The impact of labour laws on small firms : a study of employer perceptions of the Labour Relations Act (66 of 1995) and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (75 of 1997) in Grahamstown, Port Alfred and Port Elizabeth
- Authors: Mfecane, Asanda
- Date: 2014 , 2014-07-10
- Subjects: Industrial relations -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Labor laws and legislation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Industrial laws and legislation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Small business -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3371 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012953
- Description: This study sought to explore and explain the impact of labour laws on small firms, focusing on employer perceptions of the Labour Relations Act of 1995 and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act of 1997 in three towns of the Eastern Cape. It is important to focus on this impact of labour laws on these firms because of the high unemployment that faces the country. In this regard, it must be emphasised, firstly, that small firms are central to job creation; therefore, they contribute to a reduction in the unemployment rate; hence, the strategies created by the government to reduce any burdens (including regulatory burdens) on small firms. It is therefore important to study the impact of labour law on small businesses in order to assess the regulatory burden on small firms. The theoretical framework which underpins this study on the impact of labour law on small firms arises from the neo-corporatist critique of neo-liberalism. The two frameworks maintain the extent to which the government should intervene in the industrial relations system. Liberalism maintains that there should be a minimum role of the government, which involves only the facilitation of a framework for negotiations between employers and employees. Corporatism, however, maintains a social democratic approach, and holds that there should be an active role of the government in the industrial relations system with business, labour and the state working co-operatively (Klerck, 2009). This theoretical framework therefore shapes the extent to which employers perceive labour laws or state’s regulatory role impacts small businesses. The data was collected through the qualitative inquiry; using face-to-face, semi-structured interviews. The findings in this study included negative employer perceptions of labour laws. More specifically, many of the employers that were interviewed claimed that labour laws were burdensome on their businesses. They claimed that labour laws imposed financial and administrative costs to their firms, negatively affected the employer-employee relationships in these firms as well as the employing decisions of the employers. As a result, the employers saw labour laws as undermining flexibility and imposing unfair rigidities on small firms. Furthermore, employers perceived South African labour laws as not addressing the unique iii circumstances of small firms. They maintained that labour laws treated small firms similarly to large firms. Even though the employers held these perceptions of labour laws, it was evident that these subjective perceptions did not reflect the objective impact of labour laws on small firms. This was firstly related to the fact that many of the employers that were interviewed had negative views of labour laws but these views were not substantiated by particular events in their firms. Secondly, it was revealed that the employers’ perceptions of labour laws were based on their misconception or misunderstanding of labour law. Thirdly, it was revealed in this thesis that small firms were not affected in the same way to big firms by labour regulation. This was related to the fact that many of the small firms’ employers that were interviewed tended to be less concerned by regulation. Specifically, although many employers that were interviewed claimed that labour laws were burdensome on their firms it was evident that regulation was avoided because of the informality that characterised these firms. Consequently informality mediated the impact of labour laws on these firms, and labour laws imposed less ‘costs’ on these firms. However, it cannot be argued that small firms are isolated from the sphere of labour laws. Rather, although these firms were governed by regulation it was found that the extent to which employers complied with regulation depended on the extent to which organisational practice already reflected similarity with the legislative objective. , Acrobat PDFMaker 10.1 for Word , Adobe PDF Library 10.0
- Full Text:
- Authors: Mfecane, Asanda
- Date: 2014 , 2014-07-10
- Subjects: Industrial relations -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Labor laws and legislation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Industrial laws and legislation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Small business -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3371 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012953
- Description: This study sought to explore and explain the impact of labour laws on small firms, focusing on employer perceptions of the Labour Relations Act of 1995 and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act of 1997 in three towns of the Eastern Cape. It is important to focus on this impact of labour laws on these firms because of the high unemployment that faces the country. In this regard, it must be emphasised, firstly, that small firms are central to job creation; therefore, they contribute to a reduction in the unemployment rate; hence, the strategies created by the government to reduce any burdens (including regulatory burdens) on small firms. It is therefore important to study the impact of labour law on small businesses in order to assess the regulatory burden on small firms. The theoretical framework which underpins this study on the impact of labour law on small firms arises from the neo-corporatist critique of neo-liberalism. The two frameworks maintain the extent to which the government should intervene in the industrial relations system. Liberalism maintains that there should be a minimum role of the government, which involves only the facilitation of a framework for negotiations between employers and employees. Corporatism, however, maintains a social democratic approach, and holds that there should be an active role of the government in the industrial relations system with business, labour and the state working co-operatively (Klerck, 2009). This theoretical framework therefore shapes the extent to which employers perceive labour laws or state’s regulatory role impacts small businesses. The data was collected through the qualitative inquiry; using face-to-face, semi-structured interviews. The findings in this study included negative employer perceptions of labour laws. More specifically, many of the employers that were interviewed claimed that labour laws were burdensome on their businesses. They claimed that labour laws imposed financial and administrative costs to their firms, negatively affected the employer-employee relationships in these firms as well as the employing decisions of the employers. As a result, the employers saw labour laws as undermining flexibility and imposing unfair rigidities on small firms. Furthermore, employers perceived South African labour laws as not addressing the unique iii circumstances of small firms. They maintained that labour laws treated small firms similarly to large firms. Even though the employers held these perceptions of labour laws, it was evident that these subjective perceptions did not reflect the objective impact of labour laws on small firms. This was firstly related to the fact that many of the employers that were interviewed had negative views of labour laws but these views were not substantiated by particular events in their firms. Secondly, it was revealed that the employers’ perceptions of labour laws were based on their misconception or misunderstanding of labour law. Thirdly, it was revealed in this thesis that small firms were not affected in the same way to big firms by labour regulation. This was related to the fact that many of the small firms’ employers that were interviewed tended to be less concerned by regulation. Specifically, although many employers that were interviewed claimed that labour laws were burdensome on their firms it was evident that regulation was avoided because of the informality that characterised these firms. Consequently informality mediated the impact of labour laws on these firms, and labour laws imposed less ‘costs’ on these firms. However, it cannot be argued that small firms are isolated from the sphere of labour laws. Rather, although these firms were governed by regulation it was found that the extent to which employers complied with regulation depended on the extent to which organisational practice already reflected similarity with the legislative objective. , Acrobat PDFMaker 10.1 for Word , Adobe PDF Library 10.0
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The potential and reality of the Living Lab model of ICT for Development (ICT4D) in the rural development context : the case of Siyakhula Living Lab, Dwesa, Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Mosuoe, Teboho Priscilla
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Siyakhula Living Lab , Information technology -- South Africa -- Dwesa-Cwebe , Communication in economic development -- South Africa -- Dwesa-Cwebe , Rural development projects -- South Africa -- Dwesa-Cwebe , Rural development -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Dwesa-Cwebe , Rural development -- South Africa -- Dwesa-Cwebe -- Sociological aspects , Rural development projects -- Evaluation , Social networks -- South Africa -- Dwesa-Cwebe
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3381 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013289
- Description: This thesis explores the contribution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in rural development processes. Within the framework of social capital theory, and in the context of the information society, the study examines how the collaborative and innovative model of ICT for Development (ICT4D) can enhance social networks and information channels in rural communities, thereby enabling the active participation of rural community members in their own development processes. The study examines networks and information channels both within the rural communities under investigation and between these communities and other sectors in the society. The thesis studies the case of the Siyakhula Living Lab (SLL), an ICT4D initiative in the Mbashe Municipality of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. During the investigation, four types of networks were identified: local organisations, social institutions, collective community projects and social ties. It was found that the Living Lab has so far influenced the creation of new forms of networks through the common spaces (computer labs) which have been made available by the Living Lab. The study further showed that the use of computers has enabled other community members to partake in the wider community of online/virtual social networks, allowing them to communicate and share information with those outside their own communities. The study also showed that the Living Lab has enabled the networking of these communities with other sectors such as academia. It was, however, found that so far the existence of the Living Lab has not influenced the already existing local networks in these communities. Also, the study showed that the relationship between these rural communities and their government and industry partners as stakeholders in the Living Lab is currently ineffective. Nevertheless, this situation has a potential to change in the future as there are ICT applications which have been developed through collaboration with rural community members, which will assist in enhancing communication between these rural communities and other stakeholders. The study finally revealed that social networks do contribute to the functioning of communities by providing both monetary and social support to community members, even though, in effect, the monetary benefits are somewhat limited by a number of factors. It is revealed that the engagement of ICT could go a long way in improving social and economic activities, governance and service delivery, as well as education in these communities.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Mosuoe, Teboho Priscilla
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Siyakhula Living Lab , Information technology -- South Africa -- Dwesa-Cwebe , Communication in economic development -- South Africa -- Dwesa-Cwebe , Rural development projects -- South Africa -- Dwesa-Cwebe , Rural development -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Dwesa-Cwebe , Rural development -- South Africa -- Dwesa-Cwebe -- Sociological aspects , Rural development projects -- Evaluation , Social networks -- South Africa -- Dwesa-Cwebe
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3381 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013289
- Description: This thesis explores the contribution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in rural development processes. Within the framework of social capital theory, and in the context of the information society, the study examines how the collaborative and innovative model of ICT for Development (ICT4D) can enhance social networks and information channels in rural communities, thereby enabling the active participation of rural community members in their own development processes. The study examines networks and information channels both within the rural communities under investigation and between these communities and other sectors in the society. The thesis studies the case of the Siyakhula Living Lab (SLL), an ICT4D initiative in the Mbashe Municipality of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. During the investigation, four types of networks were identified: local organisations, social institutions, collective community projects and social ties. It was found that the Living Lab has so far influenced the creation of new forms of networks through the common spaces (computer labs) which have been made available by the Living Lab. The study further showed that the use of computers has enabled other community members to partake in the wider community of online/virtual social networks, allowing them to communicate and share information with those outside their own communities. The study also showed that the Living Lab has enabled the networking of these communities with other sectors such as academia. It was, however, found that so far the existence of the Living Lab has not influenced the already existing local networks in these communities. Also, the study showed that the relationship between these rural communities and their government and industry partners as stakeholders in the Living Lab is currently ineffective. Nevertheless, this situation has a potential to change in the future as there are ICT applications which have been developed through collaboration with rural community members, which will assist in enhancing communication between these rural communities and other stakeholders. The study finally revealed that social networks do contribute to the functioning of communities by providing both monetary and social support to community members, even though, in effect, the monetary benefits are somewhat limited by a number of factors. It is revealed that the engagement of ICT could go a long way in improving social and economic activities, governance and service delivery, as well as education in these communities.
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Tourism and development : a case study of Mdumbi Backpackers and Transcape non-profit organisation
- Authors: Hitchcock, Kelly Alexandra
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Mdumbi Backpackers -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Tourism -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Tourism -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Planning , Backpacking -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Case studies , Black people -- Employment -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Sustainable development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Economic development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3377 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013143
- Description: The former Transkei region of the Eastern Cape of South Africa, in common with many of the other former Bantustans, is currently facing a developmental backlog. It is one of the poorest regions of the country and is a direct product of South Africa’s history of colonisation and geopolitical nature of apartheid in which people were forcibly located onto former tribal lands, called Bantustans. Tourism is one of the few business opportunities providing employment along the former Transkei coast. The tourism industry has been identified by many worldwide as a key strategy that can lead to economic upliftment, community development and poverty relief in the developing world. The predicament however, lies in the challenge of accepting or managing the negative consequences of tourism for the potential long term benefits offered by tourism-led development. Tourism development theory reflects development theory from traditional, top-down economic-growth based models to a more wide based approach with an emphasis on bottom-up planning, meeting of basic human need and a focus on sustainable development. Consequentially new and alternative forms of tourism have emerged and can be viewed as a response to some of the negative consequences of the mass tourism-led model of economic development. Backpacker tourism is one niche of the tourism market that is providing positive local socioeconomic benefits. This thesis is presented as a case study of Mdumbi Backpackers on the former Transkei coast. Mdumbi Backpackers is a unique example of a model of tourism that is providing meaningful benefits to the people who live in this community. By going one step further with the creation of the non-profit organisation Transcape, their involvement in the community has grown significantly, encouraging positive and sustainable development in the areas of social development, education and health. Mdumbi Backpackers goes beyond the notions of locally owned and sustainable approaches and actively encourages development by setting up community organisations and initiatives in a sustainable and equitable way. This approach to tourism-led development is well suited for the needs and objectives of the community as well preserving the natural environment. This thesis presents an exemplary example from which lessons can be learned and applied to developing tourism in a sustainable and equitable way in other rural communities.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Hitchcock, Kelly Alexandra
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Mdumbi Backpackers -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Tourism -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Tourism -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Planning , Backpacking -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Case studies , Black people -- Employment -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Sustainable development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Economic development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3377 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013143
- Description: The former Transkei region of the Eastern Cape of South Africa, in common with many of the other former Bantustans, is currently facing a developmental backlog. It is one of the poorest regions of the country and is a direct product of South Africa’s history of colonisation and geopolitical nature of apartheid in which people were forcibly located onto former tribal lands, called Bantustans. Tourism is one of the few business opportunities providing employment along the former Transkei coast. The tourism industry has been identified by many worldwide as a key strategy that can lead to economic upliftment, community development and poverty relief in the developing world. The predicament however, lies in the challenge of accepting or managing the negative consequences of tourism for the potential long term benefits offered by tourism-led development. Tourism development theory reflects development theory from traditional, top-down economic-growth based models to a more wide based approach with an emphasis on bottom-up planning, meeting of basic human need and a focus on sustainable development. Consequentially new and alternative forms of tourism have emerged and can be viewed as a response to some of the negative consequences of the mass tourism-led model of economic development. Backpacker tourism is one niche of the tourism market that is providing positive local socioeconomic benefits. This thesis is presented as a case study of Mdumbi Backpackers on the former Transkei coast. Mdumbi Backpackers is a unique example of a model of tourism that is providing meaningful benefits to the people who live in this community. By going one step further with the creation of the non-profit organisation Transcape, their involvement in the community has grown significantly, encouraging positive and sustainable development in the areas of social development, education and health. Mdumbi Backpackers goes beyond the notions of locally owned and sustainable approaches and actively encourages development by setting up community organisations and initiatives in a sustainable and equitable way. This approach to tourism-led development is well suited for the needs and objectives of the community as well preserving the natural environment. This thesis presents an exemplary example from which lessons can be learned and applied to developing tourism in a sustainable and equitable way in other rural communities.
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Understanding development aid and state autonomy : the case of European Union budget support to Mozambique
- Authors: Ndlovu, Ana Admiração
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Economic assistance, European -- Mozambique , Economic development -- Mozambique , Mozambique -- Economic conditions , Autonomy , Budget -- Mozambique
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3378 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013218
- Description: Post-colonial states in Africa continue to pursue nation-building and socio-economic development. This process is taking place with the sustained support of global agencies in terms of development cooperation, assistance and aid. Insofar as an endogenous development path which speaks to national priorities can be formulated and implemented by post-colonial states, their relationship with these agencies raises serious questions about such a path if the relationship entails dependence and indeed subordination of post-colonial states. This raises important questions about state autonomy under post-colonial conditions and the possibility of autonomy being compromised. In this light, the thesis examines European Union budget support to Mozambique and, in particular, the relationship between EU budget support and Mozambique state autonomy in pursuing national development. This is particularly pertinent given the massive dependence of the Mozambican state on foreign funding (notably EU funding) with specific regard to the national budget. Despite the broad claims existing in the prevailing literature that nation-state autonomy is seriously undermined in and through the international development system, the thesis argues against reductionist arguments that simply posit post-colonial states as mere instruments of global forces. This system, including European Union budget support, does indeed set the conditions of existence for post-colonial states such as Mozambique. But autonomy is necessarily relative and is subject to different forms and degrees. Ultimately, it is through empirical investigation that the specific form and degree of autonomy can be pinpointed and understood. The thesis contributes to this endeavour and suggests that the relationship between European budget support and Mozambican state autonomy is more complex and tension-riddled than the prevailing literature would seem to suggest.
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- Authors: Ndlovu, Ana Admiração
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Economic assistance, European -- Mozambique , Economic development -- Mozambique , Mozambique -- Economic conditions , Autonomy , Budget -- Mozambique
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3378 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013218
- Description: Post-colonial states in Africa continue to pursue nation-building and socio-economic development. This process is taking place with the sustained support of global agencies in terms of development cooperation, assistance and aid. Insofar as an endogenous development path which speaks to national priorities can be formulated and implemented by post-colonial states, their relationship with these agencies raises serious questions about such a path if the relationship entails dependence and indeed subordination of post-colonial states. This raises important questions about state autonomy under post-colonial conditions and the possibility of autonomy being compromised. In this light, the thesis examines European Union budget support to Mozambique and, in particular, the relationship between EU budget support and Mozambique state autonomy in pursuing national development. This is particularly pertinent given the massive dependence of the Mozambican state on foreign funding (notably EU funding) with specific regard to the national budget. Despite the broad claims existing in the prevailing literature that nation-state autonomy is seriously undermined in and through the international development system, the thesis argues against reductionist arguments that simply posit post-colonial states as mere instruments of global forces. This system, including European Union budget support, does indeed set the conditions of existence for post-colonial states such as Mozambique. But autonomy is necessarily relative and is subject to different forms and degrees. Ultimately, it is through empirical investigation that the specific form and degree of autonomy can be pinpointed and understood. The thesis contributes to this endeavour and suggests that the relationship between European budget support and Mozambican state autonomy is more complex and tension-riddled than the prevailing literature would seem to suggest.
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Understanding the livelihoods of child-grant mothers in Sinathingi in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
- Motsetse, Matsepo Nomathemba
- Authors: Motsetse, Matsepo Nomathemba
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Welfare recipients -- South Africa -- KwaZulu-Natal , Social security -- South Africa , Family policy -- South Africa , Women -- South Africa -- KwaZulu-Natal -- Social conditions , Women -- South Africa -- KwaZulu-Natal -- Economic conditions , Poverty -- South Africa , Income -- South Africa -- KwaZulu-Natal
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3380 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013284
- Description: The main focus of this thesis is the child support grant, as part of a broader social security system, in post-apartheid South Africa. Since the end of apartheid of 1994, the new South African government has sought to redress the racial imbalances and inequalities of the past by engaging in measures of redistribution. Central to this pursuit of redistribution has been a restructured system of social grants, of which the child support grant is the most significant. However, the post-apartheid government has adopted a largely neo-liberal macro-economic strategy such that social inequality and endemic poverty remain pervasive particularly amongst the African population, which includes the recipients of the child support grants. In adopting a sustainable livelihoods framework as the main theoretical perspective, the thesis seeks to understand the livelihoods of child support grant mothers in the face of conditions of extreme poverty. It does this through a localised study of twenty child grant mothers in Sinathingi Township in KwaZulu-Natal Province. In examining the livelihoods of these child-grant mothers, the thesis brings to the fore that mothers and their children do not exist as autonomous living units but are embedded in a broader set of social relations, including intra-household relations and relations with the fathers of the grant-children. It also demonstrates that child-grant mothers are not simply victims of structures of poverty in contemporary South Africa, but actively construct their livelihoods through a range of activities and strategies which show perseverance and ingenuity.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Motsetse, Matsepo Nomathemba
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Welfare recipients -- South Africa -- KwaZulu-Natal , Social security -- South Africa , Family policy -- South Africa , Women -- South Africa -- KwaZulu-Natal -- Social conditions , Women -- South Africa -- KwaZulu-Natal -- Economic conditions , Poverty -- South Africa , Income -- South Africa -- KwaZulu-Natal
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3380 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013284
- Description: The main focus of this thesis is the child support grant, as part of a broader social security system, in post-apartheid South Africa. Since the end of apartheid of 1994, the new South African government has sought to redress the racial imbalances and inequalities of the past by engaging in measures of redistribution. Central to this pursuit of redistribution has been a restructured system of social grants, of which the child support grant is the most significant. However, the post-apartheid government has adopted a largely neo-liberal macro-economic strategy such that social inequality and endemic poverty remain pervasive particularly amongst the African population, which includes the recipients of the child support grants. In adopting a sustainable livelihoods framework as the main theoretical perspective, the thesis seeks to understand the livelihoods of child support grant mothers in the face of conditions of extreme poverty. It does this through a localised study of twenty child grant mothers in Sinathingi Township in KwaZulu-Natal Province. In examining the livelihoods of these child-grant mothers, the thesis brings to the fore that mothers and their children do not exist as autonomous living units but are embedded in a broader set of social relations, including intra-household relations and relations with the fathers of the grant-children. It also demonstrates that child-grant mothers are not simply victims of structures of poverty in contemporary South Africa, but actively construct their livelihoods through a range of activities and strategies which show perseverance and ingenuity.
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Understanding the sexual practices of medically circumcised males in the context of HIV and AIDS : a study in Harare Zimbabwe
- Authors: Chamuka, Paidashe
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Circumcision -- Zimbabwe , Men -- Sexual behavior -- Zimbabwe -- Case studies , AIDS (Disease) -- Zimbabwe -- Prevention , HIV infections -- South Africa -- Prevention
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3363 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011745 , Circumcision -- Zimbabwe , Men -- Sexual behavior -- Zimbabwe -- Case studies , AIDS (Disease) -- Zimbabwe -- Prevention , HIV infections -- South Africa -- Prevention
- Description: Zimbabwe is one of the priority countries nominated by the World Health Organisation and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS to adopt and implement voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) because of its high rate of HIV prevalence and its low level of male circumcision. VMMC, which was introduced in Zimbabwe in 2009, is a new HIV prevention method which reportedly offers partial protection of about 60 percent for circumcised males with respect to contracting HIV through sexual relations. The other key prevention method, namely the use of condoms consistently and correctly, has a protection rate of up to 95 percent. As a result, because of only partial protection, medically-circumcised men are encouraged to use condoms to decrease the chances of HIV infection. Concerns though have been raised about the possibility of risk compensation by circumcised males by way of increases in unsafe or risky sexual practices subsequent to circumcision and arising from perceptions of reduced risk through VMMC. This compensation may take the form of condom use aversion including when involved with concurrent sexual partners. If risk compensation does take place, this would lead to increases in HIV transmissions affecting not only the circumcised men but their sexual partners as well. The supposed effectiveness of VMMC as a HIV prevention method has been subjected to significant criticism and, as yet, no significant study has been undertaken in Zimbabwe on the relationship between VMMC, condom use, concurrent sexual partners and risk compensation. Based on a study of twenty-five medically-circumcised males in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, this thesis seeks to understand and explain the relationship between voluntary medical male circumcision and risky sexual practices with particular reference to condom use amongst men engaged in concurrent sexual partnerships. While the thesis finds evidence of risky sexual practices subsequent to circumcision, risk compensation does not seem to be particularly prevalent.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Chamuka, Paidashe
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Circumcision -- Zimbabwe , Men -- Sexual behavior -- Zimbabwe -- Case studies , AIDS (Disease) -- Zimbabwe -- Prevention , HIV infections -- South Africa -- Prevention
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3363 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011745 , Circumcision -- Zimbabwe , Men -- Sexual behavior -- Zimbabwe -- Case studies , AIDS (Disease) -- Zimbabwe -- Prevention , HIV infections -- South Africa -- Prevention
- Description: Zimbabwe is one of the priority countries nominated by the World Health Organisation and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS to adopt and implement voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) because of its high rate of HIV prevalence and its low level of male circumcision. VMMC, which was introduced in Zimbabwe in 2009, is a new HIV prevention method which reportedly offers partial protection of about 60 percent for circumcised males with respect to contracting HIV through sexual relations. The other key prevention method, namely the use of condoms consistently and correctly, has a protection rate of up to 95 percent. As a result, because of only partial protection, medically-circumcised men are encouraged to use condoms to decrease the chances of HIV infection. Concerns though have been raised about the possibility of risk compensation by circumcised males by way of increases in unsafe or risky sexual practices subsequent to circumcision and arising from perceptions of reduced risk through VMMC. This compensation may take the form of condom use aversion including when involved with concurrent sexual partners. If risk compensation does take place, this would lead to increases in HIV transmissions affecting not only the circumcised men but their sexual partners as well. The supposed effectiveness of VMMC as a HIV prevention method has been subjected to significant criticism and, as yet, no significant study has been undertaken in Zimbabwe on the relationship between VMMC, condom use, concurrent sexual partners and risk compensation. Based on a study of twenty-five medically-circumcised males in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, this thesis seeks to understand and explain the relationship between voluntary medical male circumcision and risky sexual practices with particular reference to condom use amongst men engaged in concurrent sexual partnerships. While the thesis finds evidence of risky sexual practices subsequent to circumcision, risk compensation does not seem to be particularly prevalent.
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A critical analysis of sustainable human settlement in housing: the case of Hlalani, South Africa
- Authors: Nkambule, Sipho Jonathan
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Human settlements -- South Africa , Black people -- Housing -- South Africa -- Grahamstown
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3334 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003740 , Human settlements -- South Africa , Black people -- Housing -- South Africa -- Grahamstown
- Description: As a result of apartheid’s history, the current South African government was initially faced with two major challenges in the development of sustainable human settlement in urban areas: delivering the quantity of houses needed to reduce the massive housing backlog (notably in black townships) and overcoming the problem of racially-based spatial separation inherited from the apartheid era. To rectify the legacies of apartheid, the state has sought to pursue a massive housing programme in urban areas for poor urban blacks. In doing so, though, it has worked within the confines of the racially-segregated South African city and has adopted a macro-economic policy with a pronounced neo-liberal thrust. This thesis examines the South African state’s housing programme with reference to questions about social sustainability and specifically sustainable human settlements. It does so by highlighting social capital and the different forms it takes, notably bonding, binding and linking capitals. This is pursued through a case study of a small area of a black township in Grahamstown called Hlalani. The case focuses on the lived experiences of Hlalani residents and their intra-household and inter-household relations as well as their linkages with local state structures. It is concluded that social capital is weak and incipient in Hlalani and that Hlalani could not, by any definition or measurement of the term, be labeled as a sustainable human settlement.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Nkambule, Sipho Jonathan
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Human settlements -- South Africa , Black people -- Housing -- South Africa -- Grahamstown
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3334 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003740 , Human settlements -- South Africa , Black people -- Housing -- South Africa -- Grahamstown
- Description: As a result of apartheid’s history, the current South African government was initially faced with two major challenges in the development of sustainable human settlement in urban areas: delivering the quantity of houses needed to reduce the massive housing backlog (notably in black townships) and overcoming the problem of racially-based spatial separation inherited from the apartheid era. To rectify the legacies of apartheid, the state has sought to pursue a massive housing programme in urban areas for poor urban blacks. In doing so, though, it has worked within the confines of the racially-segregated South African city and has adopted a macro-economic policy with a pronounced neo-liberal thrust. This thesis examines the South African state’s housing programme with reference to questions about social sustainability and specifically sustainable human settlements. It does so by highlighting social capital and the different forms it takes, notably bonding, binding and linking capitals. This is pursued through a case study of a small area of a black township in Grahamstown called Hlalani. The case focuses on the lived experiences of Hlalani residents and their intra-household and inter-household relations as well as their linkages with local state structures. It is concluded that social capital is weak and incipient in Hlalani and that Hlalani could not, by any definition or measurement of the term, be labeled as a sustainable human settlement.
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Coping with HIV and AIDS in marginal communities: a case study of Chivanhu Settlement in Nemanwa, Masvingo, Zimbabwe
- Authors: Makonese, Loveness
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3337 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003744
- Description: This thesis seeks to understand and analyse HIV and AIDS and rural livelihoods in Zimbabwe with particular reference to an isolated and marginalised informal settlement called Chivanhu in Masvingo Province. The focus is specifically on questions around HIV susceptibility, AIDS vulnerability and household resilience. In this regard, it is important to recognise that HIV and AIDS cannot be lumped together as one medical or social condition. Rather, there is a progression from HIV infection to AIDS-related chronic illnesses to possible death, and livelihood strategies often alter along this HIV and AIDS time-line. Zimbabwe for over a decade now has gone through a series of economic and political crises which have impacted detrimentally on both urban and rural livelihoods, even for those households which are not directly affected by the HIV and AIDS pandemic. With the economy in free-fall, households have had to pursue a range of livelihood strategies in order to sustain themselves. These socio-economic conditions have in many ways facilitated susceptibility to HIV infection and vulnerability to AIDS. Many studies have examined this in relation to wellentrenched and stable communities in rural Zimbabwe. But the livelihood dynamics for such communities are significantly different to more unstable and informal settlements like Chivanhu, as thesis seeks to show. At the same time, the thesis offers a longitudinal study which is able to map the changes to the livelihoods of infected and affected households in Chivanhu. Though recognising the debilitating effects of the pandemic on these households, it also raises questions about the possible resilience of certain households despite great adversity. In doing so, it goes beyond the individual and household levels of analysis to consider the role of clusters (or groups of households) in responding to the impacts of HIV and AIDS. In this regard, particular emphasis is placed on gender and orphanhood. In the end, the thesis offers a nuanced analysis of the everyday complexities and challenges for affected households in a marginalised and informal rural community in Zimbabwe and thereby makes a contribution to re-theorising HIV and AIDS and rural livelihoods more broadly.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Makonese, Loveness
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3337 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003744
- Description: This thesis seeks to understand and analyse HIV and AIDS and rural livelihoods in Zimbabwe with particular reference to an isolated and marginalised informal settlement called Chivanhu in Masvingo Province. The focus is specifically on questions around HIV susceptibility, AIDS vulnerability and household resilience. In this regard, it is important to recognise that HIV and AIDS cannot be lumped together as one medical or social condition. Rather, there is a progression from HIV infection to AIDS-related chronic illnesses to possible death, and livelihood strategies often alter along this HIV and AIDS time-line. Zimbabwe for over a decade now has gone through a series of economic and political crises which have impacted detrimentally on both urban and rural livelihoods, even for those households which are not directly affected by the HIV and AIDS pandemic. With the economy in free-fall, households have had to pursue a range of livelihood strategies in order to sustain themselves. These socio-economic conditions have in many ways facilitated susceptibility to HIV infection and vulnerability to AIDS. Many studies have examined this in relation to wellentrenched and stable communities in rural Zimbabwe. But the livelihood dynamics for such communities are significantly different to more unstable and informal settlements like Chivanhu, as thesis seeks to show. At the same time, the thesis offers a longitudinal study which is able to map the changes to the livelihoods of infected and affected households in Chivanhu. Though recognising the debilitating effects of the pandemic on these households, it also raises questions about the possible resilience of certain households despite great adversity. In doing so, it goes beyond the individual and household levels of analysis to consider the role of clusters (or groups of households) in responding to the impacts of HIV and AIDS. In this regard, particular emphasis is placed on gender and orphanhood. In the end, the thesis offers a nuanced analysis of the everyday complexities and challenges for affected households in a marginalised and informal rural community in Zimbabwe and thereby makes a contribution to re-theorising HIV and AIDS and rural livelihoods more broadly.
- Full Text:
Rural livelihoods and adherence to HIV and AIDS antiretroviral therapy in Chivanhu Settlement, Nemamwa Village in Masvingo District, Zimbabwe
- Authors: Wapinduka, Tendai
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: AIDS (Disease) -- Social aspects -- Zimbabwe -- Masvingo Rural development -- Zimbabwe -- Masvingo AIDS (Disease) -- Treatment -- Zimbabwe -- Masvingo Antiretroviral agents -- Zimbabwe -- Masvingo
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3336 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003743
- Description: The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) epidemic has had massive detrimental impacts on rural communities across Africa including in Zimbabwe. In response to the HIV and AIDS epidemic, the government of Zimbabwe has developed and adopted comprehensive programmes to address HIV and AIDS prevention, care and support. One of the critical components of these programmes relates specifically to treatment of the HIV infected given that HIV and AIDS is increasingly seen as a manageable threatening disease. However the success and effectiveness of the treatment regimen (involving antiretroviral drugs or ARVs) is dependent heavily on complete adherence to the rigid and complex regimens. It is against this background that this thesis studies a particular rural community in Zimbabwe called Chivanhu (in Masvingo Province) in terms of the relationship between rural livelihoods and HIV and AIDS (particularly HIV treatment and treatment adherence). Unlike other rural communities (notably in communal areas), Chivanhu is an informal and unstable community with a turbulent history. Most rural studies of HIV and AIDS in Zimbabwe and elsewhere in the region have focused on well-established and stable communities in which agricultural production is still of some significance. In such communities, the impact of HIV and AIDS on livelihoods is severe but, in more informal settlements, the vulnerability of households to the epidemic (and challenges pertaining to treatment adherence) is even more pronounced. Using a rural livelihoods framework, this thesis seeks to identify, understand and analyse the conditions which shape levels of adherence to HIV and AIDS in the informalsettlement of Chivanhu in Zimbabwe.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Wapinduka, Tendai
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: AIDS (Disease) -- Social aspects -- Zimbabwe -- Masvingo Rural development -- Zimbabwe -- Masvingo AIDS (Disease) -- Treatment -- Zimbabwe -- Masvingo Antiretroviral agents -- Zimbabwe -- Masvingo
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3336 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003743
- Description: The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) epidemic has had massive detrimental impacts on rural communities across Africa including in Zimbabwe. In response to the HIV and AIDS epidemic, the government of Zimbabwe has developed and adopted comprehensive programmes to address HIV and AIDS prevention, care and support. One of the critical components of these programmes relates specifically to treatment of the HIV infected given that HIV and AIDS is increasingly seen as a manageable threatening disease. However the success and effectiveness of the treatment regimen (involving antiretroviral drugs or ARVs) is dependent heavily on complete adherence to the rigid and complex regimens. It is against this background that this thesis studies a particular rural community in Zimbabwe called Chivanhu (in Masvingo Province) in terms of the relationship between rural livelihoods and HIV and AIDS (particularly HIV treatment and treatment adherence). Unlike other rural communities (notably in communal areas), Chivanhu is an informal and unstable community with a turbulent history. Most rural studies of HIV and AIDS in Zimbabwe and elsewhere in the region have focused on well-established and stable communities in which agricultural production is still of some significance. In such communities, the impact of HIV and AIDS on livelihoods is severe but, in more informal settlements, the vulnerability of households to the epidemic (and challenges pertaining to treatment adherence) is even more pronounced. Using a rural livelihoods framework, this thesis seeks to identify, understand and analyse the conditions which shape levels of adherence to HIV and AIDS in the informalsettlement of Chivanhu in Zimbabwe.
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Trade union responses to the casualisation of labour in the Eastern Cape
- Authors: Loni, Kholosa Siphe
- Date: 2013 , 2013-04-23
- Subjects: Labor unions -- Research -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Casual labor -- Research -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Precarious employment -- Research -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Temporary employees -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- Research -- South Africa Industrial relations -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Labor and globalization
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3286 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003056
- Description: This thesis focuses on trade union responses to casualisation of labour in the Eastern Cape. In the context of increased globalization, some employers have attempted to achieve high production outputs while saving on operational costs. The ‘flexible firm’ model is used as but one theory to explain increased flexibility in the workplace. In an effort to achieve increasingly flexible firms that may swiftly respond to subsequent challenges such as increased international competition, employers have been seen incorporating more non-standard workers in the form of casual, temporary, part-time, and seasonal workers. This has been a matter of concern for the unions for numerous reasons: some nonstandard workers are subjected to sub-standard working conditions, irregular working hours and little or no benefits; casual work is arranged in such a way that it is virtually impossible for these workers to join a union – a predicament which bears a high possibility of a decline in the typically standard worker–based membership of trade unions; and non-standard workers are often faced with the representation gap predicament which entails that they are not adequately protected by labour legislation. The thesis explores the responses of trade unions to these challenges, and the proposals that they have made in this regard, by focusing on the sectoral dynamics of non-standard labour in the province. It further discusses the regulation of non-standard labour, as poor representation of some non-standard workers bears consequences for the regulation of the practice of non-standard work. The research adopted qualitative research techniques in the form of semi-structured interviews, and used purposive and snowball sampling in accessing relevant data for analysis purposes.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Loni, Kholosa Siphe
- Date: 2013 , 2013-04-23
- Subjects: Labor unions -- Research -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Casual labor -- Research -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Precarious employment -- Research -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Temporary employees -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- Research -- South Africa Industrial relations -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Labor and globalization
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3286 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003056
- Description: This thesis focuses on trade union responses to casualisation of labour in the Eastern Cape. In the context of increased globalization, some employers have attempted to achieve high production outputs while saving on operational costs. The ‘flexible firm’ model is used as but one theory to explain increased flexibility in the workplace. In an effort to achieve increasingly flexible firms that may swiftly respond to subsequent challenges such as increased international competition, employers have been seen incorporating more non-standard workers in the form of casual, temporary, part-time, and seasonal workers. This has been a matter of concern for the unions for numerous reasons: some nonstandard workers are subjected to sub-standard working conditions, irregular working hours and little or no benefits; casual work is arranged in such a way that it is virtually impossible for these workers to join a union – a predicament which bears a high possibility of a decline in the typically standard worker–based membership of trade unions; and non-standard workers are often faced with the representation gap predicament which entails that they are not adequately protected by labour legislation. The thesis explores the responses of trade unions to these challenges, and the proposals that they have made in this regard, by focusing on the sectoral dynamics of non-standard labour in the province. It further discusses the regulation of non-standard labour, as poor representation of some non-standard workers bears consequences for the regulation of the practice of non-standard work. The research adopted qualitative research techniques in the form of semi-structured interviews, and used purposive and snowball sampling in accessing relevant data for analysis purposes.
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Understanding livelihood strategies of urban women traders : a case of Magaba, Harare in Zimbabwe
- Authors: Chirau, Takunda John
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Street vendors -- Zimbabwe -- Harare Women -- Zimbabwe -- Harare -- Social conditions Women -- Zimbabwe -- Harare -- Economic conditions Urban poor -- Zimbabwe -- Harare
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3335 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003742
- Description: This thesis seeks to understand and analyze the livelihood strategies of urban women traders at Magaba in Harare (Zimbabwe) in the context of the contemporary economic and political crisis. The crisis emerged in the 1990s with the introduction of a structural adjustment programme and deepened further with the fast track land reform programme initiated by the Zimbabwean government in the year 2000. The crisis has involved a down-sizing of the Zimbabwean economy and a massive rise in the rate of unemployment in the formal economy. Consequently urban life became increasingly unbearable for poor blacks and informal economic activities blossomed and started to make a significant contribution to household income and livelihoods. The role of women in the informal economy was particularly pronounced. Theoretically, the thesis is underpinned by the sustainable livelihoods framework. In examining the vulnerability context of the Magaba women traders and the institutional interventions which complicate the lives and livelihoods of these traders, I identify and unpack their diverse livelihood activities and strategies and the resources (or assets) they deploy in constructing urban livelihoods. Though their livelihood portfolios complement any earnings from formal employment by household members and though they contribute to their household’s sustenance, there are a number of daily challenges which they face in their trading activities and which they seek to counteract through a range of often ingenious coping mechanisms. The thesis is important for a number of reasons. It fills an important empirical gap in the study of Magaba market specifically, it brings to the fore the gendered character of the informal trading activities in urban Zimbabwe, and it deploys the livelihoods framework in a manner which is sensitive to both structure and agency.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Chirau, Takunda John
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Street vendors -- Zimbabwe -- Harare Women -- Zimbabwe -- Harare -- Social conditions Women -- Zimbabwe -- Harare -- Economic conditions Urban poor -- Zimbabwe -- Harare
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3335 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003742
- Description: This thesis seeks to understand and analyze the livelihood strategies of urban women traders at Magaba in Harare (Zimbabwe) in the context of the contemporary economic and political crisis. The crisis emerged in the 1990s with the introduction of a structural adjustment programme and deepened further with the fast track land reform programme initiated by the Zimbabwean government in the year 2000. The crisis has involved a down-sizing of the Zimbabwean economy and a massive rise in the rate of unemployment in the formal economy. Consequently urban life became increasingly unbearable for poor blacks and informal economic activities blossomed and started to make a significant contribution to household income and livelihoods. The role of women in the informal economy was particularly pronounced. Theoretically, the thesis is underpinned by the sustainable livelihoods framework. In examining the vulnerability context of the Magaba women traders and the institutional interventions which complicate the lives and livelihoods of these traders, I identify and unpack their diverse livelihood activities and strategies and the resources (or assets) they deploy in constructing urban livelihoods. Though their livelihood portfolios complement any earnings from formal employment by household members and though they contribute to their household’s sustenance, there are a number of daily challenges which they face in their trading activities and which they seek to counteract through a range of often ingenious coping mechanisms. The thesis is important for a number of reasons. It fills an important empirical gap in the study of Magaba market specifically, it brings to the fore the gendered character of the informal trading activities in urban Zimbabwe, and it deploys the livelihoods framework in a manner which is sensitive to both structure and agency.
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Cash transfers and poverty reduction in South Africa: a case study of old age pensions
- Authors: Kasere, Gayle Farai
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Poverty -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Poverty -- Grahamstown -- Eastern Cape Social security -- South Africa Pensions -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3321 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003109
- Description: Social assistance in the form of cash grants is a large and fiscally costly component of anti-poverty policy in South Africa. A critical question arises: Are the grants effective tools for reducing poverty in South Africa and, moreover, how significant is their impact on poverty? As a measure of reducing poverty, the government has expanded the social grants system since the advent of the new democracy in 1994. The country's social grant system is quite comprehensive and it is intended to cover vulnerable individuals over their life course from childhood to adulthood and into old age. Policy discourse surrounding the grants centres on the sustainability of the system and its implications for socio-economic development and poverty alleviation. It is therefore important that the significance of grants is identified and assessed particularly in relation to very poor households. This dissertation focuses specifically on one particular grant, namely, the old age pension. It does so in the context of the sustainable livelihoods conceptual framework and the history of the social grant system in South Africa. Statistical data collected by the South African government as well as more localised evidence gathered in the Eastern Cape town of Grahamstown is used to ascertain the significance of old age pensions for poverty reduction. While there is some evidence to suggest that pensions contribute to poverty reduction, this does not translate into poverty alleviation. In fact, there is some unevenness in the impact of pensions on poverty. In this regard, the decision-making structures in poor households regularly influence the way pension money is allocated and used within households. Grant money is normally shared in extended households, such that the pension does not simply benefit the recipient but the recipient's household as a whole. Although there is cause for concern regarding the propensity of social grants to affect people's behaviour negatively, there is a case to be made for retaining grants as an important, though not the only, form of anti-poverty strategy. This highlights the need for continued research on the social grant system and pensions more specifically.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Kasere, Gayle Farai
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Poverty -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Poverty -- Grahamstown -- Eastern Cape Social security -- South Africa Pensions -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3321 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003109
- Description: Social assistance in the form of cash grants is a large and fiscally costly component of anti-poverty policy in South Africa. A critical question arises: Are the grants effective tools for reducing poverty in South Africa and, moreover, how significant is their impact on poverty? As a measure of reducing poverty, the government has expanded the social grants system since the advent of the new democracy in 1994. The country's social grant system is quite comprehensive and it is intended to cover vulnerable individuals over their life course from childhood to adulthood and into old age. Policy discourse surrounding the grants centres on the sustainability of the system and its implications for socio-economic development and poverty alleviation. It is therefore important that the significance of grants is identified and assessed particularly in relation to very poor households. This dissertation focuses specifically on one particular grant, namely, the old age pension. It does so in the context of the sustainable livelihoods conceptual framework and the history of the social grant system in South Africa. Statistical data collected by the South African government as well as more localised evidence gathered in the Eastern Cape town of Grahamstown is used to ascertain the significance of old age pensions for poverty reduction. While there is some evidence to suggest that pensions contribute to poverty reduction, this does not translate into poverty alleviation. In fact, there is some unevenness in the impact of pensions on poverty. In this regard, the decision-making structures in poor households regularly influence the way pension money is allocated and used within households. Grant money is normally shared in extended households, such that the pension does not simply benefit the recipient but the recipient's household as a whole. Although there is cause for concern regarding the propensity of social grants to affect people's behaviour negatively, there is a case to be made for retaining grants as an important, though not the only, form of anti-poverty strategy. This highlights the need for continued research on the social grant system and pensions more specifically.
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Farm level institutions in emergent communities in post fast track Zimbabwe: case of Mazowe district
- Authors: Chiweshe, Manase Kudzai
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Land reform -- Zimbabwe -- History -- 21st century Land settlement -- Social aspects -- Zimbabwe Zimbabwe -- Social conditions -- 1980- Zimbabwe -- Economic conditions Zimbabwe -- Politics and government -- 1980-
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3308 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003096
- Description: The thesis seeks to understand how emerging communities borne out of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme in Zimbabwe have been able to ensure social cohesion and social service provision using farm level institutions. The Fast Track Programme brought together people from diverse backgrounds into new communities in the former commercial farming areas. The formation of new communities meant that, often, there were 'stranger households'living next to each other. Since 2000, these people have been involved in various processes aimed at turning clusters of homesteads into functioning communities through farm level institutions. Fast track land reform precipitated economic and political crisis in Zimbabwe characterised by a rapidly devaluating Zimbabwean dollar, enormous inflation and high unemployment figures. This economic crisis has impacted heavily on new farmers who find it increasingly difficult to afford inputs and access loans. They have formed social networks in response to these challenges, taking the form of farm level institutions such as farm committees, irrigation committees and health committees. The study uses case studies from small-scale 'A1 farmers‘ in Mazowe district which is in Mashonaland Central Province. It employs qualitative methodologies to enable a nuanced understanding of associational life in the new communities. Through focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, narratives, key informant interviews and institutional mapping the study outlines the formation, taxonomy, activities, roles, internal dynamics and social organisation of farm level institutions. The study also uses secondary data collected in 2007-08 by the Centre for Rural Development in the newly resettled areas in Mazowe. The major finding of the study is that farmers are organising in novel ways at grassroots levels to meet everyday challenges. These institutional forms however are internally weak, lacking leadership with a clear vision and they appear as if they are transitory in nature. They remain marginalised from national and global processes and isolated from critical connections to policy makers at all levels; thus A1 farmers remain voiceless and unable to have their interests addressed. Farm level institutions are at the forefront of the microeconomics of survival among these rural farmers. They are survivalist in nature and form, and this requires a major shift in focus if they are to be involved in developmental work. The institutions remain fragmented and compete amongst themselves for services from government without uniting as A1 farmers with similar interests and challenges.
- Full Text:
Farm level institutions in emergent communities in post fast track Zimbabwe: case of Mazowe district
- Authors: Chiweshe, Manase Kudzai
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Land reform -- Zimbabwe -- History -- 21st century Land settlement -- Social aspects -- Zimbabwe Zimbabwe -- Social conditions -- 1980- Zimbabwe -- Economic conditions Zimbabwe -- Politics and government -- 1980-
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3308 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003096
- Description: The thesis seeks to understand how emerging communities borne out of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme in Zimbabwe have been able to ensure social cohesion and social service provision using farm level institutions. The Fast Track Programme brought together people from diverse backgrounds into new communities in the former commercial farming areas. The formation of new communities meant that, often, there were 'stranger households'living next to each other. Since 2000, these people have been involved in various processes aimed at turning clusters of homesteads into functioning communities through farm level institutions. Fast track land reform precipitated economic and political crisis in Zimbabwe characterised by a rapidly devaluating Zimbabwean dollar, enormous inflation and high unemployment figures. This economic crisis has impacted heavily on new farmers who find it increasingly difficult to afford inputs and access loans. They have formed social networks in response to these challenges, taking the form of farm level institutions such as farm committees, irrigation committees and health committees. The study uses case studies from small-scale 'A1 farmers‘ in Mazowe district which is in Mashonaland Central Province. It employs qualitative methodologies to enable a nuanced understanding of associational life in the new communities. Through focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, narratives, key informant interviews and institutional mapping the study outlines the formation, taxonomy, activities, roles, internal dynamics and social organisation of farm level institutions. The study also uses secondary data collected in 2007-08 by the Centre for Rural Development in the newly resettled areas in Mazowe. The major finding of the study is that farmers are organising in novel ways at grassroots levels to meet everyday challenges. These institutional forms however are internally weak, lacking leadership with a clear vision and they appear as if they are transitory in nature. They remain marginalised from national and global processes and isolated from critical connections to policy makers at all levels; thus A1 farmers remain voiceless and unable to have their interests addressed. Farm level institutions are at the forefront of the microeconomics of survival among these rural farmers. They are survivalist in nature and form, and this requires a major shift in focus if they are to be involved in developmental work. The institutions remain fragmented and compete amongst themselves for services from government without uniting as A1 farmers with similar interests and challenges.
- Full Text:
Fast track land reform programme and women in Goromonzi district, Zimbabwe
- Authors: Chakona, Loveness
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Land reform -- Research -- Zimbabwe Land settlement -- Government policy -- Zimbabwe Land reform beneficiaries -- Zimbabwe Sex discrimination against women -- Zimbabwe Women's rights -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3317 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003105
- Description: From the year 2000, land became the key signifier for tackling the unfinished business of the decolonisation process in Zimbabwe, notably by rectifying the racially-based land injustices of the past through land redistribution. This took the form of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP). However, the racialised character and focus of the FTLRP tended to mask or at least downplay important gender dimensions to land in Zimbabwe. Colonial and post-colonial Zimbabwe (up to 2000) had instigated, propagated and reproduced land ownership, control and access along a distinctively patriarchal basis which left women either totally excluded or incorporated in an oppressive manner. This patriarchal structuring of the land question was rooted in institutions, practices and discourses. Although a burgeoning number of studies have been undertaken on the FTLRP, few have had a distinctively gender focus in seeking to identify, examine and assess the effect of the programme on patriarchal relations and the socio-economic livelihoods of rural women. This thesis makes a contribution to filling this lacuna by offering an empirically-rich study of land redistribution in one particular district in Zimbabwe, namely, Goromonzi District. This entails a focus on women on A1 resettlement farms in the district (and specifically women who came from nearby customary areas) and on women who continue to live in customary areas in the district. My thesis concludes that the FTLRP is seriously flawed in terms of addressing and tackling the patriarchal structures that underpin the Zimbabwean land question.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Chakona, Loveness
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Land reform -- Research -- Zimbabwe Land settlement -- Government policy -- Zimbabwe Land reform beneficiaries -- Zimbabwe Sex discrimination against women -- Zimbabwe Women's rights -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3317 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003105
- Description: From the year 2000, land became the key signifier for tackling the unfinished business of the decolonisation process in Zimbabwe, notably by rectifying the racially-based land injustices of the past through land redistribution. This took the form of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP). However, the racialised character and focus of the FTLRP tended to mask or at least downplay important gender dimensions to land in Zimbabwe. Colonial and post-colonial Zimbabwe (up to 2000) had instigated, propagated and reproduced land ownership, control and access along a distinctively patriarchal basis which left women either totally excluded or incorporated in an oppressive manner. This patriarchal structuring of the land question was rooted in institutions, practices and discourses. Although a burgeoning number of studies have been undertaken on the FTLRP, few have had a distinctively gender focus in seeking to identify, examine and assess the effect of the programme on patriarchal relations and the socio-economic livelihoods of rural women. This thesis makes a contribution to filling this lacuna by offering an empirically-rich study of land redistribution in one particular district in Zimbabwe, namely, Goromonzi District. This entails a focus on women on A1 resettlement farms in the district (and specifically women who came from nearby customary areas) and on women who continue to live in customary areas in the district. My thesis concludes that the FTLRP is seriously flawed in terms of addressing and tackling the patriarchal structures that underpin the Zimbabwean land question.
- Full Text:
Quality of work and work life: understanding the work ethic of medical professionals in selected hospitals in the Eastern Cape region of South Africa
- Authors: Kwizera, Alice Stella
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Hospitals -- Medical staff -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Work ethic -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Medical personnel -- Job satisfaction -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Protestant work ethic
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3323 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003111
- Description: This thesis reports a study of work ethic values, beliefs and attitudes held by medical professionals in selected hospitals in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The study was in response to the public outcry about the declining work ethic and poor service delivery in South Africa’s healthcare sector. Scholarly interest in the work ethic and its role in economic development dates back to Max Weber’s classical work, which was the starting point for my study. The German economic sociologist published his seminal essay on The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism in 1904/1905. Since that time, Weber’s ideas on the Protestant work ethic continue to inform and influence studies of the contemporary work ethic, which is thought to have become secularised. My study was informed by data collected in 2009 through a questionnaire survey and personal interviews. A total of 174 doctors and nurses, working in four urban, periurban and rural hospitals near East London, completed a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire replicated the Multi-Dimensional Work Ethic Profile (MWEP) developed by Miller, Woehr and Hudspeth in 2001/2002. The instrument examines seven critical dimensions of the work ethic, namely self-reliance, morality, (foregoing) leisure, hard work, centrality of work in life, not wasting time, and delay of gratification. In addition, I conducted personal interviews in the same four hospitals with 41 hospital managers, doctors, nurses, and patients to discuss their understanding of the work ethic and its practical application. The study found that both doctors’ and nurses’ overall work ethic scores on the MWEP scale were above average. Although there was no significant difference between the overall work ethic scores of the two professions, doctors scored significantly higher than nurses on the ‘hard work’ and ‘self reliance’ dimensions of the work ethic scale. In the qualitative study, the doctors’ work ethic was rated much more highly than the nurses’ by their superiors and patients; and the work ethic of nurses in the urban hospitals was rated much lower than that of their rural colleagues. In contradiction to the idea of the secularization of the contemporary work ethic, religiosity and religious beliefs were influential in the endorsement of work ethic principles. In line with the notion that ‘happy’ workers are more productive, job and life satisfaction were found to be strong correlates of the work ethic of medical professionals.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Kwizera, Alice Stella
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Hospitals -- Medical staff -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Work ethic -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Medical personnel -- Job satisfaction -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Protestant work ethic
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3323 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003111
- Description: This thesis reports a study of work ethic values, beliefs and attitudes held by medical professionals in selected hospitals in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The study was in response to the public outcry about the declining work ethic and poor service delivery in South Africa’s healthcare sector. Scholarly interest in the work ethic and its role in economic development dates back to Max Weber’s classical work, which was the starting point for my study. The German economic sociologist published his seminal essay on The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism in 1904/1905. Since that time, Weber’s ideas on the Protestant work ethic continue to inform and influence studies of the contemporary work ethic, which is thought to have become secularised. My study was informed by data collected in 2009 through a questionnaire survey and personal interviews. A total of 174 doctors and nurses, working in four urban, periurban and rural hospitals near East London, completed a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire replicated the Multi-Dimensional Work Ethic Profile (MWEP) developed by Miller, Woehr and Hudspeth in 2001/2002. The instrument examines seven critical dimensions of the work ethic, namely self-reliance, morality, (foregoing) leisure, hard work, centrality of work in life, not wasting time, and delay of gratification. In addition, I conducted personal interviews in the same four hospitals with 41 hospital managers, doctors, nurses, and patients to discuss their understanding of the work ethic and its practical application. The study found that both doctors’ and nurses’ overall work ethic scores on the MWEP scale were above average. Although there was no significant difference between the overall work ethic scores of the two professions, doctors scored significantly higher than nurses on the ‘hard work’ and ‘self reliance’ dimensions of the work ethic scale. In the qualitative study, the doctors’ work ethic was rated much more highly than the nurses’ by their superiors and patients; and the work ethic of nurses in the urban hospitals was rated much lower than that of their rural colleagues. In contradiction to the idea of the secularization of the contemporary work ethic, religiosity and religious beliefs were influential in the endorsement of work ethic principles. In line with the notion that ‘happy’ workers are more productive, job and life satisfaction were found to be strong correlates of the work ethic of medical professionals.
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Ruth First in Mozambique: portrait of a scholar
- Authors: Tebello, Letsekha
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: First, Ruth, 1925-1982 Universidade Eduardo Mondlane Women political activists -- South Africa Journalists -- South Africa Anti-apartheid movements -- South Africa Government, Resistance to -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3320 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003108
- Description: Ruth First was an activist, journalist and sociologist trained by experience and credentialed by her numerous publications. Having lived most of her adult life as an intellectual and activist, First died in August 1982 at the hands of a regime and its supporters who intensely detested all these pursuits. This research project sketches the intellectual contributions made by the South African sociologist during her time at the Centre of African Studies at Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique. Her life like the newspaper she edited in the early 1970s was a Fighting Talk and this research project is about celebrating that life and valorising some of the life’s work that she left behind. Making use of qualitative research methods such as archiving, semi-structured interviews and contents analysis, this thesis sought to document Ruth First’s intellectual interventions while at the Centre of African Studies. Engaging with her work while she was in Mozambique and inserting her intellectual contributions, which like those of many African scholars have given way to debates from the global North, into our curriculum would perhaps be the real refutation of the assassin's bomb. This engagement is also crucial as it extends much further than the striking accolades which take the form of buildings and lectures established in her honour.
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- Authors: Tebello, Letsekha
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: First, Ruth, 1925-1982 Universidade Eduardo Mondlane Women political activists -- South Africa Journalists -- South Africa Anti-apartheid movements -- South Africa Government, Resistance to -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3320 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003108
- Description: Ruth First was an activist, journalist and sociologist trained by experience and credentialed by her numerous publications. Having lived most of her adult life as an intellectual and activist, First died in August 1982 at the hands of a regime and its supporters who intensely detested all these pursuits. This research project sketches the intellectual contributions made by the South African sociologist during her time at the Centre of African Studies at Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique. Her life like the newspaper she edited in the early 1970s was a Fighting Talk and this research project is about celebrating that life and valorising some of the life’s work that she left behind. Making use of qualitative research methods such as archiving, semi-structured interviews and contents analysis, this thesis sought to document Ruth First’s intellectual interventions while at the Centre of African Studies. Engaging with her work while she was in Mozambique and inserting her intellectual contributions, which like those of many African scholars have given way to debates from the global North, into our curriculum would perhaps be the real refutation of the assassin's bomb. This engagement is also crucial as it extends much further than the striking accolades which take the form of buildings and lectures established in her honour.
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Smashing the crystal ball: post-structural insights associated with contemporary anarchism and the revision of blueprint utopianism
- Authors: Alexander, Tarryn Linda
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Social change , Utopian socialism -- Philosophy , Utopias -- Philosophy , Anarchism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3311 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003099 , Social change , Utopian socialism -- Philosophy , Utopias -- Philosophy , Anarchism
- Description: This thesis is an exploration of the images which define revolution's meaning. It suggests a possible shifting of emphasis from the scientific imaginary which centres on identifying the correct way to totalising revolution, towards a post-structuralist-anarchistic imaginary which privileges prefigurative radicalisations of social relations in the here and now. It looks specifically at how the field of post-structuralism intertwines with historically anarchist concepts to generate an horizon of social change animated by experimental and open-ended transformations. While the thesis offers positive characterisations of the types of contemporary movements, tactics and principles which embody the change from closed to open utopianism, it is chiefly a commentary on the role of theory in depicting the complexity of relations on the ground and the danger of proposing one totalising pathway from one state of society to another. It asks the reader to consider, given the achievements of movements and given the insights of post-structuralism, whether it is still worthwhile to proclaim certainty when sketching the possibilities for transcendence toward emancipation, an aim, which in itself, is always under construction. I engage this by firstly establishing a practical foundation for the critique of endpoints in theory by exploring the horizontal and prefigurative nature of a few autonomous movements today. Secondly I propose the contemporary theory of post-structuralist anarchism as concomitant with conclusions about transformation made in the first chapter. Finally I recommend a few initial concepts to start debate about the way forward from old objectivist models of transformation. The uncertainties of daily life, crumbling of economic powers and rapid pace of change in the twenty-first century have opened up fantastic spaces for innovative thought. Reconsidering old consensus around what constitutes a desirable image of revolution is of considerable importance given today's burgeoning bottom-up political energy and the global debate surrounding the possibilities for bottom-up revolutionisation of society. I submit that theories which portray stories of permanent, pure and natural end-points to revolution are deficient justifications for radical action.
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- Authors: Alexander, Tarryn Linda
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Social change , Utopian socialism -- Philosophy , Utopias -- Philosophy , Anarchism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3311 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003099 , Social change , Utopian socialism -- Philosophy , Utopias -- Philosophy , Anarchism
- Description: This thesis is an exploration of the images which define revolution's meaning. It suggests a possible shifting of emphasis from the scientific imaginary which centres on identifying the correct way to totalising revolution, towards a post-structuralist-anarchistic imaginary which privileges prefigurative radicalisations of social relations in the here and now. It looks specifically at how the field of post-structuralism intertwines with historically anarchist concepts to generate an horizon of social change animated by experimental and open-ended transformations. While the thesis offers positive characterisations of the types of contemporary movements, tactics and principles which embody the change from closed to open utopianism, it is chiefly a commentary on the role of theory in depicting the complexity of relations on the ground and the danger of proposing one totalising pathway from one state of society to another. It asks the reader to consider, given the achievements of movements and given the insights of post-structuralism, whether it is still worthwhile to proclaim certainty when sketching the possibilities for transcendence toward emancipation, an aim, which in itself, is always under construction. I engage this by firstly establishing a practical foundation for the critique of endpoints in theory by exploring the horizontal and prefigurative nature of a few autonomous movements today. Secondly I propose the contemporary theory of post-structuralist anarchism as concomitant with conclusions about transformation made in the first chapter. Finally I recommend a few initial concepts to start debate about the way forward from old objectivist models of transformation. The uncertainties of daily life, crumbling of economic powers and rapid pace of change in the twenty-first century have opened up fantastic spaces for innovative thought. Reconsidering old consensus around what constitutes a desirable image of revolution is of considerable importance given today's burgeoning bottom-up political energy and the global debate surrounding the possibilities for bottom-up revolutionisation of society. I submit that theories which portray stories of permanent, pure and natural end-points to revolution are deficient justifications for radical action.
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Social capital and fisheries co-management in South Africa: the East Coast Rock Lobster Fishery in Tshani Mankozi, Wild Coast, Eastern Cape
- Authors: Kaminsky, Alexander
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Social capital (Sociology) -- Economic aspects Human capital -- South Africa Fishery management -- South Africa Natural resources -- Co-management -- South Africa Rural poor -- South Africa Sustainable development -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3322 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003110
- Description: It is evident that natural fish stocks are in rapid decline and that millions of people around the world rely on these resources for food and for securing a livelihood. This has brought many social scientists, biologists and fisheries experts to acknowledge that communities need to take more control in managing their natural resources. The paradigm shift in fisheries management from a top-down resource orientated control to a participatory people-centred control is now being advocated in many maritime nations in facilitating community-based natural resource management. At the heart of these projects is the establishment of institutions and social networks that allow for clear communication and information sharing, based on scientific data and traditional knowledge which ultimately allow empowered communities to collectively manage their resources in partnership with government, market actors and many other stakeholders. Central to the problem is the issue of access rights. In many situations where co-management of natural resources through community-government partnerships is advocated, the failure of coastal states to provide adequate legislature and regulatory frameworks has jeopardised such projects. A second issue is the failure of many states to provide adequate investments in social and human capital which will enable communities to become the primary stakeholder in the co-management of their natural resources. Whilst investments like capacity building, education, skills training and development, communications and institution building can initially require high financial investments, the regulatory costs for monitoring, controlling and surveying fish stocks along the coastline will go down as communities take ownership of their resources under sustainable awareness. The main unit of investment therefore is social capital which allows for the increase in trust, cooperativeness, assertiveness, collective action and general capabilities of natural resource governance. High levels of social capital require good social relations and interactions which ultimately create a social network of fishers, community members and leaders, government officials, market players, researchers and various other stakeholders. Co-management thus has an inherent network structure made up of social relations on a horizontal scale amongst community members as well as on a vertical scale with government and fisheries authorities. These bonding relations between people and the bridging relations with institutions provide the social capital currency that allows for a successful co-management solution to community-based natural resource governance. The South African coastline is home to thousands of people who harvest the marine resources for food security and securing a basic income. Fishing is a major cultural and historical component of the livelihoods of many people along the coastline, particularly along the Wild Coast of South Africa located on its South-eastern shoreline. Due to the geopolitical nature of South Africa’s apartheid past many people were located in former tribal lands called Bantustans. The Transkei, one of the biggest homelands, is home to some of South Africa’s poorest people, many of whom rely on the marine resources. By 1998 the government sought to acknowledge the previously unrecognised subsistence sector that lived along the South African coastline with the promulgation of the Marine Living Resources Act. The act sought to legalise access rights for fishers and provide opportunities for the development of commercial fisheries. The act and many subsequent policies largely called for co-management as a solution to the management of the subsistence sector. This thesis largely explains the administrative and legislative difficulties in transporting the participatory components of co-management to the ground level. As such co-management has largely remained in rhetoric whilst the government provides a contradictory policy regarding the management of subsistence and small-scale fishers. This thesis attempts to provide qualitative ethnographic research of the East Coast Rock Lobster fishery located in a small fishing village in the Transkei. The fishery falls somewhere on the spectrum between the small-scale and subsistence sector as there are a basket of high and low value resources being harvested. It will be argued that in order to economically and socially develop the fishery the social capital and social networks of the community and various stakeholders needs to be analysed in order to effectively create a co-management network that can create a successful collective management of natural resources thereby sustaining these communities in the future.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Kaminsky, Alexander
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Social capital (Sociology) -- Economic aspects Human capital -- South Africa Fishery management -- South Africa Natural resources -- Co-management -- South Africa Rural poor -- South Africa Sustainable development -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3322 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003110
- Description: It is evident that natural fish stocks are in rapid decline and that millions of people around the world rely on these resources for food and for securing a livelihood. This has brought many social scientists, biologists and fisheries experts to acknowledge that communities need to take more control in managing their natural resources. The paradigm shift in fisheries management from a top-down resource orientated control to a participatory people-centred control is now being advocated in many maritime nations in facilitating community-based natural resource management. At the heart of these projects is the establishment of institutions and social networks that allow for clear communication and information sharing, based on scientific data and traditional knowledge which ultimately allow empowered communities to collectively manage their resources in partnership with government, market actors and many other stakeholders. Central to the problem is the issue of access rights. In many situations where co-management of natural resources through community-government partnerships is advocated, the failure of coastal states to provide adequate legislature and regulatory frameworks has jeopardised such projects. A second issue is the failure of many states to provide adequate investments in social and human capital which will enable communities to become the primary stakeholder in the co-management of their natural resources. Whilst investments like capacity building, education, skills training and development, communications and institution building can initially require high financial investments, the regulatory costs for monitoring, controlling and surveying fish stocks along the coastline will go down as communities take ownership of their resources under sustainable awareness. The main unit of investment therefore is social capital which allows for the increase in trust, cooperativeness, assertiveness, collective action and general capabilities of natural resource governance. High levels of social capital require good social relations and interactions which ultimately create a social network of fishers, community members and leaders, government officials, market players, researchers and various other stakeholders. Co-management thus has an inherent network structure made up of social relations on a horizontal scale amongst community members as well as on a vertical scale with government and fisheries authorities. These bonding relations between people and the bridging relations with institutions provide the social capital currency that allows for a successful co-management solution to community-based natural resource governance. The South African coastline is home to thousands of people who harvest the marine resources for food security and securing a basic income. Fishing is a major cultural and historical component of the livelihoods of many people along the coastline, particularly along the Wild Coast of South Africa located on its South-eastern shoreline. Due to the geopolitical nature of South Africa’s apartheid past many people were located in former tribal lands called Bantustans. The Transkei, one of the biggest homelands, is home to some of South Africa’s poorest people, many of whom rely on the marine resources. By 1998 the government sought to acknowledge the previously unrecognised subsistence sector that lived along the South African coastline with the promulgation of the Marine Living Resources Act. The act sought to legalise access rights for fishers and provide opportunities for the development of commercial fisheries. The act and many subsequent policies largely called for co-management as a solution to the management of the subsistence sector. This thesis largely explains the administrative and legislative difficulties in transporting the participatory components of co-management to the ground level. As such co-management has largely remained in rhetoric whilst the government provides a contradictory policy regarding the management of subsistence and small-scale fishers. This thesis attempts to provide qualitative ethnographic research of the East Coast Rock Lobster fishery located in a small fishing village in the Transkei. The fishery falls somewhere on the spectrum between the small-scale and subsistence sector as there are a basket of high and low value resources being harvested. It will be argued that in order to economically and socially develop the fishery the social capital and social networks of the community and various stakeholders needs to be analysed in order to effectively create a co-management network that can create a successful collective management of natural resources thereby sustaining these communities in the future.
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Social networks in recently established human settlements in Grahamstown East/Rhini, South Africa
- Authors: Mukorombindo, Yeukai Chido
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Social networks -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Human settlements -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Social capital (Sociology) Grahamstown (South Africa) -- Social life and customs Poor -- Social networks -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Grahamstown (South Africa) -- Social conditions Social change -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Informal sector (Economics) -- South Africa -- Grahamstown
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3310 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003098
- Description: This thesis attempts to understand the concepts of social capital and social networks within the South African government’s current policy on “human settlements”. It considers the association between social networks, social capital and social cohesion, community development and improved general quality of life. The thesis also explores the possibility and challenges of using social capital and social networks amongst low income urban communities as a viable strategy against poverty and for the development of sustainable human settlements. The thesis will examine the nature and form in which informal social networks function in a low income urban community in South Africa and the benefits that arise from these. The thesis particularly looked at informal social security networks in the form of savings clubs/stokvels and burial societies as well as other informal social networks such as religious associations and neighbourhood social support groups. The study discovered that in light of the high unemployment rate, high poverty levels and increasing urban economic pressures, most low income households cannot access or rely on social networks as a means of survival but on grants and wages. Social security networks are only accessible to those who can afford monthly membership contributions thereby excluding the poorest of the poor. For those who can afford to be members of social security networks, the benefits are limited and they do not adequately address household needs. The study also showed how those who cannot afford to be members of social security networks still have access to some sort of communal social support. Neighbours stand out as valuable in this regard. However, the casual neighbourhood support networks are not ‘resource rich’ mainly due to, the inability of people to donate and reciprocate. Religious networks are mainly identified with emotional, psychological and spiritual well-being, providing friendship, comfort and advice but these benefits are only provided to members only in their time of need. The theoretical understanding of social networks producing social capital which is seen as being beneficial to the poorest of the poor is questioned, as the results show the inequalities and divisions that exist within informal social networks themselves. On the other hand, all the social networks considered in this thesis have managed to contribute towards strengthening neighbourly relations, trust, building community identity and promoting values of ubuntu- sharing and caring for one another which in the long-run benefits the community, both members and non-members alike.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Mukorombindo, Yeukai Chido
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Social networks -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Human settlements -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Social capital (Sociology) Grahamstown (South Africa) -- Social life and customs Poor -- Social networks -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Grahamstown (South Africa) -- Social conditions Social change -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Informal sector (Economics) -- South Africa -- Grahamstown
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3310 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003098
- Description: This thesis attempts to understand the concepts of social capital and social networks within the South African government’s current policy on “human settlements”. It considers the association between social networks, social capital and social cohesion, community development and improved general quality of life. The thesis also explores the possibility and challenges of using social capital and social networks amongst low income urban communities as a viable strategy against poverty and for the development of sustainable human settlements. The thesis will examine the nature and form in which informal social networks function in a low income urban community in South Africa and the benefits that arise from these. The thesis particularly looked at informal social security networks in the form of savings clubs/stokvels and burial societies as well as other informal social networks such as religious associations and neighbourhood social support groups. The study discovered that in light of the high unemployment rate, high poverty levels and increasing urban economic pressures, most low income households cannot access or rely on social networks as a means of survival but on grants and wages. Social security networks are only accessible to those who can afford monthly membership contributions thereby excluding the poorest of the poor. For those who can afford to be members of social security networks, the benefits are limited and they do not adequately address household needs. The study also showed how those who cannot afford to be members of social security networks still have access to some sort of communal social support. Neighbours stand out as valuable in this regard. However, the casual neighbourhood support networks are not ‘resource rich’ mainly due to, the inability of people to donate and reciprocate. Religious networks are mainly identified with emotional, psychological and spiritual well-being, providing friendship, comfort and advice but these benefits are only provided to members only in their time of need. The theoretical understanding of social networks producing social capital which is seen as being beneficial to the poorest of the poor is questioned, as the results show the inequalities and divisions that exist within informal social networks themselves. On the other hand, all the social networks considered in this thesis have managed to contribute towards strengthening neighbourly relations, trust, building community identity and promoting values of ubuntu- sharing and caring for one another which in the long-run benefits the community, both members and non-members alike.
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The structural arrangements in local government and their role in promoting community participation in basic service delivery: a case study of Emalahleni and Intsika Yethu local municipalities in the Chris Hani District Municipality area
- Authors: Nqwemeshe, Nomvuyo
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Local government -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Municipal services -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Citizen participation , Water utilities -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Citizen participation , Water-supply -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Citizen participation , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Economic development projects -- Evaluation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3315 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003103
- Description: This study analyses the effectiveness of community participation in service delivery. The area of study, the Chris Ham District Municipality (CHDM), is a Water Services Authority, responsible for ensuring access to water services (water and sanitation) by all communities within its jurisdiction. There are eight local municipalities within the CHDM. The objective of this study is to determine whether systems are in place in local government to promote participation by communities in service delivery projects and whether these systems are being utilised efficiently by the role-players concerned. The role-players in this research are people who are involved in community development programmes of the municipality (municipal staff in the relevant departments of the municipalities under study, the social facilitators, civil society organisations, ward committees, ward councillors, traditional authorities as well as the representatives of communities (Project Steering Committees) who are beneficiaries of the projects under study). The projects that are under study were selected from a readily available list of CHDM capital projects that appear in the 2003/2004 financial year funding plan and are running. The findings of the study at both levels (local and district) show that the municipal environment is not conducive to promoting community participation. This is linked to factors such as the structural arrangements, whereby the offices relevant for promoting community participation are not fully occupied, which provided evidence that community participation is not prioritised. There is lack of coordination of programmes within the local government spheres as well within departments of the DM and strategies for community participation have been found to be non-effective. At project level lack of community participation is linked to the utilisation of ward committees as the only mechanism for community participation regardless of its un-equal and party biased representation. This study therefore concludes that although the systems to promote community participation are in place, they are not effective.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Nqwemeshe, Nomvuyo
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Local government -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Municipal services -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Citizen participation , Water utilities -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Citizen participation , Water-supply -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Citizen participation , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Economic development projects -- Evaluation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3315 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003103
- Description: This study analyses the effectiveness of community participation in service delivery. The area of study, the Chris Ham District Municipality (CHDM), is a Water Services Authority, responsible for ensuring access to water services (water and sanitation) by all communities within its jurisdiction. There are eight local municipalities within the CHDM. The objective of this study is to determine whether systems are in place in local government to promote participation by communities in service delivery projects and whether these systems are being utilised efficiently by the role-players concerned. The role-players in this research are people who are involved in community development programmes of the municipality (municipal staff in the relevant departments of the municipalities under study, the social facilitators, civil society organisations, ward committees, ward councillors, traditional authorities as well as the representatives of communities (Project Steering Committees) who are beneficiaries of the projects under study). The projects that are under study were selected from a readily available list of CHDM capital projects that appear in the 2003/2004 financial year funding plan and are running. The findings of the study at both levels (local and district) show that the municipal environment is not conducive to promoting community participation. This is linked to factors such as the structural arrangements, whereby the offices relevant for promoting community participation are not fully occupied, which provided evidence that community participation is not prioritised. There is lack of coordination of programmes within the local government spheres as well within departments of the DM and strategies for community participation have been found to be non-effective. At project level lack of community participation is linked to the utilisation of ward committees as the only mechanism for community participation regardless of its un-equal and party biased representation. This study therefore concludes that although the systems to promote community participation are in place, they are not effective.
- Full Text: