds sometimes have collective/interwoven effects, while at other times one mechanism dominates. In summary, this research offered tomographic results that outperform the results of the commonly used (“standard”) global models (i.e. IRI and GIM) for a longitude sector of importance to space weather, which has not been adequately studied due to a lack of sufficient instrumentation.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Giday, Nigussie Mezgebe
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Ionosphere -- Africa, Central , Tomography -- Africa, Central , Global Positioning System , Neural networks (Computer science) , Space environment , Multi-Instrument Data Analysis System (MIDAS) , Equatorial plasma bubbles
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63980 , vital:28516
- Description: In spite of the fact that the African ionospheric equatorial region has the largest ground footprint along the geomagnetic equator, it has not been well studied due to the absence of adequate ground-based instruments. This thesis presents research on both tomographic imaging of the African equatorial ionosphere and the study of the ionospheric irregularities/equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) under varying geomagnetic conditions. The Multi-Instrument Data Analysis System (MIDAS), an inversion algorithm, was investigated for its validity and ability as a tool to reconstruct multi-scaled ionospheric structures for different geomagnetic conditions. This was done for the narrow East African longitude sector with data from the available ground Global Positioning Sys-tem (GPS) receivers. The MIDAS results were compared to the results of two models, namely the IRI and GIM. MIDAS results compared more favourably with the observation vertical total electron content (VTEC), with a computed maximum correlation coefficient (r) of 0.99 and minimum root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 2.91 TECU, than did the results of the IRI-2012 and GIM models with maximum r of 0.93 and 0.99, and minimum RMSE of 13.03 TECU and 6.52 TECU, respectively, over all the test stations and validation days. The ability of MIDAS to reconstruct storm-time TEC was also compared with the results produced by the use of a Artificial Neural Net-work (ANN) for the African low- and mid-latitude regions. In terms of latitude, on average,MIDAS performed 13.44 % better than ANN in the African mid-latitudes, while MIDAS under performed in low-latitudes. This thesis also reports on the effects of moderate geomagnetic conditions on the evolution of EPBs and/or ionospheric irregularities during their season of occurrence using data from (or measurements by) space- and ground-based instruments for the east African equatorial sector. The study showed that the strength of daytime equatorial electrojet (EEJ), the steepness of the TEC peak-to-trough gradient and/or the meridional/transequatorial thermospheric winds sometimes have collective/interwoven effects, while at other times one mechanism dominates. In summary, this research offered tomographic results that outperform the results of the commonly used (“standard”) global models (i.e. IRI and GIM) for a longitude sector of importance to space weather, which has not been adequately studied due to a lack of sufficient instrumentation.
- Full Text:
Towards intercultural communication congruence in Sino-African organisational contexts
- Authors: Chigwendere, Fungai Beaula
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Intercultural communication -- Africa , China -- Foreign economic relations -- Africa , Communication in organizations -- Cross-cultural studies , Corporate culture -- Cross-cultural studies , Africa -- Relations -- China , China -- Relations -- Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62395 , vital:28172
- Description: Despite the prevalence of theories and research that could serve as guidelines for addressing intercultural communication challenges such as misunderstanding, ineffectiveness and inappropriateness in communication in Sino-African organisational contexts, the continued existence of these challenges suggests the inadequacy of such theories. Accordingly, in consideration of African and Chinese cultural perspectives, the aim of this study was to develop a hybrid intercultural communication congruence (HICC) framework in order to enhance intercultural communication and achieve intercultural communication congruence in Sino-African organisational contexts. In this study, intercultural communication congruence means effectiveness and appropriateness in intercultural communication. To achieve the study aim, an interpretive pragmatism paradigm was adopted, comprising a two-pronged approach of a synthesis of extant literature and theory as well as an empirical qualitative study, both underpinned by cross-cultural management theory. Based on the synthesis of literature and theory, a generic theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework underpinned by intercultural communication awareness - a state where communicants understand communication orientation and manner of communication in their own and their counterparts’ culture - was developed. A further contribution was a theoretical contextualisation of the generic theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework, resulting in a theoretical framework for intercultural communication awareness in Western, African and Chinese cultures and a theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework specific to Sino-African organisational contexts. Thereafter, with the aim of validating the intercultural communication awareness dimension of the theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework specific to Sino-African organisational contexts, an empirical study was conducted with a sample of seven African and eight Chinese experts using indepth interviews with open-ended and semi-structured questions. Based on qualitative content analysis, six intercultural communication awareness enablers or conditions that enable people to understand communication in different cultures and contexts for the purposes of attaining intercultural communication awareness emerged. These were cultural orientation, manner of communication, orientation to rules and protocol, individual dispositions, intercultural communication influences and intercultural communication variations. An integration of the intercultural communication awareness enablers into the generic theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework results in an updated generic theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework. Then, informed by the updated generic theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework, a further contribution of this study was an empirical verification of the intercultural communication awareness dimension of the theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework specific to Sino-African organisational contexts to result in a final hybrid intercultural communication congruence framework for Sino-African organisational contexts supported by the perspectives of those involved in interaction, rather than predetermined standards of other cultures. Empirical findings suggest that both African and Chinese colleagues maintain a sense of collectivism in the Sino- African organisational context, although this is demonstrated differently. In addition, African colleagues display a blended manner of communication characterised by a mix of Western and African ways while the Chinese manner is contextual and governed by roles and relationships. In African culture, rules and protocol are negotiated, aimed at social maintenance, while strong cultural patriotism ensures strict adherence in Chinese culture. In respect of individual dispositions, African people are seen as open and accommodating while the Chinese disposition could be described as closed and ambiguous. Also evident in the findings is the existence of within-culture differences and influence of noncultural factors on intercultural communication that should be addressed in order to achieve intercultural communication congruence. Finally, the frameworks developed and the methodological processes followed will stimulate academic debate and raise numerous questions for future research. Immediate future research could be geared towards refining the concepts of intercultural communication awareness, intercultural communication congruence and the hybrid intercultural communication congruence framework for Sino-African organisational contexts. At a management practice level, intercultural communication awareness insights provide a reference point for intercultural communication enhancement strategies and interventions in Sino-African organisational contexts.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Chigwendere, Fungai Beaula
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Intercultural communication -- Africa , China -- Foreign economic relations -- Africa , Communication in organizations -- Cross-cultural studies , Corporate culture -- Cross-cultural studies , Africa -- Relations -- China , China -- Relations -- Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62395 , vital:28172
- Description: Despite the prevalence of theories and research that could serve as guidelines for addressing intercultural communication challenges such as misunderstanding, ineffectiveness and inappropriateness in communication in Sino-African organisational contexts, the continued existence of these challenges suggests the inadequacy of such theories. Accordingly, in consideration of African and Chinese cultural perspectives, the aim of this study was to develop a hybrid intercultural communication congruence (HICC) framework in order to enhance intercultural communication and achieve intercultural communication congruence in Sino-African organisational contexts. In this study, intercultural communication congruence means effectiveness and appropriateness in intercultural communication. To achieve the study aim, an interpretive pragmatism paradigm was adopted, comprising a two-pronged approach of a synthesis of extant literature and theory as well as an empirical qualitative study, both underpinned by cross-cultural management theory. Based on the synthesis of literature and theory, a generic theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework underpinned by intercultural communication awareness - a state where communicants understand communication orientation and manner of communication in their own and their counterparts’ culture - was developed. A further contribution was a theoretical contextualisation of the generic theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework, resulting in a theoretical framework for intercultural communication awareness in Western, African and Chinese cultures and a theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework specific to Sino-African organisational contexts. Thereafter, with the aim of validating the intercultural communication awareness dimension of the theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework specific to Sino-African organisational contexts, an empirical study was conducted with a sample of seven African and eight Chinese experts using indepth interviews with open-ended and semi-structured questions. Based on qualitative content analysis, six intercultural communication awareness enablers or conditions that enable people to understand communication in different cultures and contexts for the purposes of attaining intercultural communication awareness emerged. These were cultural orientation, manner of communication, orientation to rules and protocol, individual dispositions, intercultural communication influences and intercultural communication variations. An integration of the intercultural communication awareness enablers into the generic theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework results in an updated generic theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework. Then, informed by the updated generic theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework, a further contribution of this study was an empirical verification of the intercultural communication awareness dimension of the theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework specific to Sino-African organisational contexts to result in a final hybrid intercultural communication congruence framework for Sino-African organisational contexts supported by the perspectives of those involved in interaction, rather than predetermined standards of other cultures. Empirical findings suggest that both African and Chinese colleagues maintain a sense of collectivism in the Sino- African organisational context, although this is demonstrated differently. In addition, African colleagues display a blended manner of communication characterised by a mix of Western and African ways while the Chinese manner is contextual and governed by roles and relationships. In African culture, rules and protocol are negotiated, aimed at social maintenance, while strong cultural patriotism ensures strict adherence in Chinese culture. In respect of individual dispositions, African people are seen as open and accommodating while the Chinese disposition could be described as closed and ambiguous. Also evident in the findings is the existence of within-culture differences and influence of noncultural factors on intercultural communication that should be addressed in order to achieve intercultural communication congruence. Finally, the frameworks developed and the methodological processes followed will stimulate academic debate and raise numerous questions for future research. Immediate future research could be geared towards refining the concepts of intercultural communication awareness, intercultural communication congruence and the hybrid intercultural communication congruence framework for Sino-African organisational contexts. At a management practice level, intercultural communication awareness insights provide a reference point for intercultural communication enhancement strategies and interventions in Sino-African organisational contexts.
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Transformations in Hlengwe ethnicity in Chiredzi, Zimbabwe, 1890 to 2014
- Authors: Chisi, Taderera Hebert
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Hlengwe (African people) -- Zimbabwe -- Chiredzi Rural District , Ethnicity -- Zimbabwe -- Chiredzi Rural District , Social constructionism , Black people -- Race identity -- Zimbabwe -- Chiredzi Rural District , Zimbabwe -- History , Imperialism -- History
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62296 , vital:28152
- Description: Studies of ethnicity have shifted from primordialism to diverse variants of social constructivism, which include instrumentalism, invention of tribalism by the colonial elite and missionaries and demotic constructivism or creation of ethnicity from below. The studies have generally generated two broad schools of thought. One school avers that African ethnicity was invented by the colonial elite and missionaries in the colonial period whilst the other and more recent asserts that ethnicity had a precolonial currency and the generality of Africans also played a key role in identity formation. Also most notable is that most studies have tended to focus on larger and more visible ethnic groups, ignoring the stories of small communities mostly found in remote border areas of modern ‘nation’ states. Using archival material, colonial records, autobiographies, oral and secondary sources, this thesis, which is largely guided by the demotic constructivist theoretical perspective examines the evolution of the ethnic identity of an ‘obscure’ Hlengwe ethnic community of the south-east lowveld of Zimbabwe from the pre-colonial period to 2014. History of the Hlengwe history has been blurred by the use of the term “Shangaan” to denote the Hlengwe, yet they were not ethnically so. A chronological approach and demotic constuctivism have been used to enable a deeper analysis of the critical historical phases, key players and processes in Hlengwe identity formation as time wore on. While we acknowledge that identity formation involves diverse players, we also focus on the role of the generally neglected commoners in the making of African ethnicity. This study differs from other works on ethnicity which focus on events of short historical phases and the role of selected elitist agents in the making of African ethnicity, by analysing the making of Hlengwe ethnicity from the precolonial to the postcolonial period. We prove that Hlengwe ethnicity was created in the pre-colonial period but did not remain static as it was perpetually reshaped by unpredictable historical events right up to 2014. The Hlengwe community was subjected to processes of social transformation over a long period of time to an extent that the one time docile, ‘uncivilised”, inward looking community bearing an identity of shame had evolved by the close of the 20th century and early 21st century to an assertive community, proud of its identity and actively seeking political, economic and cultural recognition and rights for its ‘underdog’ Hlengwe constituency in a country where diverse Shona groups andNdebele form the dominant ethnic communities.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Chisi, Taderera Hebert
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Hlengwe (African people) -- Zimbabwe -- Chiredzi Rural District , Ethnicity -- Zimbabwe -- Chiredzi Rural District , Social constructionism , Black people -- Race identity -- Zimbabwe -- Chiredzi Rural District , Zimbabwe -- History , Imperialism -- History
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62296 , vital:28152
- Description: Studies of ethnicity have shifted from primordialism to diverse variants of social constructivism, which include instrumentalism, invention of tribalism by the colonial elite and missionaries and demotic constructivism or creation of ethnicity from below. The studies have generally generated two broad schools of thought. One school avers that African ethnicity was invented by the colonial elite and missionaries in the colonial period whilst the other and more recent asserts that ethnicity had a precolonial currency and the generality of Africans also played a key role in identity formation. Also most notable is that most studies have tended to focus on larger and more visible ethnic groups, ignoring the stories of small communities mostly found in remote border areas of modern ‘nation’ states. Using archival material, colonial records, autobiographies, oral and secondary sources, this thesis, which is largely guided by the demotic constructivist theoretical perspective examines the evolution of the ethnic identity of an ‘obscure’ Hlengwe ethnic community of the south-east lowveld of Zimbabwe from the pre-colonial period to 2014. History of the Hlengwe history has been blurred by the use of the term “Shangaan” to denote the Hlengwe, yet they were not ethnically so. A chronological approach and demotic constuctivism have been used to enable a deeper analysis of the critical historical phases, key players and processes in Hlengwe identity formation as time wore on. While we acknowledge that identity formation involves diverse players, we also focus on the role of the generally neglected commoners in the making of African ethnicity. This study differs from other works on ethnicity which focus on events of short historical phases and the role of selected elitist agents in the making of African ethnicity, by analysing the making of Hlengwe ethnicity from the precolonial to the postcolonial period. We prove that Hlengwe ethnicity was created in the pre-colonial period but did not remain static as it was perpetually reshaped by unpredictable historical events right up to 2014. The Hlengwe community was subjected to processes of social transformation over a long period of time to an extent that the one time docile, ‘uncivilised”, inward looking community bearing an identity of shame had evolved by the close of the 20th century and early 21st century to an assertive community, proud of its identity and actively seeking political, economic and cultural recognition and rights for its ‘underdog’ Hlengwe constituency in a country where diverse Shona groups andNdebele form the dominant ethnic communities.
- Full Text:
Understanding the role of social capital in enhancing community resilience to natural disasters: a case study of Muzarabani District, Zimbabwe
- Authors: Kasimba, Rosemary
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Social capital (Sociology) -- Zimbabwe , Natural disasters -- Zimbabwe -- Social aspects , Resilience (Personality trait) -- Zimbabwe , Food security -- Climatic factors -- Zimbabwe , Social sciences -- Network analysis , Cooperativeness -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60292 , vital:27763
- Description: The central focus of the study was to seek an understanding of the role that Social Capital plays in enhancing the resilience and adaptive capacity of the community to floods and droughts in Muzarabani District of Northern Zimbabwe. The study was conducted in two of the wards in Muzarabani District namely Chadereka and Kapembere. In addition, the study sought to understand the coping and adaptation strategies employed by the most vulnerable groups such as the elderly, child heads, women and single heads of households. The specific objectives of the study were: to understand the effects of floods and droughts on residents’ livelihoods and food security, examine residents’ perceptions on droughts andfloods and to document community-based strategies utilised by women, child-headed families and the elderly to improve their livelihood and food security in the face of floods and droughts, explore different types of Social Capital that exist in the study area especially with regard to household resilience to disasters, comprehend the basis of residents’ resilience to floods and droughts and the extent to which vulnerable groups rely on Social Capital when coping with these disasters and to examine the repercussions of residents’ strategies on the community’s institutional structures. The study was informed by Social Capital theory and the social network analysis. Social Capital plays a pivotal role in enhancing the resilience of the community to floods and droughts. Different types of Social Capital that exist and help people to deal with floods and droughts include linking, bonding, and bridging and victim Social Capital. Inhabitants within and outside villages support each other. Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and the government are also working hand in hand with community members to reduce the negative impacts of floods and droughts. Volunteerism, generalised reciprocity and mutual understanding are also at the centre of interventions. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches to achieve its objectives. Questionnaires, focus groups discussions, observations, transect walks, key informant interviews and some participatory methods were used to collect data. SPSS, content and thematic analysis were used to analyse data. The study found that floods and droughts negatively impact on human security, causing acute food shortages, intensifying poverty, spread of water related diseases, increasing divorce rates, children dropping out of school, reduced livestock and crop production, family disintegration, chaos in religion, exacerbating local unemployment as well as negatively affecting the wellbeing of community members. On a positive note, floods in Chadereka cause the deposition of alluvial soils that are good for crop production. However, in Kapembere, volunteerism is not very common; inhabitants are not yet trained about the concept. Community members have also formed cooperatives where they would give each other money or grain. In Chadereka, women have formed a mother-support-group to assist children with food in schools. Strategies being employed by the most vulnerable groups include casual labour, joining cooperatives, migration, taking children from school, hiring out cattle, selling of assets, riverine farming, growing drought-resistant crops, making use of indigenous knowledge systems, skipping meals and exploiting natural resources among others. Some women have resorted to prostitution to increase their resilience to floods and drought impacts such as poverty and acute food shortages. The elderly also hire out their cattle. They also rely on support from the government and NGOs. There are a number of challenges faced by residents in dealing with floods and droughts. Community social relationships, migration, casual labour and the sale of assets are the basis of the people’s resilience against the impacts of floods and droughts. The study identified the following issues which all stakeholders involved could take note of: the government should not always be suspicious of disaster-risk reduction strategies implemented by NGOs as this scares away some of them that are willing to offer untied or unconditional assistance; timely and impartial distribution of agricultural inputs to inhabitants would be extremely useful. Moreover, the government needs to provide resources that support local organisations (formed by the local people) to assist the most vulnerable people in communities. Community leaders, together with the government and NGOs, are encouraged to hold awareness campaign programmes that dispel tribal and ethnic stereotypes, to promote local Social Capital among members of the community. Further investigations in the following areas are critical: A more comprehensive assessment of the determinants of resilience to droughts and floods in Zimbabwe is necessary.A study on the challenges faced by the disabled people and women in polygamous marriages and how they are adapting to floods and droughts, needs to be conducted and a critical investigation on the Zimbabwean government’s strengths and weaknesses in enhancing the resilience of the community to floods and droughts is necessary among others.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Kasimba, Rosemary
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Social capital (Sociology) -- Zimbabwe , Natural disasters -- Zimbabwe -- Social aspects , Resilience (Personality trait) -- Zimbabwe , Food security -- Climatic factors -- Zimbabwe , Social sciences -- Network analysis , Cooperativeness -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60292 , vital:27763
- Description: The central focus of the study was to seek an understanding of the role that Social Capital plays in enhancing the resilience and adaptive capacity of the community to floods and droughts in Muzarabani District of Northern Zimbabwe. The study was conducted in two of the wards in Muzarabani District namely Chadereka and Kapembere. In addition, the study sought to understand the coping and adaptation strategies employed by the most vulnerable groups such as the elderly, child heads, women and single heads of households. The specific objectives of the study were: to understand the effects of floods and droughts on residents’ livelihoods and food security, examine residents’ perceptions on droughts andfloods and to document community-based strategies utilised by women, child-headed families and the elderly to improve their livelihood and food security in the face of floods and droughts, explore different types of Social Capital that exist in the study area especially with regard to household resilience to disasters, comprehend the basis of residents’ resilience to floods and droughts and the extent to which vulnerable groups rely on Social Capital when coping with these disasters and to examine the repercussions of residents’ strategies on the community’s institutional structures. The study was informed by Social Capital theory and the social network analysis. Social Capital plays a pivotal role in enhancing the resilience of the community to floods and droughts. Different types of Social Capital that exist and help people to deal with floods and droughts include linking, bonding, and bridging and victim Social Capital. Inhabitants within and outside villages support each other. Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and the government are also working hand in hand with community members to reduce the negative impacts of floods and droughts. Volunteerism, generalised reciprocity and mutual understanding are also at the centre of interventions. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches to achieve its objectives. Questionnaires, focus groups discussions, observations, transect walks, key informant interviews and some participatory methods were used to collect data. SPSS, content and thematic analysis were used to analyse data. The study found that floods and droughts negatively impact on human security, causing acute food shortages, intensifying poverty, spread of water related diseases, increasing divorce rates, children dropping out of school, reduced livestock and crop production, family disintegration, chaos in religion, exacerbating local unemployment as well as negatively affecting the wellbeing of community members. On a positive note, floods in Chadereka cause the deposition of alluvial soils that are good for crop production. However, in Kapembere, volunteerism is not very common; inhabitants are not yet trained about the concept. Community members have also formed cooperatives where they would give each other money or grain. In Chadereka, women have formed a mother-support-group to assist children with food in schools. Strategies being employed by the most vulnerable groups include casual labour, joining cooperatives, migration, taking children from school, hiring out cattle, selling of assets, riverine farming, growing drought-resistant crops, making use of indigenous knowledge systems, skipping meals and exploiting natural resources among others. Some women have resorted to prostitution to increase their resilience to floods and drought impacts such as poverty and acute food shortages. The elderly also hire out their cattle. They also rely on support from the government and NGOs. There are a number of challenges faced by residents in dealing with floods and droughts. Community social relationships, migration, casual labour and the sale of assets are the basis of the people’s resilience against the impacts of floods and droughts. The study identified the following issues which all stakeholders involved could take note of: the government should not always be suspicious of disaster-risk reduction strategies implemented by NGOs as this scares away some of them that are willing to offer untied or unconditional assistance; timely and impartial distribution of agricultural inputs to inhabitants would be extremely useful. Moreover, the government needs to provide resources that support local organisations (formed by the local people) to assist the most vulnerable people in communities. Community leaders, together with the government and NGOs, are encouraged to hold awareness campaign programmes that dispel tribal and ethnic stereotypes, to promote local Social Capital among members of the community. Further investigations in the following areas are critical: A more comprehensive assessment of the determinants of resilience to droughts and floods in Zimbabwe is necessary.A study on the challenges faced by the disabled people and women in polygamous marriages and how they are adapting to floods and droughts, needs to be conducted and a critical investigation on the Zimbabwean government’s strengths and weaknesses in enhancing the resilience of the community to floods and droughts is necessary among others.
- Full Text:
Uphando-nzulu lweempendulo ezibhaliweyo zabafundi bamabakala aphezulu emfundo kuncwadi lwesiXhosa
- Authors: Mavela, Xolani Sikhomo
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Discourse analysis , Anthropological linguistics , Academic writing Study and teaching , Academic writing Evaluation , Linguistics Research
- Language: Xhosa
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63176 , vital:28370
- Description: Kwiziphumo zakutsha nje ezivezwe kwiigridi zocazululo zohlolo loncwadi kwinqanaba lemfundo ephakamileyo (FET), kufumaniseke ukuba abafundi beli nqanaba abaqhubi kakuhle tu kwaphela xa becelwa ukuba babhale iimpendulo zabo kwanezo zimandundu nezikhwencayo kwiitekisi zoncwadi. Ngenxa yesi sizathu, eyona njongo iphambili yolu phando kukuzama ukuyila nokuvelisa isixhobo esinokusetyenziswa ekwaziseni nasekuxhobiseni abafundi besiXhosa abakwinqanaba leFET, ngezakhono zokubhala eziphuhlileyo nezikumgangatho wobhalo lwamaziko emfundo enomsila. Kule meko, ingcali yophando kwezobhalo lolwimi uMartin (2009) uhlomla ngelithi ubhalo olujolise ekunikeni iimpendulo, lubonwa njengohlobo lokubhala oluneengcambu ezimiliselwe ekufundisweni nasekungeneleleni ngokugqibeleleyo ngezakhono zokubhala, bhalo olu lunokuthi emva kwethuba elithile, luphelele kwincochoyi yokushicilelwa, lube ngamaxwebhu ahlelwe ngokusesikweni. Iindlela okanye izixhobo zokubhala eziyilwe ngeenjongo zokunikeza iimpendulo, nezithathwe kuphando lukaFeez noJoyce (1998), zizo eziza kusetyenziswa njengenxalenye yoqeqesho nakumaphulo ongenelelo oluza kuxhasa abafundi besiXhosa benqanaba leFET, nanjengoko ezi zixhobo zibonakala zinegalelo elincomekayo kwindlela ekubhalwa ngayo iimpendulo zeetekisi zoncwadi, ngokuthi zigxile kwezi njongo zilandelayo: (i) Ukunika abafundi ulwazi lokuzuza ulwazi olunzulu nolugqibeleleyo ngokuphathelele kwiinjongo zetekisi. (ii) Ukunika inkcazelo ecacileyo ngokubaluleka kwesakhiwo setekisi kwanokubunjwa kwayo. (iii) Ukuxhobisa abafundi ukuze bakwazi ukuchonga ulwimi oluxabisayo, iimpawu zobume bamagama negrama, kuquka nemiba ephambili yamasiko kwiitekisi zoncwadi. Ngenxa yezi njongo, kufikelelwa kuqikelelo oluthi, kuya kuthi ngokusetyenziswa kwesixhobo sikaFeez noJoyce seZakhono zokuBhala, sixhobo eso sayame kwiinqobo zeNgcingane yokuXabisa okufundwayo nedandalaziswa nguMartin noWhite (2006; 2005 no-2003) nayo le ngcingane eluncedo ekufundisweni kokubhala, abafundi abaninzi boncwadi lwesiXhosa kukholeleka ukuba bakukwazi ukuphuhlisa izakhono zokubhala iitekisi ezinika iimpendulo ezihlahlela imiba ephambili yoncwadi abalufundisiweyo. Olu phando lukwahlabela mgama lubonisa nokuba nezinye izixhobo zoyilo lweetekisi zikaGrabe noKaplan (1996), zinakho ukusetyenziswa ngaxesha linye neenqobo zeNgcingane yokuXabisa okufundwayo, kuquka nemiba yeZakhono zokuBhala, ukuze kwandiswe oku kuphuhliswa kwezakhono zokubhala kubafundi besiXhosa, kungaphelelanga kumabanga aphezulu, koko kufikelelwe nakumabanga asezantsi, nanjengoko kuveziwe kwiziphumo, kwizishwankathelo nakwisiphelo solu phando.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Mavela, Xolani Sikhomo
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Discourse analysis , Anthropological linguistics , Academic writing Study and teaching , Academic writing Evaluation , Linguistics Research
- Language: Xhosa
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63176 , vital:28370
- Description: Kwiziphumo zakutsha nje ezivezwe kwiigridi zocazululo zohlolo loncwadi kwinqanaba lemfundo ephakamileyo (FET), kufumaniseke ukuba abafundi beli nqanaba abaqhubi kakuhle tu kwaphela xa becelwa ukuba babhale iimpendulo zabo kwanezo zimandundu nezikhwencayo kwiitekisi zoncwadi. Ngenxa yesi sizathu, eyona njongo iphambili yolu phando kukuzama ukuyila nokuvelisa isixhobo esinokusetyenziswa ekwaziseni nasekuxhobiseni abafundi besiXhosa abakwinqanaba leFET, ngezakhono zokubhala eziphuhlileyo nezikumgangatho wobhalo lwamaziko emfundo enomsila. Kule meko, ingcali yophando kwezobhalo lolwimi uMartin (2009) uhlomla ngelithi ubhalo olujolise ekunikeni iimpendulo, lubonwa njengohlobo lokubhala oluneengcambu ezimiliselwe ekufundisweni nasekungeneleleni ngokugqibeleleyo ngezakhono zokubhala, bhalo olu lunokuthi emva kwethuba elithile, luphelele kwincochoyi yokushicilelwa, lube ngamaxwebhu ahlelwe ngokusesikweni. Iindlela okanye izixhobo zokubhala eziyilwe ngeenjongo zokunikeza iimpendulo, nezithathwe kuphando lukaFeez noJoyce (1998), zizo eziza kusetyenziswa njengenxalenye yoqeqesho nakumaphulo ongenelelo oluza kuxhasa abafundi besiXhosa benqanaba leFET, nanjengoko ezi zixhobo zibonakala zinegalelo elincomekayo kwindlela ekubhalwa ngayo iimpendulo zeetekisi zoncwadi, ngokuthi zigxile kwezi njongo zilandelayo: (i) Ukunika abafundi ulwazi lokuzuza ulwazi olunzulu nolugqibeleleyo ngokuphathelele kwiinjongo zetekisi. (ii) Ukunika inkcazelo ecacileyo ngokubaluleka kwesakhiwo setekisi kwanokubunjwa kwayo. (iii) Ukuxhobisa abafundi ukuze bakwazi ukuchonga ulwimi oluxabisayo, iimpawu zobume bamagama negrama, kuquka nemiba ephambili yamasiko kwiitekisi zoncwadi. Ngenxa yezi njongo, kufikelelwa kuqikelelo oluthi, kuya kuthi ngokusetyenziswa kwesixhobo sikaFeez noJoyce seZakhono zokuBhala, sixhobo eso sayame kwiinqobo zeNgcingane yokuXabisa okufundwayo nedandalaziswa nguMartin noWhite (2006; 2005 no-2003) nayo le ngcingane eluncedo ekufundisweni kokubhala, abafundi abaninzi boncwadi lwesiXhosa kukholeleka ukuba bakukwazi ukuphuhlisa izakhono zokubhala iitekisi ezinika iimpendulo ezihlahlela imiba ephambili yoncwadi abalufundisiweyo. Olu phando lukwahlabela mgama lubonisa nokuba nezinye izixhobo zoyilo lweetekisi zikaGrabe noKaplan (1996), zinakho ukusetyenziswa ngaxesha linye neenqobo zeNgcingane yokuXabisa okufundwayo, kuquka nemiba yeZakhono zokuBhala, ukuze kwandiswe oku kuphuhliswa kwezakhono zokubhala kubafundi besiXhosa, kungaphelelanga kumabanga aphezulu, koko kufikelelwe nakumabanga asezantsi, nanjengoko kuveziwe kwiziphumo, kwizishwankathelo nakwisiphelo solu phando.
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