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:
- Date Issued: 2018
- 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:
- Date Issued: 2018
The Palgrave handbook of ethics in critical research
- Macleod, Catriona I, Marx, Jacqueline, Mnyaka, Phindezwa, Treharne, Gareth J
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Marx, Jacqueline , Mnyaka, Phindezwa , Treharne, Gareth J
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/434266 , vital:73043 , ISBN 978-3-319-74720-0 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74721-7
- Description: The idea for this handbook was born at the 9th Biennial International Society of Critical Health Psychology Conference that was held in Grahamstown, South Africa, in July 2015. As such, our first acknowledgement goes to the International Society of Critical Health Psychology (ISCHP), especially members of the Executive Committee and the Conference Organising Committee, for creating the kind of space in which innovative and critical debates and dialogues are fostered and in which like-minded people from across the globe may collaborate.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Marx, Jacqueline , Mnyaka, Phindezwa , Treharne, Gareth J
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/434266 , vital:73043 , ISBN 978-3-319-74720-0 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74721-7
- Description: The idea for this handbook was born at the 9th Biennial International Society of Critical Health Psychology Conference that was held in Grahamstown, South Africa, in July 2015. As such, our first acknowledgement goes to the International Society of Critical Health Psychology (ISCHP), especially members of the Executive Committee and the Conference Organising Committee, for creating the kind of space in which innovative and critical debates and dialogues are fostered and in which like-minded people from across the globe may collaborate.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
The photophysicochemical behavior of symmetric and asymmetric zinc phthalocyanines, surface assembled onto gold nanotriangles
- Dube, Edith, Nwaji, Njemuwa, Mack, John, Nyokong, Tebello
- Authors: Dube, Edith , Nwaji, Njemuwa , Mack, John , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/233310 , vital:50079 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1039/C8NJ02746C"
- Description: The synthesis of a novel asymmetric phthalocyanine, (4-(4-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)phenoxy)-2,10,17-tris(4-(2-carboxyethyl)phenoxy)phthalocyaninatol)zinc(II), complex 3, is reported. Complex 3 together with the previously reported complexes tetrakis[(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl phenoxy)phthalocyaninato]zinc(II) (4) and 3-(4-((3,17,23-tris(4-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)phenoxy)phthalocyaninatol)oxy)phenyl)propanoic acid zinc(II) (5), were linked to gold nanotriangles (AuNTs) through S–Au/Au–N self-assembly to afford the conjugates (3-AuNTs, 4-AuNTs and 5-AuNTs). The photophysicochemical behaviour of the complexes and their conjugates were studied. The asymmetric complexes 3 and 5, displayed improved triplet and singlet oxygen quantum yields compared to the symmetric complex 4, while all conjugates displayed improved triplet and singlet oxygen quantum yields compared to their respective complexes alone. The complexes and their conjugates could serve as good candidates for photodynamic therapy.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Dube, Edith , Nwaji, Njemuwa , Mack, John , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/233310 , vital:50079 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1039/C8NJ02746C"
- Description: The synthesis of a novel asymmetric phthalocyanine, (4-(4-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)phenoxy)-2,10,17-tris(4-(2-carboxyethyl)phenoxy)phthalocyaninatol)zinc(II), complex 3, is reported. Complex 3 together with the previously reported complexes tetrakis[(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl phenoxy)phthalocyaninato]zinc(II) (4) and 3-(4-((3,17,23-tris(4-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)phenoxy)phthalocyaninatol)oxy)phenyl)propanoic acid zinc(II) (5), were linked to gold nanotriangles (AuNTs) through S–Au/Au–N self-assembly to afford the conjugates (3-AuNTs, 4-AuNTs and 5-AuNTs). The photophysicochemical behaviour of the complexes and their conjugates were studied. The asymmetric complexes 3 and 5, displayed improved triplet and singlet oxygen quantum yields compared to the symmetric complex 4, while all conjugates displayed improved triplet and singlet oxygen quantum yields compared to their respective complexes alone. The complexes and their conjugates could serve as good candidates for photodynamic therapy.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
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:
- Date Issued: 2018
- 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:
- Date Issued: 2018
The potential significance of refugia in safeguarding Non-Timber Forest products under Harvesting
- Authors: Mjoli, Nwabisa
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Non-timber forest products -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Nature conservation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Ecosystem management -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60596 , vital:27801
- Description: Many rural households living in and adjacent to forests in South Africa harvest a variety of NonTimber Forest Products (NTFPs) such as wild fruits, fibre, fuelwood, seeds, medicine and bush meat for domestic use, sale and maintaining cultural values. To promote the continued availability of these NTFPs it is important that NTFPs are well maintained and that harvest offtake is sustainable, because if it is not, then the important livelihood function that they fulfil will be jeopardized over time. The role of refugia in conserving pockets of threatened species from overharvesting has rarely been considered. Building on Shackleton et al. (2015), six applications of the concept are considered: size refugia, spatial refugia, cultural/spiritual refugia and physical/habitat refugia. I examined the prevalence and type of refugia for NTFPs at three coastal sites in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. This was done via several community focus group discussions at each site. Here I report on the role of refugia in offering some safeguard to NTFPs by assessing harvested and non-harvested sites of refugia as well as individual plant species by measuring population density, harvest damage and size class profile. Respondents from the focus group discussions perceived a general decline in the abundance of common, widely used species over the past five decades. Decreasing rainfall and distant farming activities was reported consistently by the majority of the respondents. The most common form of refugia was spatial refugia, followed by cultural/spiritual refugia and physical/habitat refugia. Only six species were identified to be in refugia, namely Cyperus congestus, Cyperus textillis, Millettia grandis, Olea europaea subsp. africana, Phoenix reclinata, and Ptaeroxylon obliquum. Population inventories revealed that regeneration and population densities of some NTFP species in the non-refuge site were adversely affected by harvesting. Populations in refuge sites generally had the largest size classes indicating a regeneration potential but likely to impact regeneration over time if pressures are maintained. Therefore, if refuge sites keep larger individuals, NTFP populations can be maintained. Few studies have critically analyzed the concept of refugia in relation to how NTFPs can be safeguarded and the practical implication of the refuge concept needs to be considered in conservation and strategies and population models.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Mjoli, Nwabisa
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Non-timber forest products -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Nature conservation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Ecosystem management -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60596 , vital:27801
- Description: Many rural households living in and adjacent to forests in South Africa harvest a variety of NonTimber Forest Products (NTFPs) such as wild fruits, fibre, fuelwood, seeds, medicine and bush meat for domestic use, sale and maintaining cultural values. To promote the continued availability of these NTFPs it is important that NTFPs are well maintained and that harvest offtake is sustainable, because if it is not, then the important livelihood function that they fulfil will be jeopardized over time. The role of refugia in conserving pockets of threatened species from overharvesting has rarely been considered. Building on Shackleton et al. (2015), six applications of the concept are considered: size refugia, spatial refugia, cultural/spiritual refugia and physical/habitat refugia. I examined the prevalence and type of refugia for NTFPs at three coastal sites in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. This was done via several community focus group discussions at each site. Here I report on the role of refugia in offering some safeguard to NTFPs by assessing harvested and non-harvested sites of refugia as well as individual plant species by measuring population density, harvest damage and size class profile. Respondents from the focus group discussions perceived a general decline in the abundance of common, widely used species over the past five decades. Decreasing rainfall and distant farming activities was reported consistently by the majority of the respondents. The most common form of refugia was spatial refugia, followed by cultural/spiritual refugia and physical/habitat refugia. Only six species were identified to be in refugia, namely Cyperus congestus, Cyperus textillis, Millettia grandis, Olea europaea subsp. africana, Phoenix reclinata, and Ptaeroxylon obliquum. Population inventories revealed that regeneration and population densities of some NTFP species in the non-refuge site were adversely affected by harvesting. Populations in refuge sites generally had the largest size classes indicating a regeneration potential but likely to impact regeneration over time if pressures are maintained. Therefore, if refuge sites keep larger individuals, NTFP populations can be maintained. Few studies have critically analyzed the concept of refugia in relation to how NTFPs can be safeguarded and the practical implication of the refuge concept needs to be considered in conservation and strategies and population models.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
The potential use of natural resources in urban informal settlements as substitutes for financial capital during flooding emergencies
- Dalu, Mwazvita, Shackleton, Charlie M
- Authors: Dalu, Mwazvita , Shackleton, Charlie M
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/179814 , vital:43191 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2018.03.002"
- Description: Rapid and widespread land cover change and the subsequent loss of the buffering capacity provided by healthy ecosystems against natural hazards has resulted in increased vulnerability to natural hazards. There is an insufficient understanding of the natural resources contribution to the resilience of poor urban communities living in informal settlements and the financial implications thereof. Thus, household strategies used to recover from the October 2012 flood shock were investigated within the informal settlements of three small South African towns using questionnaires. Within the vulnerability paradigm and the sustainable livelihood framework, the study also quantified and evaluated the relative contribution of natural resources to recovery strategies and the impacts on household financial capital. We found that natural resources contributed up to 70% to recovery of households from the flood shock, most of this being to reconstruct housing structures after the flood. Factors such as household head education level, household income, kinship level, the extent of property damage and the cost associated with property rehabilitation significantly influenced the uptake of natural resources in recovery from floods, and this was variable among settlements and towns. The main findings showed that natural resources reduced household vulnerability of urban informal settlements by providing an emergency-net function that substitutes financial capital. Their inclusion in disaster management plans and responses has the potential to contribute to the sustainable livelihoods of the urban poor in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Dalu, Mwazvita , Shackleton, Charlie M
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/179814 , vital:43191 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2018.03.002"
- Description: Rapid and widespread land cover change and the subsequent loss of the buffering capacity provided by healthy ecosystems against natural hazards has resulted in increased vulnerability to natural hazards. There is an insufficient understanding of the natural resources contribution to the resilience of poor urban communities living in informal settlements and the financial implications thereof. Thus, household strategies used to recover from the October 2012 flood shock were investigated within the informal settlements of three small South African towns using questionnaires. Within the vulnerability paradigm and the sustainable livelihood framework, the study also quantified and evaluated the relative contribution of natural resources to recovery strategies and the impacts on household financial capital. We found that natural resources contributed up to 70% to recovery of households from the flood shock, most of this being to reconstruct housing structures after the flood. Factors such as household head education level, household income, kinship level, the extent of property damage and the cost associated with property rehabilitation significantly influenced the uptake of natural resources in recovery from floods, and this was variable among settlements and towns. The main findings showed that natural resources reduced household vulnerability of urban informal settlements by providing an emergency-net function that substitutes financial capital. Their inclusion in disaster management plans and responses has the potential to contribute to the sustainable livelihoods of the urban poor in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
The potential use of treated brewery effluent as a water and nutrient source in irrigated crop production
- Taylor, Richard P, Jones, Clifford L W, Laing, Mark D, Dames, Joanna F
- Authors: Taylor, Richard P , Jones, Clifford L W , Laing, Mark D , Dames, Joanna F
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/440476 , vital:73785 , https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wri.2018.02.001
- Description: Brewery effluent (BE) needs to be treated before it can be released into the environment, reused or used in down-stream activities. This study demonstrated that anaerobic digestion (AD) followed by treatment in an integrated tertiary effluent treatment system transformed BE into a suitable solution for crop irrigation. Brewery effluent can be used to improve crop yields: Cabbage (Brassica oleracea cv. Star 3301), grew significantly larger when irrigated with post-AD, post-primary-facultative-pond (PFP) effluent, compared with those irrigated with post-constructed-wetland (CW) effluent or tap water only.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Taylor, Richard P , Jones, Clifford L W , Laing, Mark D , Dames, Joanna F
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/440476 , vital:73785 , https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wri.2018.02.001
- Description: Brewery effluent (BE) needs to be treated before it can be released into the environment, reused or used in down-stream activities. This study demonstrated that anaerobic digestion (AD) followed by treatment in an integrated tertiary effluent treatment system transformed BE into a suitable solution for crop irrigation. Brewery effluent can be used to improve crop yields: Cabbage (Brassica oleracea cv. Star 3301), grew significantly larger when irrigated with post-AD, post-primary-facultative-pond (PFP) effluent, compared with those irrigated with post-constructed-wetland (CW) effluent or tap water only.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
The power of mysticism: understanding political support for President Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe
- Manzira, Rufaro Coucou Annette
- Authors: Manzira, Rufaro Coucou Annette
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Mysticism -- Psychology , Zimbabwe -- Politics and government -- 1980- , Mugabe, Robert Gabriel, 1924-2019 , Allegiance -- Zimbabwe , Political capital -- Zimbabwe , Political psychology -- Zimbabwe , ZANU-PF (Organization : Zimbabwe) , Apotheosis , Zimbabwe -- Kings and rulers -- Religious aspects
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63693 , vital:28472
- Description: Significant debate exists within Zimbabwean studies about the basis for which people support on an ongoing basis the ruling Zimbabweans African National Union- Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) under the leadership of Robert Mugabe. In academic literature, the party and state president (Mugabe) is typically seen as an oppressor such that any support for Mugabe is understood based on compulsion rather than consent. Genuine support for the ruling party though implies that Mugabe is a liberator. In drawing upon Zimbabwean academic literature which seeks to understand why Mugabe might be understood as a liberator, this thesis seeks to provide an innovative sociological analysis focusing on the mysticism surrounding the person and ruler-ship of Mugabe. The mysticism portrays Mugabe as being blessed by the ancestors and spirits, as having divine and sage-like qualities, as speaking for the bones of the dead heroes, and as acting as a modern day national chief who cares for his national subjects and defends his chiefdom against enemies from within or without. This portrait of Mugabe resonates with many Zimbabweans as it speaks to their everyday experiences and their longings for nation-building and national belonging. Hence, it should not be strictly understood as a ruling party ideology foisted upon citizens as a means of political deception. This is explored through interviews with a small number of ZANU-PF supporters.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Manzira, Rufaro Coucou Annette
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Mysticism -- Psychology , Zimbabwe -- Politics and government -- 1980- , Mugabe, Robert Gabriel, 1924-2019 , Allegiance -- Zimbabwe , Political capital -- Zimbabwe , Political psychology -- Zimbabwe , ZANU-PF (Organization : Zimbabwe) , Apotheosis , Zimbabwe -- Kings and rulers -- Religious aspects
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63693 , vital:28472
- Description: Significant debate exists within Zimbabwean studies about the basis for which people support on an ongoing basis the ruling Zimbabweans African National Union- Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) under the leadership of Robert Mugabe. In academic literature, the party and state president (Mugabe) is typically seen as an oppressor such that any support for Mugabe is understood based on compulsion rather than consent. Genuine support for the ruling party though implies that Mugabe is a liberator. In drawing upon Zimbabwean academic literature which seeks to understand why Mugabe might be understood as a liberator, this thesis seeks to provide an innovative sociological analysis focusing on the mysticism surrounding the person and ruler-ship of Mugabe. The mysticism portrays Mugabe as being blessed by the ancestors and spirits, as having divine and sage-like qualities, as speaking for the bones of the dead heroes, and as acting as a modern day national chief who cares for his national subjects and defends his chiefdom against enemies from within or without. This portrait of Mugabe resonates with many Zimbabweans as it speaks to their everyday experiences and their longings for nation-building and national belonging. Hence, it should not be strictly understood as a ruling party ideology foisted upon citizens as a means of political deception. This is explored through interviews with a small number of ZANU-PF supporters.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
The Primary Demonstration of Exciton Coupling Effects on Optical Limiting Properties of Blue Double-Decker Lanthanide Phthalocyanine Salts
- Sekhosana, Kutloano E, Nkhahle, Reitumetse, Nyokong, Tebello
- Authors: Sekhosana, Kutloano E , Nkhahle, Reitumetse , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/234614 , vital:50213 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1002/slct.201800597"
- Description: In this manuscript, novel green and blue sandwich-type rare-earth phthalocyanines (LnPc2) are presented. This parent green LnPc2 complex is named bis-{2(3),9(10),16(17),23(24)-tetra(4-tert-buylphenoxy) phthalocyaninato} neodymium (III) (2) and modified into blue LnPc2 complexes (3), (4) and (5) based on hexadecyltrimethylammonium ion, mononeodymium(III) diacetate and monodysprosium(III) diacetate as counter ions, respectively. These stable blue lanthanide Pc salts are highly soluble in many organic and inorganic solvents. All complexes 2, 3, 4 and 5 were studied for optical limiting for the first time using Z-scan at nanosecond regime in the visible absorption spectral wavelength (532 nm). Our studies reveal the advantage of exciton coupling in blue sandwich-type rare-earth phthalocyanines over the π-radicals (characterized by blue valence at 485 nm) in the green counterpart which are in resonance with the 532 nm wavelength for optical limiting application. Large singlet ground state to excited state absorption cross section ratios were found, particularly for complex 5 in comparison to that of complex 2.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Sekhosana, Kutloano E , Nkhahle, Reitumetse , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/234614 , vital:50213 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1002/slct.201800597"
- Description: In this manuscript, novel green and blue sandwich-type rare-earth phthalocyanines (LnPc2) are presented. This parent green LnPc2 complex is named bis-{2(3),9(10),16(17),23(24)-tetra(4-tert-buylphenoxy) phthalocyaninato} neodymium (III) (2) and modified into blue LnPc2 complexes (3), (4) and (5) based on hexadecyltrimethylammonium ion, mononeodymium(III) diacetate and monodysprosium(III) diacetate as counter ions, respectively. These stable blue lanthanide Pc salts are highly soluble in many organic and inorganic solvents. All complexes 2, 3, 4 and 5 were studied for optical limiting for the first time using Z-scan at nanosecond regime in the visible absorption spectral wavelength (532 nm). Our studies reveal the advantage of exciton coupling in blue sandwich-type rare-earth phthalocyanines over the π-radicals (characterized by blue valence at 485 nm) in the green counterpart which are in resonance with the 532 nm wavelength for optical limiting application. Large singlet ground state to excited state absorption cross section ratios were found, particularly for complex 5 in comparison to that of complex 2.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
The production and commercialization of palm wine from Hyphaene coriacea and Phoenix reclinata in Zitundo area, southern Mozambique
- Martins, Angelina R O, Shackleton, Charlie M
- Authors: Martins, Angelina R O , Shackleton, Charlie M
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/179802 , vital:43190 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sajb.2018.02.389"
- Description: In southern Mozambique a traditional wine is produced using the sap from two palm species, Hyphaene coriacea and Phoenix reclinata. Production of palm wine is one of the main livelihood activities in the Zitundo area. We examined the local production and trade of palm wine in the area. Using structured interviews we investigated the tapping activity, local management practices and the palm wine market, and assessed the incomes derived from palm wine sales and the tappers' perceptions on productivity, abundance and sales fluctuation. Tapping palms was practiced year round in five of the sixteen villages in the area and the mean number of palms tapped per day was 102 ± 52 per tapper. Tappers spent an average of 25 ± 18 h per week on tapping activities resulting in an average return to labour of R39 (± US$3) per hour. The mean, annual, net income from palm wine sales was R24,981 ± R12,094 (US$1878 ± 909) per tapper, which accounted for 85% ± 22% of the tappers' annual household income. Palm wine is a highly commercial commodity in Zitundo area, with an average commercialization index of 63% ± 23%, and is likely to help alleviate poverty in the area. Hyphaene coriacea was tapped more than Phoenix reclinata, although most tappers regard the wine from the latter to be of a better quality. The importance of palm tapping in local livelihoods and poverty alleviation needs greater acknowledgement by government and development agencies in the area, towards inclusion in sectoral development policies and conservation programmes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Martins, Angelina R O , Shackleton, Charlie M
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/179802 , vital:43190 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sajb.2018.02.389"
- Description: In southern Mozambique a traditional wine is produced using the sap from two palm species, Hyphaene coriacea and Phoenix reclinata. Production of palm wine is one of the main livelihood activities in the Zitundo area. We examined the local production and trade of palm wine in the area. Using structured interviews we investigated the tapping activity, local management practices and the palm wine market, and assessed the incomes derived from palm wine sales and the tappers' perceptions on productivity, abundance and sales fluctuation. Tapping palms was practiced year round in five of the sixteen villages in the area and the mean number of palms tapped per day was 102 ± 52 per tapper. Tappers spent an average of 25 ± 18 h per week on tapping activities resulting in an average return to labour of R39 (± US$3) per hour. The mean, annual, net income from palm wine sales was R24,981 ± R12,094 (US$1878 ± 909) per tapper, which accounted for 85% ± 22% of the tappers' annual household income. Palm wine is a highly commercial commodity in Zitundo area, with an average commercialization index of 63% ± 23%, and is likely to help alleviate poverty in the area. Hyphaene coriacea was tapped more than Phoenix reclinata, although most tappers regard the wine from the latter to be of a better quality. The importance of palm tapping in local livelihoods and poverty alleviation needs greater acknowledgement by government and development agencies in the area, towards inclusion in sectoral development policies and conservation programmes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
The regulation of subsidies and regional trade among developing countries in the multilateral trading system: the case of export processing zones in Malawi
- Authors: Chirwa, Watson Pajanji
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Trade regulation -- Malawi , Subsidies -- Law and legislation -- Malawi , Southern African Development Community , Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa , Foreign trade regulation -- Malawi , Export processing zones -- Law and legislation -- Malawi
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , LLM
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62428 , vital:28175
- Description: The paradigm shift engaged by countries in SADC and COMESA, such as Malawi, from the use of import substitution policies which were aimed at protecting their infant industries, to export led growth strategies, necessitated these developing countries to liberalise their economies. The liberalisation of these economies meant that, for them to attain development, they needed to trade more on the international market. However, with underdeveloped industries and a lack of local entrepreneurs who could provide export supplies to fill the void created by the liberalisation policies, developing countries had to look beyond their borders for investors. In pursuit of this objective, governments have been devising ways of attracting foreign direct investment which can stimulate export growth. One of the methods employed is the granting of investment incentives to would-be investors. Unlike developed countries who provide investment incentives in the form of financial incentives, developing countries grant fiscal incentives. These are incentives that reduce tax burdens of enterprises to induce them to invest in particular projects or sectors. One of the mediums of providing the incentives adopted by the developing countries is the use of EPZ schemes. EPZs provide incentives such as exemptions of direct and indirect taxes to companies that operate in the zones. However, being Members of the WTO and SADC and/or COMESA, these countries are bound by obligations regulating trade and investment as found in these Agreements. The expectation is that the fiscal incentives employed in the EPZs do not grant subsidies that are prohibited under the SCM Agreement and rules regulating subsidies in SADC and COMESA. In addition, even though the use of EPZs is not expressly proscribed under the SADC Protocol on Trade, it may be against the objectives of the Protocol - one of which is the pursuance of the inter-jurisdictional goal of cooperation in attainment of free trade among its members. Therefore, this study assesses whether the use of EPZs by some countries in the two RTAs (particularly Malawi) is in tandem with the subsidies regulation as found in the multilateral trading system and at regional level. It also assesses whether, if there is a breach of the same, it might be justified as part of the special and differential treatment accorded to developing countries by developed countries under the WTO. The study further assesses whether the use of EPZs might be against the spirit and objects of FTAs such as SADC.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Chirwa, Watson Pajanji
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Trade regulation -- Malawi , Subsidies -- Law and legislation -- Malawi , Southern African Development Community , Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa , Foreign trade regulation -- Malawi , Export processing zones -- Law and legislation -- Malawi
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , LLM
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62428 , vital:28175
- Description: The paradigm shift engaged by countries in SADC and COMESA, such as Malawi, from the use of import substitution policies which were aimed at protecting their infant industries, to export led growth strategies, necessitated these developing countries to liberalise their economies. The liberalisation of these economies meant that, for them to attain development, they needed to trade more on the international market. However, with underdeveloped industries and a lack of local entrepreneurs who could provide export supplies to fill the void created by the liberalisation policies, developing countries had to look beyond their borders for investors. In pursuit of this objective, governments have been devising ways of attracting foreign direct investment which can stimulate export growth. One of the methods employed is the granting of investment incentives to would-be investors. Unlike developed countries who provide investment incentives in the form of financial incentives, developing countries grant fiscal incentives. These are incentives that reduce tax burdens of enterprises to induce them to invest in particular projects or sectors. One of the mediums of providing the incentives adopted by the developing countries is the use of EPZ schemes. EPZs provide incentives such as exemptions of direct and indirect taxes to companies that operate in the zones. However, being Members of the WTO and SADC and/or COMESA, these countries are bound by obligations regulating trade and investment as found in these Agreements. The expectation is that the fiscal incentives employed in the EPZs do not grant subsidies that are prohibited under the SCM Agreement and rules regulating subsidies in SADC and COMESA. In addition, even though the use of EPZs is not expressly proscribed under the SADC Protocol on Trade, it may be against the objectives of the Protocol - one of which is the pursuance of the inter-jurisdictional goal of cooperation in attainment of free trade among its members. Therefore, this study assesses whether the use of EPZs by some countries in the two RTAs (particularly Malawi) is in tandem with the subsidies regulation as found in the multilateral trading system and at regional level. It also assesses whether, if there is a breach of the same, it might be justified as part of the special and differential treatment accorded to developing countries by developed countries under the WTO. The study further assesses whether the use of EPZs might be against the spirit and objects of FTAs such as SADC.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
The relation between galaxy density and radio jet power for 1.4 GHz VLA selected AGNs in Stripe 82
- Kolwa, S, Jarvis, M J, McAlpine, Kim, Heywood, Ian
- Authors: Kolwa, S , Jarvis, M J , McAlpine, Kim , Heywood, Ian
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/131444 , vital:36572 , https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty3019
- Description: Using a Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) L-band (1-2 GHz) survey covering ∼100 deg2 of the Stripe 82 field, we have obtained a catalogue of 2716 radio AGNs. For these AGNs, we investigate the impact of galaxy density on 1.4 GHz radio luminosity (L1.4). We determine their close environment densities using the surface density parameter, ΣN, for N = 2 and N = 5, which we bin by redshift to obtain a pseudo-3D galaxy density measure. Matching the radio AGNs to sources without radio detections in terms of redshift, K-band magnitude and (g − K) colour index, we obtain samples of control galaxies and determine whether radio AGN environments differ from this general population.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Kolwa, S , Jarvis, M J , McAlpine, Kim , Heywood, Ian
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/131444 , vital:36572 , https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty3019
- Description: Using a Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) L-band (1-2 GHz) survey covering ∼100 deg2 of the Stripe 82 field, we have obtained a catalogue of 2716 radio AGNs. For these AGNs, we investigate the impact of galaxy density on 1.4 GHz radio luminosity (L1.4). We determine their close environment densities using the surface density parameter, ΣN, for N = 2 and N = 5, which we bin by redshift to obtain a pseudo-3D galaxy density measure. Matching the radio AGNs to sources without radio detections in terms of redshift, K-band magnitude and (g − K) colour index, we obtain samples of control galaxies and determine whether radio AGN environments differ from this general population.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
The relationship between authentic leadership and employee performance
- Authors: Petzer, Liane
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Authentic leadership , Positive psychology , Employee motivation -- South Africa , Employees -- Attitudes , Job satisfaction -- South Africa , Employees -- Rating of -- South Africa , Financial services industry -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59467 , vital:27613
- Description: The impact of a leader on his or her followers has been a topic of much research and therefore organizations, including the financial services sector in South Africa, are placing more and more emphasis on what this leadership construct looks like. Research suggests that Authentic Leadership might be a new kind of leadership approach that the world is looking for. This study aims to establish the possible relationship between an authentic leader and the impact the leader’s behaviour has on the performance of his or her employee. The study further attempts to establish if satisfaction can play a mediating role in the relationship between authentic leadership and the performance of an employee. The research used two established research instruments, namely the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ), as well as a section of Freese and Schalk’s (2008) psychological contract questionnaire relating to satisfaction specifically. Respondents were also requested to indicate their most recent performance rating. The study was conducted within the financial sector based in the Eastern and Southern Cape with a total population of 1077 employees across all business units, job grades, race, age, education and gender. The study established a significant positive relationship between authentic leadership and employee performance. A further significant positive relationship was established between authentic leadership and satisfaction. However, no relationship could be established between satisfaction and performance, thereby indicating that satisfaction was not a mediator of the relationship between authentic leadership and employee performance. In conclusion, recommendations for management practice and for further research are made.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Petzer, Liane
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Authentic leadership , Positive psychology , Employee motivation -- South Africa , Employees -- Attitudes , Job satisfaction -- South Africa , Employees -- Rating of -- South Africa , Financial services industry -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59467 , vital:27613
- Description: The impact of a leader on his or her followers has been a topic of much research and therefore organizations, including the financial services sector in South Africa, are placing more and more emphasis on what this leadership construct looks like. Research suggests that Authentic Leadership might be a new kind of leadership approach that the world is looking for. This study aims to establish the possible relationship between an authentic leader and the impact the leader’s behaviour has on the performance of his or her employee. The study further attempts to establish if satisfaction can play a mediating role in the relationship between authentic leadership and the performance of an employee. The research used two established research instruments, namely the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ), as well as a section of Freese and Schalk’s (2008) psychological contract questionnaire relating to satisfaction specifically. Respondents were also requested to indicate their most recent performance rating. The study was conducted within the financial sector based in the Eastern and Southern Cape with a total population of 1077 employees across all business units, job grades, race, age, education and gender. The study established a significant positive relationship between authentic leadership and employee performance. A further significant positive relationship was established between authentic leadership and satisfaction. However, no relationship could be established between satisfaction and performance, thereby indicating that satisfaction was not a mediator of the relationship between authentic leadership and employee performance. In conclusion, recommendations for management practice and for further research are made.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
The relationships between perceived competence, goal orientation and mind sets on the motivation to participate in sport at university
- Authors: Nel, Marcus Craig
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: College sports -- South Africa -- Makhanda , College students -- Attitudes , Sports -- Psychological aspects , Motivation (Psychology) , Competition (Psychology)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/61592 , vital:28040
- Description: The research sought to uncover the links that exist between perceived competence, goal orientations and mind sets with the motivation to participate in sports. The research was conducted in a South African university context and was comprised of 212 participants. Data was collected through the use of Sports Motivation Scale 6, Intrinsic Motivation Inventory: Perceived Competence Subscale, Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire and the Self-Theory Questionnaire. The participants completed the questionnaires using a pen and paper technique at their various sports practices. Data was collected and analysed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient in order to demonstrate the strength and nature of the relationships that existed between the variables. Findings generally supported previous findings. Using a deductive approach, the main findings found that various types of motivation based on Self-Determination Theory demonstrated a proportional relationship with task orientation and little to no relationship was found between motivation and ego orientation. The relationships between motivation and perceived competence were mixed, with the most significant relationship occurring between integrated regulation and perceived competence. Fixed mind sets also showed little to no relationship with motivation, whereas growth mind sets showed proportional relationships with the various kinds of motivation. Further relationships between these variables were also explained. It is recommended that data collection techniques are improved in future research. This research may be useful in indicating what factors are related to motivation to play sport at university.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Nel, Marcus Craig
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: College sports -- South Africa -- Makhanda , College students -- Attitudes , Sports -- Psychological aspects , Motivation (Psychology) , Competition (Psychology)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/61592 , vital:28040
- Description: The research sought to uncover the links that exist between perceived competence, goal orientations and mind sets with the motivation to participate in sports. The research was conducted in a South African university context and was comprised of 212 participants. Data was collected through the use of Sports Motivation Scale 6, Intrinsic Motivation Inventory: Perceived Competence Subscale, Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire and the Self-Theory Questionnaire. The participants completed the questionnaires using a pen and paper technique at their various sports practices. Data was collected and analysed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient in order to demonstrate the strength and nature of the relationships that existed between the variables. Findings generally supported previous findings. Using a deductive approach, the main findings found that various types of motivation based on Self-Determination Theory demonstrated a proportional relationship with task orientation and little to no relationship was found between motivation and ego orientation. The relationships between motivation and perceived competence were mixed, with the most significant relationship occurring between integrated regulation and perceived competence. Fixed mind sets also showed little to no relationship with motivation, whereas growth mind sets showed proportional relationships with the various kinds of motivation. Further relationships between these variables were also explained. It is recommended that data collection techniques are improved in future research. This research may be useful in indicating what factors are related to motivation to play sport at university.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
The role of African languages in the South African legal system: towards a transformative agenda
- Authors: Docrat, Zakeera
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Forensic linguistics -- South Africa , Communication in law -- South Africa , Language policy -- South Africa , Linguistic rights -- South Africa , Court interpreting and translating -- South Africa , African languages -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60809 , vital:27833
- Description: This interdisciplinary thesis, partly located in the emerging discipline of forensic linguistics, seeks to investigate the status and use of African languages in the South African legal system and how language can be used as a tool to transform the legal system. The research commences with an overview of the development of African languages in the legal system, pre and post Apartheid. The research proceeds to an overview of scholarly literature concerning the role of legislation, language policy and planning in regulating the use of African languages in the legal system, in order to give effect to South Africa’s constitutional provisions and enable linguistic transformation of the legal system. This research furthermore provides a critique of the constitutional language framework in relation to language rights of litigants in the legal system, when accessing justice through the medium of an African language. To this effect the research advances cases conducted in their entirety in an African language, illustrating that it is both possible and practicable. This research engages critically with the legislative and policy frameworks of the legal system, where issues concerning the equal recognition and use of African languages are highlighted. Language demographics in the form of statistics are provided, illustrative of the fact that the majority of South African’s speak an African language as their mother tongue. Additionally, the statistics provide that litigants in the legal system have poor proficiency in English, the language of record in courts. The research addresses the legislative and policy deficiencies of the non insertion of language requirements for legal practitioners and judicial officers that reflect the language demographics. Furthermore the need for linguistically competent legal practitioners and judicial officers is discussed in giving meaning to the constitutional language rights of litigants. A Canadian comparative jurisprudential case study is advanced, that can be emulated by the South African legal system. The Canadian model offers a precise and effective constitutional, legislative and policy framework where language rights are purposively interpreted in cases conducted in the official languages of the country. Furthermore the Canadian model provides that legal practitioners and judicial officers are linguistically competent in the official languages of the province in which they practice. This thesis highlights the issues hindering real transformation of the legal system, and concludes with recommendations which are both legally and linguistically sound.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Docrat, Zakeera
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Forensic linguistics -- South Africa , Communication in law -- South Africa , Language policy -- South Africa , Linguistic rights -- South Africa , Court interpreting and translating -- South Africa , African languages -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60809 , vital:27833
- Description: This interdisciplinary thesis, partly located in the emerging discipline of forensic linguistics, seeks to investigate the status and use of African languages in the South African legal system and how language can be used as a tool to transform the legal system. The research commences with an overview of the development of African languages in the legal system, pre and post Apartheid. The research proceeds to an overview of scholarly literature concerning the role of legislation, language policy and planning in regulating the use of African languages in the legal system, in order to give effect to South Africa’s constitutional provisions and enable linguistic transformation of the legal system. This research furthermore provides a critique of the constitutional language framework in relation to language rights of litigants in the legal system, when accessing justice through the medium of an African language. To this effect the research advances cases conducted in their entirety in an African language, illustrating that it is both possible and practicable. This research engages critically with the legislative and policy frameworks of the legal system, where issues concerning the equal recognition and use of African languages are highlighted. Language demographics in the form of statistics are provided, illustrative of the fact that the majority of South African’s speak an African language as their mother tongue. Additionally, the statistics provide that litigants in the legal system have poor proficiency in English, the language of record in courts. The research addresses the legislative and policy deficiencies of the non insertion of language requirements for legal practitioners and judicial officers that reflect the language demographics. Furthermore the need for linguistically competent legal practitioners and judicial officers is discussed in giving meaning to the constitutional language rights of litigants. A Canadian comparative jurisprudential case study is advanced, that can be emulated by the South African legal system. The Canadian model offers a precise and effective constitutional, legislative and policy framework where language rights are purposively interpreted in cases conducted in the official languages of the country. Furthermore the Canadian model provides that legal practitioners and judicial officers are linguistically competent in the official languages of the province in which they practice. This thesis highlights the issues hindering real transformation of the legal system, and concludes with recommendations which are both legally and linguistically sound.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
The role of ecological processes in structuring reef fish communities in the Agulhas Ecoregion, South Africa
- Authors: Dyer, Alexander
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Reef fishes -- South Africa -- Agulhas, Cape (Cape) , Reef fishes -- Ecology -- South Africa -- Agulhas, Cape (Cape) , Marine biodiversity -- South Africa -- Agulhas, Cape (Cape) , Biotic communities -- South Africa -- Agulhas, Cape (Cape) , Sparidae -- South Africa -- Agulhas, Cape (Cape) , Reef fishes -- Size -- South Africa -- Agulhas, Cape (Cape) , Baited remote underwater stereo-video systems (stereo-BRUVs)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63899 , vital:28504
- Description: Local, niche-based processes, which arise from the interplay between biotic interactions and abiotic constraints are considered to be important regulators of community structure. However, it is increasingly recognised that patterns of diversity can also be strongly influenced by dispersal-driven processes. While empirical research on the diversity of coral reef fishes on shallow tropical reefs has contributed greatly to the development of general concepts in ecology, there have been considerably fewer studies on the processes which shape the diversity of fish communities on shallow (10 - 30 m) and deep (30 - 75 m) rocky reefs. Consequently, it is less clear at which spatial scales niche partitioning and dispersal limitation contribute most strongly to the structure of reef-associated fish communities within rocky reef ecosystems. To address this caveat, research was conducted at four rocky reef complexes within the warm-temperate Agulhas Ecoregion, South Africa. The diversity of reef-associated fishes was sampled by baited remote underwater stereo-video systems (stereo-BRUVs) to incorporate the range of heterogeneous reef habitat in Tsitsikamma National Park Marine Protected Area (TNP MPA) and Algoa Bay (AB). To examine how niche-based and dispersal-driven processes influence patterns of diversity among species within the dominant family of resident fishes, the sparids (Sparidae), components of diversity were quantified at several spatial scales. Turnover in the number of species which locally co-occurred was found to be largely driven by the limited dispersal of species over hundreds of kilometres. When relative species abundances were taken into account, sparid communities were characterised by higher than expected rates of compositional turnover among local habitat patches separated by hundreds to thousands of metres of contiguous reef. Patterns of compositional turnover were associated with the spatial aggregation of conspecifics, particularly at scales which facilitate the post-settlement dispersal of fishes. Niche-based segregation of species along the depth gradient was found to be the primary driver of compositional turnover among both protected and exploited communities. However, spatial structuring within reefs, which was independent of variation in the environment, suggests that compositional differences among communities are also influenced by the limited post-settlement dispersal of resident fishes to adjacent areas during their ontogeny. Together, the results suggest that the diversity of reef-associated sparids is likely to depend both on an adequate diversity of suitable reef habitat and a sufficient degree of spatial connectivity to facilitate ontogenetic habitat shifts. Taxon-based descriptors of diversity do not adequately account for ecological difference among conspecifics within size-structured populations. To test whether differences in body size facilitated coexistence among sparid fishes, the number of species which coexisted at the local scale was related to variation in the size structure of communities. In communities which have been historically protected from fishing, local coexistence between a greater number of species was promoted by reduced levels of intraspecific variation in size of fishes. This suggests that, among species with similar trophic requirements, further niche segregation along a prey-size and body-size gradient is likely to mitigate the direct impacts of competition for shared food resources. Among exploited communities, size structure did not influence the number of species which coexisted at the local scale. This finding suggests that fishing-induced mortality of larger-bodied fishes is likely to remove some of the constraints to colonisation which arise from asymmetries in competitive fitness between small and large-bodied fishes. Together, these results highlight the importance of post-settlement processes and population size structure to the maintenance of reef-associated fish diversity within contiguous rocky reef habitats.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Dyer, Alexander
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Reef fishes -- South Africa -- Agulhas, Cape (Cape) , Reef fishes -- Ecology -- South Africa -- Agulhas, Cape (Cape) , Marine biodiversity -- South Africa -- Agulhas, Cape (Cape) , Biotic communities -- South Africa -- Agulhas, Cape (Cape) , Sparidae -- South Africa -- Agulhas, Cape (Cape) , Reef fishes -- Size -- South Africa -- Agulhas, Cape (Cape) , Baited remote underwater stereo-video systems (stereo-BRUVs)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63899 , vital:28504
- Description: Local, niche-based processes, which arise from the interplay between biotic interactions and abiotic constraints are considered to be important regulators of community structure. However, it is increasingly recognised that patterns of diversity can also be strongly influenced by dispersal-driven processes. While empirical research on the diversity of coral reef fishes on shallow tropical reefs has contributed greatly to the development of general concepts in ecology, there have been considerably fewer studies on the processes which shape the diversity of fish communities on shallow (10 - 30 m) and deep (30 - 75 m) rocky reefs. Consequently, it is less clear at which spatial scales niche partitioning and dispersal limitation contribute most strongly to the structure of reef-associated fish communities within rocky reef ecosystems. To address this caveat, research was conducted at four rocky reef complexes within the warm-temperate Agulhas Ecoregion, South Africa. The diversity of reef-associated fishes was sampled by baited remote underwater stereo-video systems (stereo-BRUVs) to incorporate the range of heterogeneous reef habitat in Tsitsikamma National Park Marine Protected Area (TNP MPA) and Algoa Bay (AB). To examine how niche-based and dispersal-driven processes influence patterns of diversity among species within the dominant family of resident fishes, the sparids (Sparidae), components of diversity were quantified at several spatial scales. Turnover in the number of species which locally co-occurred was found to be largely driven by the limited dispersal of species over hundreds of kilometres. When relative species abundances were taken into account, sparid communities were characterised by higher than expected rates of compositional turnover among local habitat patches separated by hundreds to thousands of metres of contiguous reef. Patterns of compositional turnover were associated with the spatial aggregation of conspecifics, particularly at scales which facilitate the post-settlement dispersal of fishes. Niche-based segregation of species along the depth gradient was found to be the primary driver of compositional turnover among both protected and exploited communities. However, spatial structuring within reefs, which was independent of variation in the environment, suggests that compositional differences among communities are also influenced by the limited post-settlement dispersal of resident fishes to adjacent areas during their ontogeny. Together, the results suggest that the diversity of reef-associated sparids is likely to depend both on an adequate diversity of suitable reef habitat and a sufficient degree of spatial connectivity to facilitate ontogenetic habitat shifts. Taxon-based descriptors of diversity do not adequately account for ecological difference among conspecifics within size-structured populations. To test whether differences in body size facilitated coexistence among sparid fishes, the number of species which coexisted at the local scale was related to variation in the size structure of communities. In communities which have been historically protected from fishing, local coexistence between a greater number of species was promoted by reduced levels of intraspecific variation in size of fishes. This suggests that, among species with similar trophic requirements, further niche segregation along a prey-size and body-size gradient is likely to mitigate the direct impacts of competition for shared food resources. Among exploited communities, size structure did not influence the number of species which coexisted at the local scale. This finding suggests that fishing-induced mortality of larger-bodied fishes is likely to remove some of the constraints to colonisation which arise from asymmetries in competitive fitness between small and large-bodied fishes. Together, these results highlight the importance of post-settlement processes and population size structure to the maintenance of reef-associated fish diversity within contiguous rocky reef habitats.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
The role of field and garden cultivation for food security under a changing climate: the case of Fairbairn and Ntloko villages, Eastern Cape
- Authors: Brooks, Haydn
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Climatic changes -- Economic aspects -- Eastern Cape (South Africa) , Climatic changes -- Social aspects -- South Africa , Food -- Economic aspects -- South Africa , Food security -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/58013 , vital:27019
- Description: The world is becoming more complex due to the increasing occurrence of social-ecological change. This is particularly evident in the developing world, especially on the African continent, where existing vulnerabilities (i.e. endemic poverty, weak governance, overpopulation and HIV/AIDS) are being exacerbated by the impact of climate change. Climate change poses a very real threat to millions of Africans, especially those who rely on the natural world for their livelihoods. The increasing variability of climate and rainfall patterns are said to have dire consequences on agricultural production which is the main livelihood activity of rural dwellers across the continent. The impacts of such change and variability include, changes in the frequency and intensity of droughts, flooding and heavy storms, leading to worsening soil conditions, desertification as well as disease and pest out-breaks which will likely result in reduced crop and livestock yields. A reduction in agricultural production will likely have a negative effect on the food security of millions of people. This study was conducted in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, in two rural villages, Fairbairn and Ntloko located in the former Ciskei homeland, with the purpose of exploring the nexus between climate change, cultivation and food security. This study combined social-ecological thinking with that of political ecology to create a robust lens, in which to analyse the complex interactions between humans and the environment. A mixed methods approach was used to gather the data which consisted of a household survey, using a structured questionnaire as well as semi-structured interviews with various respondents. Quantitative data were analysed using Excel and Statistica 13, whilst coding was used for qualitative data. The main aim of the study was to explore the extent and characteristics of cultivation in the two study sites, the role of household food production in food security as well as the challenges that local cultivator’s face with regards to climate change. In recent decades, there has been a decline in rural agricultural production with many fields that were previously cultivated, lying vacant and unused. However, as this study found, cultivation is still important as over 50% of sampled households cultivated a small area within the homestead. This was mainly done to supplement household food expenditure in order to save cash incomes. The results also found that although participants had perceived negative changes in climate and rainfall (amount, onset, duration), it was not considered the most important challenge for own production. Rather, lack of fencing and capital were seen as major hindrances to efficient own production. Understanding the complexity of own production and food security under a changing climate can help form better and more resilient policies and strategies for rural development, in addition to strengthening future livelihoods of rural people in an ever changing world.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Brooks, Haydn
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Climatic changes -- Economic aspects -- Eastern Cape (South Africa) , Climatic changes -- Social aspects -- South Africa , Food -- Economic aspects -- South Africa , Food security -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/58013 , vital:27019
- Description: The world is becoming more complex due to the increasing occurrence of social-ecological change. This is particularly evident in the developing world, especially on the African continent, where existing vulnerabilities (i.e. endemic poverty, weak governance, overpopulation and HIV/AIDS) are being exacerbated by the impact of climate change. Climate change poses a very real threat to millions of Africans, especially those who rely on the natural world for their livelihoods. The increasing variability of climate and rainfall patterns are said to have dire consequences on agricultural production which is the main livelihood activity of rural dwellers across the continent. The impacts of such change and variability include, changes in the frequency and intensity of droughts, flooding and heavy storms, leading to worsening soil conditions, desertification as well as disease and pest out-breaks which will likely result in reduced crop and livestock yields. A reduction in agricultural production will likely have a negative effect on the food security of millions of people. This study was conducted in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, in two rural villages, Fairbairn and Ntloko located in the former Ciskei homeland, with the purpose of exploring the nexus between climate change, cultivation and food security. This study combined social-ecological thinking with that of political ecology to create a robust lens, in which to analyse the complex interactions between humans and the environment. A mixed methods approach was used to gather the data which consisted of a household survey, using a structured questionnaire as well as semi-structured interviews with various respondents. Quantitative data were analysed using Excel and Statistica 13, whilst coding was used for qualitative data. The main aim of the study was to explore the extent and characteristics of cultivation in the two study sites, the role of household food production in food security as well as the challenges that local cultivator’s face with regards to climate change. In recent decades, there has been a decline in rural agricultural production with many fields that were previously cultivated, lying vacant and unused. However, as this study found, cultivation is still important as over 50% of sampled households cultivated a small area within the homestead. This was mainly done to supplement household food expenditure in order to save cash incomes. The results also found that although participants had perceived negative changes in climate and rainfall (amount, onset, duration), it was not considered the most important challenge for own production. Rather, lack of fencing and capital were seen as major hindrances to efficient own production. Understanding the complexity of own production and food security under a changing climate can help form better and more resilient policies and strategies for rural development, in addition to strengthening future livelihoods of rural people in an ever changing world.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
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:
- Date Issued: 2018
- 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:
- Date Issued: 2018
The role of ward committees in the local government sector: a case study of Enoch Mgijima local municipality of Eastern Cape (2012 – 2016)
- Authors: Mteyise, Nomapa Pretty
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Public administration--Citizen participation. , Community development. , Public administration.
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/22143 , vital:51987
- Description: Public participation is a vital aspect of developmental local government. A ward committee system was introduced in South Africa, as a channel for driving public participation programmes. This study set out to examine the experiences of ward committee members in Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality (EMLM). The aim was to assess the ward committee system as a vehicle for meaningful public participation in the integrated development planning processes. In 1995 the government formulated the White Paper on the Transformation of the Public Service. It indicated the importance of service delivery, and the aim was to transform the South African public service, as the key machinery of the government to equalize service delivery to all citizens. In 1996, the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa anchored the Bill of Rights as the cornerstone of democracy that enshrines the rights of all people and affirms the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom. The South African government has developed a wide array of legislation that ensures that communities are consulted on an unremitting basis with regard to how services need to be rendered. Communities have a right to be consulted and to give input into issues affecting them. Public consultation as envisaged in the South African legislation has, nevertheless, not yielded the desired results, which is evident in the spate of service delivery protests over poor or non-service delivery. Section 152(1) (e) of the Constitution promotes involvement of communities and community organisations in the matters of local government. Section 73 of the Municipal Structures Act (Act 117 of 1998) also requires municipalities to establish ward committees in a manner that seeks to enhance participatory democracy at the local level. This study set out to explore the experiences of ward committee members in EMLM. The intention was to evaluate the role of ward committees in the local government sector. , Thesis (MPA) -- University of Fort Hare, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Mteyise, Nomapa Pretty
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Public administration--Citizen participation. , Community development. , Public administration.
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/22143 , vital:51987
- Description: Public participation is a vital aspect of developmental local government. A ward committee system was introduced in South Africa, as a channel for driving public participation programmes. This study set out to examine the experiences of ward committee members in Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality (EMLM). The aim was to assess the ward committee system as a vehicle for meaningful public participation in the integrated development planning processes. In 1995 the government formulated the White Paper on the Transformation of the Public Service. It indicated the importance of service delivery, and the aim was to transform the South African public service, as the key machinery of the government to equalize service delivery to all citizens. In 1996, the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa anchored the Bill of Rights as the cornerstone of democracy that enshrines the rights of all people and affirms the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom. The South African government has developed a wide array of legislation that ensures that communities are consulted on an unremitting basis with regard to how services need to be rendered. Communities have a right to be consulted and to give input into issues affecting them. Public consultation as envisaged in the South African legislation has, nevertheless, not yielded the desired results, which is evident in the spate of service delivery protests over poor or non-service delivery. Section 152(1) (e) of the Constitution promotes involvement of communities and community organisations in the matters of local government. Section 73 of the Municipal Structures Act (Act 117 of 1998) also requires municipalities to establish ward committees in a manner that seeks to enhance participatory democracy at the local level. This study set out to explore the experiences of ward committee members in EMLM. The intention was to evaluate the role of ward committees in the local government sector. , Thesis (MPA) -- University of Fort Hare, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
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:
- Date Issued: 2018
- 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:
- Date Issued: 2018