The knowledge commons, pan-Africanism, and epistemic inequality: a study of CODESRIA
- Authors: Hoffmann, Nimi
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Pan-Africanism , Codesria , Equality -- Africa , Social justice -- Africa , Feminist criticism -- Africa , Sex discrimination against women -- Africa , Postcolonialism -- Africa , Women intellectuals -- Africa , Academic freedom -- Africa , Africans -- Intellectual life
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60303 , vital:27764
- Description: This study is about the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA). Conceived in 1964 and formalised in 1973, CODESRIA is the longest-standing pan-African intellectual organisation on the continent. It was established with the primary objective of fostering greater collaboration between African scholars, and has acquired a reputation for challenging the marginalisation and fragmentation of African scholarship. However, there has been no systematic account of this important organisation. This study aims to cast light on this organisation and its intellectual contributions in the post-independence period. It examines CODESRIA as a knowledge commons - a community of scholars that creates, manages and shares intellectual goods outside of the state and the market. It asks: what factors have shaped CODESRIA as a pan-African knowledge commons in the context of epistemic inequality? As a way of answering this question, it examines three key debates: the different meanings of pan-Africanism in CODESRIA, CODESRIA’s defence of the academic project during structural adjustment, and African feminists’ struggles to change CODESRIA. These debates exemplify the ways in which different generations of African scholars in the post - independence period have sought to make sense of and respond to the problems of inequality - both outside of CODESRIA and within CODESRIA. This thesis approaches CODESRIA as a case study. It combines a document analysis with semi-structured interviews to construct and critique key intellectuals' understandings of the organisational design and practices of CODESRIA, the nature of its community and intellectual work. It supplements this with a descriptive analysis of CODESRIA’s bibliometric and administrative data. The study finds that CODESRIA has forged a distinctive form of pan-Africanism that offers a non-governmental and intellectual alternative to state-centric and bureaucratic forms of pan-Africanism. As a powerful counter-narrative to prevailing ideas of African intellectual inferiority, pan-Africanism has been an important motivational source for establishing and cohering CODESRIA’s community. Although its pan-African organisational form has been complicated by the enduring influence of colonial frameworks and limited by the the material and institutional weaknesses of African universities, it has nevertheless acted as a mode of collective enquiry for troubling and expanding the colonial conception of Africa. This study further finds that structural adjustment fundamentally reshaped the intellectual and material underpinnings of CODESRIA with complex and ambiguous results. In the short term, CODESRIA’s analysis of structural adjustment led to considerable intellectual and organisational innovation so that it grew in size and influence. In the long-run, however, structural adjustment eroded the public universities upon which CODESRIA relied. This eroded the mechanisms to maintain its intellectual vigour and democratic character, and increased CODESRIA’s dependency on donors. The study also finds that the struggles of feminist scholars to change unequal gender norms in CODESRIA have been a source of significant intellectual and organisational renewal. Contestations over gender inequality within CODESRIA have given rise to a distinctive form of African feminism, which emphasises the historicity of gender relations in ways that reject essentialist and teleological accounts of African societies. Feminist struggles have also given rise to new standards of scholastic excellence that mark a meaningful departure from the skewed standards introduced under colonial rule. Nevertheless, the persistent minoritisation of female scholars in CODESRIA has significantly limited their capacity to effect institutional change, such that the ghettoization of feminist scholarship and the hollowing out of feminist discourses on gender remains a constant threat. The central argument of this study is that inequality can motivate marginalised members to engage in the collective action required to create and reshape knowledge commons, but it can also constrain their collective action and threaten the long-term sustainability of the commons. The collective agency of marginalised individuals is therefore central to the flourishing of knowledge commons. Second, knowledge commons are intimately dependent on public goods, such as universities. Public goods are plausibly the source, and therefore the limit, of knowledge commons’ capacity to flourish over the long-term. As a consequence, it is likely that knowledge commons are complements to public goods provision, rather than substitutes. Rethinking the knowledge commons in terms of the predicaments of African intellectual communities, I contend, provides new ways of understanding the possibilities, constraints and contradictions of knowledge commons in an unequal world. This study contributes to the empirical literature on African intellectual communities. In particular, it provides critical knowledge on a scholarly community that has not only endured, but has managed to thrive in a context of profound economic and political instability. This provides an indication of the institutions, practices, and intellectual resources that are required to ensure that African knowledge systems flourish over the long-term. This study also makes a theoretical contribution to the literature on knowledge commons, which are largely theorised using examples from the global North. It shows how reconceptualising knowledge commons in terms of inequality opens up new lines of empirical investigation. Building on existing commons research, it develops a methodological framework for comparative research on southern knowledge commons, which may also be of use for investigating commons in general.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Hoffmann, Nimi
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Pan-Africanism , Codesria , Equality -- Africa , Social justice -- Africa , Feminist criticism -- Africa , Sex discrimination against women -- Africa , Postcolonialism -- Africa , Women intellectuals -- Africa , Academic freedom -- Africa , Africans -- Intellectual life
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60303 , vital:27764
- Description: This study is about the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA). Conceived in 1964 and formalised in 1973, CODESRIA is the longest-standing pan-African intellectual organisation on the continent. It was established with the primary objective of fostering greater collaboration between African scholars, and has acquired a reputation for challenging the marginalisation and fragmentation of African scholarship. However, there has been no systematic account of this important organisation. This study aims to cast light on this organisation and its intellectual contributions in the post-independence period. It examines CODESRIA as a knowledge commons - a community of scholars that creates, manages and shares intellectual goods outside of the state and the market. It asks: what factors have shaped CODESRIA as a pan-African knowledge commons in the context of epistemic inequality? As a way of answering this question, it examines three key debates: the different meanings of pan-Africanism in CODESRIA, CODESRIA’s defence of the academic project during structural adjustment, and African feminists’ struggles to change CODESRIA. These debates exemplify the ways in which different generations of African scholars in the post - independence period have sought to make sense of and respond to the problems of inequality - both outside of CODESRIA and within CODESRIA. This thesis approaches CODESRIA as a case study. It combines a document analysis with semi-structured interviews to construct and critique key intellectuals' understandings of the organisational design and practices of CODESRIA, the nature of its community and intellectual work. It supplements this with a descriptive analysis of CODESRIA’s bibliometric and administrative data. The study finds that CODESRIA has forged a distinctive form of pan-Africanism that offers a non-governmental and intellectual alternative to state-centric and bureaucratic forms of pan-Africanism. As a powerful counter-narrative to prevailing ideas of African intellectual inferiority, pan-Africanism has been an important motivational source for establishing and cohering CODESRIA’s community. Although its pan-African organisational form has been complicated by the enduring influence of colonial frameworks and limited by the the material and institutional weaknesses of African universities, it has nevertheless acted as a mode of collective enquiry for troubling and expanding the colonial conception of Africa. This study further finds that structural adjustment fundamentally reshaped the intellectual and material underpinnings of CODESRIA with complex and ambiguous results. In the short term, CODESRIA’s analysis of structural adjustment led to considerable intellectual and organisational innovation so that it grew in size and influence. In the long-run, however, structural adjustment eroded the public universities upon which CODESRIA relied. This eroded the mechanisms to maintain its intellectual vigour and democratic character, and increased CODESRIA’s dependency on donors. The study also finds that the struggles of feminist scholars to change unequal gender norms in CODESRIA have been a source of significant intellectual and organisational renewal. Contestations over gender inequality within CODESRIA have given rise to a distinctive form of African feminism, which emphasises the historicity of gender relations in ways that reject essentialist and teleological accounts of African societies. Feminist struggles have also given rise to new standards of scholastic excellence that mark a meaningful departure from the skewed standards introduced under colonial rule. Nevertheless, the persistent minoritisation of female scholars in CODESRIA has significantly limited their capacity to effect institutional change, such that the ghettoization of feminist scholarship and the hollowing out of feminist discourses on gender remains a constant threat. The central argument of this study is that inequality can motivate marginalised members to engage in the collective action required to create and reshape knowledge commons, but it can also constrain their collective action and threaten the long-term sustainability of the commons. The collective agency of marginalised individuals is therefore central to the flourishing of knowledge commons. Second, knowledge commons are intimately dependent on public goods, such as universities. Public goods are plausibly the source, and therefore the limit, of knowledge commons’ capacity to flourish over the long-term. As a consequence, it is likely that knowledge commons are complements to public goods provision, rather than substitutes. Rethinking the knowledge commons in terms of the predicaments of African intellectual communities, I contend, provides new ways of understanding the possibilities, constraints and contradictions of knowledge commons in an unequal world. This study contributes to the empirical literature on African intellectual communities. In particular, it provides critical knowledge on a scholarly community that has not only endured, but has managed to thrive in a context of profound economic and political instability. This provides an indication of the institutions, practices, and intellectual resources that are required to ensure that African knowledge systems flourish over the long-term. This study also makes a theoretical contribution to the literature on knowledge commons, which are largely theorised using examples from the global North. It shows how reconceptualising knowledge commons in terms of inequality opens up new lines of empirical investigation. Building on existing commons research, it develops a methodological framework for comparative research on southern knowledge commons, which may also be of use for investigating commons in general.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
The missing ingredient: rethinking the drought disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation nexus in Chirumhanzu District, Zimbabwe
- Authors: Grey, Mashoko Stephen
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Climatic changes -- Zimbabwe -- Chirumanzu District , Climatic changes -- Government policy -- Zimbabwe -- Chirumanzu District , Climatic changes -- Economic aspects -- Zimbabwe -- Chirumanzu District , Natural disasters -- Risk assessment -- Zimbabwe -- Chirumanzu District , Drought management -- Zimbabwe -- Chirumanzu District , Hazard mitigation -- Zimbabwe -- Chirumanzu District
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/58298 , vital:27207
- Description: Two of the main challenges facing communities and governments in developing countries are the reduction of risks of hydro-meteorological hazards and adaptation to climate change. As climate variability and change impacts are becoming more visible in the form of disasters, and are negatively affecting climate sensitive livelihoods and eroding communities' ability to fully recover, leading to increased vulnerability to subsequent climate risks. The unpredictability of current weather systems, therefore, makes it very difficult for poor governments and households to deal with adverse impacts of climate change. Furthermore, the fragmented approach to DRR and CCA with regards to practice, policy and organisational frameworks for dealing with climate risks is resulting in coordination challenges for the government departments. This study aimed to explore how local households and communities perceive and are experiencing and coping with climate change and drought, and what that means for integrating hydro-meteorological disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. The study was carried out in Chirumhanzu district and the methods used for data collection included: 217 household surveys; six focus group discussions; participatory learning actions methods; key informant's interviews and document review. The majority of households owned low value material assets and had low levels of livelihood capitals and this exposed them to the impacts of climate variability and successive droughts. This low adaptive capacity largely affected their ability to engage effective drought risk reduction and adaptation strategies for their livelihood activities in small-scale farming and livestock rearing. Vulnerability to climate risks was exacerbated by seasonal weather forecasts, which were deemed by some households to be unreliable, inaccurate and not easily understood, while others used of indigenous knowledge. Successive droughts affected households' access to food and cash income for other household demands. Other non-climatic factors that contributed to adverse drought impacts at the household level were an emphasis on reactive humanitarian aid approach and the poor economy in Zimbabwe. Additionally, the policy framework for dealing with climate change and drought hazards is fragmented and weak; and is housed in different government departments making it difficult to coordinate and implement. To improve climate risk management, there is need for the government to appreciate that drought risk reduction and climate change adaptation are all about reducing vulnerability. Understanding this, might assist in improving government focus on addressing the underlying causes of vulnerability and mainstreaming DRR and CCA into development processes through addressing specific and generic adaptive capacities. The thesis argues that as long as rural households are involved in climate sensitive livelihood activities and not getting meaningful intervention to diversity and/or better intensify their livelihood activities, they will continue to be vulnerable to successive climate risks. This fragmented approach to dealing with climate risks, is not yielding any successful results with regards to building resilience, risk reduction or adaptation of rural households.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Grey, Mashoko Stephen
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Climatic changes -- Zimbabwe -- Chirumanzu District , Climatic changes -- Government policy -- Zimbabwe -- Chirumanzu District , Climatic changes -- Economic aspects -- Zimbabwe -- Chirumanzu District , Natural disasters -- Risk assessment -- Zimbabwe -- Chirumanzu District , Drought management -- Zimbabwe -- Chirumanzu District , Hazard mitigation -- Zimbabwe -- Chirumanzu District
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/58298 , vital:27207
- Description: Two of the main challenges facing communities and governments in developing countries are the reduction of risks of hydro-meteorological hazards and adaptation to climate change. As climate variability and change impacts are becoming more visible in the form of disasters, and are negatively affecting climate sensitive livelihoods and eroding communities' ability to fully recover, leading to increased vulnerability to subsequent climate risks. The unpredictability of current weather systems, therefore, makes it very difficult for poor governments and households to deal with adverse impacts of climate change. Furthermore, the fragmented approach to DRR and CCA with regards to practice, policy and organisational frameworks for dealing with climate risks is resulting in coordination challenges for the government departments. This study aimed to explore how local households and communities perceive and are experiencing and coping with climate change and drought, and what that means for integrating hydro-meteorological disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. The study was carried out in Chirumhanzu district and the methods used for data collection included: 217 household surveys; six focus group discussions; participatory learning actions methods; key informant's interviews and document review. The majority of households owned low value material assets and had low levels of livelihood capitals and this exposed them to the impacts of climate variability and successive droughts. This low adaptive capacity largely affected their ability to engage effective drought risk reduction and adaptation strategies for their livelihood activities in small-scale farming and livestock rearing. Vulnerability to climate risks was exacerbated by seasonal weather forecasts, which were deemed by some households to be unreliable, inaccurate and not easily understood, while others used of indigenous knowledge. Successive droughts affected households' access to food and cash income for other household demands. Other non-climatic factors that contributed to adverse drought impacts at the household level were an emphasis on reactive humanitarian aid approach and the poor economy in Zimbabwe. Additionally, the policy framework for dealing with climate change and drought hazards is fragmented and weak; and is housed in different government departments making it difficult to coordinate and implement. To improve climate risk management, there is need for the government to appreciate that drought risk reduction and climate change adaptation are all about reducing vulnerability. Understanding this, might assist in improving government focus on addressing the underlying causes of vulnerability and mainstreaming DRR and CCA into development processes through addressing specific and generic adaptive capacities. The thesis argues that as long as rural households are involved in climate sensitive livelihood activities and not getting meaningful intervention to diversity and/or better intensify their livelihood activities, they will continue to be vulnerable to successive climate risks. This fragmented approach to dealing with climate risks, is not yielding any successful results with regards to building resilience, risk reduction or adaptation of rural households.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
The National Skills Fund and green skills: towards a generative mechanism approach
- Authors: Sauls, Gideon George
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: South Africa. National Skills Fund , Environmental education Finance South Africa , Green technology Study and teaching South Africa , Postsecondary education South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63740 , vital:28482
- Description: The aim of the study was to investigate the role of the South African National Skills Fund (NSF) in responding to green skills training for the sake of better integration and optimal effectiveness in relation to the green economy in South Africa. The NSF is a multi-billion rand fund for skills development, with the responsibility to respond effectively to the country’s skills development needs. Part of the NSF’s mandate is to ensure the development of green skills in South Africa, with special reference to the allocation of grants, as a key mechanism in ensuring adherence to properly governed skills development funding requirements. This study considers the identification of green skills funding as a skills planning and implementation challenge within the post-school education and training context, the NSF, the green economy and related skills debates, both locally and globally. The study contributes to a growing body of research in South Africa that seeks a wider systemic perspective on green skills concerns. The NSF and its functioning is a critical dimension of the wider skills system and is a significant system element influencing further emergence of a coherent national system for green skills development. Providing further rationale for this study is the 2011 finding of the International Labour Organisation, that the green skills development system in South Africa is re-active and poorly systematised, a finding that was also noted in the first ever Environmental Sector Skills Plan for South Africa undertaken by the Department of Environmental Affairs in 2010. As the study is mainly focused on one aspect of the policy system, namely the NSF’s role in green skills funding, the bulk of the data used in this study is documentary. Research information was obtained from NSF documentary sources to describe the NSF organisationally. Information was also obtained from green skills documentary sources to obtain a better understanding of the nature and purpose of the development of green skills in South Africa. The study has also drawn on references related to grant management as a mechanism for seeding meaningful transformations and skills development research in South Africa to understand the skills development landscape, with special reference to the Department of Higher Education and Training’s (DHET) post-school education and training system. Documentary data was supplemented by selected key respondent interviews from the skills sector and from the green skills research community to provide further perspective on the research focus. Critical realism (CR) is utilised as a meta-theoretical framework that seeks to inform the overall academic reflection and interpretation process. The work of Danermark, Ekström, Jakobsen and Karlsson (2002), which describes the process of data analysis in critical realism, was adapted into a four-phased research approach for this particular policy study, which I framed as a Quadrilateral Policy Analysis Framework (QPAF). This provided a data analysis framework which allowed for taking account of the mechanisms shaping the NSF as an important systemic funding agency within South Africa’s emerging post-school education and training context, as this relates to green skills. However, to further analyse this research question and context, I needed to work with substantive policy theory. Given the nature of the policy object that I was investigating, I found Feiock’s (2013) Institutional Collective Action Framework to be a helpful substantive policy theory as it has adequate nuance with which I could describe the NSF’s core function, namely that of grant-making for the post-schooling policy context. Based on the critical realist meta-theoretical framework and the substantive policy theoretical frameworks, I developed four phases of analysis, namely a) descriptive analysis which is divided into Part A (describing the green skills landscape and its funding demands ) and Part B (describing the NSF as it relates to green skills); b) component analysis which further analyses key components of the above; c) abductive policy analysis which identifies critical mechanisms and how they operate; and d) generative mechanism analysis which identifies the underlying generative mechanisms shaping the NSF’s engagement with green skills (or lack thereof). The following main findings are identified: • It emerged that the responsiveness of the NSF to green skills is emergent, essential and yet multifaceted due to competing stakeholder interests, expectations and claims; • Key strategic relations with critical role players within South Africa’s skills levy funding matrix emerged as a fundamental requirement towards the achievement of the NSF’s organisational mandate to respond effectively to national green skills needs and expectations; • Contracting is the central mechanism driving the NSF grant-making process. Related to this is the finding that partnerships emerged as the most versatile and underutilised mechanism that cuts across all four of the NSF grant-making phases; • The NSF’s current method of making sense of funding policy indications as per national policy documents is too reductionist because the method betrays an alignment-mirroring form of sense-making awareness that uncritically endorses substratum philosophical assumptions like Human Capital Theory (HCT) and associated neoclassical economic theories embedded in the policy frameworks. These assumptions contradict and potentially limit engagement with wider theories and policy frameworks for guiding skills development that are oriented towards the wider common good as argued by non-anthropocentric orientations in critical realism and the green skills sector. In summary, an argument is put forward that the NSF is a key funding mechanism towards green skills delivery in South Africa, but that this funding mechanism is under-utilised and inadequately mobilised for transitioning towards sustainability in South Africa. The study recommends that, in pursuit of better integration and optimal effectiveness thereof and in line with the fund’s legislative, organisational and public mandate, a consensual negotiation skills planning mechanism be considered from an institutional collective action response platform. In terms of recommendations for further research, it is proposed that a comparative analysis study could be considered between the NSF and other leading global funding agencies or other national skills funding mechanisms that are also concerned with the inclusion of green skills development. Comparative studies of this nature could potentially enhance the fund’s policy-making process and assist in the development of more appropriate institutional arrangements towards optimal funding responsiveness. Lastly, in the light of the NSF’s current contribution to green skills in the country, an impact evaluation study on the return on green skills investment presents an additional intriguing research endeavour which would contribute further perspective on the arguments presented in this study.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Sauls, Gideon George
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: South Africa. National Skills Fund , Environmental education Finance South Africa , Green technology Study and teaching South Africa , Postsecondary education South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63740 , vital:28482
- Description: The aim of the study was to investigate the role of the South African National Skills Fund (NSF) in responding to green skills training for the sake of better integration and optimal effectiveness in relation to the green economy in South Africa. The NSF is a multi-billion rand fund for skills development, with the responsibility to respond effectively to the country’s skills development needs. Part of the NSF’s mandate is to ensure the development of green skills in South Africa, with special reference to the allocation of grants, as a key mechanism in ensuring adherence to properly governed skills development funding requirements. This study considers the identification of green skills funding as a skills planning and implementation challenge within the post-school education and training context, the NSF, the green economy and related skills debates, both locally and globally. The study contributes to a growing body of research in South Africa that seeks a wider systemic perspective on green skills concerns. The NSF and its functioning is a critical dimension of the wider skills system and is a significant system element influencing further emergence of a coherent national system for green skills development. Providing further rationale for this study is the 2011 finding of the International Labour Organisation, that the green skills development system in South Africa is re-active and poorly systematised, a finding that was also noted in the first ever Environmental Sector Skills Plan for South Africa undertaken by the Department of Environmental Affairs in 2010. As the study is mainly focused on one aspect of the policy system, namely the NSF’s role in green skills funding, the bulk of the data used in this study is documentary. Research information was obtained from NSF documentary sources to describe the NSF organisationally. Information was also obtained from green skills documentary sources to obtain a better understanding of the nature and purpose of the development of green skills in South Africa. The study has also drawn on references related to grant management as a mechanism for seeding meaningful transformations and skills development research in South Africa to understand the skills development landscape, with special reference to the Department of Higher Education and Training’s (DHET) post-school education and training system. Documentary data was supplemented by selected key respondent interviews from the skills sector and from the green skills research community to provide further perspective on the research focus. Critical realism (CR) is utilised as a meta-theoretical framework that seeks to inform the overall academic reflection and interpretation process. The work of Danermark, Ekström, Jakobsen and Karlsson (2002), which describes the process of data analysis in critical realism, was adapted into a four-phased research approach for this particular policy study, which I framed as a Quadrilateral Policy Analysis Framework (QPAF). This provided a data analysis framework which allowed for taking account of the mechanisms shaping the NSF as an important systemic funding agency within South Africa’s emerging post-school education and training context, as this relates to green skills. However, to further analyse this research question and context, I needed to work with substantive policy theory. Given the nature of the policy object that I was investigating, I found Feiock’s (2013) Institutional Collective Action Framework to be a helpful substantive policy theory as it has adequate nuance with which I could describe the NSF’s core function, namely that of grant-making for the post-schooling policy context. Based on the critical realist meta-theoretical framework and the substantive policy theoretical frameworks, I developed four phases of analysis, namely a) descriptive analysis which is divided into Part A (describing the green skills landscape and its funding demands ) and Part B (describing the NSF as it relates to green skills); b) component analysis which further analyses key components of the above; c) abductive policy analysis which identifies critical mechanisms and how they operate; and d) generative mechanism analysis which identifies the underlying generative mechanisms shaping the NSF’s engagement with green skills (or lack thereof). The following main findings are identified: • It emerged that the responsiveness of the NSF to green skills is emergent, essential and yet multifaceted due to competing stakeholder interests, expectations and claims; • Key strategic relations with critical role players within South Africa’s skills levy funding matrix emerged as a fundamental requirement towards the achievement of the NSF’s organisational mandate to respond effectively to national green skills needs and expectations; • Contracting is the central mechanism driving the NSF grant-making process. Related to this is the finding that partnerships emerged as the most versatile and underutilised mechanism that cuts across all four of the NSF grant-making phases; • The NSF’s current method of making sense of funding policy indications as per national policy documents is too reductionist because the method betrays an alignment-mirroring form of sense-making awareness that uncritically endorses substratum philosophical assumptions like Human Capital Theory (HCT) and associated neoclassical economic theories embedded in the policy frameworks. These assumptions contradict and potentially limit engagement with wider theories and policy frameworks for guiding skills development that are oriented towards the wider common good as argued by non-anthropocentric orientations in critical realism and the green skills sector. In summary, an argument is put forward that the NSF is a key funding mechanism towards green skills delivery in South Africa, but that this funding mechanism is under-utilised and inadequately mobilised for transitioning towards sustainability in South Africa. The study recommends that, in pursuit of better integration and optimal effectiveness thereof and in line with the fund’s legislative, organisational and public mandate, a consensual negotiation skills planning mechanism be considered from an institutional collective action response platform. In terms of recommendations for further research, it is proposed that a comparative analysis study could be considered between the NSF and other leading global funding agencies or other national skills funding mechanisms that are also concerned with the inclusion of green skills development. Comparative studies of this nature could potentially enhance the fund’s policy-making process and assist in the development of more appropriate institutional arrangements towards optimal funding responsiveness. Lastly, in the light of the NSF’s current contribution to green skills in the country, an impact evaluation study on the return on green skills investment presents an additional intriguing research endeavour which would contribute further perspective on the arguments presented in this study.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
The place of language in supporting children’s mathematical development: two Grade 4 teachers’ use of classroom talk
- Authors: Robertson, Sally-Ann, 1952-
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Mathematics Study and teaching (Elementary) South Africa , Multilingual education South Africa , Language and education South Africa , Translanguaging (Linguistics) , Language policy South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62072 , vital:28104
- Description: Measures of mathematics achievement (documented locally, and in internationally comparative terms) have shown that South African learners whose first language (L1) is different from their language of learning and teaching (LoLT) are at a significant disadvantage, most particularly learners from vulnerable or marginalised communities. This transdisciplinary case study looks at two experienced Grade 4 teachers’ mathematics classroom talk practices. It is situated within a second language (L2) teaching/learning context in which teachers and learners share the same first language, but mathematics learning and teaching takes place officially through an L2 (English). The study is located within a qualitative and interpretive framework. It brings together insights from a range of distinct but complementary theoretical disciplines in its analysis of the empirical classroom observation and interview data. Its theoretical framing derives initially from professional literature relating to L2 teaching and learning. This is then embedded within a broader theoretical frame deriving from the work of Vygotsky, Bernstein and Halliday, each of whom has focussed on the centrality of language to the teaching/ learning process, as well as contributed to a heightened appreciation of socio-cultural influences on learners’ meaning-making processes. The study illuminates some of the linguistic challenges to L2 children’s maximal participation in the learning of school mathematics. It points too to the significant challenge many South African mathematics teachers face in trying to meet curriculum coverage and pacing demands, while simultaneously facilitating their learners’ ongoing induction – in and through L2 predominantly – into mathematically-appropriate discourse. Grade 4 is a year in which such challenges are often more acutely felt. Independently of the transition across to an L2 for the majority of South African learners, this is the year also where - relative to the foundation phase years - learners encounter an expansion of knowledge areas and more specialised academic text. Many learners struggle to adjust to these higher conceptual and linguistic demands, often leading to what has been termed a ‘fourth-grade slump’. The study highlights the need for more sustained and proactive challenging of perceptions that English as LoLT is the obvious route to educational - and subsequent economic - opportunity. Recognition of the consequences deriving from the choice of English as the main LoLT for mathematics teaching and learning could help counterbalance deficit discourses implicating poor teaching as a major contributor to South Africa’s poor mathematics education outcomes. The study highlights further that, if language is genuinely to be used as the ‘tool’ for learning it is claimed to be, synergistic opportunities for the dovetailing of insights into L2 learners’ literacy/ numeracy development require further exploration. It points to the need for ongoing professional development support for teachers of mathematics (at both pre- and in-service levels) that focuses on broadening and deepening their understandings around the linguistic, and hence epistemological, consequences of learning mathematics through an L2. Expanding mathematics teachers’ repertoires of strategies for supporting learners’ developing cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP) in mathematics (in both L1 and L2) would involve a conception of ‘academic language’ in mathematics which goes beyond a constrained interpretation of ‘legitimate’ mathematical text as that which is in texts such as curriculum documents and text books. Especially important here are strategies which foreground the value of classroom talk in assisting L2 children towards becoming more confident, competent and explorative bilingual learners, and thereby, more active agents of their own mathematical meaning-making processes. The study argues that such meaning-making processes would be further strengthened were additive bilingualism (in place of current predominantly subtractive practices) to be genuinely taken up as core to any teaching and learning of mathematics in contexts such as those described in this case study.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Robertson, Sally-Ann, 1952-
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Mathematics Study and teaching (Elementary) South Africa , Multilingual education South Africa , Language and education South Africa , Translanguaging (Linguistics) , Language policy South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62072 , vital:28104
- Description: Measures of mathematics achievement (documented locally, and in internationally comparative terms) have shown that South African learners whose first language (L1) is different from their language of learning and teaching (LoLT) are at a significant disadvantage, most particularly learners from vulnerable or marginalised communities. This transdisciplinary case study looks at two experienced Grade 4 teachers’ mathematics classroom talk practices. It is situated within a second language (L2) teaching/learning context in which teachers and learners share the same first language, but mathematics learning and teaching takes place officially through an L2 (English). The study is located within a qualitative and interpretive framework. It brings together insights from a range of distinct but complementary theoretical disciplines in its analysis of the empirical classroom observation and interview data. Its theoretical framing derives initially from professional literature relating to L2 teaching and learning. This is then embedded within a broader theoretical frame deriving from the work of Vygotsky, Bernstein and Halliday, each of whom has focussed on the centrality of language to the teaching/ learning process, as well as contributed to a heightened appreciation of socio-cultural influences on learners’ meaning-making processes. The study illuminates some of the linguistic challenges to L2 children’s maximal participation in the learning of school mathematics. It points too to the significant challenge many South African mathematics teachers face in trying to meet curriculum coverage and pacing demands, while simultaneously facilitating their learners’ ongoing induction – in and through L2 predominantly – into mathematically-appropriate discourse. Grade 4 is a year in which such challenges are often more acutely felt. Independently of the transition across to an L2 for the majority of South African learners, this is the year also where - relative to the foundation phase years - learners encounter an expansion of knowledge areas and more specialised academic text. Many learners struggle to adjust to these higher conceptual and linguistic demands, often leading to what has been termed a ‘fourth-grade slump’. The study highlights the need for more sustained and proactive challenging of perceptions that English as LoLT is the obvious route to educational - and subsequent economic - opportunity. Recognition of the consequences deriving from the choice of English as the main LoLT for mathematics teaching and learning could help counterbalance deficit discourses implicating poor teaching as a major contributor to South Africa’s poor mathematics education outcomes. The study highlights further that, if language is genuinely to be used as the ‘tool’ for learning it is claimed to be, synergistic opportunities for the dovetailing of insights into L2 learners’ literacy/ numeracy development require further exploration. It points to the need for ongoing professional development support for teachers of mathematics (at both pre- and in-service levels) that focuses on broadening and deepening their understandings around the linguistic, and hence epistemological, consequences of learning mathematics through an L2. Expanding mathematics teachers’ repertoires of strategies for supporting learners’ developing cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP) in mathematics (in both L1 and L2) would involve a conception of ‘academic language’ in mathematics which goes beyond a constrained interpretation of ‘legitimate’ mathematical text as that which is in texts such as curriculum documents and text books. Especially important here are strategies which foreground the value of classroom talk in assisting L2 children towards becoming more confident, competent and explorative bilingual learners, and thereby, more active agents of their own mathematical meaning-making processes. The study argues that such meaning-making processes would be further strengthened were additive bilingualism (in place of current predominantly subtractive practices) to be genuinely taken up as core to any teaching and learning of mathematics in contexts such as those described in this case study.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
The role of upwelling in determining the composition, species distribution and genetic structure of intertidal communities in a time of climate change
- Lourenço, Carla Sofia Emídio Rodrigues
- Authors: Lourenço, Carla Sofia Emídio Rodrigues
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Upwelling (Oceanography) , Intertidal organisms -- Morocco -- Atlantic Coast , Intertidal organisms -- Canary Current -- Effect of water currents on , Intertidal animals -- Canary Current -- Effect of water currents on , Intertidal animals -- Morocco -- Atlantic Coas , Mytilus galloprovincialis -- Morocco -- Atlantic Coast , Mytilus galloprovincialis -- Canary Current -- Effect of water currents on , Intertidal ecology -- Canary Current , Sea surface microlayer -- Morocco -- Atlantic Coast
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/61614 , vital:28042
- Description: Upwelling is an oceanographic process that strongly influences coastal species and the communities they belong to. In upwelling areas, colder, denser, nutrient-rich subsurface waters are transported to the nearshore surface, replacing warmer superficial waters that are advected offshore. Such effects influence the composition and dynamics of coastal communities, for example by affecting species abundance, recruitment, dispersal and distribution. Upwelling areas are key model regions to study the responses of coastal species to climate change because they are characterized by cooler conditions and experience lower warming rates than adjacent regions. In particular, intertidal rocky shore species are ideal coastal sentinel organisms to study distributional changes driven by climate warming because they inhabit the interface between marine and terrestrial habitats and are exposed to extremely severe environmental conditions. In fact, sharp distributional shifts have been reported for multiple intertidal species as a response to ocean warming. Although some studies have investigated the role of upwelling in influencing abundance and distribution of intertidal species, little is known about its potential as refugia against climate warming and the degree to which upwelling shapes species genetic structure is yet not fully understood. The aim of this thesis is to understand the influence of the Canary Current upwelling system on intertidal community composition, including species distribution and the genetic structure of intertidal species under current climate change. To do this, I investigated community structure of intertidal assemblages along the Atlantic shores of Morocco and Western Sahara, performed large scale surveys on species distribution, evaluated species abundance and frequency of parasitism and examined species genetic patterns. I further coupled biological data with upwelling indices, sea surface temperatures (SST) and the rate of SST warming. I demonstrate that strong upwelling influences abundance and distribution of intertidal rocky shore species and that upwelling cells can act as refugia from climate change by ameliorating thermal conditions. Upwelling cells also conserve the genetic diversity of the marine macroalga Fucus guiryi, promoting intraspecific genetic diversity by preserving unique genetic lineages. However, no evidence was found that upwelling affects the genetic structure for either F. guiryi or the brown mussel Perna perna. Instead, the genetic patterns presented in this thesis seem to result from a combination of species’ life history traits, population size and habitat suitability. My results also suggest that upwelling intensity affects the frequency of endolithic parasitism on the Mediterranean mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis. In times of climate change, upwelling events provide suitable environmental conditions for species to counter act climatic change. As upwelling is project to intensify in the future, its influence on benthic intertidal species might be greater than previously anticipated.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Lourenço, Carla Sofia Emídio Rodrigues
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Upwelling (Oceanography) , Intertidal organisms -- Morocco -- Atlantic Coast , Intertidal organisms -- Canary Current -- Effect of water currents on , Intertidal animals -- Canary Current -- Effect of water currents on , Intertidal animals -- Morocco -- Atlantic Coas , Mytilus galloprovincialis -- Morocco -- Atlantic Coast , Mytilus galloprovincialis -- Canary Current -- Effect of water currents on , Intertidal ecology -- Canary Current , Sea surface microlayer -- Morocco -- Atlantic Coast
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/61614 , vital:28042
- Description: Upwelling is an oceanographic process that strongly influences coastal species and the communities they belong to. In upwelling areas, colder, denser, nutrient-rich subsurface waters are transported to the nearshore surface, replacing warmer superficial waters that are advected offshore. Such effects influence the composition and dynamics of coastal communities, for example by affecting species abundance, recruitment, dispersal and distribution. Upwelling areas are key model regions to study the responses of coastal species to climate change because they are characterized by cooler conditions and experience lower warming rates than adjacent regions. In particular, intertidal rocky shore species are ideal coastal sentinel organisms to study distributional changes driven by climate warming because they inhabit the interface between marine and terrestrial habitats and are exposed to extremely severe environmental conditions. In fact, sharp distributional shifts have been reported for multiple intertidal species as a response to ocean warming. Although some studies have investigated the role of upwelling in influencing abundance and distribution of intertidal species, little is known about its potential as refugia against climate warming and the degree to which upwelling shapes species genetic structure is yet not fully understood. The aim of this thesis is to understand the influence of the Canary Current upwelling system on intertidal community composition, including species distribution and the genetic structure of intertidal species under current climate change. To do this, I investigated community structure of intertidal assemblages along the Atlantic shores of Morocco and Western Sahara, performed large scale surveys on species distribution, evaluated species abundance and frequency of parasitism and examined species genetic patterns. I further coupled biological data with upwelling indices, sea surface temperatures (SST) and the rate of SST warming. I demonstrate that strong upwelling influences abundance and distribution of intertidal rocky shore species and that upwelling cells can act as refugia from climate change by ameliorating thermal conditions. Upwelling cells also conserve the genetic diversity of the marine macroalga Fucus guiryi, promoting intraspecific genetic diversity by preserving unique genetic lineages. However, no evidence was found that upwelling affects the genetic structure for either F. guiryi or the brown mussel Perna perna. Instead, the genetic patterns presented in this thesis seem to result from a combination of species’ life history traits, population size and habitat suitability. My results also suggest that upwelling intensity affects the frequency of endolithic parasitism on the Mediterranean mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis. In times of climate change, upwelling events provide suitable environmental conditions for species to counter act climatic change. As upwelling is project to intensify in the future, its influence on benthic intertidal species might be greater than previously anticipated.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
The rupture in the Rainbow: an exploration of Joburg Pride’s fragmentation, 1990 to 2013
- Authors: McLean, Nyx Nicolene Cindy
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Gay pride celebrations -- South Africa -- Johannesburg , Sexual minorities -- South Africa , Sexual minorities -- Crimes against -- South Africa , Hate crimes -- South Africa , Group identity -- South Africa -- Johannesburg , Identity politics -- South Africa -- Johannesburg , Racism -- South Africa , One in Nine Campaign
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63822 , vital:28492
- Description: In 2012 Joburg Pride was disrupted by the One in Nine Campaign who asked for a moment of silence to honour the lives of victims of hate crimes1 and violence. This interruption of the parade was met with violence from Joburg Pride organisers, marshals and participants, who explicitly told the campaign’s activists that they “had no right to be at the parade.” The activists were predominantly black lesbians and gender non-conforming people. This response suggested that there was no place within Joburg Pride for honouring and mourning the lives of LGBTIAQ people of colour that had been lost to hate crimes. In addition to the call for one minute of silence, the One in Nine Campaign argued that Joburg Pride had become depoliticised as a result of its increased commercialisation. This study is motivated by a need to understand this rupture that occurred in 2012, and to situate it within the history of the LGBTIAQ movement in South Africa. In particular, it investigates the argument made by the One in Nine Campaign that Joburg Pride had become depoliticised and commercialised. The tensions that were facilitated by the 2012 clash and the subsequent formation of alternative Pride events in 2013 are interesting in light of current conversations circulating in broader South African discourse around what it means to be a South African citizen. The study applies a poststructuralist, anti-racist queer feminist lens informed by queer theory, critical theory, critical race theory, and whiteness studies to the historical and current fractures within Joburg Pride. The study analyses Exit newspaper articles from 1990 to 2013, alongside interviews with key stakeholders involved in the 2012 clash. The analysis, informed by both thematic and discursive approaches, interrogates the following themes: depoliticisation, commercialisation, “community”, assimilation, whiteness, racism, rainbowism and rainbow-washing. In this thesis I argue that the commercial interests and apolitical stance of predominantly white Joburg Pride organisers came to exclude LGBTIAQ people of colour’s experiences, at a time when political organising around hate crimes was most necessary. The analysis further highlights a politics of assimilation rooted in rights-based discourse informed by the Rainbow Nation rhetoric of post-apartheid South Africa. Further, this study problematises the notion of “community”, and discusses its strategic use in assimilationist politics within the LGBTIAQ “community”. This study shows that the rupture in the rainbow that occurred at Joburg Pride 2012 was constituted by multiple ruptures that exist in South African society. The issues explored in this thesis are therefore not only useful for constructing more inclusive spaces for LGBTIAQ people, but also for the nation building project of South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: McLean, Nyx Nicolene Cindy
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Gay pride celebrations -- South Africa -- Johannesburg , Sexual minorities -- South Africa , Sexual minorities -- Crimes against -- South Africa , Hate crimes -- South Africa , Group identity -- South Africa -- Johannesburg , Identity politics -- South Africa -- Johannesburg , Racism -- South Africa , One in Nine Campaign
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63822 , vital:28492
- Description: In 2012 Joburg Pride was disrupted by the One in Nine Campaign who asked for a moment of silence to honour the lives of victims of hate crimes1 and violence. This interruption of the parade was met with violence from Joburg Pride organisers, marshals and participants, who explicitly told the campaign’s activists that they “had no right to be at the parade.” The activists were predominantly black lesbians and gender non-conforming people. This response suggested that there was no place within Joburg Pride for honouring and mourning the lives of LGBTIAQ people of colour that had been lost to hate crimes. In addition to the call for one minute of silence, the One in Nine Campaign argued that Joburg Pride had become depoliticised as a result of its increased commercialisation. This study is motivated by a need to understand this rupture that occurred in 2012, and to situate it within the history of the LGBTIAQ movement in South Africa. In particular, it investigates the argument made by the One in Nine Campaign that Joburg Pride had become depoliticised and commercialised. The tensions that were facilitated by the 2012 clash and the subsequent formation of alternative Pride events in 2013 are interesting in light of current conversations circulating in broader South African discourse around what it means to be a South African citizen. The study applies a poststructuralist, anti-racist queer feminist lens informed by queer theory, critical theory, critical race theory, and whiteness studies to the historical and current fractures within Joburg Pride. The study analyses Exit newspaper articles from 1990 to 2013, alongside interviews with key stakeholders involved in the 2012 clash. The analysis, informed by both thematic and discursive approaches, interrogates the following themes: depoliticisation, commercialisation, “community”, assimilation, whiteness, racism, rainbowism and rainbow-washing. In this thesis I argue that the commercial interests and apolitical stance of predominantly white Joburg Pride organisers came to exclude LGBTIAQ people of colour’s experiences, at a time when political organising around hate crimes was most necessary. The analysis further highlights a politics of assimilation rooted in rights-based discourse informed by the Rainbow Nation rhetoric of post-apartheid South Africa. Further, this study problematises the notion of “community”, and discusses its strategic use in assimilationist politics within the LGBTIAQ “community”. This study shows that the rupture in the rainbow that occurred at Joburg Pride 2012 was constituted by multiple ruptures that exist in South African society. The issues explored in this thesis are therefore not only useful for constructing more inclusive spaces for LGBTIAQ people, but also for the nation building project of South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
The South African general anti-tax avoidance rule and lessons from the first world: a case law approach
- Pidduck, Teresa Michelle Calvert
- Authors: Pidduck, Teresa Michelle Calvert
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Tax evasion -- South Africa , Taxpayer compliance -- South Africa , Taxation -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , South Africa. Income Tax Act, 1962 , Taxation -- Law and legislation -- Australia , Taxation -- Law and legislation -- Canada , Tax evasion -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , General anti-avoidance rule (GAAR)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60328 , vital:27768
- Description: Tax avoidance has been a concern to revenue authorities since the time that the concept of tax was first introduced. Revenue authorities worldwide constantly strive to ensure taxpayer compliance, while combating impermissible tax avoidance. South Africa uses a general anti-avoidance rule (GAAR) as part of its arsenal to combat the increasingly innovative ways in which taxpayers seek to minimise their tax. However, the GAAR has been the source of much criticism and its effectiveness in combatting impermissible tax avoidance is untested in the courts. Therefore, the use of hindsight to criticise the GAAR is not possible. This study applied a qualitative approach to compare the South African, Australian and Canadian GAARs in order to propose changes which are intended to improve the efficacy of the South African GAAR. This research was performed by first comparing the three GAARs using a doctrinal research methodology and then applying the South African GAAR to the facts of selected cases from Australia and Canada in the form of reform-oriented research. In order to apply the South African GAAR to the facts of the cases a framework was developed in phase 1 of the research in order to ensure consistency in the application. This allowed for a more reliable analysis to be made regarding the areas where the South African GAAR could be improved. The convergence of results from the two research methodologies validated many of the suggestions made for the improvement of the South African GAAR This thesis examined the GAARs in South Africa, Australia and Canada with a view to identifying if there are any lessons to be learned for their application and interpretation, in order to suggest improvements which can be made to the South African GAAR. Further, relevant Australian and Canadian case law was found to be instructive as to the approach that could be adopted for purposes of applying the South African GAAR. The findings of the research revealed that while the South African, Australian and Canadian GAARs differ in their structure, each is directed to achieve the same end. The results of the study identified two types of improvements to the South African GAAR. Firstly, the South African GAAR should be consolidated into a three-part enquiry instead of the current four-part enquiry. In doing so the tainted elements (previously the abnormality requirement) could be used to inform an objective test of purpose. Secondly, guidance on areas of uncertainty regarding the application of the South African GAAR needs to be provided in order to prevent possible inconsistent judicial interpretations that may limit the efficacy of the GAAR whilst still protecting the right for taxpayers to legitimately minimise their tax burdens. One additional cause for concern highlighted in this research is the use of provisions from other jurisdictions without guidance on the application in the South African context. The use of similar provisions to that of its much-criticised predecessor has also introduced areas of uncertainty regarding the application of the South African GAAR. These areas of weakness and uncertainty arguably prevent the South African GAAR from being an effective deterrent to tax avoidance and many could be addressed by the legislature.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Pidduck, Teresa Michelle Calvert
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Tax evasion -- South Africa , Taxpayer compliance -- South Africa , Taxation -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , South Africa. Income Tax Act, 1962 , Taxation -- Law and legislation -- Australia , Taxation -- Law and legislation -- Canada , Tax evasion -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , General anti-avoidance rule (GAAR)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60328 , vital:27768
- Description: Tax avoidance has been a concern to revenue authorities since the time that the concept of tax was first introduced. Revenue authorities worldwide constantly strive to ensure taxpayer compliance, while combating impermissible tax avoidance. South Africa uses a general anti-avoidance rule (GAAR) as part of its arsenal to combat the increasingly innovative ways in which taxpayers seek to minimise their tax. However, the GAAR has been the source of much criticism and its effectiveness in combatting impermissible tax avoidance is untested in the courts. Therefore, the use of hindsight to criticise the GAAR is not possible. This study applied a qualitative approach to compare the South African, Australian and Canadian GAARs in order to propose changes which are intended to improve the efficacy of the South African GAAR. This research was performed by first comparing the three GAARs using a doctrinal research methodology and then applying the South African GAAR to the facts of selected cases from Australia and Canada in the form of reform-oriented research. In order to apply the South African GAAR to the facts of the cases a framework was developed in phase 1 of the research in order to ensure consistency in the application. This allowed for a more reliable analysis to be made regarding the areas where the South African GAAR could be improved. The convergence of results from the two research methodologies validated many of the suggestions made for the improvement of the South African GAAR This thesis examined the GAARs in South Africa, Australia and Canada with a view to identifying if there are any lessons to be learned for their application and interpretation, in order to suggest improvements which can be made to the South African GAAR. Further, relevant Australian and Canadian case law was found to be instructive as to the approach that could be adopted for purposes of applying the South African GAAR. The findings of the research revealed that while the South African, Australian and Canadian GAARs differ in their structure, each is directed to achieve the same end. The results of the study identified two types of improvements to the South African GAAR. Firstly, the South African GAAR should be consolidated into a three-part enquiry instead of the current four-part enquiry. In doing so the tainted elements (previously the abnormality requirement) could be used to inform an objective test of purpose. Secondly, guidance on areas of uncertainty regarding the application of the South African GAAR needs to be provided in order to prevent possible inconsistent judicial interpretations that may limit the efficacy of the GAAR whilst still protecting the right for taxpayers to legitimately minimise their tax burdens. One additional cause for concern highlighted in this research is the use of provisions from other jurisdictions without guidance on the application in the South African context. The use of similar provisions to that of its much-criticised predecessor has also introduced areas of uncertainty regarding the application of the South African GAAR. These areas of weakness and uncertainty arguably prevent the South African GAAR from being an effective deterrent to tax avoidance and many could be addressed by the legislature.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Tomographic imaging of East African equatorial ionosphere and study of equatorial plasma bubbles
- Authors: Giday, Nigussie Mezgebe
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Ionosphere -- Africa, Central , Tomography -- Africa, Central , Global Positioning System , Neural networks (Computer science) , Space environment , Multi-Instrument Data Analysis System (MIDAS) , Equatorial plasma bubbles
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63980 , vital:28516
- Description: In spite of the fact that the African ionospheric equatorial region has the largest ground footprint along the geomagnetic equator, it has not been well studied due to the absence of adequate ground-based instruments. This thesis presents research on both tomographic imaging of the African equatorial ionosphere and the study of the ionospheric irregularities/equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) under varying geomagnetic conditions. The Multi-Instrument Data Analysis System (MIDAS), an inversion algorithm, was investigated for its validity and ability as a tool to reconstruct multi-scaled ionospheric structures for different geomagnetic conditions. This was done for the narrow East African longitude sector with data from the available ground Global Positioning Sys-tem (GPS) receivers. The MIDAS results were compared to the results of two models, namely the IRI and GIM. MIDAS results compared more favourably with the observation vertical total electron content (VTEC), with a computed maximum correlation coefficient (r) of 0.99 and minimum root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 2.91 TECU, than did the results of the IRI-2012 and GIM models with maximum r of 0.93 and 0.99, and minimum RMSE of 13.03 TECU and 6.52 TECU, respectively, over all the test stations and validation days. The ability of MIDAS to reconstruct storm-time TEC was also compared with the results produced by the use of a Artificial Neural Net-work (ANN) for the African low- and mid-latitude regions. In terms of latitude, on average,MIDAS performed 13.44 % better than ANN in the African mid-latitudes, while MIDAS under performed in low-latitudes. This thesis also reports on the effects of moderate geomagnetic conditions on the evolution of EPBs and/or ionospheric irregularities during their season of occurrence using data from (or measurements by) space- and ground-based instruments for the east African equatorial sector. The study showed that the strength of daytime equatorial electrojet (EEJ), the steepness of the TEC peak-to-trough gradient and/or the meridional/transequatorial thermospheric winds sometimes have collective/interwoven effects, while at other times one mechanism dominates. In summary, this research offered tomographic results that outperform the results of the commonly used (“standard”) global models (i.e. IRI and GIM) for a longitude sector of importance to space weather, which has not been adequately studied due to a lack of sufficient instrumentation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Giday, Nigussie Mezgebe
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Ionosphere -- Africa, Central , Tomography -- Africa, Central , Global Positioning System , Neural networks (Computer science) , Space environment , Multi-Instrument Data Analysis System (MIDAS) , Equatorial plasma bubbles
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63980 , vital:28516
- Description: In spite of the fact that the African ionospheric equatorial region has the largest ground footprint along the geomagnetic equator, it has not been well studied due to the absence of adequate ground-based instruments. This thesis presents research on both tomographic imaging of the African equatorial ionosphere and the study of the ionospheric irregularities/equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) under varying geomagnetic conditions. The Multi-Instrument Data Analysis System (MIDAS), an inversion algorithm, was investigated for its validity and ability as a tool to reconstruct multi-scaled ionospheric structures for different geomagnetic conditions. This was done for the narrow East African longitude sector with data from the available ground Global Positioning Sys-tem (GPS) receivers. The MIDAS results were compared to the results of two models, namely the IRI and GIM. MIDAS results compared more favourably with the observation vertical total electron content (VTEC), with a computed maximum correlation coefficient (r) of 0.99 and minimum root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 2.91 TECU, than did the results of the IRI-2012 and GIM models with maximum r of 0.93 and 0.99, and minimum RMSE of 13.03 TECU and 6.52 TECU, respectively, over all the test stations and validation days. The ability of MIDAS to reconstruct storm-time TEC was also compared with the results produced by the use of a Artificial Neural Net-work (ANN) for the African low- and mid-latitude regions. In terms of latitude, on average,MIDAS performed 13.44 % better than ANN in the African mid-latitudes, while MIDAS under performed in low-latitudes. This thesis also reports on the effects of moderate geomagnetic conditions on the evolution of EPBs and/or ionospheric irregularities during their season of occurrence using data from (or measurements by) space- and ground-based instruments for the east African equatorial sector. The study showed that the strength of daytime equatorial electrojet (EEJ), the steepness of the TEC peak-to-trough gradient and/or the meridional/transequatorial thermospheric winds sometimes have collective/interwoven effects, while at other times one mechanism dominates. In summary, this research offered tomographic results that outperform the results of the commonly used (“standard”) global models (i.e. IRI and GIM) for a longitude sector of importance to space weather, which has not been adequately studied due to a lack of sufficient instrumentation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Towards intercultural communication congruence in Sino-African organisational contexts
- Authors: Chigwendere, Fungai Beaula
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Intercultural communication -- Africa , China -- Foreign economic relations -- Africa , Communication in organizations -- Cross-cultural studies , Corporate culture -- Cross-cultural studies , Africa -- Relations -- China , China -- Relations -- Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62395 , vital:28172
- Description: Despite the prevalence of theories and research that could serve as guidelines for addressing intercultural communication challenges such as misunderstanding, ineffectiveness and inappropriateness in communication in Sino-African organisational contexts, the continued existence of these challenges suggests the inadequacy of such theories. Accordingly, in consideration of African and Chinese cultural perspectives, the aim of this study was to develop a hybrid intercultural communication congruence (HICC) framework in order to enhance intercultural communication and achieve intercultural communication congruence in Sino-African organisational contexts. In this study, intercultural communication congruence means effectiveness and appropriateness in intercultural communication. To achieve the study aim, an interpretive pragmatism paradigm was adopted, comprising a two-pronged approach of a synthesis of extant literature and theory as well as an empirical qualitative study, both underpinned by cross-cultural management theory. Based on the synthesis of literature and theory, a generic theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework underpinned by intercultural communication awareness - a state where communicants understand communication orientation and manner of communication in their own and their counterparts’ culture - was developed. A further contribution was a theoretical contextualisation of the generic theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework, resulting in a theoretical framework for intercultural communication awareness in Western, African and Chinese cultures and a theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework specific to Sino-African organisational contexts. Thereafter, with the aim of validating the intercultural communication awareness dimension of the theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework specific to Sino-African organisational contexts, an empirical study was conducted with a sample of seven African and eight Chinese experts using indepth interviews with open-ended and semi-structured questions. Based on qualitative content analysis, six intercultural communication awareness enablers or conditions that enable people to understand communication in different cultures and contexts for the purposes of attaining intercultural communication awareness emerged. These were cultural orientation, manner of communication, orientation to rules and protocol, individual dispositions, intercultural communication influences and intercultural communication variations. An integration of the intercultural communication awareness enablers into the generic theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework results in an updated generic theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework. Then, informed by the updated generic theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework, a further contribution of this study was an empirical verification of the intercultural communication awareness dimension of the theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework specific to Sino-African organisational contexts to result in a final hybrid intercultural communication congruence framework for Sino-African organisational contexts supported by the perspectives of those involved in interaction, rather than predetermined standards of other cultures. Empirical findings suggest that both African and Chinese colleagues maintain a sense of collectivism in the Sino- African organisational context, although this is demonstrated differently. In addition, African colleagues display a blended manner of communication characterised by a mix of Western and African ways while the Chinese manner is contextual and governed by roles and relationships. In African culture, rules and protocol are negotiated, aimed at social maintenance, while strong cultural patriotism ensures strict adherence in Chinese culture. In respect of individual dispositions, African people are seen as open and accommodating while the Chinese disposition could be described as closed and ambiguous. Also evident in the findings is the existence of within-culture differences and influence of noncultural factors on intercultural communication that should be addressed in order to achieve intercultural communication congruence. Finally, the frameworks developed and the methodological processes followed will stimulate academic debate and raise numerous questions for future research. Immediate future research could be geared towards refining the concepts of intercultural communication awareness, intercultural communication congruence and the hybrid intercultural communication congruence framework for Sino-African organisational contexts. At a management practice level, intercultural communication awareness insights provide a reference point for intercultural communication enhancement strategies and interventions in Sino-African organisational contexts.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Chigwendere, Fungai Beaula
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Intercultural communication -- Africa , China -- Foreign economic relations -- Africa , Communication in organizations -- Cross-cultural studies , Corporate culture -- Cross-cultural studies , Africa -- Relations -- China , China -- Relations -- Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62395 , vital:28172
- Description: Despite the prevalence of theories and research that could serve as guidelines for addressing intercultural communication challenges such as misunderstanding, ineffectiveness and inappropriateness in communication in Sino-African organisational contexts, the continued existence of these challenges suggests the inadequacy of such theories. Accordingly, in consideration of African and Chinese cultural perspectives, the aim of this study was to develop a hybrid intercultural communication congruence (HICC) framework in order to enhance intercultural communication and achieve intercultural communication congruence in Sino-African organisational contexts. In this study, intercultural communication congruence means effectiveness and appropriateness in intercultural communication. To achieve the study aim, an interpretive pragmatism paradigm was adopted, comprising a two-pronged approach of a synthesis of extant literature and theory as well as an empirical qualitative study, both underpinned by cross-cultural management theory. Based on the synthesis of literature and theory, a generic theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework underpinned by intercultural communication awareness - a state where communicants understand communication orientation and manner of communication in their own and their counterparts’ culture - was developed. A further contribution was a theoretical contextualisation of the generic theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework, resulting in a theoretical framework for intercultural communication awareness in Western, African and Chinese cultures and a theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework specific to Sino-African organisational contexts. Thereafter, with the aim of validating the intercultural communication awareness dimension of the theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework specific to Sino-African organisational contexts, an empirical study was conducted with a sample of seven African and eight Chinese experts using indepth interviews with open-ended and semi-structured questions. Based on qualitative content analysis, six intercultural communication awareness enablers or conditions that enable people to understand communication in different cultures and contexts for the purposes of attaining intercultural communication awareness emerged. These were cultural orientation, manner of communication, orientation to rules and protocol, individual dispositions, intercultural communication influences and intercultural communication variations. An integration of the intercultural communication awareness enablers into the generic theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework results in an updated generic theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework. Then, informed by the updated generic theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework, a further contribution of this study was an empirical verification of the intercultural communication awareness dimension of the theoretical intercultural communication congruence framework specific to Sino-African organisational contexts to result in a final hybrid intercultural communication congruence framework for Sino-African organisational contexts supported by the perspectives of those involved in interaction, rather than predetermined standards of other cultures. Empirical findings suggest that both African and Chinese colleagues maintain a sense of collectivism in the Sino- African organisational context, although this is demonstrated differently. In addition, African colleagues display a blended manner of communication characterised by a mix of Western and African ways while the Chinese manner is contextual and governed by roles and relationships. In African culture, rules and protocol are negotiated, aimed at social maintenance, while strong cultural patriotism ensures strict adherence in Chinese culture. In respect of individual dispositions, African people are seen as open and accommodating while the Chinese disposition could be described as closed and ambiguous. Also evident in the findings is the existence of within-culture differences and influence of noncultural factors on intercultural communication that should be addressed in order to achieve intercultural communication congruence. Finally, the frameworks developed and the methodological processes followed will stimulate academic debate and raise numerous questions for future research. Immediate future research could be geared towards refining the concepts of intercultural communication awareness, intercultural communication congruence and the hybrid intercultural communication congruence framework for Sino-African organisational contexts. At a management practice level, intercultural communication awareness insights provide a reference point for intercultural communication enhancement strategies and interventions in Sino-African organisational contexts.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Transformations in Hlengwe ethnicity in Chiredzi, Zimbabwe, 1890 to 2014
- Authors: Chisi, Taderera Hebert
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Hlengwe (African people) -- Zimbabwe -- Chiredzi Rural District , Ethnicity -- Zimbabwe -- Chiredzi Rural District , Social constructionism , Black people -- Race identity -- Zimbabwe -- Chiredzi Rural District , Zimbabwe -- History , Imperialism -- History
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62296 , vital:28152
- Description: Studies of ethnicity have shifted from primordialism to diverse variants of social constructivism, which include instrumentalism, invention of tribalism by the colonial elite and missionaries and demotic constructivism or creation of ethnicity from below. The studies have generally generated two broad schools of thought. One school avers that African ethnicity was invented by the colonial elite and missionaries in the colonial period whilst the other and more recent asserts that ethnicity had a precolonial currency and the generality of Africans also played a key role in identity formation. Also most notable is that most studies have tended to focus on larger and more visible ethnic groups, ignoring the stories of small communities mostly found in remote border areas of modern ‘nation’ states. Using archival material, colonial records, autobiographies, oral and secondary sources, this thesis, which is largely guided by the demotic constructivist theoretical perspective examines the evolution of the ethnic identity of an ‘obscure’ Hlengwe ethnic community of the south-east lowveld of Zimbabwe from the pre-colonial period to 2014. History of the Hlengwe history has been blurred by the use of the term “Shangaan” to denote the Hlengwe, yet they were not ethnically so. A chronological approach and demotic constuctivism have been used to enable a deeper analysis of the critical historical phases, key players and processes in Hlengwe identity formation as time wore on. While we acknowledge that identity formation involves diverse players, we also focus on the role of the generally neglected commoners in the making of African ethnicity. This study differs from other works on ethnicity which focus on events of short historical phases and the role of selected elitist agents in the making of African ethnicity, by analysing the making of Hlengwe ethnicity from the precolonial to the postcolonial period. We prove that Hlengwe ethnicity was created in the pre-colonial period but did not remain static as it was perpetually reshaped by unpredictable historical events right up to 2014. The Hlengwe community was subjected to processes of social transformation over a long period of time to an extent that the one time docile, ‘uncivilised”, inward looking community bearing an identity of shame had evolved by the close of the 20th century and early 21st century to an assertive community, proud of its identity and actively seeking political, economic and cultural recognition and rights for its ‘underdog’ Hlengwe constituency in a country where diverse Shona groups andNdebele form the dominant ethnic communities.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Chisi, Taderera Hebert
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Hlengwe (African people) -- Zimbabwe -- Chiredzi Rural District , Ethnicity -- Zimbabwe -- Chiredzi Rural District , Social constructionism , Black people -- Race identity -- Zimbabwe -- Chiredzi Rural District , Zimbabwe -- History , Imperialism -- History
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62296 , vital:28152
- Description: Studies of ethnicity have shifted from primordialism to diverse variants of social constructivism, which include instrumentalism, invention of tribalism by the colonial elite and missionaries and demotic constructivism or creation of ethnicity from below. The studies have generally generated two broad schools of thought. One school avers that African ethnicity was invented by the colonial elite and missionaries in the colonial period whilst the other and more recent asserts that ethnicity had a precolonial currency and the generality of Africans also played a key role in identity formation. Also most notable is that most studies have tended to focus on larger and more visible ethnic groups, ignoring the stories of small communities mostly found in remote border areas of modern ‘nation’ states. Using archival material, colonial records, autobiographies, oral and secondary sources, this thesis, which is largely guided by the demotic constructivist theoretical perspective examines the evolution of the ethnic identity of an ‘obscure’ Hlengwe ethnic community of the south-east lowveld of Zimbabwe from the pre-colonial period to 2014. History of the Hlengwe history has been blurred by the use of the term “Shangaan” to denote the Hlengwe, yet they were not ethnically so. A chronological approach and demotic constuctivism have been used to enable a deeper analysis of the critical historical phases, key players and processes in Hlengwe identity formation as time wore on. While we acknowledge that identity formation involves diverse players, we also focus on the role of the generally neglected commoners in the making of African ethnicity. This study differs from other works on ethnicity which focus on events of short historical phases and the role of selected elitist agents in the making of African ethnicity, by analysing the making of Hlengwe ethnicity from the precolonial to the postcolonial period. We prove that Hlengwe ethnicity was created in the pre-colonial period but did not remain static as it was perpetually reshaped by unpredictable historical events right up to 2014. The Hlengwe community was subjected to processes of social transformation over a long period of time to an extent that the one time docile, ‘uncivilised”, inward looking community bearing an identity of shame had evolved by the close of the 20th century and early 21st century to an assertive community, proud of its identity and actively seeking political, economic and cultural recognition and rights for its ‘underdog’ Hlengwe constituency in a country where diverse Shona groups andNdebele form the dominant ethnic communities.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Understanding the role of social capital in enhancing community resilience to natural disasters: a case study of Muzarabani District, Zimbabwe
- Authors: Kasimba, Rosemary
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Social capital (Sociology) -- Zimbabwe , Natural disasters -- Zimbabwe -- Social aspects , Resilience (Personality trait) -- Zimbabwe , Food security -- Climatic factors -- Zimbabwe , Social sciences -- Network analysis , Cooperativeness -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60292 , vital:27763
- Description: The central focus of the study was to seek an understanding of the role that Social Capital plays in enhancing the resilience and adaptive capacity of the community to floods and droughts in Muzarabani District of Northern Zimbabwe. The study was conducted in two of the wards in Muzarabani District namely Chadereka and Kapembere. In addition, the study sought to understand the coping and adaptation strategies employed by the most vulnerable groups such as the elderly, child heads, women and single heads of households. The specific objectives of the study were: to understand the effects of floods and droughts on residents’ livelihoods and food security, examine residents’ perceptions on droughts andfloods and to document community-based strategies utilised by women, child-headed families and the elderly to improve their livelihood and food security in the face of floods and droughts, explore different types of Social Capital that exist in the study area especially with regard to household resilience to disasters, comprehend the basis of residents’ resilience to floods and droughts and the extent to which vulnerable groups rely on Social Capital when coping with these disasters and to examine the repercussions of residents’ strategies on the community’s institutional structures. The study was informed by Social Capital theory and the social network analysis. Social Capital plays a pivotal role in enhancing the resilience of the community to floods and droughts. Different types of Social Capital that exist and help people to deal with floods and droughts include linking, bonding, and bridging and victim Social Capital. Inhabitants within and outside villages support each other. Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and the government are also working hand in hand with community members to reduce the negative impacts of floods and droughts. Volunteerism, generalised reciprocity and mutual understanding are also at the centre of interventions. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches to achieve its objectives. Questionnaires, focus groups discussions, observations, transect walks, key informant interviews and some participatory methods were used to collect data. SPSS, content and thematic analysis were used to analyse data. The study found that floods and droughts negatively impact on human security, causing acute food shortages, intensifying poverty, spread of water related diseases, increasing divorce rates, children dropping out of school, reduced livestock and crop production, family disintegration, chaos in religion, exacerbating local unemployment as well as negatively affecting the wellbeing of community members. On a positive note, floods in Chadereka cause the deposition of alluvial soils that are good for crop production. However, in Kapembere, volunteerism is not very common; inhabitants are not yet trained about the concept. Community members have also formed cooperatives where they would give each other money or grain. In Chadereka, women have formed a mother-support-group to assist children with food in schools. Strategies being employed by the most vulnerable groups include casual labour, joining cooperatives, migration, taking children from school, hiring out cattle, selling of assets, riverine farming, growing drought-resistant crops, making use of indigenous knowledge systems, skipping meals and exploiting natural resources among others. Some women have resorted to prostitution to increase their resilience to floods and drought impacts such as poverty and acute food shortages. The elderly also hire out their cattle. They also rely on support from the government and NGOs. There are a number of challenges faced by residents in dealing with floods and droughts. Community social relationships, migration, casual labour and the sale of assets are the basis of the people’s resilience against the impacts of floods and droughts. The study identified the following issues which all stakeholders involved could take note of: the government should not always be suspicious of disaster-risk reduction strategies implemented by NGOs as this scares away some of them that are willing to offer untied or unconditional assistance; timely and impartial distribution of agricultural inputs to inhabitants would be extremely useful. Moreover, the government needs to provide resources that support local organisations (formed by the local people) to assist the most vulnerable people in communities. Community leaders, together with the government and NGOs, are encouraged to hold awareness campaign programmes that dispel tribal and ethnic stereotypes, to promote local Social Capital among members of the community. Further investigations in the following areas are critical: A more comprehensive assessment of the determinants of resilience to droughts and floods in Zimbabwe is necessary.A study on the challenges faced by the disabled people and women in polygamous marriages and how they are adapting to floods and droughts, needs to be conducted and a critical investigation on the Zimbabwean government’s strengths and weaknesses in enhancing the resilience of the community to floods and droughts is necessary among others.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Kasimba, Rosemary
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Social capital (Sociology) -- Zimbabwe , Natural disasters -- Zimbabwe -- Social aspects , Resilience (Personality trait) -- Zimbabwe , Food security -- Climatic factors -- Zimbabwe , Social sciences -- Network analysis , Cooperativeness -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60292 , vital:27763
- Description: The central focus of the study was to seek an understanding of the role that Social Capital plays in enhancing the resilience and adaptive capacity of the community to floods and droughts in Muzarabani District of Northern Zimbabwe. The study was conducted in two of the wards in Muzarabani District namely Chadereka and Kapembere. In addition, the study sought to understand the coping and adaptation strategies employed by the most vulnerable groups such as the elderly, child heads, women and single heads of households. The specific objectives of the study were: to understand the effects of floods and droughts on residents’ livelihoods and food security, examine residents’ perceptions on droughts andfloods and to document community-based strategies utilised by women, child-headed families and the elderly to improve their livelihood and food security in the face of floods and droughts, explore different types of Social Capital that exist in the study area especially with regard to household resilience to disasters, comprehend the basis of residents’ resilience to floods and droughts and the extent to which vulnerable groups rely on Social Capital when coping with these disasters and to examine the repercussions of residents’ strategies on the community’s institutional structures. The study was informed by Social Capital theory and the social network analysis. Social Capital plays a pivotal role in enhancing the resilience of the community to floods and droughts. Different types of Social Capital that exist and help people to deal with floods and droughts include linking, bonding, and bridging and victim Social Capital. Inhabitants within and outside villages support each other. Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and the government are also working hand in hand with community members to reduce the negative impacts of floods and droughts. Volunteerism, generalised reciprocity and mutual understanding are also at the centre of interventions. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches to achieve its objectives. Questionnaires, focus groups discussions, observations, transect walks, key informant interviews and some participatory methods were used to collect data. SPSS, content and thematic analysis were used to analyse data. The study found that floods and droughts negatively impact on human security, causing acute food shortages, intensifying poverty, spread of water related diseases, increasing divorce rates, children dropping out of school, reduced livestock and crop production, family disintegration, chaos in religion, exacerbating local unemployment as well as negatively affecting the wellbeing of community members. On a positive note, floods in Chadereka cause the deposition of alluvial soils that are good for crop production. However, in Kapembere, volunteerism is not very common; inhabitants are not yet trained about the concept. Community members have also formed cooperatives where they would give each other money or grain. In Chadereka, women have formed a mother-support-group to assist children with food in schools. Strategies being employed by the most vulnerable groups include casual labour, joining cooperatives, migration, taking children from school, hiring out cattle, selling of assets, riverine farming, growing drought-resistant crops, making use of indigenous knowledge systems, skipping meals and exploiting natural resources among others. Some women have resorted to prostitution to increase their resilience to floods and drought impacts such as poverty and acute food shortages. The elderly also hire out their cattle. They also rely on support from the government and NGOs. There are a number of challenges faced by residents in dealing with floods and droughts. Community social relationships, migration, casual labour and the sale of assets are the basis of the people’s resilience against the impacts of floods and droughts. The study identified the following issues which all stakeholders involved could take note of: the government should not always be suspicious of disaster-risk reduction strategies implemented by NGOs as this scares away some of them that are willing to offer untied or unconditional assistance; timely and impartial distribution of agricultural inputs to inhabitants would be extremely useful. Moreover, the government needs to provide resources that support local organisations (formed by the local people) to assist the most vulnerable people in communities. Community leaders, together with the government and NGOs, are encouraged to hold awareness campaign programmes that dispel tribal and ethnic stereotypes, to promote local Social Capital among members of the community. Further investigations in the following areas are critical: A more comprehensive assessment of the determinants of resilience to droughts and floods in Zimbabwe is necessary.A study on the challenges faced by the disabled people and women in polygamous marriages and how they are adapting to floods and droughts, needs to be conducted and a critical investigation on the Zimbabwean government’s strengths and weaknesses in enhancing the resilience of the community to floods and droughts is necessary among others.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Using reading to learn pedagogy to enhance the English first additional language teachers’ classroom practice
- Authors: Mawela, Rethabile Rejoice
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Reading to learn , Language transfer (Language learning) -- South Africa -- Kuruman , Language teachers -- South Africa -- Kuruman , Language and languages -- Study and teaching -- Bilingual method , Second language acquisition
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63415 , vital:28409
- Description: Drawing from the Hallidayan, Bernsteinian and Vygotskyan theories of Systemic Functional Linguistics, Pedagogic Discourse and Social Learning, this study examined the role that Rose's (2005) Reading to Learn (RtL) pedagogy could play in the development of teachers’ pedagogic practices in the teaching of English First Additional Language. The study participants teach English First Additional Language in Black, materially and economically disadvantaged rural primary schools in Kuruman, the Northern Cape Province, South Africa. As study participants, 4 intermediate phase and 4 senior phase teachers of English First Additional Language were purposively selected from 6 rural schools. Located within the Critical Paradigm, Subjective Epistemology and Mixed-Method approach, the study used documentary evidence, semi- structured interviews and RtL pedagogy as research instruments. Research findings reveal that RtL enriched and advanced teachers’ pedagogic practice in the teaching of reading and writing. As a consequence, teachers’ classroom practice of the 8 study participants improved as evidenced as their content knowledge expanded, the quality of teaching developed and their perceptions of themselves as professionals was transformed. An accompanying finding is that teachers acquired the tools to teach reading and the reading and writing proficiencies of learners in their classrooms improved.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Mawela, Rethabile Rejoice
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Reading to learn , Language transfer (Language learning) -- South Africa -- Kuruman , Language teachers -- South Africa -- Kuruman , Language and languages -- Study and teaching -- Bilingual method , Second language acquisition
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63415 , vital:28409
- Description: Drawing from the Hallidayan, Bernsteinian and Vygotskyan theories of Systemic Functional Linguistics, Pedagogic Discourse and Social Learning, this study examined the role that Rose's (2005) Reading to Learn (RtL) pedagogy could play in the development of teachers’ pedagogic practices in the teaching of English First Additional Language. The study participants teach English First Additional Language in Black, materially and economically disadvantaged rural primary schools in Kuruman, the Northern Cape Province, South Africa. As study participants, 4 intermediate phase and 4 senior phase teachers of English First Additional Language were purposively selected from 6 rural schools. Located within the Critical Paradigm, Subjective Epistemology and Mixed-Method approach, the study used documentary evidence, semi- structured interviews and RtL pedagogy as research instruments. Research findings reveal that RtL enriched and advanced teachers’ pedagogic practice in the teaching of reading and writing. As a consequence, teachers’ classroom practice of the 8 study participants improved as evidenced as their content knowledge expanded, the quality of teaching developed and their perceptions of themselves as professionals was transformed. An accompanying finding is that teachers acquired the tools to teach reading and the reading and writing proficiencies of learners in their classrooms improved.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Wagon bridges of the Eastern Cape, c. 1840 – 1900: the contribution of engineering to infrastructural development
- Authors: Walters, Dennis Evelyn
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Bridges Design and construction 19th century , Civil engineers South Africa Cape of Good Hope , Great Britain. Crown Agents' Office , Public works Great Britain Colonies , Wagon trains South Africa Cape of Good Hope
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63877 , vital:28500
- Description: This thesis examines an aspect of economic and technological history which has been little explored in South African history. It argues that the military subjugation and the economic development of the Cape Colony, and particularly of the Eastern Cape, were contingent upon good transportation. The geography of the country, which included relatively impassable mountains and numerous often flooded rivers, necessitated bridges as well as roads. Both were expensive. As a leader in industrial technology, Britain was well placed to extend bridge-building skills to its colonies. This thesis examines the processes by which a small and undeveloped colony strove to create an efficient technological infrastructure. As wagon traffic increased through progress, delays in crossing rivers became a hindrance leading to agitation for bridges. It will be shown that the construction of wagon bridges over the numerous rivers encountered in the Eastern Cape Colony was imperative for the initial free flow of military forces and for later commercial expansion as new towns were established. The eastward expansion was led by the military during the frontier wars followed by the Royal Engineers who built roads and bridges along the eastern frontier. The new Colonial Secretary John Montagu, who arrived in 1843, boosted the colonial finances by overhauling the administration. He established the Central Road Board, an organisation that would drive the building of mountain passes, roads and bridges. The Public Works Department succeeded the Central Road Board and with the financial intervention of the Crown Agents for the Colonies, carried on with an extensive programme of road and bridge building. From the 1870s wagon bridge building lagged behind the huge railway building enterprise in response to the opening up of the diamond and gold mines. The final quarter of the 19th century saw increased bridge building activity in the Eastern Cape with the construction of many iron lattice girder, stone masonry arch and timber trestle bridges. The surviving bridges remain as mute testimony to the skill and expertise of British engineers such as Lewis, Woodifield, Robinson, Fforde, Wakefield, Berkley, Grier, Newey, Westhoven and others.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Walters, Dennis Evelyn
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Bridges Design and construction 19th century , Civil engineers South Africa Cape of Good Hope , Great Britain. Crown Agents' Office , Public works Great Britain Colonies , Wagon trains South Africa Cape of Good Hope
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63877 , vital:28500
- Description: This thesis examines an aspect of economic and technological history which has been little explored in South African history. It argues that the military subjugation and the economic development of the Cape Colony, and particularly of the Eastern Cape, were contingent upon good transportation. The geography of the country, which included relatively impassable mountains and numerous often flooded rivers, necessitated bridges as well as roads. Both were expensive. As a leader in industrial technology, Britain was well placed to extend bridge-building skills to its colonies. This thesis examines the processes by which a small and undeveloped colony strove to create an efficient technological infrastructure. As wagon traffic increased through progress, delays in crossing rivers became a hindrance leading to agitation for bridges. It will be shown that the construction of wagon bridges over the numerous rivers encountered in the Eastern Cape Colony was imperative for the initial free flow of military forces and for later commercial expansion as new towns were established. The eastward expansion was led by the military during the frontier wars followed by the Royal Engineers who built roads and bridges along the eastern frontier. The new Colonial Secretary John Montagu, who arrived in 1843, boosted the colonial finances by overhauling the administration. He established the Central Road Board, an organisation that would drive the building of mountain passes, roads and bridges. The Public Works Department succeeded the Central Road Board and with the financial intervention of the Crown Agents for the Colonies, carried on with an extensive programme of road and bridge building. From the 1870s wagon bridge building lagged behind the huge railway building enterprise in response to the opening up of the diamond and gold mines. The final quarter of the 19th century saw increased bridge building activity in the Eastern Cape with the construction of many iron lattice girder, stone masonry arch and timber trestle bridges. The surviving bridges remain as mute testimony to the skill and expertise of British engineers such as Lewis, Woodifield, Robinson, Fforde, Wakefield, Berkley, Grier, Newey, Westhoven and others.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Waste management knowledge, its production, recontextualisation and circulation in Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) training programmes
- Authors: Giqwa, Nomfundiso Louisa
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Refuse and refuse disposal -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , South Africa. Expanded Public Works Programme , Refuse and refuse disposal -- Employees -- Training of -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , South Africa. Department of Environmental Affairs , Knowledge, Theory of , Knowledge, Sociology of
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63729 , vital:28478
- Description: This study set out to investigate the structuring, recontextualisation and circulation of waste management knowledge in the South African environmental Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) Waste Management Projects. In this thesis these projects also referred to as the Working on Waste (WoW) programme or focus area within the Environmental Protection and Infrastructure Programme (EPIP) hosted by the National Department of Environmental Affairs. Expanded Public Work Programmes are a strategy used by governments to address unemployment and in South Africa; the programmes also seek to address a need for skills development. In this study, the focus is on EPWP waste management knowledge, training programmes and activities only. With waste management knowledge as the core interest, the focus of the investigation was on knowledge circulation of waste management via informal (participation in the project) and formal training of workers at Level 2 National Qualifications Framework (NQF). The study started by firstly investigating what waste management knowledge is produced in the Field of Production via scientific research and policy. It then studied how this waste management knowledge is recontextualised into qualifications and skills programmes designed in the official recontextualising field and learning materials and training programmes designed and offered in the professional recontextualising field. The study also focused on the knowledge of workers and their experience of training in the EPWP workplaces, with an emphasis on rural workplaces. This is where the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) is placing emphasis on training for job creation, empowerment and skills development, and it is also where a number of EPWP Working on Waste programmes are being implemented. The aim was also to develop an understanding of how knowledge circulates amongst learners in training sessions and in workplaces. To do this, I drew on Bernstein’s theory of the pedagogical device which provides theoretical lenses and a language of description to explain how knowledge is recontextualised from the field of production to the field of reproduction. To investigate the structuring of this knowledge by official and pedagogical recontextualisers, I drew on the work of Maton, who offers a Legitimation Code Theory to explain the principles structuring knowledge, of which I used specialisation and semantics (two of his suite of knowledge structuring principles) for analysis. The questions that guided the study throughout were: 1. What is the structure of legitimate knowledge and knowers in waste management? 2. What are the underlying principles underpinning knowledge and knowers in waste management? 3. How is the knowledge recontextualised in waste management training qualifications, documents and manuals for worker training at NQF Level 2? 4. How is the knowledge reproduced and evaluated in the waste management EPWP training activities (formal) and workplaces (informal)? 5. How does waste management knowledge circulate amongst the workers in the EPWP training activities and workplaces? For this study I used the case study method, focusing only on one field or DEA EPWP focus area (waste management) and one programme (EPWP Working on Waste), looking in more depth at two cases (two similar types of projects) within the EPWP Working on Waste programme, though they are situated in different areas and though I could only carry through observations of actual workplace training in one of the two sites due to contextual circumstances. The first project was situated in the Amathole District Municipality while the second one was situated in the Chris Hani District Municipality, both of which are in the rural towns of the former Transkei region in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. This area has been at the forefront in accessing funding for these projects due to the level of poverty surrounding these towns and the inability of the local government sphere to deliver on its mandate in the region. Data was collected through document analysis, questionnaires, interviews and observations. Documents analysed were research documents produced by researchers at the level of production as well as legal frameworks guiding waste management processes in this country. Qualifications and Unit Standards at Level 2, as well as training materials designed by providers were analysed. Training in one of the projects was observed and workers in both sites were interviewed twice. The main finding of the study is that waste management knowledge is characterised by interdisciplinarity and a strong epistemic relation which emphasises procedural and technical forms of knowledge. The study found that the knowledge constructed in the field, as well as the policies, qualifications and training programmes are all consequently characterised by a strong epistemic code (ER+) and a weak social relations code (SR-). The study also identified a ‘code clash’ with the knowledge of workers in rural towns whose knowledge and experience of waste management was found to reflect a strong social relation (SR+) and weak epistemic code (ER-), a pattern which was traced back to a similar code in waste management knowledge at home and school (i.e. workers’ prior knowledge and learning experiences). This created difficulties for the trainers who sought to use strategies of descending from the abstract to the concrete in various ‘descending’ semantic waves that tended to move from high levels of semantic density (SD+) to lower levels of semantic density (SD-) as the training provider sought to contextualise a range of concepts. This was the main strategy identified for mediating waste management knowledge reflecting a dominant pattern of SD+/SG- to SD-/SG+ (with SG meaning semantic gravity). This shows that the trainer seldom started mediating concepts from the basis of workers’ prior knowledge and experience and observations showed little responsiveness from workers resulting from this strategy. Despite this, the study found that workers did develop an improved understanding of specialised waste management knowledge over time, especially through observing and doing more complex tasks in the workplace. The study offers a model for addressing the pedagogical difficulty identified around the code clash, and suggests that further attention needs to be given to ‘ascending’ from the concrete to the abstract in pedagogical practices. The study also pointed to the need for a more inclusive knowledge framework for waste management training, especially in the field of recontextualisation (both the official and pedagogical recontextualisation fields) to extend possibilities for workers to learn more about economic potential and access routes into more sustainable jobs. It identifies the need for a more systemic approach to waste management in rural towns and municipalities, improved compliance and also proposes that better waste management practices are modelled to avoid performative contradictions between the knowledge promoted in the field of production and the official and pedagogical recontextualising fields and the field of reproduction, where workers are learning this knowledge via a mix of accredited training and exposure to participation in waste management practices. This study contributes to new knowledge in that it offers an epistemically grounded and theorised pedagogical process model for Level 2 Waste Management Training (in the EPWP programmes, but potentially also more broadly) that accords with the need for a strong epistemic relation code (ER+) embodied in the need for learning scientific and technical waste management knowledge and procedures. It also addresses workers’ needs for greater epistemic access and participation in knowledge building and application of waste management knowledge in praxis as per the purpose of the EPW training programmes, thereby potentially opening up more sustainable learning pathways for them out of poverty through the EPWP training opportunities. The study has pointed to key areas for further research, including further research on the proposed model, further research into Level 2 pedagogical practices and further research into the foundations of waste management learning in schools. Most of the workers who were participating in the training in the EPWP programmes were educated at above Level 2 before participating in the projects, yet their knowledge and experience of waste management was mostly based on everyday knowledge, pointing to an absence of adequate waste management education in schools in rural contexts in South Africa. The study has also made various recommendations for improving waste management education and training at Level 2 in EPWP programmes in rural areas in particular (but potentially also more widely), notably the need to develop a more inclusive knowledge framework that includes historical and economic knowledge more explicitly at all levels of the recontextualisation process; improved pedagogical and assessment practices that take better account of learners knowledge and experiences in knowledge building processes; and giving attention to structural and systemic approaches to waste management in rural areas to avoid performative contradictions that arise between the knowledge being promoted in the field of production and the field of reproduction and the actual context of waste management.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Giqwa, Nomfundiso Louisa
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Refuse and refuse disposal -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , South Africa. Expanded Public Works Programme , Refuse and refuse disposal -- Employees -- Training of -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , South Africa. Department of Environmental Affairs , Knowledge, Theory of , Knowledge, Sociology of
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63729 , vital:28478
- Description: This study set out to investigate the structuring, recontextualisation and circulation of waste management knowledge in the South African environmental Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) Waste Management Projects. In this thesis these projects also referred to as the Working on Waste (WoW) programme or focus area within the Environmental Protection and Infrastructure Programme (EPIP) hosted by the National Department of Environmental Affairs. Expanded Public Work Programmes are a strategy used by governments to address unemployment and in South Africa; the programmes also seek to address a need for skills development. In this study, the focus is on EPWP waste management knowledge, training programmes and activities only. With waste management knowledge as the core interest, the focus of the investigation was on knowledge circulation of waste management via informal (participation in the project) and formal training of workers at Level 2 National Qualifications Framework (NQF). The study started by firstly investigating what waste management knowledge is produced in the Field of Production via scientific research and policy. It then studied how this waste management knowledge is recontextualised into qualifications and skills programmes designed in the official recontextualising field and learning materials and training programmes designed and offered in the professional recontextualising field. The study also focused on the knowledge of workers and their experience of training in the EPWP workplaces, with an emphasis on rural workplaces. This is where the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) is placing emphasis on training for job creation, empowerment and skills development, and it is also where a number of EPWP Working on Waste programmes are being implemented. The aim was also to develop an understanding of how knowledge circulates amongst learners in training sessions and in workplaces. To do this, I drew on Bernstein’s theory of the pedagogical device which provides theoretical lenses and a language of description to explain how knowledge is recontextualised from the field of production to the field of reproduction. To investigate the structuring of this knowledge by official and pedagogical recontextualisers, I drew on the work of Maton, who offers a Legitimation Code Theory to explain the principles structuring knowledge, of which I used specialisation and semantics (two of his suite of knowledge structuring principles) for analysis. The questions that guided the study throughout were: 1. What is the structure of legitimate knowledge and knowers in waste management? 2. What are the underlying principles underpinning knowledge and knowers in waste management? 3. How is the knowledge recontextualised in waste management training qualifications, documents and manuals for worker training at NQF Level 2? 4. How is the knowledge reproduced and evaluated in the waste management EPWP training activities (formal) and workplaces (informal)? 5. How does waste management knowledge circulate amongst the workers in the EPWP training activities and workplaces? For this study I used the case study method, focusing only on one field or DEA EPWP focus area (waste management) and one programme (EPWP Working on Waste), looking in more depth at two cases (two similar types of projects) within the EPWP Working on Waste programme, though they are situated in different areas and though I could only carry through observations of actual workplace training in one of the two sites due to contextual circumstances. The first project was situated in the Amathole District Municipality while the second one was situated in the Chris Hani District Municipality, both of which are in the rural towns of the former Transkei region in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. This area has been at the forefront in accessing funding for these projects due to the level of poverty surrounding these towns and the inability of the local government sphere to deliver on its mandate in the region. Data was collected through document analysis, questionnaires, interviews and observations. Documents analysed were research documents produced by researchers at the level of production as well as legal frameworks guiding waste management processes in this country. Qualifications and Unit Standards at Level 2, as well as training materials designed by providers were analysed. Training in one of the projects was observed and workers in both sites were interviewed twice. The main finding of the study is that waste management knowledge is characterised by interdisciplinarity and a strong epistemic relation which emphasises procedural and technical forms of knowledge. The study found that the knowledge constructed in the field, as well as the policies, qualifications and training programmes are all consequently characterised by a strong epistemic code (ER+) and a weak social relations code (SR-). The study also identified a ‘code clash’ with the knowledge of workers in rural towns whose knowledge and experience of waste management was found to reflect a strong social relation (SR+) and weak epistemic code (ER-), a pattern which was traced back to a similar code in waste management knowledge at home and school (i.e. workers’ prior knowledge and learning experiences). This created difficulties for the trainers who sought to use strategies of descending from the abstract to the concrete in various ‘descending’ semantic waves that tended to move from high levels of semantic density (SD+) to lower levels of semantic density (SD-) as the training provider sought to contextualise a range of concepts. This was the main strategy identified for mediating waste management knowledge reflecting a dominant pattern of SD+/SG- to SD-/SG+ (with SG meaning semantic gravity). This shows that the trainer seldom started mediating concepts from the basis of workers’ prior knowledge and experience and observations showed little responsiveness from workers resulting from this strategy. Despite this, the study found that workers did develop an improved understanding of specialised waste management knowledge over time, especially through observing and doing more complex tasks in the workplace. The study offers a model for addressing the pedagogical difficulty identified around the code clash, and suggests that further attention needs to be given to ‘ascending’ from the concrete to the abstract in pedagogical practices. The study also pointed to the need for a more inclusive knowledge framework for waste management training, especially in the field of recontextualisation (both the official and pedagogical recontextualisation fields) to extend possibilities for workers to learn more about economic potential and access routes into more sustainable jobs. It identifies the need for a more systemic approach to waste management in rural towns and municipalities, improved compliance and also proposes that better waste management practices are modelled to avoid performative contradictions between the knowledge promoted in the field of production and the official and pedagogical recontextualising fields and the field of reproduction, where workers are learning this knowledge via a mix of accredited training and exposure to participation in waste management practices. This study contributes to new knowledge in that it offers an epistemically grounded and theorised pedagogical process model for Level 2 Waste Management Training (in the EPWP programmes, but potentially also more broadly) that accords with the need for a strong epistemic relation code (ER+) embodied in the need for learning scientific and technical waste management knowledge and procedures. It also addresses workers’ needs for greater epistemic access and participation in knowledge building and application of waste management knowledge in praxis as per the purpose of the EPW training programmes, thereby potentially opening up more sustainable learning pathways for them out of poverty through the EPWP training opportunities. The study has pointed to key areas for further research, including further research on the proposed model, further research into Level 2 pedagogical practices and further research into the foundations of waste management learning in schools. Most of the workers who were participating in the training in the EPWP programmes were educated at above Level 2 before participating in the projects, yet their knowledge and experience of waste management was mostly based on everyday knowledge, pointing to an absence of adequate waste management education in schools in rural contexts in South Africa. The study has also made various recommendations for improving waste management education and training at Level 2 in EPWP programmes in rural areas in particular (but potentially also more widely), notably the need to develop a more inclusive knowledge framework that includes historical and economic knowledge more explicitly at all levels of the recontextualisation process; improved pedagogical and assessment practices that take better account of learners knowledge and experiences in knowledge building processes; and giving attention to structural and systemic approaches to waste management in rural areas to avoid performative contradictions that arise between the knowledge being promoted in the field of production and the field of reproduction and the actual context of waste management.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Woody plant encroachment in arid and mesic South African savanna-grasslands: same picture, different story?
- Authors: Skowno, Andrew Luke
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Savanna ecology South Africa Eastern Cape , Remote sensing , Woody plants South Africa Eastern Cape , Grasslands South Africa Eastern Cape , Plant invasions South Africa Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62603 , vital:28212
- Description: Woody plant encroachment in South Africa’s savanna-grasslands has been considered a rangeland management problem since the early 1900s. This phenomenon, which has been observed globally, is particularly important in Africa given the extent of tropical grassy biomes on the continent and their importance for rural livelihoods. In this study, local and regional scale approaches were used to investigate woody cover change in South Africa across the important savanna-grassland rainfall threshold of 650 mm mean annual precipitation (MAP). The aim was to test this threshold using remote sensing and demographic surveys in order to better understand the patterns, mechanisms and drivers of encroachment. Rates of encroachment and population demographics of Vachelia karroo were compared at arid and mesic savanna sites in the Eastern Cape, using time-series analysis of historical aerial photographs in conjunction with field surveys. Changes in the extent of woodland vs. grassland were then quantified at a national scale (1990-2013) by combining optical and synthetic aperture radar remote sensing data. This produced the first map of woodland- grassland shifts for South Africa and provided the basis for a spatially explicit investigation of the key drivers of change. The local studies revealed higher rates of encroachment at mesic sites than at arid sites, with a correlation between drought and rate of encroachment at the arid site. Vachelia karroo seedlings and stunted saplings were more prevalent at mesic sites than at arid sites and the growth form of adult trees differed significantly between sites. The national remote sensing investigation showed that woodland replaced grassland in over 5% of South Africa’s savanna- grasslands between 1990 and 2014, at rates consistent with other global and regional studies. Spatially explicit models showed a pattern of incremental expansion of woodland along a ‘tree front’ and complex relationships between woodland increase and fire, rainfall, terrain ruggedness and temperature. Overall, the local and regional scale findings of this work highlight the importance of the savanna rainfall threshold (~650 mm MAP) and the presence / absence of fire in understanding savanna dynamics and woody cover change in the context of global drivers such as elevated atmospheric CO2.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Skowno, Andrew Luke
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Savanna ecology South Africa Eastern Cape , Remote sensing , Woody plants South Africa Eastern Cape , Grasslands South Africa Eastern Cape , Plant invasions South Africa Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62603 , vital:28212
- Description: Woody plant encroachment in South Africa’s savanna-grasslands has been considered a rangeland management problem since the early 1900s. This phenomenon, which has been observed globally, is particularly important in Africa given the extent of tropical grassy biomes on the continent and their importance for rural livelihoods. In this study, local and regional scale approaches were used to investigate woody cover change in South Africa across the important savanna-grassland rainfall threshold of 650 mm mean annual precipitation (MAP). The aim was to test this threshold using remote sensing and demographic surveys in order to better understand the patterns, mechanisms and drivers of encroachment. Rates of encroachment and population demographics of Vachelia karroo were compared at arid and mesic savanna sites in the Eastern Cape, using time-series analysis of historical aerial photographs in conjunction with field surveys. Changes in the extent of woodland vs. grassland were then quantified at a national scale (1990-2013) by combining optical and synthetic aperture radar remote sensing data. This produced the first map of woodland- grassland shifts for South Africa and provided the basis for a spatially explicit investigation of the key drivers of change. The local studies revealed higher rates of encroachment at mesic sites than at arid sites, with a correlation between drought and rate of encroachment at the arid site. Vachelia karroo seedlings and stunted saplings were more prevalent at mesic sites than at arid sites and the growth form of adult trees differed significantly between sites. The national remote sensing investigation showed that woodland replaced grassland in over 5% of South Africa’s savanna- grasslands between 1990 and 2014, at rates consistent with other global and regional studies. Spatially explicit models showed a pattern of incremental expansion of woodland along a ‘tree front’ and complex relationships between woodland increase and fire, rainfall, terrain ruggedness and temperature. Overall, the local and regional scale findings of this work highlight the importance of the savanna rainfall threshold (~650 mm MAP) and the presence / absence of fire in understanding savanna dynamics and woody cover change in the context of global drivers such as elevated atmospheric CO2.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
“We are white”: oral tradition, documented history and molecular biology of Xhosa clans descended from non-African forebears and their expression of this ancestry through the idiom of ancestor religion
- Authors: Hayward, Janet M
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Clans -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Patrilineal kinship -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Xhosa (African people) -- Genealogy , Oral history -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Genetic genealogy , Xhosa (African people) -- Rites and ceremonies , Xhosa (African people) -- Race identity
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62939 , vital:28312
- Description: Xhosa clan membership is symbolised by a clan-name (isiduko) and passed along the male line from father to son. This social indicator has a biological counterpart in Y chromosome DNA that passes through successive generations in the patriline. Both relate specifically to a distant patrilineal forebear or apical ancestor. The present study has involved the collection and documentation of oral-historical information relating to the descent of certain Cape Nguni clans from non-African forebears and (where possible) a review of documented accounts of such origins. The research has also included collection of buccal cells from male research participants and analysis of their Y chromosome DNA. This method indicates whether a man’s patrilineal forebear lived in Africa. Otherwise, it indicates the broad geographical region from which he originated, hence providing an additional, independent source of information relating to ancestry that can confirm or challenge claims made based on oral history. Ethnographic research into the performance of distinctive ancestor rituals by clan members explores the continuing relevance of foreign ancestry in the contemporary context of rural communities in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The study heeds calls for the decolonisation of scholarship in various ways: methodologically, through transdisciplinary research; ontologically, by questioning the utility of the nature: culture and related dichotomies; and epistemologically, because instead of relying entirely on the western academic tradition, it takes account of other modes of knowledge production. In rejection of the notion that only one side of history is true, it records multiple voices – those of the powerful but also the ordinary. The study deals with race and racial identification, but confirms the superficiality of these constructed differences by offering evidence of their submergence in the unifying power of kinship and descent.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Hayward, Janet M
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Clans -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Patrilineal kinship -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Xhosa (African people) -- Genealogy , Oral history -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Genetic genealogy , Xhosa (African people) -- Rites and ceremonies , Xhosa (African people) -- Race identity
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62939 , vital:28312
- Description: Xhosa clan membership is symbolised by a clan-name (isiduko) and passed along the male line from father to son. This social indicator has a biological counterpart in Y chromosome DNA that passes through successive generations in the patriline. Both relate specifically to a distant patrilineal forebear or apical ancestor. The present study has involved the collection and documentation of oral-historical information relating to the descent of certain Cape Nguni clans from non-African forebears and (where possible) a review of documented accounts of such origins. The research has also included collection of buccal cells from male research participants and analysis of their Y chromosome DNA. This method indicates whether a man’s patrilineal forebear lived in Africa. Otherwise, it indicates the broad geographical region from which he originated, hence providing an additional, independent source of information relating to ancestry that can confirm or challenge claims made based on oral history. Ethnographic research into the performance of distinctive ancestor rituals by clan members explores the continuing relevance of foreign ancestry in the contemporary context of rural communities in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The study heeds calls for the decolonisation of scholarship in various ways: methodologically, through transdisciplinary research; ontologically, by questioning the utility of the nature: culture and related dichotomies; and epistemologically, because instead of relying entirely on the western academic tradition, it takes account of other modes of knowledge production. In rejection of the notion that only one side of history is true, it records multiple voices – those of the powerful but also the ordinary. The study deals with race and racial identification, but confirms the superficiality of these constructed differences by offering evidence of their submergence in the unifying power of kinship and descent.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Am I my brother's keeper? learner leadership development in a secondary school in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Knott-Craig, Ian
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Student government -- South Africa , Student participation in administration -- South Africa , High school students -- South Africa , Student government -- South Africa -- Case studies , Student participation in administration -- South Africa -- Case studies , High school students -- South Africa -- Makhanda
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/54073 , vital:26387
- Description: Against the background of a re-emphasis of human rights, social justice and democracy, learner leadership has become a topic of interest and importance. An absence of any meaningful form of leadership development among learners in formerly disadvantaged schools in South Africa prompted this interest into exploring the development of learner leadership. A more recent approach to learner leadership in many countries, including South Africa, has been to look at providing the necessary platform for learners to experience a more shared, cooperative, transformative and service approach within schools in order for them to develop their capacity to lead. This is supported by theoretical developments in the field of leadership, such as Distributive Leadership and Servant Leadership, which emphasise shared leadership. These developments were based on dialogue and strong relationships, where learner leaders situated their practices in moral action, with signs of individual growth, social justice and democratic positioning. In spite of this, not much is known of learner leadership development in South Africa. There are very few studies, none using approaches which look at the context and situation holistically. Hence this study, using Cultural Historical Activity Theory and Critical Realism as under-labourer, for its stance on ontological, epistemological and principled expectations of reality and its understandings on agency and structure, is advanced. Transformational leadership theories, in particular Distributive and Servant Leadership, are used as lenses to help make sense of the nature of learner leaders’ practice and the development of leadership. The aim of the single case study was to discover and explore how and under what circumstances learner leadership could be developed. To this end the researcher established a leadership development group at a previously disadvantaged secondary school. This project provided the platform for leadership development initiatives and became the activity which is the focus of this research. The study examines how leadership is learned and practised, and how the participants interrelate and influence learning and practice in their activity system. It examines the challenges that the learner leaders faced within their communities and what the underlying causes of these challenges were. Qualitative semi-structured interviews, document analysis, direct observation and focus groups were used to collect data. Non-probability sampling, in particular purposive sampling, was used in selecting the sixteen learner leader volunteers who participated in the study. These learners represented various ages, gender and leadership positions that were held in the school. Using inductive, abductive and retroductive modes of inference, the data was abstracted and analysed. The Change Laboratory workshop was used to boost the growth of shared collective views of the learner leaders within the changing object and activity system, in order to build and develop new practices, tools and models. The study recognized that learner leadership was generated by numerous mechanisms, which included the need to overcome the calamitous scarcity of virtuous leadership within their communities; the need to address cultural and historical assumptions, prejudices, and values that existed which reinforced their existing perceptions and behaviour towards leadership; the need to create a space for learner leaders to share responsibilities, thoughts, and become reciprocally dependent on each other, developing together due to their cooperative efforts; the need to demonstrate a willingness and the necessary resilience to survive in an environment whose socioeconomic demands and effects are restrictive and disempowering; a need to respond to the demand for impartiality and access to leadership; and a need to know that one is able to transform the practice of leadership, without it necessarily affecting one’s culture, in such a way that the needs of the people are met. This thesis reports on encouraging signs of leadership growth within the activity, observed and documented over a period of three years. The intervention led to behaviour and attitudinal development that suggests transformative learning and agency. The study’s findings further clarify the many challenges the potential learner leaders faced. Chief among these was the lack of adequate and efficient structures and systems in their communities in order for effective leadership to be established and practised in their communities. These included weak social structures in homes that were unable to support and meet the needs of the learner leaders due to the breakdown of families. Negative forces included high levels of authoritarian leadership practised by a restrictive socialised patriarchy. The underlying causes of these challenges include the perceived threat to individual dignity and survival; the fear of change; the feeling of powerlessness; a lack of hope which fuelled an apathy, a low self-esteem and poor attitude to education; adverse socioeconomic conditions; poor communication skills; a lack of adult role models and willpower; the demand for impartiality and access to leadership knowledge. In order to encourage learner leaders to advance their practice of leadership, the study recommends that adolescents be made to feel valued and included in the development process of leadership so that their willingness to engage with the process becomes pre-emptive. Learner leaders prefer structure, so it becomes all the more important to ensure that any rules, policies and guidelines that are established exhibit a demonstration of transparency and accountability. The study also recommends that when developing an understanding of the learner leaders’ behaviour, using their socio-cultural and historical contexts, they are provided with a non-threatening platform. This enables them to become empowered to actively participate, debate and dialogue collaboratively. They have an opportunity to demonstrate a willingness to engage with each other over tensions that arise, breaking the bonds of socialized pathology.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Knott-Craig, Ian
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Student government -- South Africa , Student participation in administration -- South Africa , High school students -- South Africa , Student government -- South Africa -- Case studies , Student participation in administration -- South Africa -- Case studies , High school students -- South Africa -- Makhanda
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/54073 , vital:26387
- Description: Against the background of a re-emphasis of human rights, social justice and democracy, learner leadership has become a topic of interest and importance. An absence of any meaningful form of leadership development among learners in formerly disadvantaged schools in South Africa prompted this interest into exploring the development of learner leadership. A more recent approach to learner leadership in many countries, including South Africa, has been to look at providing the necessary platform for learners to experience a more shared, cooperative, transformative and service approach within schools in order for them to develop their capacity to lead. This is supported by theoretical developments in the field of leadership, such as Distributive Leadership and Servant Leadership, which emphasise shared leadership. These developments were based on dialogue and strong relationships, where learner leaders situated their practices in moral action, with signs of individual growth, social justice and democratic positioning. In spite of this, not much is known of learner leadership development in South Africa. There are very few studies, none using approaches which look at the context and situation holistically. Hence this study, using Cultural Historical Activity Theory and Critical Realism as under-labourer, for its stance on ontological, epistemological and principled expectations of reality and its understandings on agency and structure, is advanced. Transformational leadership theories, in particular Distributive and Servant Leadership, are used as lenses to help make sense of the nature of learner leaders’ practice and the development of leadership. The aim of the single case study was to discover and explore how and under what circumstances learner leadership could be developed. To this end the researcher established a leadership development group at a previously disadvantaged secondary school. This project provided the platform for leadership development initiatives and became the activity which is the focus of this research. The study examines how leadership is learned and practised, and how the participants interrelate and influence learning and practice in their activity system. It examines the challenges that the learner leaders faced within their communities and what the underlying causes of these challenges were. Qualitative semi-structured interviews, document analysis, direct observation and focus groups were used to collect data. Non-probability sampling, in particular purposive sampling, was used in selecting the sixteen learner leader volunteers who participated in the study. These learners represented various ages, gender and leadership positions that were held in the school. Using inductive, abductive and retroductive modes of inference, the data was abstracted and analysed. The Change Laboratory workshop was used to boost the growth of shared collective views of the learner leaders within the changing object and activity system, in order to build and develop new practices, tools and models. The study recognized that learner leadership was generated by numerous mechanisms, which included the need to overcome the calamitous scarcity of virtuous leadership within their communities; the need to address cultural and historical assumptions, prejudices, and values that existed which reinforced their existing perceptions and behaviour towards leadership; the need to create a space for learner leaders to share responsibilities, thoughts, and become reciprocally dependent on each other, developing together due to their cooperative efforts; the need to demonstrate a willingness and the necessary resilience to survive in an environment whose socioeconomic demands and effects are restrictive and disempowering; a need to respond to the demand for impartiality and access to leadership; and a need to know that one is able to transform the practice of leadership, without it necessarily affecting one’s culture, in such a way that the needs of the people are met. This thesis reports on encouraging signs of leadership growth within the activity, observed and documented over a period of three years. The intervention led to behaviour and attitudinal development that suggests transformative learning and agency. The study’s findings further clarify the many challenges the potential learner leaders faced. Chief among these was the lack of adequate and efficient structures and systems in their communities in order for effective leadership to be established and practised in their communities. These included weak social structures in homes that were unable to support and meet the needs of the learner leaders due to the breakdown of families. Negative forces included high levels of authoritarian leadership practised by a restrictive socialised patriarchy. The underlying causes of these challenges include the perceived threat to individual dignity and survival; the fear of change; the feeling of powerlessness; a lack of hope which fuelled an apathy, a low self-esteem and poor attitude to education; adverse socioeconomic conditions; poor communication skills; a lack of adult role models and willpower; the demand for impartiality and access to leadership knowledge. In order to encourage learner leaders to advance their practice of leadership, the study recommends that adolescents be made to feel valued and included in the development process of leadership so that their willingness to engage with the process becomes pre-emptive. Learner leaders prefer structure, so it becomes all the more important to ensure that any rules, policies and guidelines that are established exhibit a demonstration of transparency and accountability. The study also recommends that when developing an understanding of the learner leaders’ behaviour, using their socio-cultural and historical contexts, they are provided with a non-threatening platform. This enables them to become empowered to actively participate, debate and dialogue collaboratively. They have an opportunity to demonstrate a willingness to engage with each other over tensions that arise, breaking the bonds of socialized pathology.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
An investigation into the effect of an Extensive Reading Programme on bilingual Grade 3 learners’ reading attitudes in two primary schools in Grahamstown
- Authors: Nkomo, Sibhekinkosi Anna
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7723 , vital:21289
- Description: The focus of this study is to explore formative intervention of a bilingual Extensive Reading Programme (ERP) in two Grade 3 classes in Grahamstown, South Africa. ERP involves access to large quantities of reading materials for pleasure and to reading opportunities (Bamford & Day, 2002; Krashen 2004). The current focus on measurable reading achievement in clearly defined areas such as vocabulary, fluency and comprehension has resulted in reduced attention towards the affective component in relation to literacy development, and links attitudes to reading success. This study helps to fill this gap by examining the effect of an ERP on the reading attitudes of Grade 3 learners. The study draws on Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) to make sense of learning and social change through mediation, scaffolding, interaction and collaboration learning. The ERP is located within a broad framework of literacy and incorporates a balanced reading approach implemented in an informal reading setting so as to motivate, encourage and nurture reading for enjoyment. This formative intervention used expansive learning cycles to develop a responsive ERP that was implemented and evaluated to investigate its effects on learners’ reading attitude. There were three phases (pre-, during- and post- intervention) that were designed over 31 weeks where rich, qualitative data was collected from questionnaires, observations, learners’ drawings and interviews. To make sense of this data, concepts from CHAT such as contradictions, expansive learning, double stimulation, transformative agency and sustainability were used (Engestrom & Sannino, 2010; Haapasaari & Kerosuo, 2015; Saninno, 2015). In addition, Mathewson’s (1994) reading attitude model addressed the attitudinal aspects of the study whilst a multimodal social semiotic perspective (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 1996) was used to analyse learners’ drawings. The findings of this study demonstrate the effectiveness of combining top-down and bottom-up reading methodologies. In both research sites there was appreciable change in the number of books learners read. Learners also began to volunteer to read and participated in book talks. Through access to a variety of reading materials and reading opportunities, learners demonstrated agency, criticising some ERP practices and modelling new ways, thus claiming and sustaining the reading programme. Being provided with a safe, informal learning context where reading was presented as a social activity, learners gained confidence, engaged in meaningful discussions and improved their self- esteem. Finally, learners continue to access these resources even beyond the research programme.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Nkomo, Sibhekinkosi Anna
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7723 , vital:21289
- Description: The focus of this study is to explore formative intervention of a bilingual Extensive Reading Programme (ERP) in two Grade 3 classes in Grahamstown, South Africa. ERP involves access to large quantities of reading materials for pleasure and to reading opportunities (Bamford & Day, 2002; Krashen 2004). The current focus on measurable reading achievement in clearly defined areas such as vocabulary, fluency and comprehension has resulted in reduced attention towards the affective component in relation to literacy development, and links attitudes to reading success. This study helps to fill this gap by examining the effect of an ERP on the reading attitudes of Grade 3 learners. The study draws on Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) to make sense of learning and social change through mediation, scaffolding, interaction and collaboration learning. The ERP is located within a broad framework of literacy and incorporates a balanced reading approach implemented in an informal reading setting so as to motivate, encourage and nurture reading for enjoyment. This formative intervention used expansive learning cycles to develop a responsive ERP that was implemented and evaluated to investigate its effects on learners’ reading attitude. There were three phases (pre-, during- and post- intervention) that were designed over 31 weeks where rich, qualitative data was collected from questionnaires, observations, learners’ drawings and interviews. To make sense of this data, concepts from CHAT such as contradictions, expansive learning, double stimulation, transformative agency and sustainability were used (Engestrom & Sannino, 2010; Haapasaari & Kerosuo, 2015; Saninno, 2015). In addition, Mathewson’s (1994) reading attitude model addressed the attitudinal aspects of the study whilst a multimodal social semiotic perspective (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 1996) was used to analyse learners’ drawings. The findings of this study demonstrate the effectiveness of combining top-down and bottom-up reading methodologies. In both research sites there was appreciable change in the number of books learners read. Learners also began to volunteer to read and participated in book talks. Through access to a variety of reading materials and reading opportunities, learners demonstrated agency, criticising some ERP practices and modelling new ways, thus claiming and sustaining the reading programme. Being provided with a safe, informal learning context where reading was presented as a social activity, learners gained confidence, engaged in meaningful discussions and improved their self- esteem. Finally, learners continue to access these resources even beyond the research programme.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Biotic and abiotic factors promoting the development and proliferation of water hyacinth (eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms-Laub.) in the Wouri Basin (Douala-Cameroon) and environs, with implications for its control
- Voukeng, Sonia Nadege Kenfack
- Authors: Voukeng, Sonia Nadege Kenfack
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7644 , vital:21281
- Description: The Wouri River, situated in the Wouri Basin, is one of the main rivers of the Littoral Region in the city of Douala in Cameroon. It is a source of income and food for the population living around these areas. Since the 1990s, the fishing, transportation, irrigation and sand extraction activities have been impeded by the invasion of aquatic plants, specifically water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes [Mart.] Solms-Laubach: Pontederiaceae). Introduced in 1997 to the shore of Lake Chad, water hyacinth has invaded almost 114 ha of the Wouri Basin. Furthermore, Douala, the economic capital of the Cameroon and location for more than 70% of the country’s industries, uses the Wouri River and its tributaries to deposit its effluent and waste, which has worsened the problem of water hyacinth. This thesis examined the ecological and socio-economic impacts of water hyacinth in the Wouri Basin and its possible control. An increase in the nutrients in the water has provided water hyacinth with appropriate conditions for its fast growth during both the rainy and dry seasons. The availability of nutrients in these areas is enhanced by the constant, daily tidal fluctuation of water, providing enough water to the plant for easy nutrient uptake. A survey of the impacts of water hyacinth on aquatic plant communities in the Wouri Basin showed that this plant is able to out-compete native species. Assessment of the impact of water hyacinth on the abundance and diversity of plant communities indicated that at some invaded sites, 65% of the vegetation consisted of water hyacinth. Species found in association with water hyacinth with a high level of abundance-dominance were Pistia stratiotes L. (Araceae) (another invader), Commelina benghalensis L. (Commelinaceae) and Echinochloa pyramidalis (Lam.) Hitchc. & Chase (Poaceae). This component of the study also showed that habitats rich in water hyacinth were poor in diversity, while habitats without water hyacinth were rich in diversity, thus raising awareness of the importance of monitoring invasive aquatic weeds along the Wouri Basin, and of implementing correct control management of all invasive aquatic weeds. Communities living along the invaded rivers are well aware of the range of problems caused by the weed; because as the rivers and water bodies used for fishing, transportation, and sand extraction are progressively invaded by the weed, the riparian population is the first to feel the impact. The impact on people has been noticeable, with an increase in diseases, such as malaria, cholera, diarrhoea, typhoid, filariasis, schistosomiasis, scabies and yellow fever increasing the need for a medicine and hospitalization. Economic losses due to the management of invasive aquatic weeds were recorded, and the Ministry of Environment spent an estimated US$1 200 000 between 2010 and 2015 to manage this scourge. In 2016, an amount of US$160 000 was transferred to these regions to manage invasive aquatic weeds, especially water hyacinth, although manual clearing is still the only method used to control this weed. Isolation of fungi from diseased water hyacinth plants in the Wouri Basin revealed several fungal species, most of which have been isolated from water hyacinth species in water bodies elsewhere, which showed a higher diversity during the dry season than during the rainy season. These fungi included Acremonium zonatum (Sawada). W. Gams (Hypocreaceae), Alternaria eichhorniae Nag Raj & Ponnappa (Pleosporaceae), Chaetomium sp., Colletotrichum sp., Curvularia pallescens Boedjin (Pleosporaceae), Curvalaria sp., Epicoccum nigrum Link (Pleosporaceae), Fusarium sp., Pithomyces chartarum fBerk. & M. A. Curtis) M. B. Ellis (Montagnulaceae), to a lesser extent Myrothecium roridum Tode ex Fr. (Incertae sedis) and Nigrospora sp. Although never released in Cameroon, arthropod biological control agents (Neochetina eichhorniae Warner (Coleoptera, Curculionidae) and N. bruchi Hustache (Coleoptera, Curculionidae)) were present, but their populations were relatively low. The slow spread of the insect population was explained by several factors, among them the tidal fluctuation of water, which has an impact on the population growth of the weevils. Whilst adults may be able to survive tidal fluctuations, larvae are severely impacted by them, contributing to the slow success of biological control. In this study, a significant increase in pathogen-induced disease severity and incidence was noted when Neochetina eichhorniae weevils were present, possibly because larvae tunnelling on the petiole created openings for the penetration of fungal spores. This study highlights the negative impacts of water hyacinth, on the environment, people, and thus economy of Cameroon. The presence of biological control agents and pathogens offers Cameroon the possibility of initiating and properly implementing the biological control option, or an integrated management solution, to manage water hyacinth in the Wouri Basin, and in the rest of Cameroon.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Voukeng, Sonia Nadege Kenfack
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7644 , vital:21281
- Description: The Wouri River, situated in the Wouri Basin, is one of the main rivers of the Littoral Region in the city of Douala in Cameroon. It is a source of income and food for the population living around these areas. Since the 1990s, the fishing, transportation, irrigation and sand extraction activities have been impeded by the invasion of aquatic plants, specifically water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes [Mart.] Solms-Laubach: Pontederiaceae). Introduced in 1997 to the shore of Lake Chad, water hyacinth has invaded almost 114 ha of the Wouri Basin. Furthermore, Douala, the economic capital of the Cameroon and location for more than 70% of the country’s industries, uses the Wouri River and its tributaries to deposit its effluent and waste, which has worsened the problem of water hyacinth. This thesis examined the ecological and socio-economic impacts of water hyacinth in the Wouri Basin and its possible control. An increase in the nutrients in the water has provided water hyacinth with appropriate conditions for its fast growth during both the rainy and dry seasons. The availability of nutrients in these areas is enhanced by the constant, daily tidal fluctuation of water, providing enough water to the plant for easy nutrient uptake. A survey of the impacts of water hyacinth on aquatic plant communities in the Wouri Basin showed that this plant is able to out-compete native species. Assessment of the impact of water hyacinth on the abundance and diversity of plant communities indicated that at some invaded sites, 65% of the vegetation consisted of water hyacinth. Species found in association with water hyacinth with a high level of abundance-dominance were Pistia stratiotes L. (Araceae) (another invader), Commelina benghalensis L. (Commelinaceae) and Echinochloa pyramidalis (Lam.) Hitchc. & Chase (Poaceae). This component of the study also showed that habitats rich in water hyacinth were poor in diversity, while habitats without water hyacinth were rich in diversity, thus raising awareness of the importance of monitoring invasive aquatic weeds along the Wouri Basin, and of implementing correct control management of all invasive aquatic weeds. Communities living along the invaded rivers are well aware of the range of problems caused by the weed; because as the rivers and water bodies used for fishing, transportation, and sand extraction are progressively invaded by the weed, the riparian population is the first to feel the impact. The impact on people has been noticeable, with an increase in diseases, such as malaria, cholera, diarrhoea, typhoid, filariasis, schistosomiasis, scabies and yellow fever increasing the need for a medicine and hospitalization. Economic losses due to the management of invasive aquatic weeds were recorded, and the Ministry of Environment spent an estimated US$1 200 000 between 2010 and 2015 to manage this scourge. In 2016, an amount of US$160 000 was transferred to these regions to manage invasive aquatic weeds, especially water hyacinth, although manual clearing is still the only method used to control this weed. Isolation of fungi from diseased water hyacinth plants in the Wouri Basin revealed several fungal species, most of which have been isolated from water hyacinth species in water bodies elsewhere, which showed a higher diversity during the dry season than during the rainy season. These fungi included Acremonium zonatum (Sawada). W. Gams (Hypocreaceae), Alternaria eichhorniae Nag Raj & Ponnappa (Pleosporaceae), Chaetomium sp., Colletotrichum sp., Curvularia pallescens Boedjin (Pleosporaceae), Curvalaria sp., Epicoccum nigrum Link (Pleosporaceae), Fusarium sp., Pithomyces chartarum fBerk. & M. A. Curtis) M. B. Ellis (Montagnulaceae), to a lesser extent Myrothecium roridum Tode ex Fr. (Incertae sedis) and Nigrospora sp. Although never released in Cameroon, arthropod biological control agents (Neochetina eichhorniae Warner (Coleoptera, Curculionidae) and N. bruchi Hustache (Coleoptera, Curculionidae)) were present, but their populations were relatively low. The slow spread of the insect population was explained by several factors, among them the tidal fluctuation of water, which has an impact on the population growth of the weevils. Whilst adults may be able to survive tidal fluctuations, larvae are severely impacted by them, contributing to the slow success of biological control. In this study, a significant increase in pathogen-induced disease severity and incidence was noted when Neochetina eichhorniae weevils were present, possibly because larvae tunnelling on the petiole created openings for the penetration of fungal spores. This study highlights the negative impacts of water hyacinth, on the environment, people, and thus economy of Cameroon. The presence of biological control agents and pathogens offers Cameroon the possibility of initiating and properly implementing the biological control option, or an integrated management solution, to manage water hyacinth in the Wouri Basin, and in the rest of Cameroon.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Chinese aid and African agency since 2000: examining the cases of Zimbabwe, Angola and Ghana
- Authors: Chipaike, Ronald
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59151 , vital:27442
- Description: Restricted access-thesis embargoed for 2 years
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Chipaike, Ronald
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59151 , vital:27442
- Description: Restricted access-thesis embargoed for 2 years
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017