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Sailing between Scylla and Charybdis: Mayelane v Ngwenyama

  • Authors: Kruuse, Helen
  • Date: 2014
  • Language: English
  • Type: Article , text
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/54118 , vital:26392 , https://www.ajol.info/index.php/pelj/article/view/112096
  • Description: Mayelane v Ngwenyama 2013 4 SA 415 (CC) is arguably the most important judgment concerning the recognition of customary marriages in recent times. This article attempts to unpack some of the many issues that arise from the case, namely: (a) the practical difficulties associated with ascertaining living customary law and the problems of identifying legal versus social norms; (b) the meaning of consent as a requirement of a customary marriage; (c) the implications of the case for equality between multiple wives in a customary marriage, and as between wives across customary marriages of different cultural traditions; and (e) the implications of the case for equality considerations more broadly. While the authors sympathise with the court in respect of the complex decision before it, it questions the Court's method and result, specifically for the equality rights of a second (or further) "wife" in a Vatsonga customary marriage. The authors suggest that the issues should be put to democratic deliberation by the legislative arm, rather than leaving courts in the unenviable position of having to decide these matters.
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  • Date Issued: 2014

Some reflections on two rural potter's cooperatives in the Port St Johns region of the Eastern Cape, South Africa

  • Authors: Steele, John
  • Date: 2014
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/1001 , vital:30181
  • Description: Two potters in the Port St Johns region of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa have been founder members of different visual arts producer’s cooperatives during the 1980s as part of development initiatives aimed at sustainable economic empowerment. These potters are Debora Nomathamsanqa Ntloya of Qhaka village in the Caguba area and Alice Gqa Nongebeza of Nkonxeni village in the Tombo area. They both engaged in zero electricity, using ceramics praxis and used variants of open bonfiring techniques to finish off their works. This article looks at aspects of formation and administration of such potter’s cooperatives, as well as at types of ceramics technology used and resulting works, and also at some marketing strategies and outcomes. It will be seen that these are factors that impact directly on why some such cooperatives are successful for long stretches of time, and others become defunct or dormant. Furthermore, Debora Nomathamsanqa Ntloya is now largely retired from clayworking, and Alice Gqa Nongebeza passed away in 2012, so a question arises as to whether their ceramic traditions will be continued in the years to come.
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  • Date Issued: 2014

Starways Arts: a built environment expressing holistic lifestyles dedicated to visual and performing arts in Hogsback, Eastern Cape, South Africa

  • Authors: Steele, John
  • Date: 2014
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/990 , vital:30179
  • Description: In 1992, Anton van der Merwe and his life partner Gwyneth Lloyd moved from Randjesfontein Pottery in Midrand, between Johannesburg and Pretoria, to an undeveloped smallholding in the densely forested rural village of Hogsback. The past 22 years have seen an ongoing process of settling down and construction of necessary buildings. This paper seeks to explore aspects of philosophical and architectural influences that served as some of the foundation stones for creation of an eclectic series of buildings, including their home, visual arts studios, a gallery, a community theatre and guest accommodation. A review of these buildings will show that Van der Merwe and Lloyd have developed an idiosyncratic construction style that incorporates alternative technology with empathetic use of natural resources, which results in organically flowing living and working spaces that are fit for purpose, have substantial presence and have minimal environmental impact.
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  • Date Issued: 2014

The relationship between double taxation agreements and the provisions of the South African Income Tax Act

  • Authors: Stack, Elizabeth M
  • Date: 2014
  • Subjects: To be catalogued
  • Language: English
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: vital:21102 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/6384 , http://journals.co.za/content/jefs/7/2/EJC157823
  • Description: This article investigates the legal status of Double Taxation Agreements, and the relationship between Double Taxation Agreements, which are concluded in terms of section 108 of the Income Tax Act, and the provisions of the Income Tax Act (taking into account the provisions of the Constitution, and the national and international rules for the interpretation of statutes). An important conclusion reached was that as the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties represents customary international law and as such forms part of South African law, the principles contained in the treaty should be taken into account when interpreting South African legislation (including Double Taxation Agreements).The final conclusion of the research was that Double Taxation Agreements have a dual nature – forming part of domestic legislation and being classified as international agreements. The provisions of the Double Taxation Agreement should be taken as overriding any conflicting legislation in the Income Tax Act.
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  • Date Issued: 2014

The struggle for authority in George McCall Theal's Kaffir Folklore

  • Authors: Naidu, Samantha
  • Date: 2014
  • Language: English
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: vital:26362 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/53942 , https://www.upjournals.co.za/index.php/SAJFS/article/view/1674 , https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9456-8657
  • Description: This article focuses specifically on George McCall Theal’s collection of folktale texts, Kaffir Folklore (1882), as an example of an early South African ethnographic publication, and argues that the folktale transcriptions contained therein, although a part of Theal’s general colonialist project, are hybrid, containing the voices of both coloniser and colonised. The key argument is that the presence of the African voices in this text reveals simultaneously that Theal’s editorial aspirations were never absolutely imposed, and that agency and influence (albeit limited) of the colonised Xhosa co-authors were present. The article offers an analysis of the paratext (the preface, the introduction and the explanatory notes) of Kaffir Folkore, rather than a close reading of the tales themselves. To facilitate an understanding of Theal’s editorial practice, Kaffir Folkore is compared to Harold Scheub’s The Xhosa Ntsomi (1975). More generally, drawing on postcolonial folklore and book-history scholarship, the article explores how folklore texts of the colonial era, although contributing to the establishment of a literary and cultural orthodoxy in modern South Africa, constitute a telling hybrid genre, which invites a re-evaluation of colonial relations, and of individual texts themselves. In short, these texts synthesise different literary traditions (European and African), different mediums (the oral and the written), different disciplinary approaches (ethnography, folklore, literature), and most significantly, the voices of different subjects. Kaffir Folklore (1882) epitomises this synthesis
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  • Date Issued: 2014

Tufa stromatolite ecosystems on the South African south coast

  • Authors: Perissonotto, Renzo , Bornman, Tommy G , Steyn, Paul-Pierre , Miranda, Nelson A F , Dorrington, Rosemary A , Matcher, Gwynneth F , Strydom, Nadine A , Peer, Nasreen
  • Date: 2014
  • Language: English
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: vital:6490 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1014585 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/sajs.2014/20140011
  • Description: Following the first description of living marine stromatolites along the South African east coast, new investigations along the south coast have revealed the occurrence of extensive fields of actively calcifying stromatolites. These stromatolites have been recorded at regular distances along a 200-km stretch of coastline, from Cape Recife in the east to the Storms River mouth in the west, with the highest density found between Schoenmakerskop and the Maitland River mouth. All active stromatolites are associated with freshwater seepage streams flowing from the dune cordon, which form rimstone dams and other accretions capable of retaining water in the supratidal platform. Resulting pools can reach a maximum depth of about 1 m and constitute a unique ecosystem in which freshwater and marine organisms alternate their dominance in response to vertical mixing and the balance between freshwater versus marine inflow. Although the factors controlling stromatolite growth are yet to be determined, nitrogen appears to be supplied mainly via the dune seeps. The epibenthic algal community within stromatolite pools is generally co-dominated by cyanobacteria and chlorophytes, with minimal diatom contribution.
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  • Date Issued: 2014

Writing the violated body : representations of violence against women in Margie Orford’s crime thriller novels

  • Authors: Naidu, Samantha
  • Date: 2014
  • Language: English
  • Type: Article , text
  • Identifier: vital:26361 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/53932 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/18125441.2014.904396 , https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9456-8657
  • Description: Using the late twentieth-century French feminist notions of écriture féminine and the abject as a starting point, this article considers the various pitfalls, effects and ethical ramifications of representations of violence against the female body in South African crime fiction. How do authors reconcile the entertainment value of such representations with their aims to perform social analysis? This article attempts to answer this question by first describing how violence targeted at the female body is graphically portrayed, and, second, by assessing the effects of these visceral descriptions. Margie Orford’s novels, in particular, the first in the Clare Hart series, Like clockwork (2006), which foregrounds human trafficking, prostitution and gender-based violence, will be examined. In Orford’s Clare Hart series, the female detective figure, the various plots to do with assault, abduction, rape and murder, and the explicit imagery that descriptively conveys such crimes, are narrative techniques employed by Orford to address this scourge, and the patriarchy and sexism of contemporary South African society in general. The article ends by assessing whether a bona fide feminist subgenre of South African crime fiction is being inscribed by Orford
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  • Date Issued: 2014

The Educational Journal

  • Date: 2013-12
  • Subjects: Education – South Africa , South Africa – Economic conditions , South Africa – Social conditions
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/38349 , vital:34591 , Bulk File 7
  • Description: The Educational Journal was the official organ of the Teachers' League of South Africa and focussed on education within the context of a racialized South Africa. From the 2000s, the journal was published by the National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers (NUPSAW), a trade union formed in August 1998 from the amalgamation of militant and moderate trade unions and also operated in the education sphere.
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  • Date Issued: 2013-12

The Educational Journal

  • Date: 2013-07
  • Subjects: Education – South Africa , South Africa – Economic conditions , South Africa – Social conditions
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/38379 , vital:34739 , Bulk File 7
  • Description: The Educational Journal was the official organ of the Teachers' League of South Africa and focussed on education within the context of a racialized South Africa. From the 2000s, the journal was published by the National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers (NUPSAW), a trade union formed in August 1998 from the amalgamation of militant and moderate trade unions and also operated in the education sphere.
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  • Date Issued: 2013-07

The Educational Journal

  • Date: 2013-03
  • Subjects: Education – South Africa , South Africa – Economic conditions , South Africa – Social conditions
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/38619 , vital:34840 , Bulk File 7
  • Description: The Educational Journal was the official organ of the Teachers' League of South Africa and focussed on education within the context of a racialized South Africa. From the 2000s, the journal was published by the National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers (NUPSAW), a trade union formed in August 1998 from the amalgamation of militant and moderate trade unions and also operated in the education sphere.
  • Full Text: false
  • Date Issued: 2013-03

First results on bathymetry, stratification and physicochemical limnology of a small tropical African reservoir (Malilangwe, Zimbabwe)

  • Authors: Dalu, Tatena , Thackeray, Zane , Leuci, Rio , Clegg, Bruce , Chari, Lenin D , Nhiwatiwa, Tamuka
  • Date: 2013-01-11
  • Language: English
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: vital:6970 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013297
  • Description: The study provides a 9-month record of Malilangwe Reservoir water chemistry periodicity, for the period between February and October 2011. Malilangwe Reservoir is a small (211 ha), shallow (mean depth 4.54 m) reservoir situated in the south-eastern lowveld of Zimbabwe. The reservoir has not spilled in nearly 11 years, which makes it a unique system as most reservoirs of comparable size spill annually. This is the first bathymetric and limnological study of the reservoir where the morphology and physicochemical quality of the water body were examined. The reservoir was not strongly stratified during the hot-wet and hot-dry season with oxygen depletion of < 2 mg·ℓ-1 DO being observed in the bottom layers (<6 m depth). Nutrient concentrations varied throughout the seasons. The reservoir exhibited marked seasonal fluctuations in water level, which decreased by over 149 cm between February and October. The N:P ratio rose to as high as 10.9 and generally reflected high levels of phosphorus in the reservoir. There were significant differences (p<0.05) in Secchi depth transparency between the study sites. Differences observed in water quality were due to water level fluctuations, with poor water quality conditions being experienced during the hot-dry season and the cool-dry season when water levels were low. The reservoir was classified as being mesotrophic. Therefore, there is a risk of eutrophication, especially since the reservoir is currently merely a sink for nutrients.
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A performative-performance analytical approach: infusing Butlerian theory into the narrative-discursive method

  • Authors: Morison, Tracy , Macleod, Catriona I
  • Date: 2013
  • Language: English
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: vital:6212 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003065 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1077800413494344
  • Description: Judith Butler’s theory of performativity provides gender theorists with a rich theoretical language for thinking about gender. Despite this, Butlerian theory is difficult to apply, as Butler does not provide guidance on actual analysis of language use in context. In order to address this limitation, we suggest carefully supplementing performativity with the notion of performance in a manner that allows for the inclusion of relational specificities and the mechanisms through which gender, and gender trouble, occur. To do this, we turn to current developments within discursive psychology and narrative theory. We extend the narrative-discursive method proposed by Taylor and colleagues, infusing it with Butlerian theory in order to fashion a dual analytical lens, which we call the performativity-performance approach. We provide a brief example of how the proposed analytical process may be implemented.
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  • Date Issued: 2013

A tale of two neglected systems-structure and function of the thin- and thick-walled sieve tubes in monocotyledonous leaves

  • Authors: Botha, Christiaan E J
  • Date: 2013
  • Language: English
  • Type: Article , text
  • Identifier: vital:6499 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004514 , http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2013.00297
  • Description: There is a large body of information relating to the ontogeny, development and the vasculature of eudicotyledonous leaves. However, there is less information available concerning the vascular anatomy of monocotyledonous leaves. This is surprising, given that there are two uniquely different phloem systems present in large groups such as grasses and sedges. Monocotyledonous leaves contain marginal, large, intermediate, and small longitudinal veins that are interconnected by numerous transverse veins. The longitudinal veins contain two metaphloem sieve tube types, which, based upon their ontogeny and position within the phloem, are termed early (thin-walled) and late (thick-walled) sieve tubes. Early metaphloem comprises sieve tubes, companion cells and vascular parenchyma (VP) cells, whilst the late metaphloem, contains thick-walled sieve tubes (TSTs) that lack companion cells. TSTs are generally adjacent to, or no more than one cell removed from the metaxylem. Unlike thin-walled sieve tube (ST) -companion cell complexes, TSTs are connected to parenchyma by pore-plasmodesma units and are generally symplasmically isolated from the STs. This paper addresses key structural and functional differences between thin- and thick-walled sieve tubes and explores the unique advantages of alternate transport strategies that this 5–7 million years old dual system may offer. It would seem that these two systems may enhance, add to, or play a significant role in increasing the efficiency of solute retrieval as well as of assimilate transfer.
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  • Date Issued: 2013

Anniversary Bulletin 1943-2013: 70 Years of Struggle... and the Struggle Continues

Biogeographical boundaries, functional group structure and diversity of rocky shore communities along the Argentinean coast

  • Authors: Wieters, Evie A , McQuaid, Christopher D , Palomo, Gabriela , Pappalardo, Paula
  • Date: 2013
  • Language: English
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: vital:6835 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1010956
  • Description: We investigate the extent to which functional structure and spatial variability of intertidal communities coincide with major biogeographical boundaries, areas where extensive compositional changes in the biota are observed over a limited geographic extension. We then investigate whether spatial variation in the biomass of functional groups, over geographic (10′s km) and local (10′s m) scales, could be associated to species diversity within and among these groups. Functional community structure expressed as abundance (density, cover and biomass) and composition of major functional groups was quantified through field surveys at 20 rocky intertidal shores spanning six degrees of latitude along the southwest Atlantic coast of Argentina and extending across the boundaries between the Argentinean and Magellanic Provinces. Patterns of abundance of individual functional groups were not uniformly matched with biogeographical regions. Only ephemeral algae showed an abrupt geographical discontinuity coincident with changes in biogeographic boundaries, and this was limited to the mid intertidal zone. We identified 3–4 main ‘groups’ of sites in terms of the total and relative abundance of the major functional groups, but these did not coincide with biogeographical boundaries, nor did they follow latitudinal arrangement. Thus, processes that determine the functional structure of these intertidal communities are insensitive to biogeographical boundaries. Over both geographical and local spatial scales, and for most functional groups and tidal levels, increases in species richness within the functional group was significantly associated to increased total biomass and reduced spatial variability of the group. These results suggest that species belonging to the same functional group are sufficiently uncorrelated over space (i.e. metres and site-to-site ) to stabilize patterns of biomass variability and, in this manner, provide a buffer, or “insurance”, against spatial variability in environmental conditions.
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  • Date Issued: 2013

Catching on to concatenation : evidence for prepollination intrasexual selection in plants

  • Authors: Peter, Craig I , Shuttleworth, Adam
  • Date: 2013
  • Language: English
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: vital:6560 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011615 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/nph.12838
  • Description: [from introduction] Darwin (1871) proposed the mechanism of sexual selection to explain the extreme traits, secondary sex characters, seen primarily in male animals for either display or competition. These elaborate traits for attracting members of the opposite sex or competing for access to mates, inter- and intra-sexual selection, respectively, would increase the mating success of individuals but may reduce individual survival. Sexual selection has traditionally been associated with motile, dioecious animals that have well-developed sensory abilities and has long been viewed as absent as a mode of selection in plants (Grant, 1995). However, since the 1980s, several workers have argued that sexual selection is applicable to plants and should be considered as a factor in floral evolution (Skogsmyr & Lankinen, 2002). Opponents such as Grant (1995) point to incompatibility with Darwin’s usage, hermaphroditism, the absence of obvious secondary sex characters and the apparent absence of female choice in plants (Skogsmyr & Lankinen, 2002; Moore & Pannell, 2011). Proponents, however, argue that historical definitions should be expanded to explain modern evidence and that sexual selection can, in principle, occur in hermaphrodites and hence play a role in the evolution of floral traits. The latter view is supported by a recent study by Cocucci et al. (this issue of New Phytologist, pp. 280–286) which demonstrates intra-sexual selection in plants via direct male–male competition between the pollinaria of milkweeds for optimal attachment sites on pollinators to ensure subsequent pollinium deposition. This is the first example of male–male competition resulting in secondary sex characters in hermaphrodite plants, highlighting the possibility of overlooked mechanisms of sexual selection in plants.
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  • Date Issued: 2013

Crime fiction, South Africa : a critical introduction

  • Authors: Naidu, Samantha
  • Date: 2013
  • Language: English
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: vital:26315 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/53743 , http://0-dx.doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1080/1013929X.2013.833416 , https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9456-8657
  • Description: Crime fiction is an emergent category in South African literary studies. This introduction positions South African crime fiction and its scholarship in a global lineage of crime and detective fiction. The survey addresses the question of its literary status as ‘highbrow’ or ‘lowbrow’. It also identifies and describes two distinct sub-genres of South African crime fiction: the crime thriller novel; and the literary detective novel. The argument is that South African crime fiction exhibits a unique capacity for social analysis: a capacity which is being optimised by authors and interrogated by scholars
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  • Date Issued: 2013

Curriculum Vitae of Prof Tebello Nyokong (OMB)

  • Authors: Nyokong, Tebello
  • Date: 2013
  • Language: English
  • Type: Article , text
  • Identifier: vital:7233 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006180
  • Description: Department of Science and Technology (DST) and National Research Foundation (NRF) Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Nanotechnology and Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Rhodes University.
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  • Date Issued: 2013

Environmental domains and range-limiting mechanisms: testing the Abundant Centre Hypothesis using southern African sandhoppers

  • Authors: Baldanzi, Simone , McQuaid, Christopher D , Cannicci, Stefano , Porri, Francesca
  • Date: 2013
  • Language: English
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: vital:6848 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011108
  • Description: Predicting shifts of species geographical ranges is a fundamental challenge for conservation ecologists given the great complexity of factors involved in setting range limits. Distributional patterns are frequently modelled to “simplify” species responses to the environment, yet the central mechanisms that drive a particular pattern are rarely understood. We evaluated the distributions of two sandhopper species (Crustacea, Amphipoda, Talitridae), Talorchestia capensis and Africorchestia quadrispinosa along the Namibian and South African coasts, encompassing three biogeographic regions influenced by two different oceanographic systems, the Benguela and Agulhas currents. We aimed to test whether the Abundant Centre Hypothesis (ACH) can explain the distributions of these species’ abundances, sizes and sex ratios and examined which environmental parameters influence/drive these distributions. Animals were collected during a once-off survey at 29 sites over c.3500 km of coastline. The ACH was tested using a non-parametric constraint space analysis of the goodness of fit of five hypothetical models. Distance Based Linear Modelling (DistLM) was performed to evaluate which environmental traits influenced the distribution data. Abundance, size and sex ratio showed different patterns of distribution. A ramped model fitted the abundance (Ramped North) and size (Ramped South) distribution for A. quadrispinosa. The Inverse Quadratic model fitted the size distribution of T. capensis. Beach slope, salinity, sand temperature and percentage of detritus found on the shore at the time of collection played important roles in driving the abundance of A. quadrispinosa. T. capensis was mainly affected by salinity and the morphodynamic state of the beach. Our results provided only some support for the ACH predictions. The DistLM confirmed that the physical state of the beach is an important factor for sandy beach organisms. The effect of salinity and temperature suggest metabolic responses to local conditions and a role in small to mesoscale shifts in the range of these populations.
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  • Date Issued: 2013

Eudicella trimeni Janson, 1884 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae: Goliathini): Description of larva with notes on conservation status, biology and taxonomy

  • Authors: Perissinotto, R , Orozco, Jesús (Entomologist)
  • Date: 2013
  • Subjects: Afrotropical , Goliathini , Eudicella trimeni , Scarab beetles , Fruit chafers , Flower chafers , Larva , Grubs , Rosenkäfer
  • Language: English
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: vital:6559 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006605 , http://africaninvertebrates.org/ojs/index.php/AI/article/view/307
  • Description: Eudicella trimeni is reportedly one of the most endangered species of the genus, having been declared vir­tually extinct until recently. Present research has shown that the species occurs in an area wider than previously known. However, its habitat is disappearing at a fast rate and the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal populations appear to be sufficiently different from each other to warrant at least subspecies status and further investigation. Third instar larvae of the northern population were collected recently in the Karkloof Nature Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal. They were reared to adulthood under environmentally controlled conditions and are here described.
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  • Date Issued: 2013
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